One need only go to a time zone map and do a little figuring. ( http://www.worldtimezone.com/wtz011.php ) You will note that the time in American Samoa is shown in a green bar on this map, while a white bar is used in the nearby Phoenix Islands and Tonga. This is because they are in time zones on opposite ends of the clock: American Samoa is 24 hours BEHIND them, ie just starting the date that the others just finished. Do not confuse American Samoa, a US territory, with Samoa (sometimes called Western Samoa), an independent kingdom. Note also that the Kingdom has already sprung forward to Summer Time clocks, putting them 25 hours ahead of their Americans neighbors across the straits. (From Wikipedia: Kiritimati Island is in the world's farthest forward time zone, UTC+14, and is one of the first inhabited places on Earth to experience the New Year (see also Caroline Atoll, Kiribati). Despite being 2,460 km (1,530 mi) east of the 180 [bot thinks the word for a line between poles is "naughty."], a 1995 realignment of the International Dateline by the Republic of Kiribati moved Kiritimati to west of the dateline.)

12 am, midnight, arrives at Kiritimati, in the Line Islands of Kiribati, between Hawaii and the Society Islands. Kiritimati begins, shall we say, January 1 at this moment. At that same moment, Hawaii and the Society Islands are experiencing 12 am, midnight, the beginning of December 31. Meanwhile, several hundred miles to the west, in American Samoa, the clocks are just striking 11 (23:00) on December 30. If anyone happens to be on Baker Island at the moment, they have just reached 10 pm. This is because there are 26 "on the hour" time zones, not 24. Kiribati's economy is more closely tied to Australia and Asia that to the United States, and they do not want the eastern part of the country to be 24 hours behind the western islands, so added two more time zones to the east. The half- and quarter-hour time zones are irrelevant in this discussion since none straddle the dateline.

Given that, on Kiritimati, 50 hours will have passed before a date begins there and that same date ends on Baker Island, and that Santa will be permitted to start deliveries 5 hours before the first end of the date and finish 7 hours after the last beginning of the date, he has 50 + 12 hours to encircle the earth.

As I write this, using the clock feature on my cell phone, I find that it is RIGHT NOW 5:01 AM, November 27 in Pago Pago, American Samoa. And it is RIGHT NOW 6:01 AM, November 28 in Napari, Kiribati. In Plano, TX, it is 10:01 AM, November 27. Six hours ago, where I live, it was 4:01 AM 11/27. It was at that same moment 12:01 AM 11/28 in Napari (Tomorrow had just begun!). And it was still an hour before midnight (yesterday!) -- 11:01 PM in Pago Pago, and still 11/26. Napari was already into tomorrow (11/28), while Pago Pago was still in yesterday (11/26), while I was here in today (11/27). Because there are more time zones than there are hours in a day.

When Santa makes his last stop in American Samoa on the morning of December 25, the kids in Kiribati have already been playing with their toys for more than a day.