[Nate the Great]

It's a Theme Day here in the PNQ Thread! Today is Christmas lore:

Where did this idea of flying reindeer come from? I suppose it follows a line of "logic" from Pegasus to reindeer (a more logical quadraped to be found in the North Country), but still...flying reindeer?

I've seen versions of the Santa legend that state one immortal jolly dude and others that state a sort of generational legacy. Some even posit the existence of a "throne" at the North Pole. Saint Nicholas the XXXVI or whatever, and Santa a hereditary title. Which do you prefer?

I'm still a little curious about this bit of Santa having to lay one finger alongside his nose to go up the chimney. Given the sizes and shapes (and nonexistence, for some) of chimneys, I'd imagine some sort of autonomous teleportation a la Q would come into play. Thus a finger snap, wink, or some other, more expedient and simple method of physically indicating you are about to change position.

So how would Santa's pack work? Someone once calculated that even if every child only recieved a one-pound LEGO set, we're still talking thousands of tons. I suppose that if we're positing flying reindeer, a normal sack being a doorway into hammerspace (i.e. a Bag of Holding) would also work. Perhaps Santa has a bunch of elves in there with clipboards and forklifts finding the correct toys for each house.