Santa Claus @ MindSay

My friend's 7-year old daughter Kristen was suddenly (and suspiciously) very eager to check the mailbox when she got home from school the other day and claimed to have "found" this mysterious letter "in the mail."

I have asked my friend (a lawyer married to a lawyer) to give young Kristen (who is coincidentally not a big fan of eating turkey, or any kind of meat) a stern lecture about the wrongs of identity theft and falsifying documents. ;)

Though the morning at the library has actually been quite busy...(interpret that to mean I have been doing actual work) I have found time for internet browsing.

Most often, my browsing takes the form of random clicking on anything that catches my eye, however, given the time of year, my surfing has been a bit more focused of late.

I have been reading an excellent book (that I have read before, but enjoy rereading annually) called The Autobiography of Santa Claus by Santa Claus (as told to Jeff Guinn). This is a wonderful story that literally gives the history of Santa, the truth about the man behind the myth and several interesting historical facts that Santa personally recounts as he traveled through history.  If you are a cheesy holiday fan like me, I heartily recommend this book. If you aren't but still enjoy a great story and a bit of history....well, I recommend it for you as well.

Having said that, I have been browsing some of the tidbits that particularly interest me from this book. And in doing so, I came across this awesome bit of information taken from a fun website called How Stuff Works.

Although Rudolph is what's called a bull -- a male reindeer -- there's a rumor that many of Santa's reindeer might be cows, or female reindeer. Why is this?

Have you ever seen pictures of Santa flying in his sleigh with his team of reindeer? If you have, you'll notice that the reindeer have fully grown antlers. The interesting thing is, though, male reindeer typically shed their antlers by early December, well before Christmas Eve. The antlers grow back in the spring, and the cycle of growth and regrowth continues. Cows keep their antlers all year long, however, so the chances that there are more females than males on Santa's sleigh are a bit higher.

This isn't to say that all of the reindeer are female and Rudolph's the only guy out there. Most males shed their antlers, but not all of them, and it's possible that a bull won't lose his antlers until after December. Accounts of Blitzen, a part of the original team of reindeer, identify him as Rudolph's father, so we know that Santa has both male and female reindeer leading his sleigh.

So there you have it:  Santa is an EOE-for the most important job on Christmas Eve, he doesn't just trust the men...he knows that when there is real work to be done, get the women involved.

Oh, the only issue I have with all this is that the movie version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer credits Donner as being Rudolph's daddy, not Blitzen.  It's a big mystery-maybe one I will try and solve after lunch.

By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

Dec. 21, 2007 - Members of North American Aerospace Defense Command are gearing up to track Santa Claus' travels on Christmas Eve, providing detailed information about his whereabouts on the command's Web site and through a toll-free telephone line. Air Force Gen. Victor E. Renuart Jr., commander of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, delivered a tongue-in-cheek assessment of the Santa-tracking mission.

READ ON

http://military-online.blogspot.com/2007/12/norad-set-to-track-santa-commander.html

            I’m back after taking a little break last week to study for exams and combat the flu.  I passed all my exams and redeemed myself for that disastrous last semester at ECU ten years ago, and now I have only a slight cough I just can’t get rid of.  To celebrate my success and semi-recovery, Angie and I ventured to Raleigh Sunday for an afternoon of theatre.

            We went to Theatre in the Park for Ira David Wood’s annual one-man performance of Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory.  It was a very touching story, and I believe that it was the best theatrical performance I have ever seen.  Since we’re only a week from the day, I thought I’d pull up a memory or two of my own.

            Believe it or not, spending Christmas Day at the police department isn’t that bad.  I spent six of the eight Christmases I was employed with the TPD sitting there in the dispatch center.  Aside from actually being expected to work on Christmas, it was a rather enjoyable day that I could spend the bulk of reading or watching TV.

            Sometime mid-morning, the whole squad would gather in dispatch to exchange gifts with our sergeant.  The first call of the day never came in until around 4, when someone who’d been hitting the booze all day finally had just enough to foul everything up for me and their family.

            I really loved Christmas when I was little.  I always hated kids who insisted there was no Santa Claus, and I still do.  Adults who “don’t want to lie to their kids” are even worse.  I remember being in a church service once when the preacher’s wife proclaimed that Santa Claus did not exist, and then proceeded to assault our ears with her rendition of “Mary Had a Baby.”  I briefly questioned the existence of God, let alone Santa Claus, after listening to her caterwauling, but then I came to my senses.  I don’t think God minds Santa Claus if you keep him in proper perspective.  You’re in the minority; get over it.

            I’ll have you know Santa Claus came to my house every year, and one time there was some red fur on the wood in our fireplace where he had torn his pants.  He left numerous apple cores and orange peels behind on the table where I’d put them out for him.  He even left me a nice letter once explaining why he wasn’t able to leave the toy I’d asked for as proof of his existence for a little jerk in my class.  So what if Santa’s handwriting resembled my mother’s?

            Shame on me, I hated it when Christmas fell on a Sunday and we were expected to go to church, but I did always enjoy the Sunday night services before Christmas when there was a church-wide carol fest.  There were special numbers in addition to congregational singing, and one little girl in my class played the Air Force song on the piano.  Puzzling to me also.

            My family always had our big dinner on Christmas Eve, and then we’d open one gift before going to bed.  We’d get up Christmas Day, open the rest of the presents, and then have country ham biscuits for breakfast.  Sometime after noon, we’d visit the grandparents.

            When I was little, Santa Claus filled a stocking for me at my Granny Lewis’s house too.  She always had a table full of ham and turkey, and every dessert imaginable.  In later years, as the family swelled with in-laws, she just cooked a huge pot of vegetable soup and a few desserts, but truth be told, after stuffing myself with ham and turkey on Christmas Eve, just a month after doing the same on Thanksgiving, the soup was a welcome relief.

            This Christmas will be different.  I’m going to Sparta to see how the in-laws do it.  It’ll be my first Christmas away from Tarboro since 1992, and my first away from home ever.  I went to Sparta a few days after Christmas last year, and I was able to take part in one of their traditions that was right up my alley: going to the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia, to see a Christmas play.  Last year we saw It’s a Wonderful Life, and this year we’ll take in another version of A Christmas Carol.  It should be fun.

            Since I’ll be away, I’ll just wish you a Merry Christmas now...and thank you for doing the same.  Don’t wish me Happy Holidays or Season’s Greetings.  It’s Christmas.  Have a merry one.

© 2007 by J.D. Lewis