In Santa Knows: The Yearly Nice List Update, Santa checks in from the North Pole to celebrate the kindness children have shown throughout the year. It’s his annual reminder that every small good deed is noticed, remembered, and appreciated.
The video carries a gentle, encouraging message about kindness and generosity — a heartwarming watch for families in the lead-up to Christmas, and a lovely way to talk with children about the spirit of the season rather than just its rewards.
The Nice List is one of the most enduring parts of the Santa tradition, and for good reason. For children, the idea that Santa keeps track of kindness gives the season a quiet moral center. It isn’t really about surveillance or the threat of coal — at its best, it’s an invitation: a reason to be a little kinder, a little more patient, a little more generous, with the gentle encouragement that someone is glad when they do.
What makes this video different from a simple “checking the list” message is its focus. Santa isn’t tallying mistakes — he’s celebrating the good. He looks back on a year of small kindnesses: children helping a sibling, sharing with a friend, showing patience, being honest. It reframes the Nice List not as a test to pass but as a year’s worth of good moments worth being proud of.
That’s a useful frame for parents. The weeks before Christmas can tip easily into “Santa’s watching” as a behavior tool, but the warmer version of the tradition is the one children actually carry with them: that kindness matters, that it’s seen, and that being good is its own quiet reward. A video like this gives families a gentle, Santa-led way into that conversation.
It also lands at a meaningful time of year. As the season builds toward Christmas, Santa’s update is a chance to pause and look back — to notice how much kindness a child has shown, and to celebrate it together before the big day arrives.
There’s no better way to celebrate a year of kindness than a visit from Santa himself.
Santa Can Visit From Anywhere
Not in Southern California? Santa can still visit your family — virtually, from anywhere in the world.