Santa's Little Helpers

Santa's elves are very mysterious beings indeed. What do they look like? What do they do? And just how many of them are there? Find out the answers to all your questions below...

Deep in the snowy depths of Lapland, lies the secret workshop of Santa Claus. Only visible to those that really believe, few people have ever managed a glimpse of the base. So what would you see if you were lucky enough to view it? Well, you'd see the lights on in Santa's cosy Grotto with Mrs Claus baking at the kitchen window; you'd see Santa's huge workshop covered with snow and elves rushing around within, there'd be endless elf houses weaving along into the crimson horizon and the reindeer stables would glow with the red of Rudolph's nose.

Within, Santa and his elves work every single day of the year to get everything ready for Christmas. Early in the year, the little helpers are hard at work monitoring the behaviour of every child on Earth. If you ever hear a little bell jingle for just a second, it's probably an elf checking up on you, so make sure you behave! They're quick and crafty though and often as small as 1m tall! So you'd have to be really lucky to see one. If you did, you'd see a red pointed hat with a bell on the end, resting over pointed Pixie ears, a cute green waistcoat, woolly gloves, red and white stockings and cosy Christmas slippers that curl up at the toe.

It isn't known how many elves there are, or even where they originate. There are simply so many around at any one time that nobody would ever get the chance to count! It is thought that only Santa knows the true number and he even knows every single one of their names. As the letters to Santa begin to flood in, the work really starts. Firstly, hundreds of elves are needed simply to help Santa search through all the mail and find out just what every child wants to Christmas. Then all of this information needs to be passed on to other elves to get all the right equipment, so that they can start building all of the toys and games.

As Christmas Eve approaches, all the gifts need to be wrapped and carefully placed into Santa's gigantic sleigh. By this time, work is manic and the little helpers are rushing around trying to get every last present finished. Miniature footprints can be seen littering the snow from the stables to the workshop and bit by bit the elves manage to finish up just in time for Santa to fly off and deliver the presents all over the world. After Santa has left, the elves can finally have a little rest, put their feet up and they all share some of Mrs Claus' famous hot cocoa before trooping away to bed. If they're lucky, there might be left over toys for them to take home! Soon though, Christmas would be over and the magic has to start all over again...