Video. Santa departs Lapland on Christmas eve mission

Before departing, Santa offered comforting words to children: “Nobody can be good all the time. Just do your best, and if you’ve been quite good, don’t worry about the gifts.”

Stacking presents on his sleigh, he encouraged everyone to relax and enjoy the festive season before disappearing into the night sky on his annual adventure.

In 2017, physics students from the University of Leicester calculated that Santa Claus would need to travel at 0.5% of the speed of light to deliver gifts to 238 million households in a single night, highlighting the immense "magical" effort required.