Why does santa rides a sliegh?

Since most people celebrate Christmas during the winter, and about a hundred years ago, people used sleighs pulled by animals such as reindeer to get around it's only natural to assume Santa Claus would ride a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer, as in the story: T'was the night before Christmas. Today, people might think that Santa would use a vertical take off and landing aircraft like the Harrier jump jet or a helicopter or the Marine Corps Osprey plane.