Father Christmas lives in the Finnish part of Lapland on a hill called Korvatunturi, which means ‘the hill with ears’, because of its shape. It is from there that he listens to wishes from children all over the world and, if they have been good, tries to make them come true.

A few American children think that Father Christmas lives at the North Pole which is rather silly, because if he did, what would Rudolph, Prancer and Dancer have to eat - there is only snow and ice at the North Pole! 

He only shows himself to children who believe in him and who are lucky enough to be taken to see him. Some grown-ups never see him because they don’t really believe he exists. In December his elves make him move to different villages because it gets very cold in Korvatunturi. Nobody knows for certain how old Father Christmas is because in Lapland birthdays are only recorded on reindeer driving licences and a long time ago, Father Christmas lost his whilst out in the forest! 

Sometimes you see people in department stores or high streets dressed as Father Christmas - they work for the real Father Christmas when he has a cold and his hearing is bad, or there is so much snow that the echo in Korvantunturi makes it difficult to hear what children are saying. 

Our boss is one of the few grown-ups to have met Father Christmas who, just like a Mummy or a Daddy, doesn’t look exactly the same every day. If his elves have been naughty, or Mrs Christmas grumpy, he can be grumpy himself. He has to clip his beard just like everybody else - so sometimes it can be short and sometimes long. 

He wears different boots depending on whether he is driving his sleigh or a snowmobile. And he is very bad at doing his own washing, so sometimes his coat looks faded and small if he has cleaned it himself. 

Everything else about him is a secret until December.