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War-Time Santa Claus
Stephen Leacock (1869-1944)
We never needed Santa Claus so badly as we do at this present Christmas.
I'm going to hang up my stocking anyway. Put yours up there beside it. And I am going to write down the things I want Santa Claus to bring, and pin it up beside the stocking. So are you? Well, you wait till I've written mine first!.....
So, first I'll tell Santa Claus that I don't want any
new presents, only just to have back some of the old ones that are broken - well, yes, perhaps I broke them myself.
Give me back, will you, that pretty little framed certificate called Belief In Humanity; you remember you gave them to ever so many of us as children to hang up beside our beds. Later on, I took mine out to look at what was on the back of it, and couldn't get it back in the frame and lost it. Well, I'd like that and, oh, can I have a new League Of Nations? You know, all set up on a rack that opens in and out. I broke the old one because I didn't know how to work it, but I'd like to try again....
Here, listen, this is what I want, Santa Claus,
and here I'm speaking for all of us, millions and
millions of us. Bring us back the World We Had, and didn't value at its worth - the Universal Peace, the Good Will Towards Men - all that we had and couldn't use and broke and threw away. Give us that. This time we'll really try.
Christmas is the day that holds all time together.
- - - Alexander Smith
The Christmas turkey first appeared on English tables in the 16th century, but didn't immediately replace the traditional fare of goose, beef or boar's head in the rich households.
