Santa's Workshop

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!
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Have you been a good little boy or girl all year? Would you like to leave a message for Santa Claus? If you do, he'll write you back a personal message just for you!!
Have your Grown Up help you.
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Above are my kids, Katie (6) and Nicholas (3) with Mr. & Mrs. Santa Claus at Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO when we went with Grandma, Christmas of 1999.

Santa & the Reindeer
by Shel Silverstein's "Where the Sidewalk Ends"

"This is the hour," said Santa Claus,
"The bells ring merrily."
Then on his back he slung his pack,
And into his sleigh climbed he.

"On Dancer! On, Prancer! On, Donner and Blitzen!
On, Comet and Cupid!" cried he.
And all the reindeers leaped but one,
And that one stood silently.

He had pulled the sleigh for a thousand years,
And never a word spoke he.
Now he stood in the snow, and he whispered low --
"Oh, what do you have for me?"

"I have games and toys for girls and boys,"
Said Santa cheerily.
The reindeer stood as if made of wood --
"But what do you have for me?"

"The socks are hung, the bells are rung!"
Cried Santa desperately.
The reindeer winked at a falling star --
"But what do you have for me?"

Then Santa reached into his beard,
And he found a tiny flea,
And he put it into the reindeer's ear,
And the reindeer said, "For me? Oh gee!"

And into the blue away they flew,
Away they flew with the flea.
And the moral of the yuletide tale
You know as well as me.

Christmas Dog
by Shel Silverstein's "Falling Up"

Tonight's my first night as a watchdog,
And here it is Christmas Eve.
The children are sleepin' all cozy upstairs,
While I'm guardin' the stockin's and tree.

What's that now -- footsteps on the rooftop?
Could it be a cat or a mouse?
Who's this down the chimney?
A theif with a beard --
And a big sack for robbin' the house?

I'm barkin', I'm growlin', I'm bitin' his butt.
He howls and jumps back in his sleigh.
I scare his strange horses, they leap in the air.
I've frightened the whole bunch away.

Now the house is all peaceful and quiet again,
The stockin's are safe as can be.
Won't the kiddies be glad when they wake up
tomorrow
And see how I've guarded the tree.

A Christmas Gift
For You!!

If you would like to save this cute little Holiday snowglobe I created, please follow the simple instructions below.
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My fiancee gave me this Christmas card in 1999!! He's such a practical joker!! ;c) LOL. I had trouble with my kitty - Abby - who would look at my tree as though it was a game. And every night I would have to pick the tree up off the floor and REDECORATE the whole thing!! It started getting my spirits down. So we came up with a solution. So for any of you cat owners (or pet owners whose pet likes to climb the tree) - try this:
TIE THE TREE TO THE WALL!! Take a hook-eye and screw it in to the back of the wall BEHIND the tree. Then take a sturdy piece of light weight rope or heavy-duty twine and tie it around the trunk of the tree and loop it through your hook! And then you only have to pick the ORNAMENTS up off the floor!! Not your tree! :c)

Do you like to play games and earn points? Below are links to some fun holiday games!! Go to shockwave.com and download shockmachine for free and play classic arcade games offline!!

falling holiday stars

Still can't get enough Christmas? Click on the link below for MORE Holiday cheer!!

click Santa for
Aesop's Story of
Santa Claus

Santa Claus, the legendary bearer of gifts & good tidings at Christmas, is generally depicted as a fat, jolly man with a white beard, dressed in a red suit, trimmed with white fur and driving a sleigh full of toys drawn by eight tiny reindeer flying through the air. Santa (a.k.a. Saint Nicholas or St. Nick) is said to visit on Christmas Eve, December 24th, every year, entering houses through the chimney to leave presents under the tree and in the stockings of all good children throughout the world. Although this familiar image of Santa Claus is a North American invention of the 19th century, it has ancient European roots and continues to influence the celebration of Christmas throughout the world.
     The historical Saint Nicholas was venerated in early Christmas legends for saving storm-tossed sailors, defending young children, and giving generous gifts to the poor. Although many of the stories about Saint Nicholas are of doubtful authenticity (for example, he is said to have delivered a bag of gold to a poor family by tossing it through a window), his legend spreads throughout Europe, emphasizing his role as a traditional bearer of gifts. The Christian figure of Saint Nicholas replaced or incorporated various pagan gift-giving figures such as the Roman Befana and the Germanic Berchta and Knecht Ruprecht. The saint was called Sankt Nikolaus in Germany and Sanct Herr Nicholaas or Sinter Klaas in Holland. In these countries, Nicholas was sometimes said to ride through the sky on a horse. He was depicted wearing a bishop's robe and was said to be accompanied at times by Black Peter, an elf whose job was to whip the naughty children.
     The feast day of Nicholas, when presents were received, was traditionally observed on December 6. After the Reformation, German Protestants encouraged veneration of the Christkindl (Christ child) as a gift giver on his own feast day, December 25 - Christmas Day. When the Nicholas tradition prevailed, it became attached to Christmas itself. Because the saint's life is so unreliably documented, Pope Paul VI ordered the feast of Saint Nicholas dropped from the official Roman Catholic calendar in 1969. The term Christkindl evolved to Kriss Kringle, another nickname for Santa Claus. Various other European Christmas gift givers were more or less similar to Saint Nicholas: Pe're Noel in France, Julenisse in Scandinavia, and FAther Christmas in England.
     The American version of the Santa Claus figure received its inspiration and its name from the Dutch legend of Sinter Klaas, brought by settlers to New York in the 17th century. As early as 1773 the name appeared in the American press as "St. A Claus," but it was the popular author Washington Irving who gave Americans their first detailed information about the Dutch versioin of Saint Nicholas. In his History of New York, published in 1809 under the pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker, Irving described the arrival of the saint on horseback (unaccompanied by Black Peter) each Eve of Saint Nicholas. This Dutch-American Saint Nick achieved his fully Americanized form in 1823 in the poem "A Visit From Saint Nicholas" (a.k.a. "Twas the Night Before Christmas" by writer Clement Clarke Moore.) Moore included such details as the names of the reindeer; Santa Claus's laughs, winks and nods; and the method by which Saint Nicholas referred to as an elf, returns up the chimney. (Moore's phrase "lays his finger aside of his nose" was drawn directly from Irving's 1809 description.)
     The American image of Santa Claus was further elaborated by illustrator Thomas Nast, who depicted a rotund Santa for Christmas issues of Harper's magazine from 1860s to the 1880s. Nast added such details as Santa's workshop at the North Pole and Santa's list of the good and bad children of the world. A human-sized version of Santa Claus, rather than the elf of Moore's poem, was depicted in a series of illustrations for Coca-Cola advertisements introduced in 1931. In modern versions of the Santa Claus legend, only his toy-shop workers are elves. Rudolph, the ninth reindeer, with a red and shiny nose, was invented in 1939 by an advertising writer for the Montgomery Ward Company.
     Today the fully detailed modern image of Santa Claus plays a part in Christmas celebrations around the world. People are reminded of Santa Claus through advertising, greeting cards, decorations and the Christmas season/gift giving hype revolving around departments stores and shopping malls, usually accompanied by Mrs. Claus and elves.
     Although most adults view Santa as the emobidment of a spirit of giving, some argue that the modern image of Santa conflicts with the true meaning of Christmas and promotes greed and commercialism. To reconcile the legend of Santa Claus with the religious significance of Christmas, some Christians emphasize that the modern figure is derived from legends about a saint who symbolized love, caring and generosity.
"Merry Christmas to All...And to All a Good Night!"
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"Santa Claus," Microsoft (R) Encarta (R) Encyclopedia 99. (c) 1993-1998 Microsoft Corp.

The legendary St. Nicholas as depicted by historical times.

Story of Rudolph
You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen. Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen. But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all?
     Rudolph, the red nosed reindeer. Had a very shiny nose. And if you ever saw it. You would even say it glows. All of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names.They never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games.
     Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to say: "Rudolph, with your nose so bright! Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?"
     Then how the reindeer loved him! As they shouted out with glee: "Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer! You'll go down in history!"

The Night Before
Christmas
by Clement C. Moore
Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care in the hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.
     The children were nestled, all snug in their beds. While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads, and Mamma in her kerchief, and I in my cap, had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap --
     When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter! I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window I flew like a flash, tore open the shutters and threw up the sash. The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow gave the lustre of midday to objects below. When what to my wondering eyes should appear but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer. With a little old driver, so lively and quick, I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick!
     More rapid than eagles his coursers they came, and he whistled and shouted and called them by name: "Now Dasher! Now Dancer! Now Prancer and Vixen! On Comet! On Cupid! On Donner and Blitzen! To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall! Now dash away, dash away, dash away all!"
     As dry leaves before the wild hurrican fly, when they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky, so up to the housetop the coursers they flew, with a sleigh full of toys and St. Nicholas, too. And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof the pranching and pawing of each little hoof. As I drew in my head and was turning around, down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound! He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot, and his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot. A bundle of toys he had flung on his back and he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes, how they twinkled! His dimples, how merry! His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry. His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow and the beard on his chin was as white as the snow. The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth. And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath. His had a broad face and a little round belly that shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly! He was chubby and plump -- a right jolly old elf and I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself! A wink of his eye, and a twist of his head soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
     He spoke not a word but went straight to his work and filled all the stockings then turned with a jerk. And laying his finger aside of his nose, and giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.
     He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, and away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight, "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"