Question :

As X-mas is coming on, I wanted to brighten up my messages (on my iPhone) with good-old Santa and the X-mas tree from the emoji keyboard… but in iOS9, I can’t find them anymore… they’re not where they used to be… have they been axed in iOS9 ?

Answer :

No, they have not been omitted from iOS9, they are just in a slightly new place… Both of them are still on the renewed Emoji-keyboard, and can be found here :

Santa :

is now in the Smileys & People emoji-chapter in the column that has the Policeman on top, which then goes down to yellow cap guy (Ambulance guy ?), the bear-hat soldier (Royal Guard), the detective and Santa’s at the bottom

to get a Santa with a different skin-tone, keep your finger on the Santa emoji until the popup-list of all Santa’s appears, and select the Santa you need there

Angel :

is now in the Smiley & People emoji-chapter also, at the top of the column that has Santa in it… so right next to the Policeman

X-mas tree :

is now in the Animals & Nature emoji-chapter, at the bottom of the column that has the red dog-steps on top… and then goes down to the Dragon, then the Dragon-head, the Cactus-tree and the X-mas tree at the bottom

Enjoy !

😉