Natale

“ Natale gnawed industriously at his own bread without even thinking of offering to barter a portion of it for a taste of the savory sausage. There was a kind of fascination in watching the ugly fellow eat, and the wondering brown eyes were fixed upon the peddler’s surly face. ”

“ The moon shone big and white in the sky, and the snow lay crisp and sparkling on the ground as Santa Claus cracked his whip and sped away out of the valley into the great world beyond. The roomy sleigh was packed full with huge sacks of toys, and as the reindeer dashed onward our jolly old Santa laughed and whistled and sang for very joy. ”

“ Who Sanny Claw?—what’s Clismas?” eagerly inquired the child.
“Don’t you know what Christmas is?” said Dorothy. “Why, Christmas is the loveliest time of all the year. It is then that we hang up our stockings, and in the night while we are asleep Santa Claus comes down the chimney, and fills our stockings with the loveliest things—dolls and toys and candy, and, oh—just everything.” ”

“ The bright little sleds for the great snow hills
Are quickly set down on the floor.
Then Santa Claus mounts to the roof like a bird,
And glides to his seat in the sleigh;
Not the sound of a bugle or drum is heard
As he noiselessly gallops away.
He rides to the East, and he rides to the West,
Of his goodies he touches not one ;
He eateth the crumbs of the Christmas feast
When the dear little folks are done.
Old Santa Claus doeth all that he can;
This beautiful mission is his;
Then, children, be good to the little old man,
When you find who the little man is. ”

“ Long shafts of light from the bare, uncurtained windows of the old church lay across the snow, as the cracked bell jangled through the crisp air its Christmas greeting. The jingle of sleigh-bells, the creaking of the runners, merry voices, bits of song, gay laughter, united in a Christmas carol redolent with Christmas spirit—Peace on earth, good will to men. ”

“ Welcome, merry Christmas and New-Year! prized by children above all other days in the year. Ye are associated with pleasant recollections of old Santa Claus and sugar-plums—with bright visions of a cheerful fireside, merry games, pleasant stories, and happy, smiling faces. First comes Christmas Eve, when each young face beams with eager curiosity and delightful anticipation—all wondering and guessing what they shall find in their stockings next morning ”

“ Then Rose told her all about jolly Santa Claus, with his red cheeks and white beard and fur coat, and about his reindeer and sleigh full of toys. "Every Christmas Eve," said Rose, "he comes down the chimney, and fills the stockings of all the good children; so, Piccola, you hang up your stocking, and who knows what a beautiful Christmas present you will find when morning comes!" ”

“ Long years ago this holy time,
⁠My little one—my all to me—
⁠Sat robed in white upon my knee,
And heard the merry Christmas chime.
"Tell me, my little golden-head,
⁠If Santa Claus should come to-night,
⁠What shall he bring my baby bright,—
What treasure for my boy?" I said. ”

“ Who ever heard of a middle-aged fairy? Such folk, be their age what it may, generally prefer fun; especially do they love what Charles Dickens once for all defined and established as the Spirit of Christmas. Well, here they may find Father Christmas at home, and on his rounds. Here they will find revealed and laid bare the whole secret and mystery of Santa Claus—where the presents come from, and where they are stored—how they are packed and how delivered while we are all asleep in our beds, delivered from the waits. ”

“ Because—don't you know, Santa Claus is the spirit of Christmas: and ever and ever so many years ago when the dear little Baby was born after whom we call Christmas, and was cradled in a manger out in the stable because there was not room in the inn, that Spirit came into the world to soften the hearts of men and make them love one another. ”

“ Christmas Eve passes unnoticed. The aurora may be even more beautiful than usual, its waving draperies more fantastic, more gorgeous-hued, but it is unnoticed by the Lapps who have seen it from childhood. Men, women, children, servants, guests, and animals, crowd into the small, low homes, without a thought of Santa Claus coming to visit them. Children have no stockings to hang up, and there are no chimneys for Santa to descend. In fact, he and his reindeer, with their loads of treasured gifts, probably left this region with the sun, bound for more congenial places. ”

“ That magic hour of all the year when Santa Claus, behind his team of reindeer steeds, rides hither and thither from one chimney top to another. But on this particular night the little creatures of the great forest had given up all hope of any Christmas visitor and were huddled in their beds for warmth. They were fast asleep, dreaming their troubled dreams of empty shelves and stockings. Outside the great world lay covered with ice and snow, for the blizzard had gone on its way and a cold winter moon shone on the hanging icicles. ”

“ Well, Mother Goose and Jennie, you can put away your needles, and Jack, just turn the reindeer loose again. There will be no Christmas gifts for anybody this year, nor any other year.
All. No Christmas gifts! Never again any Christmas gifts!
Santa. That’s what I said. Never again any Christmas gifts! Santa Claus will never be seen away from the North Pole again!
Mother Goose. Why, Santa, you might as well say there will be no more skating or coasting. Winter without Santa Claus and Christmas is unbelievable. I can’t bear to think of your never again carrying Christmas gifts to the children. ”

“ No Santa Claus? Yes, my little man, there is a Santa Claus, thank God! Your father had just forgotten. The world would indeed be poor without one. It is true that he does not always wear a white beard and drive a reindeer team—not always, [15] you know—but what does it matter? He is Santa Claus with the big, loving, Christmas heart, for all that; Santa Claus with the kind thoughts for every one that make children and grown-up people beam with happiness all day long. ”

“ It's a merry Christmas, this Twenty-fifth of December, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven,—a very merry Christmas; times have scarcely changed at all in the last thirty years. The sun shines down brightly, and the frosty air is fall of gladness; for Santa Claus, with his untold wonders, has come and gone. Ecstasies over dolls and transports over tea-sets, screams of delight at hobby-horses and enthusiastic exclamations at humming-tops, have passed. ”

“ Why, Santa Claus, answers POLLY, we all just love you, you know.
Well, well, says SANTA CLAUS. Then he lays down his cane on the floor, and stretches himself, and stands up, and walks across the room without hobbling at all.
How do you feel now? asks JACK.
Feel? answers SANTA CLAUS, moving more and more briskly. I feel as young as a snow flake; I feel as strong as a northeast blizzard. Quick, Mrs. Santa Claus, bring me my fur cap and gloves. There's time yet to fill the children's stockings. ”

“ Here Santa Claus, the last survivor of the old benefactors, who has outlasted whole hierarchies of outworn myths and, yet firm in the devotion of the heart of childhood, snaps his fingers alike at arid science and blighting stupidity, was driving his reindeer, his teeming sleigh filled with wonders from every region: dolls that walked and talked and sang, fit for princesses; sleds fine enough for princes; drums and trumpets and swords for young heroes; horses that looked as though they were alive and would spring next moment from their rockers ”

“ Over the land again, Santa Claus stopping so often now that Merrythought grew quite used to holding the reins. Here were more children fast asleep, here were mothers and fathers trimming Christmas Trees, and people trudging through the snow carrying presents and wreaths of holly and bunches of mistletoe.
‘Gay, isn’t it?’ asked Santa Claus, smiling with all his might. ‘There is nothing in the world quite like Christmas and plenty of toys for every one. ”

“ Ay, and at the window sat the little sick boy, and the toy Santa Claus left him seemed to have brought him strength and health, for his eyes sparkled and his cheeks glowed, and it was plain to see his heart was full of happiness.
And, oh! how the chimes did ring out, and how joyfully they sang their Christmas carol that morning! They sang of Bethlehem and the manger and the Babe; they sang of love and charity, till all the Christmas air seemed full of angel voices. ”

“ They were all good-natured, every one, though the train was behind time—that is a sure sign of Christmas. The brakeman wore a piece of mistletoe in his cap and a broad grin on his face, and he said "Merry Christmas" in a way to make a man feel good all the rest of the day. No Santa Claus, is there? ”

“ Notwithstanding the ripe experience of years past, when each Christmas found the generous stocking stuffed with good things, there was always the chance that Santa Claus might have forgotten, this year—or that he might have miscalculated his supply and not have enough to go 'round—or that he had not been correctly informed as to just what you wanted—or that some accident, might have befallen his reindeer-and-sleigh to detain him until the grey dawn of Christmas morning stopped his work and sent him scurrying back to his toy kingdom to await another Yule-tide. ”

“ It was well known that no harm can come to Santa Claus while he is in the Laughing Valley, for the fairies, and ryls, and knooks all protect him. But on Christmas Eve he drives his reindeer out into the big world, carrying a sleighload of toys and pretty gifts to the children; and this was the time and the occasion when his enemies had the best chance to injure him. So the Daemons laid their plans and awaited the arrival of Christmas Eve. ”

“ You have made so many children happy, and so many little believing hearts will miss you.
Santa Claus. It does seem sad, Mother Goose. But I shall never have the heart to set out again at Christmas time with the bells jingling, and the reindeer galloping and the sleigh flashing over the snow. I shall never again go crowding down the chimneys to cram stockings and load the children’s trees. All that pleasure is over forever, and I used to be so happy and so busy at Christmas! ”

“ Nicholas is sometimes called "Father Christmas," and it is probable that the Santa Claus myth really originated in that country from the practice of a good old nobleman who, long, long ago, went about once a year distributing clothing, food, and toys to all the poor children he could find. ”

“ That was the wonderful part of Santa Claus. He could be rushed and hurried and he could be so busy that you wondered how it was possible for him to do so much and you might think, if you didn’t know, that some of those many, many things wouldn’t be done. But the toys knew, for the tools which Santa used to make them with whispered to them many secrets.
“He may be busy,” the tools always told the new toys, “but he’ll finish you and you’ll go to the children on Christmas day.” ”

“ We know not to whom we are indebted for the following description of that unwearied patron of children—that homely and delightful personage of parental kindness—Santa Claus, his costume and his equipage, as he goes about visiting the firesides of this happy land, laden with Christmas bounties; but from whomsoever it may have come, we give thanks for it.—There is, to our apprehension, a spirit of cordial goodness in it, a playfulness of fancy, and a benevolent alacrity to enter into the feelings and promote the simple pleasures of children, which are altogether charming. ”

“ Santa Claus. Oho! So you've been finding out that it isn't so easy, after all, to give people what they want, have you?
Ted. But, Santa Claus, I truly thought they would like it, and now it's just dreadful! What shall I do? If you'll only give them what they do want, you can take back all my things! I wish you would! Don't you think you could, just for this once? [Rose runs in.]
Rose. Oh, Santa Claus! Santa Claus! [Exit, calling.] Come, Papa, come, Mamma, here's Santa Claus! Robin! Marjorie! Kitty! [Enter all. The older children hang back, Rose runs to Santa Claus and stands by him.] ”

“ For Santa Claus appears, dressed in his heavy traveling-coat, with his fur cap pulled down over his head and jingling his bells as he comes along. The servants, where there are not too many, come in to join in the festivities and get their presents from the trees. If there are relatives or friends who have no Christmas trees of their own they are often invited to join in the merry-making. ”

“ Christmas! Type of all human life, when once you understand. Precursor, with its slippers and its buffalo-robe, of that long, progressive, ever-accelerating process, the loosening of the bonds of faith, one by one, which for so many of us can never end till “bed-time.”
Christmas! Image, in itself, of the whole story, of human life and human understanding. And who shall judge you, Christmas? Who, truly, save a child? ”

“ Nissen, The Santa Claus of Norway
[Nissen]
(The story told in this rhyme was sent to the author by her globe-trotting friend, Mrs. William Westcott, from Christiana, Norway.)
How glad I am that I was born in this land very dear,
Where children have a Santa Claus of whom they have no fear;
A Santa who is always kind, remembering one and all,
When every year at Christmas time, he pays us all a call. ”

“ Vast is the crop of such fruit, shining on our Christmas Tree; in blossom, almost at the very top; ripening all down the boughs!
Among the later toys and fancies hanging there—as idle often and less pure—be the images once associated with the sweet old Waits, the softened music in the night, ever unalterable! Encircled by the social thoughts of Christmas-time, still let the benignant figure of my childhood stand unchanged! In every cheerful image and suggestion that the season brings, may the bright star that rested above the poor roof, be the star of all the Christian World! ”