The Christmas Story

The Cleveland neighbourhood where the movie was filmed courtesy https://www.pinterest.com/dwilliams105/a-christmas-story/.

It is Christmas in Hammond, Indiana in the 1940's.  Nine-year-old boy Ralphie Parker wants a Red Ryder air rifle.  His mother tells him that it's not a good idea; he'll shoot his eye out.  His teacher, Miss Shields, echoes what his mother said.  The department store Santa Claus feels the same way.

On Christmas morning, Ralphie opened all of his presents, but didn't receive the coveted Red Ryder rifle.  However, "the Old Man" pointed out that there was one present left unopened.  Ralphie tore it open to discover the air rifle.

Ralphie couldn't wait to try out his new toy in the backyard.  He placed a target on a metal sign in the backyard and started shooting at it.  However, the BB ricochets back at Ralphie and knocks his glasses off.  Rendered "blind" in the process, Ralphie really thinks the BB has knocked his eye out and accidentally steps on his glasses, crushing them.  Later his mother asks him what happened to his glasses and he makes up a story about an icicle falling off the roof and shattering them.  The film ends with Ralphie lying in bed Christmas night, the Red Ryder rifle by his side.

The Christmas Story is based on Jean Shepherd's 1966 novel In God We Trust:  All Others Pay Cash. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_God_We_Trust:_All_Others_Pay_Cash)

Ralphie gets his tongue stuck to a pole in The Christmas Story courtesy http://www.tvguide.com/movies/a-christmas-story/photos/110877/.

The Polar Express

"The bell only rings for those who believe."

When Thomas was young, my Mom bought him a copy of Chris Van Allsburg's The Polar Express which came with a bell.  It was around the time that the movie came out starring Tom Hanks.  A little boy (the hero boy) is questioning the existence of Santa.  On Christmas Eve, a train headed to the North Pole, modelled on the Pere Marquette 225 that Allsburg used to play on as a boy in Michigan, stops at his house and he climbs aboard.

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/family-kids-news/polar-express-coming-christmas-2016-11732830

On the train he meets a know-it-all boy, a friendly girl and a poor boy.  The children are treated to a steaming cup of hot chocolate, served by a team of dancing and singing waiters.



                                

                                             Hot chocolate scene from the Polar Express                            courtesy https://www.pinterest.com/pin/339247784410367408/.



 A problem arises when the little girl loses her ticket, which floats through the air over the hills and through the woods passed an array of animals.  The hero boy discovers the girl's ticket which has slipped back through the window of the train.  He meets a hobo on top of the train, also voiced by Tom Hanks.

https://www.amazon.com/Polar-Express-Widescreen-Tom-Hanks/dp/B000AGTPUK

As the train approaches the North Pole, it crosses a frozen lake. The train zigzags back and forth like a roller coaster to avoid the cracks in the ice, caused by a cotter pin.  The North Pole is designed according to the American history of railroading:  one building is patterned after Chicago's Pullman Factory; another is patterned after New York City's old Penn Station.

Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Polar_Express_(film).

Santa arrives to much fanfare, his sac of toys airlifted by a zeppelin.  One bell breaks lose from a reindeer's harness.  The hero boy retrieves it and puts it in his pocket.  Santa declares that the bell is "the first gift of Christmas".  When the conductor stamps the hero boy's ticket as he disembarks the train, the ticket says "BELIEVE".  At first, the hero boy couldn't hear the bell ring in his housecoat pocket, but now he does.

http://missionlanguagelab.blogspot.ca/2012/12/the-polar-express.html

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

https://themaindamie.com/2013/12/13/5-for-friday-the-5-most-bad-ass-rankin-bass-characters/

Santa Claus is Coming to Town brings back great memories.  I remember the Burgermeister slipping on a toy and breaking his leg...a baby being left on the doorstep of the Burgermeister who sends the infant to the orphan asylum...Tante Kringle adopting the baby...

http://anybodyspecialtonight.blogspot.ca/2010/12/saying-merry-christmas-with-movie.html

Kris Kringle carrying a sac of "forbidden" toys to the children of Sombertown...the Burgermeister soldiers wearing World War I era helmets...Jessica, with her bright red hair and doe-like eyes, singing in the town square...the Winter Warlock "taking one step in front of the other"...the Burgermeister's heart melting after Kris Kringle brings him a yo-yo.

http://www.georgiadunnstudio.com/2011/12/twelve-days-of-christmas-day-six-great.html

Here are ten facts you may not know about the TV show Santa Claus is Coming to Town:

• the TV show was based on a song first performed by Eddie Cantor on the radio in 1934 (http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2015/12/james-gillespies-santa-claus-is-coming.html)
• when the TV show airs on ABC today it's usually edited to fit into the one hour time slot; the songs "My World is Beginning Today" and "If You Sit on My Lap Today" are cut
• when the TV show airs on Freeform (formerly ABC Family) disturbing scenes for children are cut like the Burgermeister burning the children's toys
• Rudolph is not heavily featured in the story since he is so big, he merits his own TV show
• Alvin & the Chipmunks made a remake of the song "Santa Claus is Coming to Town"
• first released in 1970, Santa Claus is Coming to Town stars Fred Astaire as the narrator, Mickey Rooney as Kris Kringle and Keenan Wynn as the Winter Warlock
• the TV show was created in Japan using stop motion animation called "Animagic"
• all the characters are made out of wood and plastic
• two of the songs on the TV show are performed by the Westminster Children's Choir (Santa Claus is Coming to Town; If You Sit on My Lap Today)
• Burgermeister's full name is Burgermeister Meisterburger which means Town Mayor Master Citizen in German

https://thedinglehopper.wordpress.com/2014/12/28/movie-review-santa-claus-is-coming-to-town-rudolph-the-red-nosed-reindeer/

Eaton's Catalogue Covers Reflect the Times

Eaton's Catalogue covers changed dramatically over its almost 100 year history.  Early catalogues seemed to focus on the Eaton's store and the country of Canada.  Later catalogues focussed on the family, and eventually, the individual.  For more information about the catalogue, visit http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2016/01/eatons-catalogue-icon-of-canadian.html.  Here is a small sampling of what Canadians used to call The Homesteader's Bible.

The original Eaton's Catalogue circa 1884 displayed the Toronto storefront courtesy http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/hist/biography/images/eaton-chro-catalogueb.jpg.

The Eaton's Catalogue circa 1897 reminds me of my elementary school notebooks courtesy http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/explore/online/toys/pics/229_231_0_1_1897cover.jpg.

Eaton's Catalogue circa 1903 boasts mail order service "from sea to sea" courtesy 

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/6b/e5/bf/6be5bf5779c342919f9563373a0ece76.jpg.

The Eaton's Catalogue of 1908 reminds me of the Flintstone's episode where Fred (aka Santa) parachutes over chimneys as he delivers presents.  Photo courtesy https://www.pinterest.com/lynettehaynes/t-eaton/.

The Eaton's Catalogue circa 1918 features a patriotic image given the First World War has just ended courtesy http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/029006/f1/nlc005411-v6.jpg.

Good quality artwork featured on the 1922 Eaton's Catalogue courtesy https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/bb/eb/db/bbebdbde86cad035e1b383d81d1bbd96.jpg.

Eaton's Catalogue circa 1942 focusses on a mother and daughter courtesy https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Eaton's_Spring_and_Summer_Catalogue_1942.jpg.

Christmas 1956 courtesy http://torontoist.com/attachments/toronto_kevinp/2010_12_18Christmas1956.jpg.

A young hockey player could be outfitted at Eaton's circa 1948 courtesy http://www.lakecountrymuseum.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Eatons-of-Canada-catalogue.jpg.

Christmas 1959 courtesy http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/explore/online/eatons/pics/catalogue21b.jpg. 

This woman reminds me of Jacqueline Kennedy circa 1961 courtesy http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/images/f_229_1_0_235_no_35_cov_270.jpg.

Sisters waiting for Santa circa 1967 courtesy https://www.pinterest.com/pin/261208847110940603/.

Catalogue circa 1975 courtesy https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/a2/a7/cd/a2a7cdbb74997638050aea97ca16a5f9.jpg.

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 the door 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
Til they were told by Jabez Dawes
That 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 rumours wild
"Sure as my name is Jabez Dawes
There isn't any Santa Claus!"
Slunk like a weasel of a marten
Through nursery and Kindergarten
Whispering low to every tot
"There isn't any, no there's not."

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!
When 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 then 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 neighbours heard his mournful squeal
They searched for him but not with zeal
No trace was found of Jabez Dawes
Which led to thunderous applause
And people drank a loving cup
And went and hung their stockings up.

All you who sneer at Santa Claus
Beware the fate of Jabez Dawes
The saucy boy who mocked the saint
Donner and Blitzen licked off his paint.


Ogden Nash

Odgen Nash courtesy www.poets.org.