Siefker: The Evolution Of Santa Claus

Imagine a staged production of A Christmas Carol set in 1843. See the stage set in the exact time it was written by Charles Dickens. The foggy, crowded streets abuzz with carolers and shoppers, the children staring wide eyed into the shops and bakeries. Hear the bells ringing as a round of “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” fills the gaslit streets with joy. As a child, going to see A Christmas Carol was one of my fondest Christmas memories. To witness Scrooge 's’ transformation from a mean, greedy old man to a joyous, loving benefactor always left me smiling and filled me with hope.

They would see a young girl in a red Christmas dress excited to see what was in her stocking. Not that the fact that her parents had lied to her about a fictional character: to excite her, to persuade her to be good all year, and carry on a tradition. To me, this picture has more meaning than showing the spirit of Christmas. For me now, this picture reminds me of the times when I was easily persuaded to believe in lies, was not aware of the cruel world where people take advantage of children’s innocents, there was no dream too big or too small, and finally where everyone was my friend, there was not jr high drama or who is dating who. Looking at this picture allows the viewer to see a glimpse into my life, but what they see and what I see are different. I see my innocents, and they see a smiling, happy, little girl in a red dress, opening her stocking. The times where I still believed in Mr. Santa Claus was an easier time. I was unaware of what was to come in the next

The children’s book, A Cajun Night Before Christmas, by J. B. King, Jr. was illustrated by James Rice. This book is an entertaining story that will bring anyone back to their childhood imagination. It is one of the country’s most widely acclaimed Christmas books. The author used a delightful twist on “A Visit from St. Nicholas” but with a Cajun (French Canadian descendants in the bayou areas of southern Louisiana) patois. This parody was published over fourty-five years ago by Pelican publishing, which in turn has also published many other reinterpretations from many different states. When Milburn Calhoun heard a reading of this story, “He enlisted Rice to provide the colorful illustrations, including the sight of St. Nick on a skiff drawn by eight magic alligators,” (The Cajun Night Before Christmas) and the story was born. This classic tale of Santa arriving in a skiff, to bring presents to the children, presents the prolific use of imagery, rich characterization of the unique Cajun culture, and generous figurative language.

“The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season! Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason. It could be that his head wasn't screwed on quite right. It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were to tight. But I think that the most likely reason of all May have been that his heart was two sizes too small.” (Seuss).

As the story moves along Sam out the elder in different situations to see if he would eat the green eggs and ham, but to Sam’s dismay the elder wouldn’t. Finally after trying and trying and trying Sam gets the elder to try the Green eggs and ham. One of the most popular stories by Dr. Seuss is the classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas. This story became so popular that Universal Studios not only picket it up for a movie, but also a whole theme for their Christmas season theme park. In this story the Grinch loathes Christmas and the who’s with every fiber of his being. The Grinch presents himself as socially cut off from the who’s down in whoville. He lives on top of Mt. Crumpit with his dog Max. All of this hate is because his heart is two sizes too small (and this time he’ll keep it off). He finally had enough of the Who’s bangboozaling and clangclangaling so he devised a plan to steal Christmas. After Santa Clause came and delivered all the presents to the houses he would sneak in, in his Santa Clause suit and steal every present, every light, every decoration, every tree, and all of the food for the feast. He even stole the roast beast! He would empty the houses one by one and he didn’t leave anything. Not even a crumb big enough for a mouse. So as he got done with emptying the houses and was about to dump everything over Crumpit he heard a noise, a weird

So you don’t believe in Santa Claus. It’s understandable. We find ourselves in an age of pure skepticism. We question everything. Science has taken hold of our lives, providing answers for all questions and dismissing anything that cannot be explained as either myth or fiction. So it’s quite understandable why you don’t believe, with no physical proof of his existence. It’s indeed understandable to lose sight of Father Christmas with the transformation of this holiday into one that, as of late, is used commercially as a lucrative crutch solely to make profit. It’s understandable to abandon Santa Claus after hearing countless people deny his very physical or even spiritual existence. After all, one tends to

After living with Santa for years and years, he was no longer a human, but one of Santa's many elfs...and the tallest one at that.

He hated Christmas so much, it even caused the 3 ghost's of Christmas to come visit him when he was sleeping.

On the twelve day of Christmas the big news came to me about Santa the one who puts stuff under the tree. Santa is Santa no matter who is behind the big red and white suit. Why does it matter who is under the suit either they are black, white or have a disability change is yet to come. Everyone sees Santa as a jolly man in red played as a Caucasian actor. The Change has happen when the Mall of America introduced its newly trading of a black Santa. Larry Jefferson known as the “African American Santa” was the only Santa of color at the Santa gathering of 1,000 Santa’s. On Jefferson’s first day a child that sat on his lap asked an amazing question with a remarkable answers that brings diversity and democracy as a whole to understand and get use

Once the leaves begin to alter their color for the winter, most houses and businesses also change their appearance for the winter. Many families drag out their boxes of red and green to decorate their house for the holidays. Parents may brave a line stretching down the mall so their child can tell Father Christmas, or Santa Claus, what he or she wishes to unwrap on Christmas morning. Some parents question the effect of a child’s health or morals associated with the belief in Santa Claus, but, with research and psychologists weighing in on the subject, there is no tramatic evidence apparent in letting a child have faith in Santa Claus. Evidence gathered may suggest a benefit for children. Children should have the oportunity to believe in Santa Claus because it stems creativity and can improve mental health, shows youth an example of giving without expecting anything in return, and when the time comes, forces kids to distinguish between fantasy and reality.

Even though they had a small town there was a big mountain that nobody lived on except for one. The Grinch was his name. No one liked the Grinch because he doesn't like something that they do. Christmas!

Santa Claus is the one thing children believe in unfailingly. I mean, the exact gifts they want for Christmas always appear under the tree overnight, and for a child the only explanation is magic. But in today’s world of over parenting, the

When imaging the ideal audience of fairytales, children are quick to come to mind, although, our perception of Little Red Riding Hood as an innocent fable is far from the truth. Alternatively, the origins of this story are derived from Italo Calvino’s “The False Grandmother”, a story immersed in symbolism and metaphorical symbols intended strictly for a mature audience. The preceding tale was “Little Red Cap “written by Charles Perrault and then later the “Little Red Riding” written by the Brothers Grimm. Although the details of these tales vary, they all maintain similar storylines. The stories revolve around the young female character Little Red Riding Hood who is sent off on a mission to bring her grandmother a basket of goods. During her adventure she encounters a wolf who engages in a hot pursuit to eat both the Grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood, only to succeed in the earlier rendition of the story. In this essay I will prove that when the Grimm’s Brothers and Perrault’s Little Red Riding Hood stories are critically analyzed, it becomes evident that they are inappropriate tales for children as they exemplify the consequences of a minor transgression by Little Red Riding Hood as being the misleading cause of the violence and seduction that occurs thereafter.

He over exaggerates often throughout the article, however he has a few solid points. I agree that it does not do much for their imagination, although studies have shown that it helps children throughout their stages of development. When lying to your child about the story of Santa Claus, you help stimulate the cognitive development that a child needs in order to grow into a healthy human being. Santa Claus continues to be a pertinent issue in society amongst parents and their children today. It can be very challenging to know which side you agree with based on your family culture, how you cultivated and what you believe in. In today’s society, few children believe in Santa because of so many available outlets pertaining to the issue. While children can easily receive an answer to their question, there has been an abundance of parents interested in what they should tell their children. Parents who want to make sure they are doing the right thing, however they sense not having the answers to everything dealing with this controversy. Santa Claus is a part of an everlasting Family Tradition that has been a part of Christmas for numerous years and will continue to

One of the modern mythological people is Santa. The Santa Clause story stretches all the way back to the 3rd century. The legend can be traced back to hundreds of years to a monk named St. Nicholas. It is believed that Nichola was born sometime around 280 A.D. in Patara, near Myra in modern day Turkey. Nicholas became the subject of many later told legends. It is said that St. Nicholas gave away all of his inherited wealth and traveled the countryside helping out the poor and the sick. One of St. Nicholas’s best story is that he saved three poor sisters from being sold into slavery or prostitution by their