Santa wishes for snow - 23rd December 2024

It's Christmas time. Children everywhere are thinking about Father Christmas. A few are lucky. They can visit his home in the Arctic Circle. They'll see Santa and lots of snow.

But this year, there's no snow. Father Christmas is worried.

Santa Claus: "We can see that the climate change is true. And it's affecting the reindeer. It's affecting the life here in the Arctic. Actually, talking this morning with my elves. Last year, the same day, we had minus 12 and we had this much of snow. So it's a, it's a different year."

Santa's visitors are surprised about the snow. This tourist is from the US.

Wenguel: "I figured it would be much more snowy. I mean, it still feels like Christmas just 'cos it's everywhere, but I figured it would be a little bit more, a little bit more Santa-like, if that makes sense. But it's nice to see the kids. They're super excited, so that's kind of pretty cool to see as well."

Others are worried about climate change. This visitor, Debora, is from Italy.

Debora: "Anxious about the future. And uh sad, a little bit sad, because it's our fault."

Inside the Grotto are Santa's helpers and they're organising children's letters to Santa. There are thousands.

Elf Heidi: "This letter is from Malaysia and it's one of the 500,000 letters that Santa received last year."

Some children write to Santa about world problems. Others write about their own problems. But most just send a Christmas list. Santa's sure he can deliver their gifts, with or without snow.

Santa Claus: "Of course, my my reindeer, they can fly, fly, so that's no problem. But it's so much nicer when everything is covered with the snow and it really gives you the Christmas feeling."

What do the visitors think of Santa? Bobby and his dad came from Ireland to Lapland.

Robert: "What was he like?"

Bobby: "He was great, like brilliant."

Robert: "Did he look like the same as he looked last year when you met him?"

Bobby: "No, he looked a little bit different."

Robert: "Yeah."

Children are sending their wishes to Santa. And he's hoping Christmas will be special too. He'd like some snow, for himself and his reindeer.