Santa Claus recently took time from his busy schedule to tell SippicanVillageSoup how he and the other residents of the North Pole are doing as they prepare for a busy Christmas Eve ride around the world.

Q. Have the elves been busy this holiday season?

A. They’re on overload and going a mile a minute — 24 hours a day and 7 days a week to get me ready to go.

Q. How do you get ready for your trip around the world?

A. I couldn’t do it without Mrs. Claus, the elves, and the reindeer. My sleigh seems to get added to every year. It gets bigger and bigger. Without their help and the reindeer's’ ability to get me from point A to point B quickly, I couldn’t do it. The only thing that gets me down the chimney is knowing that there is a glass of milk and cookies and sometimes a carrot waiting for me.

Q. You’ve talked to a lot of the kids in Marion, Mattapoisett, and Rochester this month. Are they naughty or nice?

A. All the children that I spoke with are definitely good boys and girls. I don’t see any coal in anybody’s future.

Q. What are kids asking for this year?

A. The top requests are for years and years and years are Legos, Xbox, American Girl dolls, and believe it or not Easy Bake Ovens. Those are the hits.

Q. Does Mrs. Claus ever get to ride in the sleigh?

A. Oh yes. Friday nights are our night out. We take Rudolph and the reindeer. We have dinner, rest for an hour, and then get back to work.

Q. When you get to our area, what’s your first stop?

A. Salty the Seahorse sees a lot of what goes on so I’ll start with the watchdog Salty. Then I start on Main Street, make my way around town street by street in Mattapoisett, and then to Marion and Rochester.

Q. During this holiday season, what is something you want kids to remember?

A. I think about all the folks that are 100 miles from us who were affected by Hurricane Sandy. Some still don’t have power. Let’s help anybody who is not as well off as others might be -- theme of paying it forward and appreciating what we have collectively.

A special thank you to Andy Bobola of Mattapoisett for helping SippicanVillageSoup track down Santa Claus.