By DAVE SCHULTZ
There’s a lot of magic during this time of year.
Some kindergarten, first-grade, and second-grade students from Ossian Elementary School gave up some of their recess or class time recently to give the News-Banner some thoughts about how Santa Claus gets things done. They kept going back to the supernatural.
For instance, when asked how Santa keeps warm, the response from Emily was “He’s super magical.”
The elves, besides being super sneaky and Santa’s omnipresent eyes in the sky, are also magical. Rudolph is magical.
And off we go.
The kindergarten students and Grade 1 students were interviewed in person while the Grade 2 students wrote out their answers. The younger children’s answers were often edited for clarity because there was a lot of cross-talk among them as they debated the wisdom of each other’s answers.
The photographs were taken of the younger children.
So here are some selected questions and answers:
How does Santa know who’s been naughty or nice?
Tabitha: If you write to Santa, you go on the nice list, and if you don’t write to Santa, you go on the naughty list. Even though I don’t write letters, I still like to wish for things.
Max: He tells his elves to come here and watch us. They hide in different places.
Gracie: He watches us.
Brent: Because he has a nice list. And if they’re being naughty, he writes their name down. The elves watch them and then they tell Santa.
Jake: The elves are watching overnight. In the middle of the night, they go to tell Santa every day.
How does he know where everybody lives?
Brayden: He knows where you live, because he sends an elf and he uses magic to show you what house. He can pick his hiding spot.
Everlee: He knows the nunbers on your house. I don’t know.
Sebastian: He just goes where the elves tell him to go.
Elijah. He has a Christmas tree with cameras.
Lincoln: The elves move in different areas so they can see you in different areas. Also, they have cameras.
Will: He uses the GPS.
How does he keep from getting cold?
Gracie: He wears a really heavy coat.
Everlee: A big heavy coat that’s really soft.
Max: He has a heater.
Lincoln: He has a super thick coat that keeps him big and warm. And he also has a hat.
Jake: Because he has a big thick jacket and he has a magic hat. He’s actually magical by himself.
Brent: He has like two or three jackets on.
Dean: He uses 10,000 million coats in 1.
How does Rudolph’s nose light up?
Olivia: His nose is super duper bright.
Emery: It’s just a nose and it shines bright.
Brayden: His nose lights up like a light bulb and it’s just a special one.
Everlee: Maybe he put a light bulb on and then a red thing.
Lexi: Santa sprinkles his power on him.
Evalynn: He was born with it.
Would you like to be an elf? And why?
Tyree: So I can be magic … I want to watch everyone.
Olivia: I want to be an elf so I could always see Santa every day.
Tabitha: Because I could make a lot of toys for boys and girls.
Lincoln: I would be able to fly and sneak into people’s houses and see what they’re doing and then I could tell Santa. I could help the police officers with the criminals. I’d let people know that there’s something bad going on.
Jake: Yes, because then I could shoot my dog with a Nerf gun.
Everly: Yes. Because I like making things and wrapping presents and I like making toys!
Grace: Yes, because I want to make toys and I could make the toys I want.
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Assisting with this project were News-Banner reporter Holly Gaskill, Susan Schultz, and Ossian Elementary School Principal Andrea Larkey.
