Originally posted by greeneyedleo But im sorry to report, no pretty muchrooms will be included - those are reserved for Santa himself, so I have learned here.

The Manitoban was chartered from the company early in 1898 for an unusual voyage. She sailed from Alten (Norway) for New York on February 4 with 537 reindeer, 418 reindeer sleds, 511 sets of harness, 3, 500 bags of moss for feeding the animals, together with herders, drivers and their families numbering in all 113 people. After proceeding by rail from New York to Seattle, the entire company embarked for Alaska to start the U.S. Government's reindeer herd.

Originally posted by greeneyedleo

There is a big reindeer farm next to University of Alaska, Fairbanks.....and I believe there is some "research" that takes place at UAF

WASHINGTON, DC - Santa Claus has a lot in common with the United States Postal Service. Santa's customer satisfaction levels directly relate to consistent, on-time delivery. Neither rain nor snow nor heat nor gloom of night keeps Santa and his dedicated helpers from providing joy at millions of homes the world over. While Santa's been doing it a bit longer than the Postal Service, for more than two centuries he's relied almost exclusively on U.S. Postal Service letter carriers to bring him letters from girls and boys all across America.

This holiday season will be no different. The Postal Service is gearing up for a huge mail delivery to the North Pole to help Santa and his elves get ready for the big day.

Letters addressed to Santa at the North Pole, AK - as well as other holiday mail - can be given directly to letter carriers. They don't have to be placed in collection boxes or taken to the Post Office. And, as always, families with curbside mailboxes can put mail in their mailboxes for pick up.

Originally posted by eternal_vigilance
There is a small part of me that secretly believes Santa is real.

Originally posted by Deson
Santa Claus.
Bond Villain? or Alphabet agency spook? You decide.

Originally posted by undermind
What?

No birth certificate?

Santa Claus is upset with Facebook.

Everyone, it seems, wants to be friends with Santa Claus on Facebook. In the month or so since he joined the popular social network, he's approved 5,000 friends. He could have easily gone viral by Thanksgiving -- when everyone wants to be "friends" with Santa regardless of whether they deserve to be. He could become the most popular person in the world on Facebook.

But unfortunately for Santa, 5,000 friends is all anyone gets on Facebook. To add anyone new, the man who says his real legal name is Santa Claus must remove someone on his list.

"It's hard for me to believe that Facebook would want to disappoint that many folks who might enjoy being Santa's friends," Claus said in an e-mail. "I'm not selling anything; so, I don't understand the problem."

"[I] can only imagine what could happen, should word will get around that it is now severely limiting the number of friends Santa Claus can have," Claus said. "Would this make Facebook the new Scrooge or Grinch?"

Those are harsh words given that Santa already got personal help from Facebook, since the site blocks people from registering names like Darth Vader or the Easter Bunny. But Santa was able to prove he was legally Santa Claus and a tech overrode the ban, making Santa Claus the Santa Claus on Facebook.

"Santa's reindeers were really females, most likely," said Alice Blue-McLendon, a veterinary medicine professor specializing in deer who cites the depictions of Santa's helpers with antlers as the primary evidence. It turns out reindeer grow antlers regardless of gender, and most bulls typically shed their fuzzy protrusions before Christmas.

But Santa's sleigh helpers might also be castrated males, known as steers, said Greg Finstad, who manages the Reindeer Research Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Young steers finish shedding their antlers in February and March, just as non-expecting females do. Bulls generally lose theirs before Christmas, while expectant mothers retain their antlers until calves are birthed in the spring. This allows them to protect food resources through harsh weather and to have enough for developing fetuses, he said. Sledders most often use steers because they maintain their body condition throughout the winter, he said. Bulls are tuckered out from rutting season when they mate with as many as a dozen females in the months leading up to December. That leaves them depleted and too lean to pull a sleigh or sled through heavy snows, Finstad said.