Happy Friday!

I apologize for missing my post yesterday. The emergency session I called to deal with the low "belief" numbers threw off my entire day yesterday. We met first thing in the morning to review the numbers in more detail. I had to push back several of my appearances and two meetings to accomodate the meeting. A couple of the analysts came in and took us through the numbers in a way that we could identify some key trends and themes. We decided to meet back again at the end of the day to brainstorm possible solutions. So by the time I finished the day yesterday, it was after 3am. Yesterday wasn't all bad though... I did manage to get to Irving, Texas for the Cowboys-Packers game. :-)

We have few ideas to deal with the low belief numbers but I'm not entirely convinced we can reverse the trend. We are going to start with hosting a major media day at the North Pole next week... we held one last year and saw the belief numbers rise. We also plan on having me increase the number of appearances in public, including make another round of TV and Radio talk. Jolly wants to bring in an ad agency to launch a PR campaign but I vetoed that. I think our efforts require a more grass-roots & personal touch to truly make a difference. There are a few on the staff that think we should return to the days of leaving coal, ashes, and/or switches for those on the Naughty list. I'm not quite aligned with their thinking yet but their reasoning is that our decision to stop leaving something symbolic for the Naughty ones simply convinced them that there was no Santa. They connected "no gifts" with "no Santa" rather than "I might have been a little naughty this year". Our decision to stop leaving coal or other symbolic items for the Naughty list was driven by three factors... 1) tremendous cost savings in materials, 2) logistically it was challenging as it dramatically increased the number of houses we had to stop at & the inventory we had to carry on the sleigh, and 3) an insistence from our marketing folks that it would leave me appearing as "the Bad guy" and therefore ultimately damage the Santa and North Pole brands. While I don't buy the marketing reasoning, we could, with the new sleigh technology we have available, deal with the logistics of leaving coals... but it still doesn't seem to be the answer for the belief problem we are trying to solve. So stay tuned....

Today was pretty typical for a Christmas season Friday.... a few school visits (I made my first ones of the season today), mall appearances dominate the afternoon hours, and parades & other other Christmas events dominate the evening hours. The good news is that unlike most other nights of the Christmas season, we typically do not have any staff meetings on Friday nights. So I was able to get back here at the house an hour ago. Mrs. Claus and I had a cup of hot chocolate together before I retreated into my office to answer email and update my blog. When I finish this post, I'm going to grab the newspapers I didn't finish this morning and read by the fireplace for an hour or so before I retire for the evening.

Does Anyone Out There Still Believe?

The latest Belief Report is in and it is not pretty. I met today with Jingle (Chief of Staff) and Jolly (Chief Marketing Officer) to review the latest belief report. The numbers are the lowest in history. The good news is that these numbers are from polling data that was conducted in the first two weeks of November. We typically get a good bump after Thanksgiving, so it could be better. I think the Thanksgiving "bump" has something to do with my parade appearance in New York. Regardless, this new information concerns me. Belief in Santa is down dramatically amongst male & female 40 to 80 year olds as well as the males ages 12-19. All other age ranges & gender categories, with the exception of males & females ages 6-9, are down slightly. Females ages 6-9 are neutral and males ages 6-9 are up slightly. From a geographic perspective, only Australia had a favorable trend.

On the upside, the latest analysis of the Naughty and Nice lists show that "Nice" continues to grow. We have been averaging a 1% increase each day since Thanksgiving. Jolly is predicting, based on historical patterns, that the number will level off around the first of December and that we should expect another upwards trend the week of December 17th.

I'm calling an emergency session tomorrow of the senior staff to discuss the implications of the belief report. As far as I'm concerned, all options are on the table.

Dancer

I had the opportunity to spend some quality time with Dancer today. The number of mall appearances was down significantly from what I had done Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and even Monday. Because of that, I took the smaller sleigh and only required one reindeer. On the days when I have a lot of appearances, I usually take a team of 4 reindeer and a couple of elves. Because it was a slower day, we also had some time between appearances and were able to eat lunch together.

I had picked Dancer to join me because he seemed a little down when I had last spoken with him on Sunday at the North Pole Village Christmas tree lighting. He wasn't obviously depressed but he definitely was not his normal self. That struck me because Dancer is usually the life of the party. Great sense of humor, can chat it up with anyone about anything, never met anyone he didn't like, always a smile on his face... and a little bit of a prankster. So I decided Sunday evening that I would ask him to join me on today's trek.

And sure enough, Dancer was not his normal self this morning. Although he did brighten up a little when I asked him to join me today. But at lunch I went ahead and asked him what had him so down. He was hesitant to tell me at first, embarrassed that he even cared about such things. Turns out that he is a little upset that he only has 6% of the vote in the "Favorite Reindeer Poll" on my blog. Dancer said that he is used to being the most popular reindeer around the North Pole Village and it really threw him off that he is one vote away from being in last place. We talked for a while. I kept steering the conversation back to how well liked he was by thousands of elves & reindeer at the North Pole. And I made a point to have him focus on how blessed he is. By the end of the day, he was definitely on the rebound... but I don't think fully there. I kind of wish now that I had not put the poll up. I didn't imagine that any of the reindeer would have their feelings hurt. And I don't believe any of the others really care. Nevertheless, I'll discuss it with them later tonight as we have a flight planning meeting in an hour.

I am certainly not going to endorse one reindeer over another in the poll... but, a few votes cast Dancer's way wouldn't hurt. So if you want to share the poll with some of your friends...

Setting Expectations

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, we have started to receive letters from around the world. I've also been skimming some of the "open letters" posted to me on the internet and in newspapers around the world. I love reading all of the kind notes and innocent requests this time of year. If those letters don't put you in the Christmas Spirit, I don't know what will.

I have also started to make mall appearances. And a few snotty nosed kids with attitudes, screaming & terrified toddlers, dirty diapered infants, and adults lamely trying to be funny by sitting on Santa's lap aside, the mall interaction is also largely a lot of fun. And every so often, in one of those interactions with child, I see a little Christmas magic. I see the lights go on in their eyes and I know they leave a different kid... one that will believe in Santa forever. The vast majority of the time, I leave the mall in much better Christmas Spirits than before I arrived. It is this that gives me the energy to get through the day.

Nevertheless, there are always a few requests that I just can not fill or are absurdly insane. "What?!" you may ask incredulously. But let me remind you that I am not supernatural. I have limits just like everyone else. So I want to take this opportunity, early in the Holiday season, to set some expectations.

First, I simply can not fill requests for husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, etc. The Legal department here at North Pole Inc. has been very clear that fulfilling any such requests could be construed as an act in violation of International Human Trafficking laws. The risk of such a perception is too great and far outweighs any benefits that could be gained. We can, however, recommend a few good match-making sites upon request.

We also have a number of requests for exorbitant gifts. More often than not, the folks that make those requests are on the "Naughty" list. But for those that are on the "Nice" list, we do have a few rules. We do not deliver gifts over US$25,000 in value unless there is a special exemption granted by our independent auditors. Granting requests over US$25,000 usually requires a pretty extensive background check and involves someone with a life-long tenure on the "Nice" list. Gifts between US$1,000 and US$24,999 also require a minimum of 2 consecutive years on the "Nice" list.

There there are the requests for visiting with me or the reindeer on Christmas Eve. There are so many children that want me to wake them up so they can visit. I would love nothing more than to be able to do that but we are on such a tight schedule, its just not possible. And even if I had the time, I don't think I would risk it. In the early days, when I didn't have so many houses to visit, I would occasionally honor a request to visit and introduce the reindeer. Inevitably though, someone's dog or cat would go into "attack mode" as soon as the reindeer came in the house. It's understandable.... its a natural behaviour for the dog. But the reindeer would get spooked. And on occasion, I'd have a mess to clean-up before I left. Good thing I keep a "pooper-scooper" in the sleigh. Its just not worth all the stained carpets even if I could keep schedule.

Speaking of animals... Live animals are another controversial issue. We debate our ability to deliver live animals every year. Each year we re-visit various governmental policies on the import/export of live animals. Inevitably, the topic leads to a heated debate over whether or not we should even be in the business of fulfilling Christmas wishes for live animals. We keep the option open every year... working with the UN and individual nations to negotiate special considerations for our Christmas delivery of live animals... however, more years than not, we have chosen to not fulfill Christmas requests for live animals. As you can imagine, it is a passionate debate with more than one facet to the sides that are taken. While we all feel strongly about making the kids happy, there are some that believe that should trump all other considerations. There is a camp, represented by Jolly, our Chief Marketing Officer, that believes that the risk of the animals falling sick and/or passing away shortly after delivery only serves to hurt our brand. There is yet another camp, predictably led by Ollie, our VP of Logistics, that simply believes the live animal logistics are so complex - not to mention expensive - that it jeopardizes our ability to fulfill our commitments on other deliveries. Ollie definitely has a point... almost 55% of the qualifying "nice" list kids placed live animal requests of some type last year. And the requests are for a wide range of animals that require vastly different types of care. Of the ones that asked for live animals last year, 32% wanted a horse or pony. 29% wanted a dog. 16% wanted a snake. 11% wanted a cat. 4% wanted a bird of some type. 2% wanted to keep one of the reindeer. The remaining 6% wanted some other type of animal ranging from goldfish to crocidiles. Of course, even in the years when we decide to tackle the challenge of delivering live animals and we clear all of the various governmental hurdles, we still require written parental consent. And we have always denied requests for animals that posed a risk such as poisonous snakes or large predatory animals. In short, even in the best case years, it remains very unlikely a child will receive a live animal. In 2007, we are going to follow the same practices & policies as last year: allowing live animals where it is legal and where we have written parental consent. Given those considerations, Sprite, head of Procurement, believes we'll deliver approximately 23,000 small animals and 4,500 large animals worldwide this year, down slightly from last year. It's a small number as far as a percentage but we are extremely limited by the sheer number of parents that refuse to grant permission.

And finally, there is the issue of "Open Letters" posted on the internet in places such as MySpace and Facebook as well as in the media. Despite the help of my very capable friends at Google (and Yahoo!), I can not guarantee that I will see your open letter. The North Pole Inc. I.T. team crawls sites during this time of year for Open Letters and produces a summary of links for me. But even with that help, our research indicates that there is still a high likelihood of your open letter being missed. So your best bet is to send me a direct correspondence. Of course, I have noticed that most people send me direct correspondence via emails or handwritten letter for their requests but then use the open letter format to file complaints. Still, I try to read and respond to them all regardless of the spirit.

I hope this has helped to set a few expectations for this upcoming Christmas Eve. I also hope you are not too disappointed. Santa definitely wants to spread Joy throughout the world this Christmas season, so if these restrictions create an issue for you, let's talk. I'm sure there are some very creative ways you can make this your best Christmas ever... And it probably starts with trying to make this the best Christmas ever for someone else!

Griswald's Revenge

Merry Christmas, Everyone! Today was (and is typically) one of my favorite days of the Christmas season. Today is the day the North Pole Village was decorated for Christmas. I suspect many of you might think the North Pole is always decorated but it is not. We do keep a few Christmas symbols up and it is always snowy but the full decorations - garlands, Christmas trees, mistletoe, lights, etc. - are saved for the first Sunday after Thanksgiving through the Orthodox Russian Christmas in early January.

I reviewed this year's plans with the North Pole Decorating Committee yesterday. The biggest concern in recent years has been the power requirements. 4 years ago, we underestimated the power required to run all the lighted decorations and it sent a rolling black-out across Northern Europe and Asia. We have since upgraded our own power supplies and put in breakers to prevent any issues from entering the main grid.

When I awoke this morning, I went for a run - I hope I can keep a 5- to 6-day a week running schedule this Christmas season - and jogged through the Village. Even at 4:30am, the square was full of elves and reindeer buzzing around with decorations. It is a long & very busy day to get everything up in time for the evening celebration.

My day was pretty typical for the Christmas season. Whirlwind tour around the Americas and Europe for parades, tree-lightings, and mall appearances. I had one visit with a Head of State to negotiate trade regulations. But when I returned earlier this evening, everything looked good and I signed off to let the official tree lighting go on as scheduled (ironic that we have our own tree lighting, eh?). And it was fun. Hot Chocalate, roasted chestnuts, hot apple cider, ginger bread cookies, Christmas carols... how much more fun could it have been? The best part was that I was able to just be myself and enjoy the ceremony as a participant. Mrs. Claus had the lighting honors at the North Pole tree lighting ceremony as she does every year.

After the ceremony, I grabbed a non-fat, sugar-free Ginger Bread Latte from Starbucks and headed over to the office, where I am at now, to post this update. I'm finished with the latte, so I think I'm going to walk back over and pick up another one, before retiring back to office at home to answer a few emails before I go to bed. Have a great evening everyone!

Finding My Pace

I awoke a little before 4am this morning so I could get in a quick run. I only had a couple hours of sleep but that's the norm for me during the 4-6 weeks before Christmas. The snow was blowing hard and the winds whipping up to 30 mile an hour gusts. It was the first major storm of the season but I knew I needed to get out and get the blood flowing. I was only out for 30 minutes or so but, as cold & windy as it was, the run did serve to wake me up. By the time I got back to the house, one of the elves had a roaring fire going in the kitchen fireplace and a fresh pot of Christmas blend coffee. I grabbed 5 or 6 newspapers (note: Did you know I subscribe to most of the major newspapers around the world? Given my public role & responsibility, I believe I need to stay abreast of current events on a broad, global basis) and sat down with the coffee after I removed my 4 layers of running apparel. By the time I had finished 4 cups of coffee and skimmed the paper, I was feeling pretty good. I'm not sure if it was a good dose of the Christmas Spirit or the caffenine but I definitely had a Holiday buzz going.

After my shower, I had my first meeting of the day over breakfast. I met with the North Pole Decorating Comittee for the final review of the 2007 Annual Village Decoration Plan. We are returning to our long-standing tradition of decorating the North Pole on the first Sunday after Thanksgiving. We took a one year hiatus from that tradition last year to accomodate a media day event. We decorated on December 1st last year. But this year, the decorations go up tomorrow. The plans look great. Somehow every year they seem to raise the bar and do something just a little more spectacular than the year before. I can't wait to see it tomorrow night.


After the meeting, I travelled to parades and event appearances across Europe from Russia to the UK before travelling to North America for a day-long criss-cross of the continent making parade & mall appearances first and then doubling back for tree-lighting ceremonies. I had one brief appearance in Buenos Aires and one in Melbourne. I typically make a special one-week trip to cover Africa & Oceania, so I did not visit them today. I also skipped Asia. Very rarely am I requested for appearances there before the 1st of December.

After returning to the North Pole, I headed over to the mail center where we are just beginning to receive the first Christmas letters. Postal services all over the world hold our letters until this time of year. Despite new technology advancements like email, text messaging, etc. that allow for direct, real-time access to me, the number of letters are on track for another record year. I guess there is just something about putting crayon to paper that can't be replaced by a keyboard or thumbpad. By tomorrow, thanks to our high-speed sorting system and real-time information systems, I will have reports showing me the real demand by toy. It is these reports that are critical to our ability to deliver on our guarantee of 99.9% fulfillment of the qualifying* Christmas wishes. The operation was as impressive as ever. After leaving the building housing the main hub, I met Jingle for a late night dinner to review overall status. Mrs. Claus joined us... otherwise I don't think I would have seen her during waking hours today.


After dinner, I came back here to my office at the Headquarters to post this blog. I've got a couple of conference calls to make still tonight and I want to answer at least a few emails. I could have done it at home but was afraid I might be too comfortable and find myself dozing off during the conference calls. Anyway, I only have 3 or 4 minutes before my call, so I better close up here. Have a great Sunday tomorrow.



* Qualifying is defined as "under USD 10,000 in value and made by an individual with a confirmed status of 'nice' for 24 or more consecutive months".

Black Friday

Retailers in the USA refer to the day after Thanksgiving as "Black Friday". It is the single biggest shopping day of the year. It literally can make or break the quarter for many retailers. The good news is that the 2007 version of Black Friday seems to have been pretty good to the retailers... and subsequently the economy... despite the economic jitters caused by rising oil prices and mortgage default-driven challenges of the financial community. But that doesn't necessarily mean good news for me. More on that in a minute...

Do you ever have those days where something happens right when you wake up - or very shortly thereafter - and nothing seems to go right for the rest of the day? Like you are a step behind until you go to sleep and start over the next day? Well... my day was like that. Generally things went well but I couldn't help but feel I was just a little off my game. It's hard to explain but I think most of you understand what I'm talking about.

I fell asleep in my recliner around 2:30am in the midst of watching Survivor: China. The last thing I remember was the teams were getting ready for the reward challenge. Then the next thing I know I'm wide awake. I had been watching a recorded version on my DVR and when it stopped around 3:30am, I woke up. I guess my brain had been tuned into hearing the TV in the background and when it stopped it startled me enough to wake. But I was wide-awake... a good hour earlier than I had planned. After 15 minutes of trying to convince myself I could go back to sleep and finally realizing I was only fooling myself, I went downstairs to make a pot of Christmas Blend coffee and a breakfast of eggs and left-over turkey. I might could have gotten to sleep if I had go to bed but I was afraid I would wake Mrs. Claus. But as I entered the kitchen, I was startled to see Mrs. Claus there - fully dressed and clearly ready to leave the house - putting her dishes away. On the counter was a foil covered plate with breakfast for me and the coffee pot set to go. "Hi, Honey!" she exclaimed, clearly much more awake than I was. "What are you doing up?", I grumbled. Based on the face she made, I wasn't nearly as cheery as she was. But she patiently reminded me that she was headed to New York City for some of the Day After Thanksgiving sales. There have only been a handful of times that she has gone to the sales on "Black Friday" and the last time must have been 20 years ago. At least 15. She doesn't need to go. We have access to virtually anything in our own inventories but she says she enjoys the inexplicable 'buzz' that permeates the malls. I happen to think she has a competitive side to her that relishes fighting someone for that last special thing thats on sale... but I don't tell her that. Anyway, she reminds me that I am to pick her up in New York and she will travel with me on the remainder of my mall appearances for the day. How could I have forgotten that? It probably has been 15 years since she went out with me on mall appearances. She shops while I talk to the children but we get to visit in between malls and we have lunch together. It's a lot of fun. And it was again this year. (We had lunch in St. Louis)

After Mrs. Claus left and I finished breakfast, I ran for 30 minutes on the treadmill. Bad choice. Every so often I stop thinking or something (there is no other way to explain it) and I try to exercise right after I eat. It is just not fun. So after a shower, I rushed off to the 5am staff meeting and walked in right as the clocks struck 5am.

Everyone was at the staff meeting... Jingle (Chief of Staff), Melody (Internal Communications, Public Relations, Legal and Community Affairs), Jangle (Chief Financial Officer), Snowflake (Chief Information Officer), Jolly (Chief Marketing Officer), and Candy (Chief Operations Officer). Candy's team is a part of the senior staff meetings. Her team includes Bo (Production), Sprite (Procurement), Star (Advanced RD&D), Ollie (Logistics), North (HR plus Elf & Reindeer Affairs) and Bob (Flight Operations). All areas reported ready to go now that they could count on the elves showing up to work. Most of the staff had been up since 2am re-working their resource plans now that the strike is over. The plan was to ramp up to 50% capacity today and grow to 100% by Sunday. That's not normal but given the number of items we had de-scoped from the work leading up to Thanksgiving due to the strike, we didn't have any other alternatives. Overall though, we believe we have a good plan to get back on track. We also covered the Naughty/Nice list and the long-range weather forecast. Nice is up again this year! 2.1% increase... not as high as I had expected from the early reads (i.e. sampling data) but still healthy.

After staff meeting, it was off to make the round of mall appearances through out the day. 32 cities and 43 malls! And they were all packed. The lines did not slow down. At times I think I was averaging about 3 children per minute, they were moving them through the line so fast. But they had to or the mall walkways were going to grid-lock. And of course after the malls, it was time for early evening parades and a few tree lighting appearances. After a quick dinner in Boston with a couple of my staff to de-brief the first day of operations, I was back in the sleigh and on my way to New York and LA for late night show appearances. Then it was back to the North Pole. I stopped in to see Mrs. Claus for a moment and tell her goodnight, then it was off to the main North Pole Production Facility for a brief walk through with Jingle, Candy, and Bo. And finally I came back here to catch up on email, though I was able to answer a few through the day on my iPhone, and write this blog post. So now its off to bed. I hope your Black Friday was a good one. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

After The Turkey

Wow! Every year I eat too much. You would think I'd learn by now. But Mrs. Claus puts together the world's best Thanksgiving Feast every year. Each year, I think the turkey, gravy, stuffing, ham, corn, biscuits, bread, cranberry sauce, apple pie, pumpkin pie, sweet potatoes, etc. can't get any better.... and then it does. This might not be a problem but I have to be up & running at full speed first thing in the morning. Tomorrow marks our first full day of ramped-up Christmas Eve preparations. And with the strike over, it appears we are going to be operating at full capacity. But before I start talking about tomorrow, let me tell you a little bit about one of the best Thanksgivings I have had in a few years.


First of all, Thanksgiving is second only to Christmas Day here at the North Pole. Maybe it is because it is the last chance we have to relax before the chaos of Christmas Eve preparations. Or maybe it is because of it is the unofficial start to the most wonderful time of the year. Or maybe it is because it is truly a time of reflection on how God has blessed us. Regardless, the Thanksgiving Eve preparations are exceeded in intensity only by the preparations on December 23rd and the early morning hours of the 24th.

Every Thanksgiving I take the opportunity to get out by myself for a few minutes and give thanks for my incredibly blessed life. This year I am the most grateful for the resolution of the elf labor crisis. Specifically, I'm thankful that the elves not only came back to work but that we were able to clear up our misunderstanding over the outsourced capacity and they came back happily... not just because they need a paycheck. Anyway, I concluded my walk at the Starbucks in the Village Square just as they were opening. I ordered my first Christmas Blend coffee of the year and enjoyed it on the bench outside the store. The Christmas magic in the square was palpable as it began to fill up with elves & reindeer going to visit friends and family on this last day before the Christmas rush. I was able to visit with a few old friends as they made their way in to the Starbucks for their morning coffee. Before I knew it, it was time to head back for my traditional Thanksgiving pancake breakfast with Mrs. Claus. I grabbed a Venti non-fat, sugar-free Ginger Bread Latte for the cold walk back.

After breakfast, I flew down to New York for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade along with Jingle. Of course, the Macy's parade was the first of a host of other parades across the USA. By the time we finished the last parade on the west coast, I had just enough time to get back and catch the second half of the Green Bay-Detroit game. Just like last year, Jingle, Peter, North, Blitzen, Comet, and a few friends from the US that are visiting for the Thanksgiving holiday settled in to my downstairs den to watch the game on the big screen. Mrs. Claus had arranged for snacks and drinks. We all had our own recliners and a big roaring fire. How much better does it get than that? They all stayed through the Dallas game but they skipped the third game and took off afterwards to get ready for the Thanksgiving Day Banquet. I set the DVR to record Survivor: China... I'll watch that later tonight while I wind down with a cup of egg nog.

The Thanksgiving Day Banquet was fantastic! The place was packed. Just 48 hours earlier, I thought we might have a half-empty banquet room with all the elves on strike. Tonight it was like the strike never happened. Everyone was back laughing, singing Christmas carols, dancing, and telling old Christmas Eve "war stories". There is an incredible energy this year. I think we all know we have a lot of work ahead of us to get back on schedule for a successful Christmas Eve but we are all so relieved that we averted potential disaster, that everyone is jazzed up for the work.

I want you to know that Mrs. Claus works unbelievably hard to make this a success every year. She insists on cooking it all herself. I learned years ago that she is not going to let me help her... of course, I offer every year and every year she turns me away. All day yesterday she was in the kitchen. She must have been in there 18 hours straight. But... wow! Did it pay-off! Great meal.

Well, as full as I was when I started this post, I think I'm going to slip back into the kitchen and see if I can make a turkey sandwich before I call Jingle. I want to touch base with him on the agenda for tomorrow morning's staff meeting. 5am start time for the meeting. Operations crank up at 6am. Then its 24x7 for the operations all the way through Christmas Day. After the call with Jingle, I'll settle in my recliner to watch the recording of Survivor: China before I turn in for an hour or two of sleep.


Let the Holidays begin! Happy Thanksgiving & Good Night To All!


Love, Santa

For Those In The USA... & Beyond

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

While Thanksgiving is a US-based holiday & we are Norwegian, Mrs. Claus and I have celebrated it since its inception as an official holiday. We love the idea and spirit of it... a time to reflect and thank God for all of His wonderful blessings. The timing of the US Thanksgiving is perfect for jump-starting the holiday season... so we adopted it. No matter where you are in the world, I encourage you to take a moment and reflect on everything you have to be thankful for.

I have a lot to be thankful for this year. I am particularly grateful that the elves strike is over. It is good to have them back. Not just in time for the ramp-up to full operations but also in time to enjoy Thanksgiving Dinner with us.

It's going to be a great Holiday season, a very Merry Christmas, and a blessed New Year.

BREAKING NEWS: ELVES RETURN TO WORK

Press Release
For Immediate Release

ELVES VOTE TO RETURN; REMOVE JIMMY HOLIDAY FROM OFFICE

In a vote called late tonight over the objection of Union officials, members of the International Fraternity of Elves (IFE) first removed Jimmy Holiday and other officers of the Union by a 93% majority. The subsequent vote to end the strike that began on July 8th and return to work passed with over a 98% majority.

Newly elected IFE President Sven Snow told reporters that "...the strike was a terrible misunderstanding regarding the purpose and intent of North Pole Inc.'s outsourcing initiative. That was clearly understood by the vast majority of elves as early as August but the previous union leadership had other motivations. We are just happy to return to our labor of love and we'll do everything possible to ensure this year's Christmas is the best ever."

Jingle, Santa's Chief of Staff, was qouted as saying "We are happy to have all of the elves back. This has been a difficult and trying time. We truly regret the misunderstanding that led to this but we applaud the elves' desire to get back to work and to save Christmas 2007."

Santa Claus was in route back to the North Pole at the time of the vote. He was contacted by Jingle just minutes after the result was confirmed. "Christmas 2007 has been saved. Children worldwide can rest easier tonight. We have a lot of hardwork ahead of us to get back on track but with the help of the elves and our partners, we are confident we can deliver at 100% this year. I want to thank the elves for their decision to return. They always have been and always will be family. This was just an ugly misunderstanding and, as CEO, I take responsibility for us not better communicating our outsourcing plans in a way that the elves here at the North Pole could understand and believe that their jobs will not be impacted. But for now, we are just glad to have them back!"

The elves vote to return is effective immediately.

Please Direct All Media Inquiries To Melody In Public Relations

Slow Returns

Today is typically the traditional first day of returns for elves, reindeer, and other North Pole employees. Unfortunately, due to the elves' strike, there are not nearly as many flights in and out of the Flight Operations center as most years. There are some elves here... many are frustrated with IFE union leadership and broke ranks to return... as are all the reindeer and other employees but it clearly does not have the same "buzz" around the town square as we usually have two days before Thanksgiving and three days before the ramp-up to full Operations.


I went for a run first thing this morning. I needed to get out and clear my head. I had tossed and turned all night last night thinking about the strike and its impact on this Christmas. But the run was a good therapy. The cold air, the sound of my footsteps crunching in the fresh snow, the bright moonlight, and the warm, yellow glow from the village was a great escape from the worries that had me tossing and turning all night. I headed out of the village for a couple of miles before turning back into the village and finishing up in the town square. I arrived in the square just as the Starbucks was opening. The smell of coffee lured me in. A 16oz cup House blend was exactly what I needed to re-energize. I sipped it while catching up with Ollie and Bo. Ollie is the head of Logistics and Bo is the head of Production. Both report to Candy, my Chief Operations Officer. And both had just arrived back at the North Pole last night after taking their families on vacation. The first few weeks of November are a traditional time for staff to take their vacations, as is January. Since everyone knows we are going to be work 16+ hour days from late November through Christmas Eve, they take the November time to spend with family. Ollie had been in Bali with his wife. Bo had taken his family to Tahiti. Both were excited to be back but obviously concerned about the strike. As elves themselves, they have a number of family members - non-management - who are on strike. It has been a stressful time for them as they have tried to be supportive of family but also try to explain why they supported the North Pole Inc. plans. After talking to them for about 30 minutes, I grabbed a venti, non-fat Caramel Latte for the walk back to the house. Mrs. Claus had breakfast waiting for me.


We had our first staff meeting this afternoon. It was a good news, bad news type of meeting. The good news is that the preliminary "naughty & nice" reports are in and the nice side of the ledger is higher than at any time since 1948. The bad news is, of course, the strike. Every area of operations... flight operations, distribution, production, etc.... reported a "red" status. Almost every area is projecting to be at less than 50% of capacity when we begin full operations on Friday. Even if the strike were to end today, it would be close to December 1st before we could get to 100%. To hit targets, we'd have to exceed and maintain 120% of our normal capacity & productivity by December 7th to fill orders at 100%. It's do-able but very optimistic. Of course, if we are anything here at the North Pole, we are optimistic.


Well... I need to go. I have a conference call with one of the toy manufacturer CEOs. We are going to discuss the possibility of using some of their staff and facilities to add production capacity. After that, I get a de-brief on the long-range weather forecast. Then its time to catch-up on email for a couple of hours before turning in around 2am. Good night.

Jingle Java, Jingle Java

The Holiday season is growing near! Despite my concerns about the elves strike, I can sense the Christmas spirit starting to work its magic. I am so busy it is almost overwhelming. And yet no matter how hard we work, it seems that we are not at all prepared for this upcoming season. Still... we all seem a little happier each day. There seems to be a little more energy each day. I can feel it in the air around here at the North Pole.

Today was a traditional milestone day for me... though I must admit, it is a fairly new tradition relatively speaking. The shipment of Starbucks Christmas Blend coffee beans arrived today! I don't know how many sleighs landed but it was pretty big convoy that brought in the season's supply. We don't serve any other coffee from Thanksgiving Day through New Years Day anywhere throughout the North Pole Operations.... so it takes a lot of coffee, as you can imagine. What a wonderful aroma though as they unloaded bags and bags of freshly roasted Christmas blend coffee beans! I can't wait to taste that spicy & sweet coffee on Thanksgiving morning (I never drink it before Thanksgiving Day... another tradition). No wonder I am feeling more in the Christmas spirit!


We did have a few elves show up for work today. Jingle tells me that about 10% of the workforce has returned since we sent out the letter last week but Jimmy Holiday and the IFE remain committed to continuing the strike. I have asked them again to meet for talks and again Jimmy has refused.

As I'm thinking about it... if you have been away for a while, I encourage you to read up on everything that has happened since the New Year. I tried to log something every month so you could keep up. Also, note that you can leave comments here but I also have a new email address this Christmas season... you can reach me at SantaNorthPoleCEO@gmail.com

Enough for now. Mrs. Claus needs me to go over the final list for Thursday's Thanksgiving celebration before I head to a midnight conference call with Jingle (he's out of the office... it's noon where he is at).

SANTA BLOG TO RESUME HOLIDAY SCHEDULE

Press Release
For Immediate Release

SANTA BLOG TO RESUME HOLIDAY SCHEDULE

Effective immediately, Santa Claus will resume regular updates to his Christmas Blog (www.clauschronicles.blogspot.com). Monthly updates continued throughout the "off-season" but Santa plans to return to providing near-daily updates.

"We are very happy with our off-season results. Despite limited updates, we recorded over 1500 unique visitors from the first of August through the end of October. During that time, we had readers from 67 countries on 6 different continents. For those that did not visit us in the off-season, we encourage you to read the off-season posts from January through today," stated Jingle, Chief of Staff for North Pole Inc.

Jingle reminded visitors that Santa's Christmas Blog is "ad-free". It is purely a labor of love from Santa. The "Big Guy"... as Santa is affectionately referred to by his closest friends... hopes the blog serves to further the Magic of Christmas and add a little bit of joy to the lives of all who read it... children and adults alike.

Also of note, Santa's email address has changed this year. In addition to adding comments to his posts, he can now be reached at SantaNorthPoleCEO@gmail.com.

Tentative plans are in place to host chat sessions with Santa on GoogleTalk later this year.

Enjoy the blog! We hope you share it with your friends and family.


Please Direct All Media Inquiries To Melody In Media Relations & Corporate Communications.

NPI Corporate Responsibility Site Launched

Press Release
For Immediate Release

North Pole Inc. Launches Site Highlighting Commitment To Corporate Responsibility

At a press conference following a 2 day summit of global 100 CEOs hosted by Santa Claus, North Pole Inc. announced earlier today (5 Nov 2007) the launch of a web-site outlining the company's commitment to Corporate Responsibility. The summit of CEOs was focused on identifying opportunities for corporations to work together in addressing concerns around the environment, workers' rights, education, and variety of other issues.

The site can be accessed at: www. northpolecorporateresponsibility.blogspot.com

Please Direct All Media Inquiries To Melody In Public Relations

First Post of November 2007

The good news is that I am about to begin posting more frequently as we approach the Holiday season. If you haven't been following my posts during the off-season, I encourage you to go back and catch up... I've missed you.

The bad news is that the IFE (International Fraternity of Elves) strike is continuing. Our Christmas Eve operations for 2007 are in serious jeopardy. It is doubtful we'll be able to fill any more than 50% of the "nice list". There would be no hope at all but we reached an agreement with two major global logistics providers just last week. That agreement will partially mitigate the fact that our own elf-run distribution network is shut-down.

Out of respect for the union we have not called for the elves to break strike lines and return to work; however, after meeting with a number of elves, Jingle and I have decided - along with the rest of the North Pole Inc executive team - to call for the elves to return. We are convinced that the vast majority of elves are not in favor of the strike and are being used by Jimmy Holiday and the union leadership for personal gain. The official letter, requesting the return to work and the dissolution of the union, will be mailed tomorrow to each and every North Pole employee. It is our last hope for any chance at a full Christmas Eve.

It is not all bleak though. I am currently hosting a global 100 CEO summit. Today was the first of two days. There was some great dialogue around social and environmental responsibility. We are demanding a bigger commitment to corporate responsibility from our suppliers and believe that we can be change agents in transforming how multi-national companies interact with their communities. We believe that we are leading the way here at the North Pole and hope to be able share some of our successes with you soon. More to come...