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EVERY YEAR AT THIS SEASIIII
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B.'l'.R. IN THE OTTAWA CITIZEN
in is skeptical era, Santa Claus is still going strong. The evidence u all around on Christmas lfve. one needs only to relax and 1 tea mm; it is quiet in a. child's bed- mom, so that he can begin to fill a. stacking and place the parcels at. the Christina: tree.
It. is 'quite plain. -5 pi-in It ieast. as the nose on Rudolf the Reindeer, that if an idea P0559905 the dreams of a. million children and the thoughts of a million adults at the same time. then 1! ms something in it that is im- :nortal. arm; is perhaps the complete was-er to the perennial dlllilm over Santa Claus. As a fable. does he do harm as well as good? Of course, he does some harm. An immortal idea is subject to abuse.
0 O 0
Alt may be that we are only just riiscovering Santa. Claus again. He has been rediscovered many times and he has always been a contro- versial figure. It is easier. as Dr. Brock Chisholm found. to praise than to criticise Santa Claus Praise flows past without a sec- md thought. while criticism sticks in the minds of Christmas devo- tees. we were brought up to think that Charles Dickens has best ex- pressed the spirit of Christmas. There is no doubt that his Christ- has Carol will endure for a long time, though not as long as Santa himself. But now we are re-dis- .-overing Dickens. We have stumb- led on the truth his fame rests on :he simple fact that,. in an age of llarsll confusion and social stir- ring, it was Dickens who re-dis- zovercd Santa Claus for his gen- citation.
;No one needs to defend Santa He is as fabulous as any character in mythology. He lives in the spruce bluffs of the atomic age iust as happily as he did in the oak groves of the Druids. He is as enduring as the divine spark in the human heart. and mind.
0 D
In the early Canadian era. which we all remember, it was fashion- able to think that he brought gifts for use as well as for pleas- ure. Many a. father will honor the Canadian tradition by expressing ii creduious surprise and unbounded appreciation for a gaudy tie that he will not dare to wear to his office. "its just what L wanted", he will say. and every- me will enyoy the notion that Santa Claus is able to penetrate the deepest recess of the heart and learn that there are secret yearn- tngs to be fulfilled. And he will fill them.
Nothing dampens the cheer of the occasion so much as a sour we at the ceremony of opening (he presents, and the Canadian child soon learns that one of the great secrets of C rlstmu is the discovery that gifts are apt reci- sted; that it is the apprec stion and not the gift that lends en- .-hsntment to Christmas.
No one needs to defend Santa. Yet if he needs defendln , it obvious that he has become in our times the new spirit of invention as well as the old spirit of Joy Even now the R-lllllsnl may be illanning to admit him. for the stores have been full of evidence gn recent days that the draught- -ng boards of lanta's factories IIIII bring forth fresh miracles.
,l The planned economy must be war behind if it cannot produce a loll that not only closes its -eyes ind cries when hugged, but also was and drinks, breathe: and fleeps. wears a skin that seems sue to life and wets herself. The M16 Kiri who has grown up to think that dolls had gone as far is they could go, with flsxen nu: ind arms that bend, has found that the world of Santa. Claus has not been standing still.
a An age that can produce guided missiles has also produced electric Rain sets with a microphone-im ltalistion for station ounce- tients. The whirling top that is is old as Archimedes yet as new as fresh fallen snowflakes. has be- torne the atomic top and it is Just is much fun. The sawdust dolls
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may have vanished and become an extinct species, but the inflated toys of plastic stand three and four feet high and defy the ef- forts of a child of the twentieth century to knock them down. 0 0 0
One of the real secrets of Santa Claus is not his influence on im- preesionable children. He may find it unwise, to introduce himself into the comic strips and encounter there the onslaughta of the psy- chologists and the parliamentar- ians. But he is bound to survive forever as an influence upon ad- ults whose shells have hardened That is where he does some of his best work. There is always the danger that something of Scrooge has been imprisoned within the shell of everyone of us. Yet on the days leading up to Christmas. by some magic the windows of the heart are opened. The spoken words of "Merry Christmas” are heard on the lips of everyone. No one escapes the vast activity of Christmas, or the transformation that sets across the landscape of daily life.
The preparations that have been going on have now reached the
climax. They are a tribute to Santa. Claus. Even if he is only an idea, he proves that ideas are the strongest thing in men's lives
Games For All Make Christmas Family Party
Christmas is the time for family get-togethers. One of the best ways to make these gatherings memor-
able for all concerned is to engage
in games which the whole group can play.
A nice one to start off with would be a sugar Plum Hunt. Have one membe of the family hide Christ- mas candies ahead of time in vari- ous'nooks and corners around We house. At' a given signal everyone starts hunting and gathering the pieces. The one who gathers the greatest number would be given a prize.
The Christmas Puzzle is another good one to get thingk going. Look through some magazines. which are filled with pictures of Santa Claus at this time of year. Cut out enough of these to go around, paste them on stiff cardboard, and cut them into pieces. Then put each group of pieces in a separate paper bag. At the signal. everyone opens a bag and starts putting the puzzle toge- ther.
The Xmas Scramble Contest is good for I group with older child- ten in it. This is simply a contest tosee who can unscram-ble a group of words the fastest. Just for fun. see if you can work out the follow-
gosllmct. erte. trepesn. alsorc. and niborb.
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A pair of ancient church bells, brought to Frankenmuth. Mic-h., from Bavaria shortly after Frank- enmuth was founded as an Indian mlaion, has been calling the con- gregation of St. Lorenz to Christ- mas eve services for more than a I00 years.
Ninety-five per cent of the resi- dents ol' the small community are mefnbes of the "church, earning the village the title of -"the most Christian community in the United States." .
llirankenmuth has never had a crime of violence. and. Is far as residents can remember. no one has been iaued over a period of 25 years. The only vulture to the lock-
of Ildellly and enuauy, sass an unused , . mulch 0951114 9114, "I'hn'r nmury, tlufs 0.” Th rulllbd Rummy bloom: at Cbniunm bu Iauroduud
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cu. so-mbghrugsa .. emu, M01 thew 1... (M3, 0 Man. an ileum have have use sum-Iy' 1.. .1 an awards.
up were transients given a night's lodging.
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Is There A
(This editorial ” timeless,
Santa Claus.)
Virginia, your wrong.
Santa Claus?
little friends They have been affected by the
which has justly was written in The New York Sun in 189'! by Francis Pharcellus Church in an-. swer to a. letter from a little eight year old girl named Virginia. 0'- Hanlon, who had been told by some of her friends that there was no
III
skepticism of a skeptical age.
They do not believe except they
see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by
their little minds.
All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's. are little. In this great universe of ours man
is a. mere insect, An ant, in his intellect,
worlds about him. As measured by the capable of grasping
As compared with the boundless
intelligence
The whole of truth and knowl-
edge.
geneyosity and
Devotion exist, and you know,that
they abound
beauty and joy. Alasi how dreary
Yes, Virginia. there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and
And give to your life its highest would be the
world if there were no Santa
Clausi
were no Virglnias.
It would be as dreary as if there There would be no childlike faith
then. no poetry. no romance To make tolerable this existence.
We should have
except in sense and sight.
The eternal light be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus!
You might as well not believe in
fairiesl You might get your papa to hire men to watch in chimneys
Claus.
But even if they did not see San-
ta Claus coming down What would that prove?
Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that that there is no
is no sign Santa Claus.
The most real things in the world
are those that neither
on the lawn? that they are not there all the wonders there
Unseen and unseeable world.
Noise inside, covering the unseen
Koan. nor strength
CVGII
lived. could tear apart,
That curtain picture
and
heart of childhood.
the
all
Children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing
Nobody can conceive or imagine
are in
G
view
from
Vlrkinla, nay. ten times thousand years from now", will continue to make glad the
no enjoyment,
with which childhood fills the world would
the
On Christmas Eve to catch Santa
Of course not, but that's no proof
the
You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the but there is a veil
World which not the strongest. united
Of all the strongut men that ever Only faith. fancy, poetry, love.
romance. can push asid and
The supernal beauty and glory
this world
lives, and he
beyond. Is it all real? Ah Virginia in all there is nothing else real.arid abiding. No Santa Clausi Thank Godi he lives forever. A thousand years
now. ten he
this cuiiizsrm. st
0 Queen to Broadcast
Christmas Day
Although this will be Her Maj- esty's flrst Christmas Message, the Queen is an experienced broad- caster. She began at the age of fourteen, during the war, when she spoke from a room at Wind- sor during the BBC Children's Hour and sent a message to the children of the Commonwealth- especialiy to those who had been evacuated from Britain to Canada and the U.S.A. No one who heard that broadcast will forget the surprise ending of it. Princess Elizabeth, as she then was, an- nounced that her sister (who was ten) was sitting in the room with her and that they were going to give the closing message together. Listeners then heard a spontan- eous icomc on, Margaretii follow- ed by the voices of the two girls calling 'Good night, chlIdren'.
Four years later that same Prin- cess Elizabeth, with her destiny clear, was taking an increasingly important place on public occas- ions, and we heard her launching I. new battleship. For this en- gagement she had for the first time made an official journey out of London without her parents.
The Queen was nineteen when the second world war ended, and soon she began to make more and more public appearances. And as she grew in the nation's know- ledge and affection, so too she grew in modest assurance at the microphone. We began to know and to like her voice-clear, com- posed. and remarkably like her mother's.
Royal Pledge
The year 1947 brought her most memorable broadcast from Cape- town. She and Princess Margaret had accompanied their parents to South Africa, and it was during this tour that the Queen celebrat- ed her twenty-first birthday. Her coming-of-age message was no or- dinary one. With all the world listening, she spoke as a repre-
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sentative of the youth of the day ziddremiiig her own generation, and solemnly dedicated her life to the service of the Commonwealth. It is a. matter of factual history that Her Majesty well fulfils that pledge. And in the past five years she has been most erithusnastically assisted, in devotion to public duty and furthering the causes of youth, by her husband. the Duke of Ed- inburgh.
Several of her speeches have been broadcast each year. She has spoken from London, Edinburgh. Belfast, and from Wales. In the summer of 1951, when King George VI was ill, she delivered the ad- dress of welcome to King I-laakon of Norway at a dinner for which microphones were put into one of me great State Rooms of Buck- ingham Palace.
Then came the broadcast from Canada last year. The Queen spoke in Ottawa and several other cities. She was always interested in the broadcasting arrangements When she went over the border to the United States its President Truman's guest, she addressed an international microphone in the garden of the White House. Her farewell speech to Canada fi'om St. John's, Newfoundland, was a most moving occasion, and the warmth of the emotion she felt after five weeks of trans-Atlantic greeting was clear in the new depth which came into her tones.
Now comes the special broad- cast. At Christmas we shall hear our Queen in the first year of the new reign, giving a message from her home to her family of na-
It's little wonder that Saint Nick is especially generous to the Amer- ican people. History proves that the Americans have done a lot for Saint Nicki
They have given him a. new name, a new face and figure. and a new means of transportation.
The original European version of saint Nick pictured him as a tall angular man who rode on a. bony gray mare. Both the horse and Saint Nick looked as if they hadn't had a good meal in some time.
The early English settlers in this country started giving Saint Nich- olas his "New Look". The English children adopted the legendary Christmas figure from the Dutch. but the English children had troub- le pronouncing "Saint Nickolous". Somehow the name changed to "Santa Kalouf", and finally it was corrupted to "Santa Claus." However, this was only the be- ginning. In 1609 Washington Irv- ing. in his "Knlckerbockers History of New York,” wrote of the saint
Santa I-'l-I-llrough The Years
PAGE FIVE
as the guardian of New York City. .
Irving described Saint Nick as a jolly fellow with a broad-brimmed hat and huge breeches. He taught saint Nick to smoke a long pipe, and, in the story, replaced his shuf- fling hay-bumer with a trim wagon.
A short time later, Baint Nichol- as' transportation was aided by
Clement Moore in his famous poem, - r
"The Visit from Saint Nicholas," written in 1882. Moore. a. professor of divinity in a New York theolog- ical seminary, gave Saint Nick is sleigh, twinkling eyes, cheeks like roses, nose like a cherry. and a round like helly.
Todayis Santa Claus is by no '
means streamlined. but he is a far cry from the lean, ascetic. somber- ly dressed fellow who, for centuries. on Christmas Eve, guided his mare through the streets of Europe.
AN AGE-OLD STORY RETOLD . . . "She brought forth her first- born Son. and wrapped him in swaddllng clothes, Ind I.IId Him in a manger."
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