We try and answer the eternal question………

While sitting by a lake in Lapland, deep in the forest one evening this summer a discussion started between me and some friends about just how old Santa Claus is.
As we sipped cloud berry juice and cooked sausages and fish over the fire the discussion went on long into the night, or is that day, this Finnish midnight sun is so confusing!

We were all lucky enough to have known Santa for many years as we were either locals or had met him while visiting Lapland on many occasions over the years.

Between the eight people present there was a huge variation in what we believed to be his age from a pitiful 183 years to a rather unbelievable 536 years.

Several of us were just guessing but others spoke with great authority.

Mikko, the local reindeer herder, felt certain that Santa was 428 years old. He pointed out that after all he should know as his family had been caring for Santa’s reindeers since his great, great, great, great, great grandfather was a boy!

Ilkka, the chief elf, just laughed and said that every elf knew that Santa is 498, they already had a committee planning his golden golden birthday, just 2 years away. After all wasn’t it the elves that had found Santa, then just a young man of 200 and something, wandering across the isolated fells and helped him build his secret cabin deep in the forest.

The discussion went on and on until Ilkka asked his grandson, Arto,the youngest in our group, to go to Santas house and ask him how old he is. So off the young elf ran.

We fed the passing reindeer, fished, had a sauna and napped by the fire but still the young elf had not returned. As we packed up to leave and were saying our goodbyes the young elf eventually appeared. As we all awaited the answer Arto promised that he had indeed asked Santa Claus the question. As he rocked in his chair by the fire the great man had started to count off the years, telling him of some of the highpoints of each year, smiling at the thought of some good years and weeping at others. We all encouraged him to tell us his final answer but the young elf had to admit that Santa had got as far as 415 and had fallen asleep!

If you want to visit Lapland and ask Santa how old he is click here.