Busy Weekend

Wow. The second to last weekend before Christmas Eve! Where did all the time go? There is so much to do and so little time left to do it. It is not that we are behind schedule... we are right on schedule... but there are so many things that just have to wait until the last 10-15 days that this happens every year. It is primarily due to the fact that we accept letters and requests until the last minute. If we ever implemented a December 1st deadline for submitting requests to Santa as Candy has advocated in the past, we would have a much easier task and have most everything completed by now. But we'd also have a lot of unhappy kids as well. And then there is the weather planning. Our routes have so many stops now that we have to optimize our routing in order to fit everything in time. Weather has a lot to do with which routes are optimal. And that, of course, determines where we pre-position inventory for replenishing the sleigh on Christmas Eve night. While technology has enabled significantly improved forecasting accuracy, we still can not start to lock into forecasts until 5 to 7 days beforehand. So in the end, there's always so much to do in the last week or two that I find myself only sleeping a couple of hours a night.

It was a good weekend. Most of the parades are completed. I only had one parade in Europe and one parade in the US; however, I spent a lot more time visiting with kids in malls, libraries, etc. When I haven't been traveling around the world visiting kids, I've been back here at the North Pole keeping a pulse on our production operations. Despite the fact there is still a lot remaining to be completed, it is looking good overall. I am expecting a fantastic Christmas Eve. Kids - be getting those milk and cookie plates ready!! I am going to be there before you know it!