Christmas in the London Blitz, 1940; Making Christmas Crackers, 1910; Santa Claus, 1898; Christmas is coming, 1951: short films from the British Film Institute's wonderful Youtube Channel (including excellent playlists), which you can also explore through Google Earth using the kmz file found here.
posted by Rumple on Dec 24, 2008 - 4 comments

Since 1955 NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) has been tracking Santa's Christmas trek around the globe by way of radar, satellites, fighter jets and now Santa Cams. In addition to tracking via Google Maps, you can also follow his journey in 3D via Google Earth. Also, be sure to check the Santa Cams which capture video of the places he's already visited on his trip. [more inside]
posted by ericb on Dec 24, 2008 - 27 comments

This year alone, over 20,000 Russian Orthodox pilgrims followed an icon of St. Nicholas from Kirov to Velikoretskoye on foot. The 180km-long pilgrimage through the Russian countryside dates back to the 14th century. Sergey Kozmin's photos. Some extra info here.
posted by ersatz on Aug 15, 2008 - 6 comments

Parentists, the dogmatic believers that parents alone are the source of Christmas presents, may have new reason to believe, with the scientific approach of External Delivery. Of course, some skeptics have opined that External Delivery is just Santa Clausism with a pseudoscientific veneer. Other commentators are more forgiving, and point out the great strides that ED has made in the study of Yuleogy.
posted by CrunchyFrog on Dec 28, 2007 - 29 comments

"In the Late December" (MP3 link), by Greg van Eekhout, is a Nebula award-nominated story about Santa Claus and the end of the universe, and is Escape Pod #138. (By the way, this is a very dark story -- there's no sex or violence but this probably isn't suitable for kids, where "kids" is defined as a stereotypical aggregate of child-like characteristics. Yours may be different.)
posted by JHarris on Dec 25, 2007 - 14 comments

Secret lives: Santa Claus Steady Mobbin' - I fear this will lead to no good.
posted by madamjujujive on Dec 22, 2007 - 12 comments

Rare Exports, Inc. They deliver the impeccable, well-mannered, and extremely rare original Finnish Father Christmases to nearly 150 countries every Christmas. Exclusively. [YouTube, NSFW.] [more inside]
posted by homunculus on Nov 15, 2007 - 15 comments

Santa'd: Flickr's new holiday Easter egg.
posted by brundlefly on Dec 13, 2006 - 36 comments

Zombie Claus to strike SE Michigan! You have your Zombie in my Claus. No, you have your Claus in my Xombie. Behold two great memes that taste great together, even better than finding a Zombie in your coffee. So how do you kill a Zombie Claus? Candy cane through the heart?
So Little Jimmy what do you want for Christmas? BRAAAIINS!!!
[via Laughing Squid]
posted by MiltonRandKalman on Dec 12, 2005 - 6 comments

Vote Chris Christmas Rodriguez for Santa. [MI]
posted by bluedaniel on Dec 6, 2005 - 7 comments

Santas Gone Wild Imagine a flashmob. Now imagine a flashmob that is nothing but Santas. Once a year, for 10 years now, a bunch of crazies dress up like Santa Claus, frolic around major cities (like NYC, good text summary of what SantaCon is all about to be found here) and cause merry mischief.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero on Dec 7, 2004 - 20 comments

Psychedelic Santa Claus. "Modern Christmas traditions are based on ancient mushroom-using shamans." [Via J-Walk blog.]
posted by homunculus on Dec 22, 2003 - 15 comments

Santa and the X-Games. Help two poor elves sling Santa Claus all the way to Mordor.
posted by bargle on Dec 13, 2003 - 12 comments

Sober Santa. Too much politics today, not enough Christmas fun. Here's a drunk Santa game from b3ta. Pretty tough once you get going.
posted by Stan Chin on Dec 12, 2003 - 12 comments

Mr. and Mr. Claus -- Harvey Fierstein, fabulous star of Hairspray and three-time Tony winner, is planning an homage to that happy couple--the Clauses--in tomorrow's Thanksgiving Parade. His NYT op-ed (reg.reqd) today says it all: In the end all I can say is this: If I really was Santa's life partner, you can believe that he would ask and I would tell about who has been naughty or nice on this issue. Still, as we approach the holiday season I'd like to imagine that fear and bigotry will not prevail in this land. Maybe this holiday season we can toss out some of the intolerance that nests in our hearts and make room for more love and acceptance.
posted by amberglow on Nov 26, 2003 - 34 comments

Yes, Boston, there really is a Santa Claus. After a spate of posts lately, a Boston-area graffiti tagger reassures the city of the jolly old elf's existence. The Phoenix wonders why.
posted by pxe2000 on Dec 16, 2002 - 19 comments

"No, Virginia Hayley, there isn't a Santa Claus" A substitute teacher in Florida was reading aloud to her class of Kindergartners when the subject unexpectedly turned to the existence of Santa Claus. Rather than perpetuate a myth, "Mrs. P" chose to come clean with the gathered five year olds, and explained that there was no Santa, and that all presents "come from mom and dad." Well, next thing you know, kids are crying, parents are protesting, and the teacher feels awful. In an effort to "make up for the teacher's lapse," the school district decides to send in a "Santa" to visit the class in order to "set the record straight": "Today's visiting Santa, with a natural, full white beard, should convince even a classroom full of skeptics, said district spokesman Englehart. 'He's the real deal.'" Great! Well, except for the fact that he's not. (via obscurestore)
posted by pardonyou? on Dec 13, 2002 - 123 comments

Santa Claus, elusive jolly old elf, has finally been located by someone curious enough (in both senses of the word) to use FedEx to track him down. (The page I linked to here only tells half the story; click that link down on the left to get FedEx's tracking page.)
posted by wanderingmind on Dec 6, 2002 - 20 comments

SANTAS GONE MAD!!! First: Santa Shoots Woman! Then: Child Santa Booted From Mall! And then:Harrods' Santa Bares Botto in the Grotto! Finally: Santa Falls Foul of Anti-Terrorism Laws! Happy Holidays everyone! Jeesh.
posted by adrober on Dec 18, 2001 - 8 comments

Santarchy!
posted by plinth on Dec 12, 2001 - 12 comments

Santa Claus updates his Christmas policy and also prepares to release an explicit remix album. Can ol' Saint Nick possibly knock all of the boy bands off the charts?
posted by kingmissile on Dec 10, 2001 - 2 comments

Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and the US Military is watching him. It's NORAD's annual "Santa Tracking" PR campaign, reporting that Father Xmas appears to be flight testing his reindeer earlier this year (a prudent move, if you've seen "Olive, the Other Reindeer", my new favorite Holiday TV trifle). No Grinch sightings, however (he's gotten enough publicity, thank you). Now, the only unanswered question is: Will W.'s proposed Missile Defense System (TM) pose a risk to the Clausman? (And are Rogue Countries (TM) making missiles shaped like sleighs?)
posted by wendell on Dec 21, 2000 - 2 comments

The Dutch foreign ministry tells you all about Sinterklaas, the Dutch predecessor of Santa Claus (see also Tsja).
posted by tsja on Dec 5, 2000 - 0 comments