Santa Claus meets visiting children while he prepares for Christmas day.

(18 Dec 2007) Rovaniemi, Finland - 13 December, 2007 1. Various exteriors of Santa's Village 2. Mid of child sledging 3. Wide of Santa's home 4. Close of sign reading Santa Claus 5. Various of Santa surrounded by children 6. Close of Santa 7. Close of children 8. Mid of woman holding child 9. Wide of Santa singing with children 10. Close of child singing 11. Pan of Santa 12. Close of present 13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Santa Claus/ Father Christmas "As Christmas gets closer there is the weather, we have to look, you know, long distance and plan according to the weather. Which route to take with Rudolph." 14. Close of Santa reading letters 15. Various exteriors of post office 16. Wide of interior of post office 17. Mid of elf working 18. Close of letters being stamped 19. Close of stamps on letters 20. Various of elves sorting letters 21. Various close of letters 22. Tilt up from sack full of letters to Christmas tree 23. SOUNDBITE: (English) Maria Elf "Last year Santa received 750,000 letters, and this year we already have got about 300,000, and it's coming every day more and more." 24. Various close of letters without stamps or address 25. SOUNDBITE: (English) Maria Elf "Of course I have here some letters, as you see we have letters that come here even if the don't have any stamp, or even if they have like this 'Santa Lapland'." 26. Various of letters on table 27. Close of sack 28. SOUNDBITE: (English) Santa Claus/ Father Christmas "When its written on the paper it last a hundred years, at least even more. And then of course kids do a lot of drawings, lots of beautiful pictures and drawings. They put their photographs in there, it's really good, it's really very nice reading." 29. Tilt up from Santa's feet 30. Various of Santa 31. SOUNDBITE: (English) Bobby "Santa brings all the presents, and who's been bad then they can't get any presents." 32. Various of Santa meeting children 33. SOUNDBITE: (English) Denise "A Nintendo DS." 34. SOUNDBITE: (English) Santa Claus/ Father Christmas "Getting ready for christmas is something very special because, I think one thing is, you make a present for somebody and there is a lot of thoughts and warm feelings." 35. Close of table with presents 36. SOUNDBITE: (English) Santa Claus/ Father Christmas "It's funny, Rudolph, as Christmas gets closer, he gets very anxious, you know. He goes and he organises the other reindeer, because he really likes it, it's an important job of course." 37. Various of Santa 38. SOUNDBITE: (English) Santa Claus/ Father Christmas "Because it is an ongoing process, the elves are making the toys and sorting out the letters, because a lot of the letters come even after Christmas, because people send them a few days just before." 39. Close of fireplace 40. SOUNDBITE: (English) Santa Claus/ Father Christmas "I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a very happy New Year." LEAD IN: Christmas is coming and things are getting busy at Santa Claus' village just within the arctic circle in Finnish Lapland. Santa's post office has received already more than 300,000 letters this year. It is expected that in total he will receive over 750,000 letters from children all around the world, according to the elves. And children who have been lucky enough to make the journey to his home in Lapland, have the chance to meet Santa Claus himself. STORYLINE: Santa Claus' village at the Arctic Circle in Lapland is an especially busy place in the days and weeks before Christmas. Children play in the snow, whilst inside his home Santa meets dozens of visitors each day. Keyword wacky Find out more about AP Archive: www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​ Instagram: www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/1f4b4e5e02f9376…

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