Here Comes Santa Claus

It's Christmas Eve and Santa is frantically preparing his sleigh and packing all the toys for good girls and boys.  This Christmas chime demonstrates how fast a plump, jolly old elf can run.

Made in Sweden, these candle chimes are fairly common as angels, but this is the first (and only) I've ever seen with Santa Claus. These probably dated from the 1950's.

You don't need to be Bill Nye to understand how these work. The updraft of the heated candle flame causes the fan blade above to rotate. When maximum speed is a achieved, Santa's rods swing out to ring the bells.

The chime disassembles for easy storage.

Christmas chimes were introduced to the United States by German immigrants about 100 years ago. Swedish-made chimes, known as "änglaspel" were popularized in the U.S. after World War II.