By Ashley St. Michel
Staff Writer
    Only weeks before Santa makes his annual sleigh ride around the globe filling houses with presents for wide-eyed children, a few of the experts at Kennebunk Elementary School set the record straight on a few things about Santa, his reindeer and how he ever fits down those chimneys.
    The experts are two first grade students, Taylor Nguyen and Alden Shields and two kindergarten students, Tiernan Connors and Parran Trentalange.
    The group started with the construction of Santa’s house, stating firmly that the house is under the snow that falls year-round at the North Pole.
    “It is a secret house that no one can see because of the snow that covers it,” Taylor said. “He has a huge bedroom where he sleeps in an even bigger bed.”
    Taylor said Santa has the biggest room in the world because he does so much good for children, and the rest of the group unanimously agreed. Alden added the reason Santa’s house is always under the snow is because the house never lets anything but snowflakes fall from the sky.
    Tiernan said because of the cold weather, which all the experts agreed was to keep Santa safe from the bad people in the world, jolly old St. Nick has to sport his bright red coat. She added Santa wears two jackets when he is flying from home to home on Christmas.
    “He has to wear his big beard so long because it keeps his face warm,” Alden chimed in, and added his hat and his “fat belly” also help keep Santa safe from the cold.
    The group also discussed how St. Nick and his elves see all the children during the year so he knows which children are good and which are bad.
    “He has magical ears so he can hear everything that everyone says at the same time and he has magical eyes that help him see everything he wants,” Taylor said.
    The group said although he has the option to see and hear everything or everyone at the same time, he only uses his power to watch children and he can concentrate the power to watch one or two children at the same time. The group confirmed he can see the children as if he were standing over them, but the children can never see him.
  Another way he uses his invisibility powers is when he hears a child coming. Taylor said children are never allowed to see him when he delivers presents on Christmas Eve, which he prevents from happening by blinking his magical eyes and going invisible any time he hears a child coming.
  Alden said Santa also uses his invisibility powers when he comes to a house that isn’t equipped with a chimney or fireplace.
    “He makes himself go invisible before he gets to the front door and he goes invisible through the door,” Alden said and added St. Nick also has the power to float, although he doesn’t know how to actually fly like a bird. Alden said he can suspend himself in the air and go invisible should someone try to sneak up on him.
    The group explained how Santa gets down all those chimneys even after eating all the goodies that children leave for him on Christmas night.
    “He has magical powers that allow him to make the chimney wide enough so he can slide right down,” Taylor said.
    Tiernan added if the house doesn’t have a chimney Santa can either float through the front door like Alden said or come through the fireplace. She said he uses another magical power to put out the fire if there is one going before coming through.  
    The group also discussed how the reindeer fly all night across the planet. Tiernan said the reindeer have wings children can’t see, while Parran said he had physical evidence of the reindeer having hearts which allow them to fly. Parran said the reindeer have hearts that act as wings because they must have a lot of heart to bring Santa from house to house on Christmas.
    The experts all disagreed on the actual age of Santa, Alden said he is 102, Taylor said he is 99, Tiernan said he is 60, while Parran said he is 70-years-old. All members agreed he is a very old man.
    The group explained the rules about how to get on a good list and how children get on the bad list at Christmas time.
    “The reason why most kids get on the bad list is because they don’t believe in Santa,” Alden said.
    Taylor chimed in stating some children end up on the bad list because they don’t do well in school.
    “If you do poorly you go on the bad list, you have to try hard in school,” Taylor said
    Alden said if children use bad words they can end up on the naughty list too.
    The group said although people may think Santa is at the heart of the toy-making duties, it is more about the elves.
    “It’s the elves that do all the work all year,” Taylor said, and added Santa likes to take vacation days during his 364 days off where he takes time to eat Jellybeans and enjoy numerous naps.
    Parran agreed with Taylor stating Santa needs to rest a lot during the off-season since he has to stay up for 24 hours straight delivering presents.
    As for the treats children leave at Christmas time, the experts said children can continue to give Santa cookies because he will always need a little extra weight to stay warm in his sleigh.    
To contact Ashley St. Michel, call 282-4337 ext. 228 or email news@kennebunkpost.co news@kennebunkpost.com.