Tag: Santa Claus

Commentary: Some Observations on My Nine-Week Christmas

Admin

This year, the Christmas spirit knocked at my door two weeks before Thanksgiving, smiled coyly, and settled in like some stray feline who’s struck gold with a warm hearth and a bowl of Friskies Seafood Sensations. Never before had this spirit arrived so early and so unexpectedly.

It started with a review copy of Faith Moore’s Christmas Karol, a novel that copycats the plot of the Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol. Here we meet Karol Charles, an attorney obsessed with success and money to the detriment of her husband, her two young children, her sister, and her employees. Like Ebenezer Scrooge, Karol is visited on Christmas Eve first by her deceased partner and then by three spirits of the season. Most of the action takes place in a hospital, a stroke of inspiration on Moore’s part as hospitals serve both the dying and the recovering. When we meet her, Karol’s soul is most decidedly on the critical list.

Read the full story

Commentary: ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’ Helped Make the Modern Santa – and Led to a Literary Whodunit

Admin
close-up of Santa Claus suit

The poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” better known by its opening line “‘Twas the Night before Christmas,” has a special place among Christmas traditions, right alongside hot chocolate, caroling and bright lights. It has also inspired the modern image of Santa Claus as a jolly old man sporting red and a round belly.

But this poem has been steeped in controversy, and debate still looms over who the true author is. Traditionally, Clement C. Moore – a 19th-century scholar at the General Theological Seminary in New York, where I work as a reference librarian – has been credited with writing the poem in 1822 for his children. Every December, library staff shares our multiple copies of the poem in an exhibit to celebrate the holiday season.

No matter who wrote it, the poem is a fascinating object that has shaped Christmases past, present – and maybe yet to come.

Read the full story

‘Naughty and Nice Retail List’ Takes Defense of Christmas Into Commercial Arena

Admin

Legal challenges to Christmas and holiday displays have been going on for decades. In order to combat the anti-Christmas sentiment outside of the courtroom, a nonprofit religious liberty organization is encouraging shoppers to do so with their wallets.

Liberty Counsel’s Naughty and Nice List classifies retailers according to whether they censor or celebrate Christmas — an allusion, of course, to Santa’s list of naughty and nice children from the Christmas standard “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.”

Read the full story

Government Shut Down Won’t Stop NORAD’s Santa Tracker

Admin

by Molly Prince   The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) will continue its more than 60-year-old tradition of tracking Santa Claus as he leaves the North Pole to deliver presents across the world. The twitter account for NORAD and the U.S. Northern Command announced Friday that Santa will be tracked on Christmas Eve regardless of whether or not a government shutdown has gone into effect. WATCH: We're ready for Dec. 24…are you? pic.twitter.com/OHhCfRgiHu — NORAD Tracks Santa (@NoradSanta) December 19, 2018 “In the event of a government shutdown, NORAD will continue with its 63-year tradition of NORAD Tracks Santa on Dec. 24,” NORAD and USNORTHCOM said. “Military personnel who conduct NORAD Tracks Santa are supported by approximately 1,500 volunteers who make the program possible each and every year.” Accordingly, Congress failed to pass a spending measure before government funding expired Friday at midnight, triggering a government shutdown. The House passed a stopgap funding bill Thursday that included $5.7 billion for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. However, Senate Republicans were not able to get the necessary 60 votes needed to send the bill to the president’s desk. Prior to the vote, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed that any legislation with additional funding…

Read the full story

Santa Claus Spotted in Downtown Franklin on a Motorcycle

Tennessee Star Staff

FRANKLIN, Tennessee — The Tennessee Star caught a glimpse of Santa Claus on a motorcycle in downtown Franklin Sunday afternoon. Accompanied by a green clad assistant riding behind, Santa drove his motorcycle down Main Street, stopping along the way to hand out candy canes to excited children shopping with their parents. Both Santa and his elf assistant patiently accommodated the many requests for photographs that came from children, parents, and adult passers by alike. “We do this every year because we want to,” Mr. Claus told The Star, before he roared away, spreading good cheer to all who watched and waved as he faded out of sight. Sources tell The Star that Mr. Claus and his elf assistant are long-time residents of Williamson County who have conducted their motorcycle candy cane missions for many years during the Christmas season.    

Read the full story