Episode 130: Santa is Answering Questions From Kids

Children  0:00  
We think you should know that Imperfect Heroes podcast is a production of Little Hearts Academy USA.

DJ Stutz  0:09  
Welcome heroes and heroines to Episode 130 of Imperfect Heroes Insights into Parenting, the perfect podcast for imperfect parents looking to find joy in their experience of raising children in an imperfect world. And I'm your host DJ Stutz.

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Imperfect Heroes, where we explore the extraordinary world of parenting. And I am DJ Stutz. And I am your go-to early childhood specialist podcaster, author and parent coach. And so before we get started today, such an exciting episode, I can't stand it. But I want to let you know that up until January 1, I have got a special little gift for you. Because I know that we do a ton of traveling with our kids during the holidays. And so I have a special little workshop that has a lot of downloads, we have scavenger hunts and we have Are We There Yet maps and we have travel checklists and make sure that you don't forget anything. So a little hour-long workshop on how to travel with our kids with by air or by road. And things that we can do to make traveling more fun and easier for everybody, including the parents and the kids. It's not really that expensive. It's usually $25. But if you go on the website, and at checkout, use the coupon code Christmas, you're gonna get it for free. That just might help you with some of your travels as we go. So have fun with that. And right now though, I am so excited to introduce our special guest for today. And it is none other than the real, the original Santa Claus. Santa, how are you doing today? Oh,

Santa Claus  2:23  
DJ, I'm fine. Thank you really well.

DJ Stutz  2:27  
That is so good to hear. So Santa, you're up in the North Pole looks like things are nice and foresty behind you. What are things like right now up there? Is it windy and cold? Are you getting things ready?

Santa Claus  2:40  
Yes, we've we've had a bit of a heatwave recently. It's about minus 40 degrees. We cope with the heat. It's

DJ Stutz  2:49  
very, very hot. Very hot. Therefore you. Yes. So you're wearing your light jacket today, huh?

Santa Claus  2:57  
Yes. The elves are very busy. I haven't. I'm not doing quite so much just yet. So I've been able to pop out and do some visiting of really good children. So some of your listeners may have seen me recently at school or at a mall or Yeah,

DJ Stutz  3:13  
anywhere. They might have they might have. Well, I've been so excited because I knew you were coming on to talk to me pretty soon. And so I have been talking to some of my little friends from around. And I have been letting them know that I was going to be talking to Santa. And I said if you could ask Santa one question, what would your question be? And I've got some really fun questions from some of our listeners and some of my friends than some of my grandkids even. And so they're kind of interest. I'm sure you've heard all the questions, but they were fun for me. So let's get started right away. Santa. This first question comes from Sylvan and Sylvan just turned eight years old on Saturday. And yes, he was very excited. He had a wonderful birthday. And he is question was, how do those reindeer fly?

Santa Claus  4:19  
It's a mixture of things. They've been bred specially to be quite light boned. And only on Christmas Eve were allowed to use Christmas magic. And less than this part of it is the special breeding the same as Rudolph's nose is. Generations of elf scientists read. So we've got this one bioluminescent nose reindeer. So it's it's clever elves. Plus a bit of Christmas magic.

DJ Stutz  4:48  
That is amazing. Sylvan. I'm sure that that's a great answer for you. Well, Sylvan actually has a younger sister, who is five years old. Her and her name is Ingrid and they live in Northern Nevada. And we call her ag that she is a fun little girl. And so she was wondering though, what do the elves do during the summer? Some

Santa Claus  5:19  
of them go on holiday. But the funny thing is, they don't like heat at all. Come the summer, I'm having to go to Barbados or somewhere in South Africa in shorts and T shirts and not to be recognized. But a lot of them just for change of scenery go to the South Pole. I know. Yeah. But they love it.

DJ Stutz  5:41  
That is funny. So they go on vacation to the South Pole, where there's more snow, right? Absolutely.

Santa Claus  5:48  
It's nice and cold down there. Because of course, we're up in the north until this our summer. Right? It's winter. And they're, they're like the opposite of Sunberg. They love the dark and the cold.

DJ Stutz  6:03  
That is funny, and that has gone well. And then there's penguins down in the south pole, too. They don't go and then north pole. So maybe they get to have some fun with those penguins down there.

Santa Claus  6:13  
I think they might. Certainly I know. One of the girls was telling me a joke the other day. They're jokes aren't funny. You said what you call a penguin in the sentence village? And I said, Well, I don't I don't know who he is or anything. No, no, you just call him last.

DJ Stutz  6:33  
Because he shouldn't be. I love that. That is a fun one. That's a fun one. Okay, our next question comes from all of her who lives in Denver, and all of her seven years old. And he wanted to know if the elves have to go to school.

Santa Claus  6:59  
The young elves do yes. Because we call it centers village. But really it's is like a small city These days. Because there's so many houses, we have to go to so many children. You get a community of elders and you wind up with young elves move young adults. And it's what happens. And the new young girls, they have to go to school. So if you like the village has got teachers, it's got doctors and nurses it over in the Help Center, as well as what you'd think of immediately sort of making the toys and wrapping the presents and cleaning out the stables behind the rain there and prepping all harmless and everything. There's a whole an infrastructure like you'd have in a in a town in America. Oh, my

DJ Stutz  7:42  
goodness. So there really are dentists STELs, not

Santa Claus  7:46  
so much dentist as them because they're very, very lucky ELLs. Again, I don't know if it's breeding, but they have teeth that can eat candy canes all year and never get a cavity. No.

DJ Stutz  8:02  
Oh my goodness, for sure. Well, I remember when I was a little girl, I saw a TV show about an elf that wanted to be a dentist. And so that's why I asked but maybe it was just a TV show. And it was fiction, and not real.

Santa Claus  8:20  
Maybe he or she got her way.

DJ Stutz  8:24  
Or maybe who knows. There are a lot of us a lot

Santa Claus  8:26  
of films and TV shows. And they've got people who are pretending to me or pretending to be me or pretending to be ELS and they do it wrong. Yeah, but that's weird, isn't it as long as they're enjoying it.

DJ Stutz  8:39  
Right. Right. Well, and it seems like I have a lot of questions about elves. That's seems to be a curiosity for my kids. But the next question comes from a little girl, and her name is ISIS. And ISIS is six years old. And she lives in Arizona. But her question was about what elves look like. So she wanted to know if elves look like children, or do they look like small grownups? They're

Santa Claus  9:15  
not like children except for the elf children. But grown up else. They've got similar, same sort of proportions as grown up people. So they look like small people rather than like children dressed up.

DJ Stutz  9:31  
Ah, that's, that's interesting. That's interesting. Okay, so my next question comes from a young man named Jack. And Jack is four years old, and he lives in Oregon. And Jack was wondering the Santa or do the elves ever get sick and what happens when they get sick?

Santa Claus  9:59  
I'm not a young man anymore, sometimes I get on well, and the else they get they get sick or sometimes they get injured. In obviously, we have the best health and safety precautions we can. But there are illnesses that they get never to say. There are illnesses that they can catch. And then they go across to the health center to be treated and you've got like your hospital because I say it's like a little city. Right? So yes, they can get sick. Reindeer can get sick. Reindeer can get the thing called reindeer flu. That's dreadful. It's worse than man flu, if you can believe that. It's really bad. And fortunately, they tend to get that in the summer. So by the time we get to Christmas when I need them, they're fighting fit, right? don't normally have a problem. A few months back, Rudolph wasn't at all well, and its nose just faded to brown. There was no red in it. That's how come you know with Rudolph, you know when he's not well. Yeah, but he's fine. Now. He's fine now. It'd be fine. If we need him at Christmas. If it's Bobby.

DJ Stutz  11:11  
Oh, thank heavens. Yeah, cuz we want you to be safe, too. And you need that nose don't do?

Santa Claus  11:19  
Well, sometimes. Yes. Yes. Yeah.

DJ Stutz  11:22  
And so my next question actually comes from a little boy in Spain. And his name is Diego and his family listens to our podcast. And they sent in a question. And Diego was wondering, because they do January 6, they have the three kings come. And they leave out carrots for the camels at the windows. And so he was wondering, would the reindeer like carrots? And do kids sometimes leave carrots out for reindeers? Or do they ever get treats? Because I know they leave cookies for Santa sometimes?

Santa Claus  12:07  
Yes, a lot of children leave carrots for reindeer? Is it again, it's a clever idea of the hills. Because as our journeys got bigger and bigger, and the more and more places to go, wouldn't keep going back home for the reindeer to refuel, fill up. So one of the ask, What if we could get the very nicest, very kindest children check the nicest and get some of them to leave carrots for the reindeer? And I said, But what about me? And they said, Well, maybe you could have milk and cookies. And I thought what a great idea. So thing is the reindeer in lots of places have carrots. But can I? Can I ask you the children that listen, one special favor? Oh, yes. Thank you. Children. Would you ask your grownups if you're leaving a carer? Can they chop it up into eight pieces? That way? The reindeer won't argue over whose turn it is. But if it's foggy, can we have nine pieces? Because Thank you.

DJ Stutz  13:06  
That is such a great idea. Now Oh. Oh, oh. Oh, we don't want branders to argue with that made me think of a question, though, that they didn't answer is is it better to leave the carrots up on the rooftop? Or should they leave them on the lawn or by a windowsill? Where's the best place to leave carrots for the reindeer?

Santa Claus  13:41  
Really and truly was ever easiest for the grown ups because I can take them out to the reindeer. If they're indoors on plate or something I can just gather them up and take them out. Or if it's only one carrot, I can take it out and say now I think it's your turn and tried to affordable housing. It's very difficult for people to get up onto the roof to leave. Oh yeah. That's probably easiest. Putting stuff on the lawn might be awkward, because you might get rats and mice and critters just taking it away and then you get more grumpy reindeer

DJ Stutz  14:17  
and fat rats. And indeed. So that's a great idea is maybe have them right by your cookies with we leave cookies for you. That's a great idea. I'm glad I asked. That just made me think of a question on my own. So that's a fun one. Okay, so now this question came from a little girl in Wisconsin, and she is three years old. And her name is on Dean, which is a very unusual name. But she asked what is the name of Mrs. Sam had class.

Santa Claus  15:00  
Well, long time ago, when we were both a lot younger. I nearly always was called Father Christmas. And he was called. Yes, mother. And some people thought her name was Holly, or Carol. It was actually Mary. And she was merry Christmas.

DJ Stutz  15:18  
Oh, I like that. That's so nice. When she asked me I said, I don't know. I've never heard of her name. She's just always been Mrs. Santa to me. But I thought that was a cute question from a sweet little three year old with a an interesting name herself. Sorry, she's the one Oh, she's the brains of the operation. Yeah,

Santa Claus  15:44  
yeah, I think so basically, I'm just the driver. They don't even let me make many toys anymore. It's, I think, what is the mechanical toys in the computer toys. I love making a wooden rocking horse or wooden tray. But there's not quite the demand that they used to be. And so it's more than stuff. They also really good at with circuit boards. And I'm not good for circuit training or anything. So So

DJ Stutz  16:16  
what was interesting when you said that she is the brains of the operation? And so that kind of makes me wonder what kind of things does Mrs. Santa Claus do?

Santa Claus  16:27  
Well, she worked with the ELS in developing the genetics program. Get us the better reindeer. She was the one who said no, don't even try it with elephants because I wondered at first would elephants work? No. And she does a thing that she calls logistics. And she works out where we go when and make sure that we get everything done at the right time in one place. And as I say she's really the brain. Not even much of a toymaker anymore. But I am the driver and the delivery guy. If you like I'm front of house and she's sort of backstage, the half.

DJ Stutz  17:09  
Sounds like a big job though. A lot of work.

Santa Claus  17:14  
Yeah, but But it's wonderful. Because it's wonderful to work with the person you love, isn't it? So? Oh, for sure.

DJ Stutz  17:22  
Yeah, and that's nice when you have that. Okay, so the next question comes from Ethan. And Ethan is from Littleton, Colorado, which is right by Denver. And Ethan was wondering, because he gets in arguments with his brothers sometimes. So he was wondering, how do I know if I'm on the naughty list and Ethan's, by the way, Ethan is six years old. So he was worried about if he's on the naughty list, because sometimes he and his big brother will get in arguments.

Santa Claus  18:04  
I would say this Ethan, it's very, very hard for a child to go on to the naughty list. I don't really keep up and monkey list. worst that can happen is that you're not strongly on the nice list. And the way to make sure you stay on the nicer to get on it if you think you might not be but stay on it. It's big kind always be kind. As a little, no, he's not even a little boy anymore. He's a man now, who is now the Dalai Lama. There's some sort of religious thing. And he says it kind whenever it's possible. It's always possible. So that's what I look for in, in children. And in grownups. Try to be kind and be kind. If you get a choice, we might we'll be right behind. Yeah, and you're more or less guaranteed to please. And sometimes it's an I do know, big brothers can really get you upset and really lead you into an argument. But try to become

DJ Stutz  19:07  
Yeah, I like that. And I know it's hard to be kind sometimes when Big Brother's sometimes don't want to play with you. Or maybe they took what some of your toys, right? Or they won't let you have your turn on maybe the iPad or something. And so it's hard to stay kind when you feel like you're not being treated fairly. That's not fair. Right? Yeah, you know, what can we do? Maybe we just have to take a deep breath, or use a timer, maybe. What can he do?

Santa Claus  19:51  
Well, I think the breathing idea is very good. Because if you're beginning to get cross, if you start when you take a full With a bit extra, and then sign it out. Push your tummy out is harder for some people than others. But I got a great big one so I can really get a big breath. Do that for a couple of minutes. You can't be angry, you can't be close. Yeah.

DJ Stutz  20:24  
I like that. I like that. And so this question is from Charlie. And Charlie lives in Las Vegas. And Charlie is seven years old. And he said that their house does not have a fireplace, because it's too hot in Las Vegas for fireplace. And so how do you come in the houses that don't have a fireplace?

Santa Claus  21:03  
Well, what I have to do is clear with the guy number two that on Christmas Eve and only on Christmas Eve. I can use a magic key to let me in. You can't see it, can you? Anyone who can see my magic key is definitely on my nice list. Was it go not? Just can't see. If you can, you're on the lightest. And that's how I did. And to be honest, as I'm getting older, sometimes even if there's a house with a chimney and a fireplace, I'll say to the grownups. Do you mind, especially if it's a fairly narrow chimney? Do you mind if I actually use my magic key even though I don't really need to just adore easier? Yeah, me, or hope not?

DJ Stutz  21:57  
No, because sometimes things get harder when people get older. And I think that one of the things that kids can do to help them remember to be kind is to notice when people who are older might need a little extra help, or might need a little extra time to do something. And so if they have grandmas or Grandpas that can't run outside like they want to, because I promise your grandmas and grandpas want to run with you. But their bodies are getting older and they just can't. So when you can remember to be kind to them. And remember Stan does getting older too. I mean, how long have you been around Santa?

Santa Claus  22:43  
I hate that question a lot. Until last year, I used to say to children I met in England when they said How old are you I would say older than the queen. And they got because she was very old. And I'm much much older than I am. I've lost the reference point. Now I have to say older than the king. And he's I think he's only about 100. He's a youngster. But yeah, even less than that. You might be in his 70s just just a boy.

DJ Stutz  23:15  
Just a boy. That's amazing. That's amazing. And so and now you've mentioned England, and I've got let me see. Yes. So I have a little boy named Carl, who lives in harvestin which is in Wales. And

Santa Claus  23:40  
the thing with Wales is they can spell better than they say so you can look at what they've written and it doesn't sound anything like they've written like

DJ Stutz  23:47  
it. No, in fact, I am working on learning some Welsh because I have Welsh heritage. And it's hard. It doesn't make a lot of sense sometimes but anyway. Oh, what words do you know Santa? Medulla flowering Dalek flowering. What it is yes, of course. made sense. It made sense. Well, I've learned the law, which is thank you.

Santa Claus  24:27  
That's very useful thing to know.

DJ Stutz  24:29  
Yes. Yes. Did

Santa Claus  24:31  
he say thank you all wonderful people.

DJ Stutz  24:34  
Yes. Well, he was very concerned. He had heard that you had an angry elf name, grumpiest, Krampus something and that if the kids were naughty, that he would take away their presence, or leave them coal. And so He was a little worried about crumpets coming into his house. He was worried. He said, Well, Crump has hurt me or take my presence.

Santa Claus  25:08  
Yeah, the thing with Krampus, which I think he's always talked about Krampus made up is a German tradition of this sort of evil creature that is sort of the counterpoint of me, counterpoint of centuries. And it's just made up I think I might have been the Brothers Grimm or someone a while back made up this creature and this story grew. You can raise your story what? I'd forgotten already. What was the little boy's name?

DJ Stutz  25:37  
It was Carl. Oh, so,

Santa Claus  25:41  
Carl, you don't need to worry. There isn't any such thing as grandpa's. It's just a story. A lot of people believe it is not true. And if I'm leaving you at present, I wouldn't let someone else come and steal it.

DJ Stutz  25:54  
No, but he seemed worried. I don't know how he heard about it. But and I didn't even know how to say the name with Krampus or grumpa. 's or whatever. But he said he'd heard about him and was worried. So you're saying he's not even real?

Santa Claus  26:13  
He's just made up? Yeah, I think there are again, there are films about him. So all films with him in so might be like, mad

DJ Stutz  26:21  
it Yeah, that maybe that's where he heard of him. So well. I'm glad to hear that he's not real. And I'm glad to hear that. If you were real. You wouldn't be hanging out with someone like that. I don't think you would make better friend choices, I think. Absolutely. Yeah, he's

Santa Claus  26:38  
Yeah. If he was real, that would be awful.

DJ Stutz  26:44  
I know. It'd be so scary and sad and all of those things. Yeah. But maybe I wonder you've heard of the Grinch. Right.

Santa Claus  26:54  
Yes. Again, that's just made up. Yeah.

DJ Stutz  26:57  
He's just, uh, maybe he was based on. They were based on each other or something. But they're just a

Santa Claus  27:05  
story. You like the Grinch is green. Isn't he in the stories? Yes.

DJ Stutz  27:09  
Yes.

Santa Claus  27:13  
It might be. Yeah. I suppose it now because it depends on who's telling the story. It can be why not? It's just something.

DJ Stutz  27:20  
He's just part of someone's imagination. Right. Right. Okay. And so then, let me go back to over here. Oh, so, Alice, who lives in Connecticut and Alice is four years old. She wanted to know who is your favorite elf?

Santa Claus  27:49  
You've mentioned if someone asked you who is your favorite child, you'd have to say, I love them all the time. And I'd have to say that, even if Dingleberry I don't have a favorite elf. But if I did, it would be difficult. Because she's single Barry. You know, Jimbo Barry.

DJ Stutz  28:07  
I don't want tell me about jingle Barry.

Santa Claus  28:10  
She's such fun. She's one of the teachers. Oh, she's actually been on maternity leave because she's had triplets. She had three little baby Ellen's. She's so happy all the time. And she's just lovely. She's like, the ideal female.

DJ Stutz  28:29  
Oh, so she's happy.

Santa Claus  28:31  
I don't have any favorites. Yeah.

DJ Stutz  28:38  
It would be cheap. Barry. I want to remember. Yeah. You know, when I hear things that are new, and I want to remember them, or I hear a new name. One of the things that I do is I write them down. So then I have it here and it helps me remember. And so yeah, maybe we'll see if we can do something fun for jingle berry on Christmas Eve at our house. And she's fun. Yes, yes. And and so in fact, Alice has an older brother named Samuel. And he was wondering if you had a favorite Christmas song.

Santa Claus  29:28  
I have a least favorite Christmas song about Santa's got stuck in the chimney

I don't really have a favorite. I think one of the favorites we have is Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Because that's that's quite fun. That in the middle of the day comes comes away in the end.

DJ Stutz  29:51  
Yes, yeah. Yeah, at least felt sad that at first that Rudolph didn't have any friends but But I'm glad they came around. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Santa Claus  30:04  
It's not nice to laugh at people and call them names. It's something they shouldn't have done. But I did say, sometimes they can be upset. Because they're normally very, very sweet little animals. The reindeer?

DJ Stutz  30:18  
Yeah. Well, we all have bad days, don't we? We do. And we can all make always make things better by turning it around. And so if the reindeer were having a bad day, and they were being kind of mean to Rudolph, they can always say I'm sorry. And come join our games. And they can turn it around, right? And just like the kids, the kids can do that, too. That's a fun thing. Oh, here is I only have about three more. So we're running, running out.

Santa Claus  30:56  
Children didn't really well, they've come up with some great questions. So they

DJ Stutz  31:01  
have kind of, haven't they? Sarah lives in California. And she was wondering if you ever get a Christmas present? Who gives you Christmas presents? That's

Santa Claus  31:17  
a lovely question. I do. My wife gives me a present. Sometimes the elders give me a present. But sometimes, when I'm going around, people leave presents for me. That's really nice. And next week, I'm, I can't remember where it is called Canada. Yes, Canada. I'm at a bookshop. We're doing a reverse Center, where instead of me giving presents, people will come and bring presents to me to give to children who aren't going to have a good Christmas otherwise, so Oh, I think that was a reverse Santa. So I'll come and collect presents is my my way. But then give them away.

DJ Stutz  31:59  
That's so nice. That those are some kind things that kids can do on their own, too, right? Yeah, yeah. And they can look at maybe some of their toys. And if they have toys that are really you don't want to give away yucky toys. But but if you have some really nice toys, and you can give them to children who maybe are living in a shelter, or are having a struggle, and so they have something nice. That's a kind thing for children to do. It

Santa Claus  32:32  
is it is and it's basically things that we're going to organize for them as well. Yes. It'd be hard for you say you're sick. And you say, Yeah, I don't need this toy from when I was four. When you're six, you don't necessarily know how you can get it to anyone. But if you say to your grown up, I don't think this way. Can we sort it out? The grownups can help. Yeah,

DJ Stutz  32:55  
grownups are good at helping with that. Right. If kids have a great idea, they can ask grownups to help them.

Santa Claus  33:02  
Absolutely. Yeah. For sure. Yeah,

DJ Stutz  33:05  
yeah. And so I have Keyshawn. And he's actually a little boy that we know, he goes to church with me. And Keyshawn just turned six. And he wanted to know if you have any kids.

Santa Claus  33:22  
I do, but they're all grown up now. We have grandchildren talking about the elves and more and more elves. It's quite a big Santa Claus family. And when they were small children, it's very hard not to spoil them. Because you know what it's like, when you're a grown up a parent, you want your children to have everything. And it's not always best for them. And sometimes you have to think Well, I'm a grown up, and I'll decide. And you know, I hear this quite a lot now from grownups with children who are quite too young ask for the new iPhone or something, some things which they're not really ready for, or a BB gun when they're best five or six. And I can understand that it's really tempting to say yes, but sometimes it's, yeah, I'm sorry. I don't want to come across like Krampus. Best to say no, and not yet. Yeah.

DJ Stutz  34:24  
Yeah. And so I think it might be a hard thing as Santa to sometimes you do have to say, not yet. Or that's not something that would work well for your family. Right. So or sometimes be Do you have kids that ask you for something like, maybe their mommy is sick or something and they want you to make her better? And that's maybe something you can't do. And so, how was that when someone asks you that kind of a question.

Santa Claus  34:56  
What do you have to say is, I can't do that. I haven't got that kind of magic. Yeah, but we'll think about it. And we'll remember you in our prayers and see if that will worse. You. You can't raise false hopes it wouldn't be. No, I've sometimes what I have had with children is not that in particular, but like, a few years back, I was being the center of the party for the visually challenged children, blind children. Oh, wow. They would be coming up to me and saying, You know what they want in Christmas. A lot of them. They're just ordinary children. They want it exactly the same as other children wanted. I think it was all new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and probably they've come back when they were around the first time, and one little girl that came up to me, and I said, I haven't had a list from you or anything. So can you tell me what you'd like for Christmas? And she said, Well, I don't want a Christmas wish, Santa. I've got everything in the world. Can you take my wish? You give it to a little boy or little girl who hasn't got anything in us My wish for them. And that's the things children are just so kind. I was sort of blown away with that. She's such a lovely thing to do.

DJ Stutz  36:26  
Yeah, I love that. That's that those that tender, tender sweet thing? What a good child that is. Uh, but that kiddo was on the top of the good list.

Santa Claus  36:38  
Well, she wasn't in the bottom. No,

DJ Stutz  36:43  
no, not at all. What is sweet thing? Okay. And the last question that I have for us today is from Jonathan. And Jonathan lives in Boise, Idaho. And Jonathan was asking, What do you like better? Peppermint ice cream? Or chocolate hot cocoa?

Santa Claus  37:14  
Well, I love hot cocoa. And I love ice cream. Have you ever had a hot cocoa with some mint ice cream in it? He thought that you've got the chocolate and the peppermint and it's still hot, but then you get little cold ice. So that would be my recommendation if you don't choose to take both. But then I do tend to be a bit greedy. As you may notice from the number of things, pies and cookies.

DJ Stutz  37:46  
I think I've got to try that this Christmas. Jonathan, thank you for your question. You've just given me a new idea. Well done. Well done, Jonathan. Now I know that there are lots of children who probably have a lot more questions for you and would love to see some of the things that you do. Is there a way that parents and children can learn more about you and maybe ask questions? Where would they guess?

Santa Claus  38:19  
The elves have been encouraged me a bit. This Advent. So from the first of December, I'm going to have my own podcast. I'm quite excited because I've I haven't done a pot. Well, other than guessing I haven't done a podcast before. It's called Santas Village Voice. And tell me, you can hear it wherever you normally listen to your podcasts. So if you're on Apple, or Google or Amazon, or wherever, various. Gonna show off. Now I know this term, it's hosted on Buzzsprout, so you can get it on Buzzsprout. But you can get it in you can listen to it in all these other places. So yes, that's gonna be good. Absolutely. I hope so.

DJ Stutz  39:12  
Oh, yes, that would be wonderful. And so kiddos and parents, if you didn't have a pen to write that down right away, we're going to put that information in the show notes. And so you can just pop down on the show notes and click and we'll just have the link it'll be one click away and you can go to the podcast and get more of Santa. What a fun thing to do. Now, Santa, I have a tradition. You know, Christmas traditions are a lot of fun. But there are a lot of traditions that are all year round and they are not part of Christmas so much. One of my traditions is at the end of every podcast, I asked my guests, because we know there are no perfect parents so children, your parents who are not perfect. And I know that it's easy to get upset once in a while. But parents are trying their very hardest. And they're going to make mistakes. Sometimes just like children make mistakes sometimes. And so we need to be very patient with them because they're trying. But Santa, do you have any ideas of what might make us successful parent?

Santa Claus  40:25  
Yes, I do. Probably doesn't surprise you at all. Not at all. I can certainly tell you the evidence of a successful parent. Evidence for successful parents is a child who's kind of childhood, you know, would be on my nicest, even if I was picky. And I think the way that that happens is that the parents accept that, just as they're imperfect, that children are imperfect. But just as they'll do the best they can, the children will do the best they can. And you should always, always be proud of your children, because they are doing a wonderful job, and a hard job. And from what I've seen, it seems to get harder and harder every decade, it's harder being a child growing up. So my tip to parents is, look at your children. See how wonderful they are? treat them kindly. And be proud of them, that your children be proud.

DJ Stutz  41:33  
I love that so much. You are right on spot on. Thank you, Santa so much. And maybe you can come back next year. And we can collect questions all year long. And we can have more questions for you next year, this can become one of our traditions, I'd love to have that. And so Oh, that would be lovely. So everyone, I want you to remember that. If you are traveling with your kids this year, go ahead and take advantage of that traveling with kids that we have at the website, which is www dot Little Hearts Academy usa.com. And if you need some ideas, or some help with how to manage things through the holidays, or just manage things, I would love to be there to help you. It just warms my heart to talk to parents about their kids and to help them come up with some fun and energetic ideas to find joy in raising their kids. And so we'll be back. Actually, I won't be back next week because it'll be Christmas. And so it will be back on New Year's Day. But so until then, Merry Christmas to everybody. I hope that you have just the sweetest time understanding and bringing in the reason for the season, and honoring our Lord and Savior and having fun and enjoying the whole spirit of kindness and of giving and loving one another. And so until next time we meet. Let's find joy in parenting. Bye, guys. Bye Santa. Thanks for coming. 

Santa Claus  43:19  
Bye DJ. Bye children. Bye grownups.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai