VIDEO: Q&A with Santa and Mrs. Claus

For the last 17 years, during December, Santa and Mrs. Claus have sat outside on Friday and Sunday evenings at the corner of Shade Avenue and Siesta Drive at the home of Richard and Nancy Underwood. With the help of their friend, Dave Kanwischer, the Underwoods gladly host Santa and his wife each year so they can listen to what all the good little boys and girls of Sarasota want for Christmas.

What do you feed your reindeer?
Santa: Regular carrots without peeling the skin off of them. They love carrots; it puts a smile on their face.

Mrs. Claus: One time, one of the children had reindeer food. It was marshmallows and trail mix.

How do you fly?
Santa: It’s magical; I can’t reveal my secret.

What’s Santa’s favorite cookie?
Santa: Chocolate chip, chocolate chip and chocolate chip (and a glass of milk)

What does Mrs. Claus do while Santa is delivering toys?
Mrs. Claus: Cleaning up the mess he left behind. He gets down to the very end and all the elves are scurrying around to make sure everything is just right. And helping him load the sleigh. A little bit of quiet time is OK, but I like all of the activity.

How does Santa unwind after delivering toys?
Santa: Golf and fishing; also sledding and making snowmen — that puts the joy in me.

Have you ever had jet lag or gotten lost?
Santa: No, we go too fast. We’ve never been lost — we have a computerized system (on the sleigh). It’s the best in the world.

Have you ever gotten stuck in the chimney?
Santa: Nope. (Mrs. Claus gasps.) Well, maybe I will this year because I have put on a few pounds.
Mrs. Claus: Well, you have gotten pretty darn close before.

How do you create your naughty and nice list?
Santa: It’s long, long, long; like a thousand pads of paper.

Mrs. Claus: We always ask the children if they help around the house; we tell them that they need to work harder and listen to their moms and dads. We can always tell the good students.

Santa: And then you get the wild ones.

Mrs. Claus: Oh yeah, golly, we did have one the other night. You couldn’t count on what was going to come out of his mouth.

Where do you get your coal?
Santa: Oh, that? Coal City.
Mrs. Claus: Yep, Coal City, in Pennsylvania.

If you go
You only have one more chance to sit on Santa’s lap before he heads back to the North Pole.
When: 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 19.
Where: 2401 Siesta Drive