Christmas should be only for Children. If you believe in Santa Claus, if you go and see ‘Father Christmas’ in his grotto, then
Christmas is for you.
Christmas For Children
- Pontypool Christmas Lights Disappointment
- White Christmas Display for Children
- A Funny Story Of Santa and the Two Sisters
- Son Discovers Mother’s 100-year-old Christmas Letter
Pontypool Christmas Lights Disappointment
Mr Men hired to switch on Christmas lights “couldn’t move their arms.”
Every week Guy goes to the aptly named PontyPool, Wales, UK, to swim in the leisure. I was dismayed to learn that Mr Men characters who were hired to switch on a town’s Christmas lights were unable to reach the power switch due to their stiff costumes, forcing councillors to do it themselves.
Mr Bump and Little Miss Sunshine left the children disappointed. Mr Bump and Little Miss Sunshine were paid £1,500 [USD 2400] to parade through the shopping centre before turning on the festive decorations but civic leaders complained the actors could not move enough to lift their arms in their stiff Mr Men costumes.
Hundreds of children turned out to meet the characters from their favourite books at the festive parade in Pontypool, South Wales, UK.
Projects Officer Ann James said: “It was impossible for the characters to wave to the children because they were unable to move their arms.
Ruth Tucker, clerk to Pontypool Community Council, told us, ‘It may be amusing to some people but those who organised the event are quite upset about all this.’ She also added,
‘The characters are usually the icing on the cake but they didn’t provide the same value for money they did in the past.’
A Funny Story Of Santa and the Two Sisters
Daisy and her thirteen-year-old sister, Mia, had been fighting a great deal during the last year. This often can happen when you combine a
strong-willed two-year-old, who is sure she is always right, with a young adolescent.
Daisy’s parents, trying to take advantage of her newfound interest in Santa Claus, reminded the two-year-old that Santa was watching and he was unhappy when he saw children argue and fight. This had little impact on little Mia who really didn’t understand.
‘I’ll just have to tell Santa about your misbehaviour,’ the mother said as she picked up the phone and dialed. Mia’s eyes grew big as her mother asked, ‘Mrs. Claus?’ [it was really Daisy and Mia’s aunt as Santa’s real line was busy] if she could put Santa on the line.
Mia’s mouth dropped even further open her mother described to Santa [Mia’s uncle] how the two-year-old was acting. When her mother told Mia that Santa wanted to talk to her, she reluctantly took the phone.
Santa, speaking in a deep voice, explained to Mia how there would be no presents Christmas morning to children who fought with their sisters. He would be watching, and he expected things to be better from now on.
Mia, now even more wide eyed, solemnly nodded to each of Santa’s remarks and silently hung the phone up when he was done. After a short while, the sister’s mother [trying hard not to laugh at being so clever] asked Mia, ‘What did Santa say to you, darling?’
In almost a whisper, Mia, sadly but matter-of-factly stated, ‘Mummy, Santa said he won’t be bringing any toys to Daisy this year.’
Son Discovers Mother’s 100-year-old Christmas Letter
Dear Santa
Hannah Howard’s Christmas letter was hidden and lost in a chimney for years.
The ghost of Christmas 100 years past arrived early for a County Down, Northern Ireland man when he discovered the “Santa letter” his late mother wrote when she was a girl.
The scorched letter, shown here, dated Christmas Eve 1911, had been up a chimney in a Dublin house for decades. Victor Bartlem’s mother, Hannah Howard, had written her Christmas wish list when she was just 10 years old.
It was first discovered in 1992 when the current house owner John Byrne installed central heating. He came upon Hannah’s letter in the chimney and decided to keep it as a memento of times past. He made it public last year [2011] in the Irish Times and it was there that Victor – living more than 100 miles away in Bangor, County Down, read about it.
Mr Bartlem informed Will and Guy that, ‘I simply couldn’t believe it. I never knew about this letter. I never even knew it existed.’ And he added, ‘It is in the spirit of the time we are in at the moment which is Christmas,” he said.
We have been able to discover what was written on this 100 year old list.
Hannah included:
- A baby doll.
- A waterproof with a hood.
- A pair of gloves and a toffee apple.
- A gold penny and a silver sixpence.
- A long toffee.
We can’t help feeling that the list is far less demanding than many modern equivalents.
Hannah was born on Christmas Day 1900 and she died in 1978.
Christmas Carols Reach New Heights
Christmas Tale: Children’s Letters to Santa
Carole Slotterback, a psychology professor at the University of Scranton, analysed over 1,000 letters addressed to Santa Claus. The results were as moving as they were surprising
Some of the letters were scrawled, while others were written in best handwriting, furthermore ‘Dear Santa’ letters were written in every shade of ink. Curiously, many gave Santa not only their addresses, but also their phone numbers, and parents’ cellphone all to make sure the Main Man knew how to find them at Christmas.
Carole reported that the letters “touched me in so many different ways”. “Some are just absolutely a stitch, and others are some of the saddest things I’ve ever read,” she said.
One kid asked to be an elf. Another made a list that included Pokemon cards, a camera and a microscope. But about every third item, the child wrote: “NO clothes”. And then there was the one written in careful cursive on bright pink paper, in which Santa was asked for perhaps the greatest gift of all, a mom.
“Not just for me but my daddy, brother and granny … my daddy works so hard and then he comes home to cook and clean and it should be easier,” the letter read. The child drew a five-cent ‘stamp’ on the envelope before dropping it into the mailbox.
Overall, about 5% of letters had “family requests”, such as for a sick grandpa to get better, or for Mom and Dad to stop fighting.
She suggested parents ask to see their kids’ wish lists, because they might be surprised at what is – and what’s not – on it. Requests are often “simpler kinds of things than you might think,” Slotterback said.
But she noted a surprising lack of social niceties in the correspondence, unless the child was asking for a pet. A boy who asked for a golden
retriever used “please” 16 times, she said. The next-highest use came from a girl who wanted a horse.
Slotterback cited other research that found people who expect their requests to be fulfilled – like a boss asking an employee to do something – are less likely to say please. Perhaps likewise, she said, kids expect Santa to come through.
Still, she said, “you’d think if you were asking for a lot of presents, you would throw in a ‘please’ or a ‘thank you.'”
Harmonica
“Thanks for the harmonica you gave me for Christmas,” little Joshua said to his uncle the first time he saw him after the holidays. “It’s the best Christmas present I ever got. It’s making me a lot of money.”
“Hey, that’s great,” said his uncle. “You must play it very well.”
“No, not really,” the little fellow said. “I don’t play it very well at all.”
“You don’t?” the uncle inquired. “So how do you make money with it?”
The boy replied, “Mom gives me a dollar a day not to play it during the day and my dad gives me five dollars a week not to play it at night!”
Footnote: Please send us your Christmas for children articles.