man called Mr. Claus who some nicknamed Santa. Mr. Claus' birthday would always come around these times, because Bermuda was just recovering from an Ice Age, when the trees would be filled with blankets of snow and frozen lakes. When his birthday would arrive the elves would scurry around, getting presents for the old man, piling them up in closets and chests to hide them from him. Then the night before his birthday they would put them in the places he went to every morning like his boots, shower cap, cupboards, fireplaces and lots of other places. One night after he found his presents, he called the elves over meeting. "Listen everybody, I feel very embarrassed with all these presents, instead of giving only me presents, why don't we make it a tradition to go to other people's houses and give them presents?!'' He said. Everyone agreed it was a good idea and tried to workout how they would do this. Some thought of sleighs, chimneys or even going through windows while everybody was asleep. They agreed that the sleigh, chimney and going while they were asleep was a good idea. Now Santa had a magic sack that could squeeze into tiny places and carry large things. He also had 12 hogs that he raised for the Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. So the elves decided that they would take the hogs, attach them to the sleigh and Santa would go from door to door in the middle of the night. Because the sack was magical all Santa had to do was hold it up high and the sack would take him up on the roof and down through people's chimneys. Since the elves wore stockings on their heads they decided to give them to Santa to put the gifts in for all the children. When Santa went into their houses he would put the stockings on the bedposts or in the shoes of the children. Each winter Santa and his elves would go to children all over the world and give them presents. So a tradition was born right here in Bermuda that's true. After many years Santa and his elves decided to share this idea with all the children of the world, the only difference is that he changed the hogs (who were too fat for long journeys) to reindeer. PHOTO Santa checking his lost for all the good boys and girls in Bermuda.