NORTH POLE, Alaska - It's early December here, and Mr. and Mrs. Claus are certainly busy.
For starters, there are all those visitors who have dropped by their spacious white-and-red house to sit on Santa's lap and tell him exactly what they want for Christmas.
In the back, the elves - including dozens of extra little hands hired for the season - are rushing to get thousands of personalized "Letters from Santa" delivered to the local post office.
Outside in temperatures that have already dipped below zero, four of Santa's reindeer are taking it all lying down in their pen, seemingly oblivious to the all-night mission they will once again be asked to fly in just a few weeks.
This is not the North Pole, of course, but the interior Alaskan community of the same name, 14 miles south of Fairbanks at 64.5 degrees north latitude - just south of the Arctic Circle. Not surprisingly, holiday banners, candy-cane street signs, and other Christmas-themed decorations remain up throughout the year.
And the star attraction in this low-slung community of about 1,800 is the rambling, 55-year-old emporium at 101 St. Nicholas Drive known far and wide as the Santa Claus House.
Like most of North Pole's 100,000 annual visitors Plus.
You will have no trouble finding it, not with the world's largest Santa statue (42 feet tall and weighing 900 pounds) standing sentinel outside and an equally supersized two-dimensional image posing next to a 30-foot-tall, red-and-white- striped "north" pole.
Stock up on T-shirts, stuffed animals, and other standard Alaska-themed merchandise.
You can begun surveying row upon row of holiday merchandise, including some distinctly Alaskan items - Eskimo nativity sets, beaver-pelt pillows, and birch bowls - when the jingle of sleigh bells heralded the return of the jolly old homeowner himself, back from a coffee break. Attired in his traditional white-trimmed plush red suit, he climbed into his equally plush chair, and our girls, suddenly stricken with shyness, were his first photo-op customers ($5 with their camera, free with yours).
Placards attached to spruce trees explained the historical origins of such Christmas traditions as the 12 days, the candy cane and the Christmas tree - unexpected notes of serious religion in an otherwise constant chorus of commercialism.
If nothing else, the Santa Claus House comes by its commercialism honestly. Situated along a marshy creek known as Fourteen-Mile Slough, the site was homesteaded in 1944 by Bon Davis, who named the soon-to-be-established whistle-stop on the Alaska Railroad for himself.
The development company that bought out Davis renamed the settlement North Pole, to attract a toy manufacturer that could label its products "Made at the North Pole." But given North Pole's high shipping costs and shallow labor pool, no toy manufacturer ever materialized.
But Conrad and Nellie Miller, homesteaders from Washington state who had settled in Fairbanks in 1949 with only $1.40 to their names, did.
Miller, a traveling fur trader who had taken to dressing up as Santa Claus when calling on native villages in the winter, decided that North Pole - sitting between two growing military bases - would be the site of his own permanent trading post.
As the company story goes, Miller was building a wall one day in 1952 when he was recognized by one of the native children he had visited. "Hey, Santa Claus," the boy called, "are you building a new house?"
It was a marketing match made in frontier Alaska, and Miller promptly ran it up the North Pole. A half-century later, and thanks to quantum leaps in transportation and communication (especially the Internet), plus the 1983 arrival of that fiberglass Santa - who started off life as a prototype for the 1962 Seattle World's Fair - the Santa Claus House is an institution, securely in the hands of the Miller children.
Toting some truly unique early Christmas gifts, we repaired to our rental sleigh and headed back to Fairbanks. As we drove north out of North Pole, I couldn't help but marvel at the resourcefulness and determination of those territorial pioneers - and ponder the ultimate mystery of the Santa Claus House:
If every day here really is Christmas, when do they hold their "after Christmas" sale?
South of the North Pole
North Pole, Alaska, is on the Richardson Highway (State Route 2), 14 miles south of Fairbanks and 359 miles north of Anchorage.
The Santa Claus House 101 St. Nicholas Dr.
North Pole, Alaska 99705
1-800-588-4078
www.santaclaushouse.com
Open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. during the heart of the tourist season (late May to mid-September), with reduced hours the rest of the year. Mr. and Mrs. Claus, however, are only at home Wednesday through Sunday. Closed Christmas Day, naturally, and the three days afterward, presumably to give the Clauses a well-deserved break.
Letters from Santa
The original "Letter from Santa," which includes a personalized message and a photo of Mr. and Mrs. Claus, postmarked North Pole, Alaska, costs $7.50 and can be ordered by calling 1-800-588-4078, or by visiting www.santaclaushouse.com. This year's deadline for orders is Dec. 10.
Be careful of other Internet offers. If the ad does not specify the postmark as North Pole, Alaska, it won't be coming from there.
North Pole, Alaska It’s eighty degrees, the sun is shining twenty-four hours a day, and there isn’t a snowflake in sight – but that doesn’t stop the Christmas spirit from being felt in North Pole, Alaska. With street names like Santa Claus Lane and St. Nicholas Drive and business signs sporting a candy cane motif, this city fifteen minutes south of Fairbanks takes its name seriously. The city founders chose the name North Pole in hopes of attracting toy manufacturers. While there are no toys produced with a “Made in North Pole” label, other entrepreneurs capitalize on the community’s name, drawing visitors all summer and sleighs full of mail every Christmas.
One of the biggest attractions in North Pole is Santa Claus House and Santaland RV Park. Visible from the Richardson Highway, Santa Claus House boasts a 42-foot fiberglass Santa as well as live reindeer – Dasher, Blitzen, Comet and Cupid, to be exact. They also have Christmas trees and a life-size nativity scene year round. And for anyone who enjoys shopping for Christmas collectibles, even in July, this is the place to visit – ornaments, North Pole t-shirts, Christmas toys and “Made in Alaska” Christmas-themed products can all be found at Santa Claus House.
Perhaps the most popular item for sale, though, is the customized letter from Santa. Every year Santa’s merry little elves send thousands of “official” letters from Santa around the world, personalized for each child and stamped with the official USPS North Pole postmark.
Of course, one can also send a letter composed by “Santa” (i.e. a parent or guardian) to the North Pole postmaster in a larger, pre-stamped envelope. The North Pole Post Office will postmark the reply and put it in the mail. Every December the North Pole station receives hundreds of thousands of letters addressed to Santa; volunteers from the community give Santa a hand and answer as many as they possibly can. The North Pole post office will also cancel greeting cards with the North Pole postmark.
Despite the visibility of Santa Claus House and nearby Santaland RV Park, the local economy is driven not by tourism, but by oil. North Pole Refinery, operated by Flint Hill Resources, is the largest refinery in Alaska and has an operating capacity of 220,000 barrels per day. The refinery produces a variety of petroleum products, with the majority going to the aviation market.
In a community with so much Christmas spirit, it is not surprising that they have an annual Christmas Candlelight Ceremony with speakers, performances, and singing. This is followed by the annual tree-lighting ceremony. North Pole also hosts ice-carving contests in the winter.
