right in the midst of all of the holiday hulabaloo
puppy coco is over-joyed.
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“christmas is the spirit of love, joy, and peace.”
-lailah g. akita
in talking with the grandies
about all the excitement leading up to christmas eve
i soon realized
that i was even excited for the eve before that eve
because i know what comes next
and it just grows from there.
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“I like to compare the holiday season with the way a child listens to a favorite story. The pleasure is in the familiar way the story begins, the anticipation of familiar turns it takes, the familiar moments of suspense, and the familiar climax and ending.”
– Fred Rogers
a tiny tricycle
decorated in garlands and sparkles
parked in the bike rack at the library
heard the train come through town
softly whistling the tune of jingle bells
watched the people line up
to catch the bus to the airport
taking them somewhere
where people were waiting to see them
turned to say hello
to the man walking his dog
in his Christmas pajamas
spent the day with family and friends
playing and laughing
simply enjoying the celebration
happy Christmas everyone.
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“our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at christmas-time.”
– laura ingalls wilder
found on a medieval tapestry
the hedgehog
was known to go into the vines
and emerge with the grapes
what could be more perfect?
and why not a Christmas hedgehog?
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“the fox has many tricks. the hedgehog has but one. but that is the best of all.”
-ralph waldo emerson
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image credits: british medieval history, elaine treharne, dave pilling
Every year, in a tradition that dates back to the Cold War, volunteers field tens of thousands of calls and emails from across the world, according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command. Children ask for Santa’s location, detail their Christmas lists and probe volunteers for other details.Those volunteers, who take two-hour shifts starting in the early morning on Dec. 24, wouldn’t be there if not for a typo in a local newspaper in 1955.
When Col. Harry Shoup picked up his secret hotline at Peterson Air Force in Colorado, he was expecting a call from a four-star general at the Pentagon, according to a 2014 StoryCorps interview with his children. “And then there was a small voice that just asked, ‘Is this Santa Claus?’ ” his daughter, Pam Farrell says.
His family says that Shroup was annoyed. The United States was nearly a decade into the Cold War, and the colonel was prepared for reports of a nuclear attack, not requests for Santa Claus. But when the child started to cry, he responded jovially. Then he asked for the boy’s mother.
The mother explained that a Sears ad in the newspaper instructed kids to call Santa “any time day or night.” But the newspaper had accidentally printed the number for Shoup’s private red phone, instead of the store’s. So as the calls came in, Shoup put his airmen on the phones to pretend to be Santa Claus. The tradition has continued for more than six decades, outliving its creator — Shoup died in 2009.
The “tracking” technology has evolved over time, said Maj. Todd Walter, a Mission Crew Commander with the Canadian Air Defense. “We use radar systems scattered across the world, along with satellites providing infrared imagery, we have Santa Cams scattered throughout the world, then jet fighters that also go out and intercept Santa.”
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credits: npr.org, francesca paris, storycorps, canadian air defense, norad