Christmas Short Stories

Christmas is coming to town, as most of you known! ;) For my enjoyment, I have assembled a collection of fun things to do on these cold winter days, so let the snow fly and the wind blow. Grap a nice cup of hot cocoa or chocolate, turn on your music machine, come sit by the fire and have some fun with me! ;)


If you do not believe in Santa, you should read these:

The Boy Who Laughed At Santa Claus
  
      In Baltimore there lived a boy,
      He wasn't anybody's joy.
      Although his name was Jabez Dawes,
      His character was full of flaws.
      In school he never led his classes,
      He hid old ladies' reading glasses,
      His mouth was open when he chewed,
      And elbows to the table glued.

      He stole the milk of hungry kittens,
      And walked through doors marked No Admittance.
      He said he acted thus because
      There wasn't any Santa Claus.
      Another trick that tickled Jabez
      Was crying "Boo!" at little babies.
      He brushed his teeth, they said in town,
      Sideways instead of up and down.

      Yet people pardoned every sin,
      And viewed his antics with a grin,
      Till they were told by Jabez Dawes,
      "There isn't any Santa Claus!"
      Deploring how he did behave,
      His parents swiftly sought their grave.
      They hurried through the portals pearly,
      And Jabez left the funeral early.

      Like whooping cough, from child to child,
      He sped to spread the rumor wild:
      "Sure as my name is Jabez Dawes
      There isn't any Santa Claus!"
      Slunk like a weasel or a marten
      Through nursery and kindergarten,
      Whispering low to every tot,
      "There isn't any, no there's not!"

      The children wept all Christmas Eve
      And Jabez chortled up his sleeve.
      No infant dared to hang up his stocking
      For fear of Jabez' ribald mocking.
      He sprawled on his untidy bed,
      Fresh malice dancing in his head,
      When presently with scalp a-tingling,
      Jabez heard a distant jingling;
      He heard the crunch of sleigh and hoof
      Crisply alighting on the roof.

      What good to rise and bar the door?
      A shower of soot was on the floor.
      What was beheld by Jabez Dawes?
      The fireplace full of Santa Claus!
      Then Jabez fell upon his knees
      With cries of "Don't," and "Pretty please."
      He howled, "I don't know where you read it,
      But anyhow, I never said it!"

      "Jabez," replied the angry saint,
      "It isn't I, it's you that ain't.
      Although there is a Santa Claus,
      There isn't any Jabez Dawes!"
      Said Jabez with impudent vim,
      "Oh, yes there is; and I am him!
      Your magic don't scare me, it doesn't"---
      And suddenly he found he wasn't!

      From grimy feet to grimy locks,
      Jabez became a Jack-in-the-box,
      An ugly toy with springs unsprung,
      Forever sticking out his tongue.
      The neighbors heard his mournful squeal;
      They searched for him, but not with zeal.

Yes Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

    "Dear Editor---
        I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends
    say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you
    see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me
    the truth, is there a Santa Claus?"
                                 Virginia O'Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the scepticism of a sceptical 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 as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to have men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive of imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives and lives forever. :-x A thousand years from now, Virginia, a 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood. ;)