Western Europe

We remain on track as we begin the western European phase of our Christmas Eve Operation. I just got off the phone with Mrs. Claus and she is reporting all is well at HQ and at all of our worldwide replenshment centers. The Asia, Africa, and Pacific based replenishment centers are all now formally shut down and the staff are headed home to spend the rest of Christmas with their families. The eastern European and Middle East replenishment centers are now ramping down their operations and should be able to go home within the next couple of hours. In North & South America, operations are standing ready for our arrival. Some snow across Canada and the northern US was causing issues earlier today but those have been resolved.

I do want to take a moment and thank all of the wonderful employees & partners of North Pole Inc. for their dedication to making this night (and tomorrow morning) a such a huge success. They are all... every individual... as responsible for the magical spirit of Christmas as I am. I realize I get a lot of the headlines and credit but without the thousands of individuals around the world that care so much for the children, this would not be possible. To all of you, I offer the deepest and heart-felt THANK YOU. You have made the world a better place.

Before we touch down on this next rooftop, I want to remind you that we do have a battery shortage. There are teams scrambling in North & South America to try and get last minute shipments to our replenishment centers but it remains likely that I may not be able to deliver all of the batteries required. I apologize for that right now but hope that it doesn't keep you from having a great Christmas.