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The Woman Behind the Man: Mrs. Claus

Hardly a day goes by that someone doesn’t ask me, “How is Mrs. Claus?”

Luckily for all of us, Mrs. Claus is doing just fine! Quite honestly, if it wasn’t for Mrs. Claus, Santa’s job would be so much harder! While Santa is busy at the North Pole, making sure all the toys will be ready for the big night, Mrs. Claus makes sure everything else is running in tip-top shape! Sometimes, Mrs. Claus attends parties, dances, and other fun activities with Santa, and sometimes, if Santa can’t make it to an event, Mrs. Claus will attend to gather the childrens’ good wishes and letters to Santa! After all, she is the love of Santa’s life! (Cookies coming in a close 2nd!)

Can you believe it?? Less than 6 months until the BIG NIGHT! Santa’s calendar is already filling up with parties and events. Keep watching this website, because soon Santa will be posting the dates and times you can Come See Santa!

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Santa’s “Look”

Lots of people think that Santa’s ‘look’ was invented by the Coca Cola Company, but Santa has been wearing suits with his traditional red and white colors for a long time! Although their Christmas advertising campaigns of the 1930s and 40s were key to popularising the image, Santa can be seen in his modern form decades before Coca Cola’s illustrator Haddon Sundblom got to work.

In honor of this Memorial Day Weekend, I’d like to share with you a picture from 100 years ago. Have an enjoyable holiday weekend, and take time to remember all those who fought and died so that we may be free.

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Santa’s Reindeer

Can you name all of Santa’s Reindeer? Their names 1st appeared in a poem almost 200 years ago! In 1823, the poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas” was published anonymously in the Troy, N.Y. Sentinel. While people have long thought that Clement Moore was the author of this poem, which ultimately became “Twas the Night Before Christmas”, lately, the thought is that a Dutch New Yorker named Henry Livingston wrote the poem.

Why is that, you might ask?

Well, in the original poem, the names of two of the reindeer were DUNDER and BLIXEM, which are the Dutch words for Thunder and Lightning. However, Clement Moore was German, and when he reprinted the poem in 1844, he changed those names to DONNER and BLITZEN, which are the German words for Thunder and Lightning.

So there you have it!

Now Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer and Vixen!
On Comet! On Cupid! On Donner and Blitzen!


And of course, Rudolph, but his is a story for another time! Ho, ho ho!!!

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Dashing Through the Snow

Good day, fellow Christmas lovers!

As I sit here writing this, “Winter” has officially left us.  But Mother Nature sometimes has other ideas. It’s funny how many mornings in March I’ve awakened to a blanket of snow outside my bedroom window!

Makes me think of one of my favorite songs: “Jingle Bells”.  Did you know that when Jingle Bells was written, way back in the 1850s, it was a song for Thanksgiving? A man by the name of James Lord Pierpont wrote the song, and he titled it “One Horse Open Sleigh”. I find it so interesting how things change over the years, don’t you?

Dashing through the snow
In a one-horse open sleighThe Original Jingle Bells
O’er the fields we go
Laughing all the way

Bells on bob tail ring
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to ride and sing
A sleighing song tonight!

Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way.
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh.

 

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Did You Know??

Did you know that the tradition of gift-giving at Christmas time came from Holland?

In Holland, they celebrate St. Nicholas’ (my predecessor) Feast Day on December 6. Children leave their shoes out overnight and the next morning they wake up to find that St. Nicholas had left them gifts in their shoes.

According to legend, hanging stockings came from the tale of a poor man who had three daughters. The man was so worried that he could not afford to make sure they had good marriages. St. Nicholas heard about the man’s plight and that evening he dropped a bag of gold down their chimney. It fell into a stocking that was hung to dry by the fire, and the rest was history!

What will you find in your stocking this Christmas?

 

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Hello world!

HO, HO HELLO!

I’m glad you stopped by to visit! We are going to have such fun here on Santa Ralph’s page!

Next to being at the North Pole making toys for all the good little girls and boys, my 2nd favorite thing is to visit with all my friends in Kentucky!

Over the next few months, Santa Ralph will be adding information about upcoming events, pictures of past visits with some of my best friends, and other interesting tidbits about Santa and all things Christmas!

Thanks for visiting! I hope you come back again soon. Stay nice!!