Have you written your letter to Santa yet? You ought to be thinking about it. It’s already December 1st tomorrow and Santa’s a very busy soul. Santa came to town here in Toronto on November 20th and thousands of little and big people flocked to see him on his arrival.
Mark Twain, famed author of “Huckleberry Finn” and “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” wrote a letter to his three year old daughter, Susie, which I am sharing with you below. He was playing the part of Santa. It was written in 1875. Samuel Langhorne Clemens is Mark Twain’s real name and for your information, he was born on November 30th, 1835. Today is November 30th, 2016 – his date of birth. That’s just a synchronistic occurrence since I didn’t know this until I looked it up. I think you will enjoy reading this letter – coming from the pen of this famous author. I know I enjoyed reading it. It might just put you in the Christmas spirit as well.
Mark Twain’s Letter from Santa Claus
Palace of St. Nicholas
In the Moon
Christmas Morning
MY DEAR SUSIE CLEMENS:
I have received and read all the letters which you and your little sister have written me by the hand of your mother and your nurses; I have also read those which you little people have written me with your own hands–for although you did not use any characters that are in grown peoples’ alphabet, you used the characters that all children in all lands on earth and in the twinkling stars use; and as all my subjects in the moon are children and use no character but that, you will easily understand that I can read your and your baby sister’s jagged and fantastic marks without any trouble at all. But I had trouble with those letters which you dictated through your mother and the nurses, for I am a foreigner and cannot read English writing well. You will find that I made no mistakes about the things which you and the baby ordered in your own letters–I went down your chimney at midnight when you were asleep and delivered them all myself–and kissed both of you, too, because you are good children, well trained, nice mannered, and about the most obedient little people I ever saw. But in the letter which you dictated there were some words which I could not make out for certain, and one or two small orders which I could not fill because we ran out of stock. Our last lot of kitchen furniture for dolls has just gone to a very poor little child in the North Star away up, in the cold country above the Big Dipper. Your mama can show you that star and you will say: “Little Snow Flake,” (for that is the child’s name) “I’m glad you got that furniture, for you need it more than I.” That is, you must write that, with your own hand, and Snow Flake will write you an answer. If you only spoke it she wouldn’t hear you. Make your letter light and thin, for the distance is great and the postage very heavy.
There was a word or two in your mama’s letter which I couldn’t be certain of. I took it to be “a trunk full of doll’s clothes.” Is that it? I will call at your kitchen door about nine o’clock this morning to inquire. But I must not see anybody and I must not speak to anybody but you. When the kitchen doorbell rings, George must be blindfolded and sent to open the door. Then he must go back to the dining room or the china closet and take the cook with him. You must tell George he must walk on tiptoe and not speak–otherwise he will die someday. Then you must go up to the nursery and stand on a chair or the nurse’s bed and put your car to the speaking tube that leads down to the kitchen and when I whistle through it you must speak in the tube and say, “Welcome, Santa Claus!” Then I will ask whether it was a trunk you ordered or not. If you say it was, I shall ask you what color you want the trunk to be. Your mama will help you to name a nice color and then you must tell me every single thing in detail which you want the trunk to contain. Then when I say “Good-by and a merry Christmas to my little Susie Clemens,” you must say “Good-by, good old Santa Claus, I thank you very much and please tell that little Snow Flake I will look at her star tonight and she must look down here–I will be right in the west bay window; and every fine night I will look at her star and say, ‘I know somebody up there and like her, too.’ ” Then you must go down into the library and make George close all the doors that open into the main hall, and everybody must keep still for a little while. I will go to the moon and get those things and in a few minutes I will come down the chimney that belongs to the fireplace that is in the hall–if it is a trunk you want–because I couldn’t get such a thing as a trunk down the nursery chimney, you know.
People may talk if they want, until they hear my footsteps in the hall. Then you tell them to keep quiet a little while till I go back up the chimney. Maybe you will not hear my footsteps at all–so you may go now and then and peep through the dining-room doors, and by and by you will see that thing which you want, right under the piano in the drawing room-for I shall put it there. If I should leave any snow in the hall, you must tell George to sweep it into the fireplace, for I haven’t time to do such things. George must not use a broom, but a rag–else he will die someday. You must watch George and not let him run into danger. If my boot should leave a stain on the marble, George must not holystone it away. Leave it there always in memory of my visit; and whenever you look at it or show it to anybody you must let it remind you to be a good little girl. Whenever you are naughty and somebody points to that mark which your good old Santa Claus’s boot made on the marble, what will you say, little sweetheart?
Good-by for a few minutes, till I come down to the world and ring the kitchen doorbell.
Your loving SANTA CLAUS
Whom people sometimes call “The Man in the Moon”
That letter from Santa was delightful and thoughtful. I haven’t penned my letter to Santa Claus for this Christmas yet but I’m sharing the letter I wrote to him last year. I didn’t write my letter to “Santa” but to “Father Christmas” because that is what I grew up knowing the jolly old fellow as. By the way, Father Christmas did not reply to my letter. I don’t believe he wants to involve himself in world affairs. Of course, many things have changed over the course of the year and many things have remained the same. “Good” change is something we have to be constantly striving for. As members of the human race, we haven’t “arrived” as yet.
Dear Father Christmas:
I haven’t written to you since I was a little girl. I know that your specialty is children and specifically bringing toys for all the good boys and girls across the globe on Christmas Eve. You’re a jolly fellow and there’s even a popular song written about you called “Jolly Old St. Nicholas.” Since you are in the “happiness” business, it occurred to me that you might be someone to ask for help with the crises we face in the world today. When I wrote to you a long time ago, my needs were small but these days, they are big.
You must have very good organizational and people skills as you have to deal with so many requests everyday. I hope you are doing some of your work by computer these days. I know you have a big workshop and lots of helpers to look over. Do you think that when you’re not so busy at the North Pole that you could involve yourself in some global work? Actually, you could fill the role of guide, teacher, and mentor. The tried and true people that we ordinary people depend on – politicians, world leaders, the UN, seem to need someone like you to help them navigate the perilous waters we find ourselves in. You may even have to teach our leaders new concepts of thinking and alternative ways of dealing with the “human situation.” Our democratic process, as it now stands, is filled with error and corruption. You may even have to set up a process to replace the present leaders.
Can you teach us how to deal with “terrorists?” (ISIS, ISIL, ISLAMIC STATE, DAESH). Although the enemies can be bombed and their chemistry mixed with the soil, new enemies come along and we bomb them again. History repeats itself. Father Christmas, is there a way to learn from history – as we haven’t learned that concept as yet.
As for poverty, Father Christmas, our thinking may have to correlate with the opposing power of wealth. How can we really think about the poor if we haven’t understood the root cause of poverty. We need your guidance, teaching, and mentorship in this too.
As for the agreements made by nations at Conferences on Climate Change, how do we stop the descending roller-coaster of self-destruction? We can’t seem to come off. We are stuck on the eerie ride as the darkness and pollution engulf us and death awaits long before this industrial infection, smoke, and smog is eliminated. At the recent Paris Conference, many countries agreed to reduce emissions – but will they keep the agreements? Again Father Christmas, can you guide, teach, and mentor us.
Father Christmas, you know about the refugee crisis, and how our own country, Canada, is taking in 25,000 persons. How do people get to become refugees in the first place? What root problem/problems do we need to deal with here? What is the direction we need to move in where our thought processes are concerned? We need some leadership and direction here.
Violence is rampant all around us. Is history going to repeat itself again and again here too? What can you bring to the table with regard to this?
The problems of humankind are endless. I know that it takes a certain kind of person to involve themselves in this kind of task and this is the reason I am writing to you. You are the Father of Christmas – very well loved and popular with everyone. We only see you for a brief time once a year. Would you be willing to give this a try? It’s a hard job, I know. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Jean
