Ah Christmas time. Time to winterise your canal boat and lock yourself safely into a warm house. Or is it? There are lots of festive events planned on the waterways this December.

Whilst the elves and reindeer prepare for their big night, Santa Claus is going on several waterways cruises to find out exactly what all the good children want for Christmas this year. Over the weekend of the 17th and 18th December he will be appearing on Santa cruises at the Anderton Boat Lift (Cheshire), Grebe Canal Cruises, (Pitstone, Bucks), Santa's grotto in the Dudley Caverns (West Midlands), on the Muddy Waters Santa Cruises (Thrupp, Oxfordshire) and on Santa's Special boat trips in Chesterfield, Derbyshire and Ellesmere Port, Cheshire. He's also planning a few boat trips in Worksop and Gloucester plus a visit to the Falkirk Wheel. Cruises often include hot drinks and mince pies for the grown-ups. The events are usually popular, so it's best to book in advance.

No one knows how Santa manages to be in so many places at the same time but the North American Aerospace Defense Command have come up with a theory:

“NORAD intelligence reports indicate that Santa does not experience time the way we do. His trip seems to take 24 hours to us, but to Santa it might last days, weeks or even months. Santa would not want to rush the important job of delivering presents to children and spreading joy to everyone, so the only logical conclusion is that Santa somehow functions within his own time-space continuum.”

On Christmas Eve NORAD will be using radar to track his journey and will update Santa's progress here.

If you've been very good perhaps someone special in your life will pick up on your hints about buying a narrowboat or canal boat, so that you can really enjoy the waterways in 2012.

However, if you've been naughty this year, and are actively trying to avoid Santa on the waterways, you might just choose a roses and castles canal art course in Cradley (West Midlands) on 17th and 18th December. There are carols by the canal on the Shropshire Union and illuminated boats and carols in Stoke Bruerne, plus hot soup and roasted chestnuts, and Christmas shopping in the museum.

A final festive alternative could be an afternoon Wildlife Watch. On New Years Eve you could join the volunteers in Stanstead Abbots who will be waiting in the hides at Rye Meads Nature Reserve to point out wildlife and answer your questions from 2 until 4pm.

A full waterways events calendar including details of the above Santa cruises can be found at the Waterscape Website.