The Santa Claus blog
The village archivist opens the ledgers: where Santa comes from, where he lives, how Christmas is kept elsewhere, and pointers for parents.
Four shelves, kept by the archivist
From Saint Nicholas to 19th-century illustrators: how Santa Claus took the shape we know.
History and originsPeople keep saying the red-and-white Santa came out of a 1931 soda ad. Magazine covers, newspapers and print ads from before that year tell a different story.
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History and originsA bag of gold tossed through a window, wooden clogs lined up by the hearth in Lorraine, a stocking found “miraculously filled” in New York in 1809: the Christmas stocking has a history, and it is older than Santa Claus himself.
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History and originsBefore they ever reached a mailbox, letters to Santa went up in smoke. Then mothers, rule-breaking postmasters and three national post offices gave them an address and a reply.
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His age, his home, Mrs. Claus: the questions children ask, answered from the archives.
Santa's secretsMrs. Claus turns up in an 1849 short story and finds her voice in an 1889 poem. Her name, her job and the baby question, checked against the old texts.
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Santa's secretsChristmas Eve does not last one night. From one side of the planet to the other, it stretches over more than thirty hours, and since 1955 North American air defense crews have followed the sleigh minute by minute. Here is how the route comes together.
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Santa's secretsSanta has kept a ledger since at least 1866, Saint Nicholas carries a big red book, and a 1934 song made the list famous. How Santa knows who's been good, document by document.
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When kids stop believing, how to tell the truth, how to keep the magic: pointers for grown-ups.
Parents and Christmas magicIn Iceland, families give books. In Poland, they wait for the first star. In Sweden, they watch Donald Duck at 3 p.m. Christmas Eve rituals worth borrowing, with a schedule that works for little ones.
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Parents and Christmas magicBorn from a self-published picture book in 2005, the Elf on the Shelf now visits millions of homes each December. The rules, ideas that take two minutes, the criticism worth knowing, and the alternatives.
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Parents and Christmas magicChristmas magic has less to do with the size of the presents than with what you repeat every year. Ideas for each age, grounded in dated traditions and in research, plus the traps that snuff it out.
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Babbo Natale, Ded Moroz, La Befana, the Christkind: who brings the presents, and under which name.
Christmas around the worldA witch on a broom, a child with golden curls, a log you whack with a stick, a Basque charcoal burner: Santa isn't the only one making rounds, and each visitor keeps a night of their own.
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Christmas around the worldIn Australia, Christmas falls in high summer. People eat prawns instead of turkey, have sung carols by candlelight in a Melbourne park since 1938, and its own carols send three drovers across the outback.
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Christmas around the worldFrom Saint Nicholas Day in Lorraine to the thirteen desserts of Provence, Christmas in France changes every hundred miles. Here are the traditions, their dates and where they came from.
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