Cheers Everyone,

The Pole is a hubbub of activity right now -- the toy factory and wrapping facility running at full speed, the reindeer in the hardest part of their training, the R&D lab finalizing its prototypes...even Rob Ronderbaunt over at the garage is busy tightening and waxing and tuning up the sleigh. Most of my days are spent overseeing all this: checking in with Snoop and Rob and coach Bryan, calming the occasional over-excited elf, taking close tabs on the reindeer team to see who's ready and who's not.

Any spare moment I've got, I read Christmas lists, double-checking to make sure we've got the right items in stock. To tell the truth, I'm usually pretty preoccupied -- Mrs. Claus always jokes that from December 1st through Flight Night, she can only communicate with me if by writing me a note marked "Christmas List"!

But last night I finally had some time alone by the fireplace to relax, to take stock of everything that has to happen in the upcoming month.

It was after midnight, and everyone else had gone to bed (except for Snowflake, our black cat, who was purring and crowding me in my chair) and the fire had died down to just one layer of glowing embers. Outside, the snow was thick and silent; no wind, only a few flakes drifting down. As I sat there, warm and comfortable in my chair, really doing nothing for the first time all day, I realized the embers were making a sound.

It was a beautiful, icy tinkling, like winter rain against a window or a tiny mountain stream over stones. Fire that sounded like water: It reminded me how connected everything is -- how one thing can sound like another, how one holiday always seems to remind you of other holidays you've had.

And I realized (not for the first time) that those memories are exactly why I do this every year -- go through the craziness of orchestrating everything and managing everyone: because my memories of Christmas are precious to me, and every year I want to make them just as delightful for children (and their parents, and friends) all over the world. I have a big, Santa-sized part in that. It's my responsibility to make those connections.

Before I went to bed, I sat for a few more minutes, listening to the fire, amazed to notice more connections that, when I stop and acknowledge them, are always there between everything in my life.

Needless to say, when I got to bed, I slept like a rock!

Love,

Santa