What Santa Claus is Doing Now

Southland Times, Issue 22728, 2 November 1935, Page 18

What Santa Claus is Doing Now

—Prize— Bang! Bang!! Bang!!! Those are hammers banging nails into toys to hold them together. The saws are working quickly forming the boards of planed wood into shape. Paint is splashing round the room and the sewing machines are working hard making golly-wogs’ and dolls’ clothes. Out in the stables the reindeer are tramping up and down the stalls. In the forest, the fir trees are growing to a Christmas tree size. _ “Twenty-nine chess boards, seventy-four dolls, forty-two cricket balls, fifty rubber balls, forty-five tiddleywink games, sixty-eight draught games, one hundred and eighty-seven boxes of cholocates, thirty-six cricket bats, thirty-six sets of wickets and ninety-four games of ping-pong for the second Invercargill pack,” says Santa Claus, ticking off his big list. Down one chute come the twenty-nine chess boards, down another come seventy-four dolls, and so on until the big sack is full. _ Santa Claus is very busy in his workshop, his stables, his forest and his storage room, for he is working hard getting Christmas presents ready for children. —Prize of 1/- to Cousin Graeme Anderson (11), 78 Don street. —Prize— Santa Claus—he must be a busy person now! Every child looks forward to his visit on Christmas Eve. First of all he has to have a great variety of toys and naturally this creates a great deal of work. He has large factories in different lands where all the presents are manufactured. In some of them popguns, bugles, soldiers, and trains are made for the boys, while dolls and other pretty things are made for the girls. He also orders large quantities of sweets and books for his large family. As it is necessary for him to have everything ready well before Christinas Eve, he has to be very busy directing the workmen and seeing that everything is done satisfactorily. At present he is feeling rather anxious as to whether he will get his toys finished in time to make Christmas joyful for the little folk. —Prize of 1/- to Cousin Albert Moore (9), 231 Gala street. —Prize— I wonder how many of our Cousins realize how near Christmas it is getting. Now, if we could only have a peep into Father Christmas’s home we should see many things that would amaze us. We would see first of all Father Christmas with his white beard, and his red robe. Beside him sits Mother Christmas, while gathered around are all the little Christmas children. “Now, Tom,” we hear Father Christmas say, “read me the letters.” Tom, who is the eldest of the Christmas children, reads out the letters. Some are very politely written, other children want nearly everything, while others again want the very opposite to what their mothers want them to have. An example of the latter is this: Bobby has asked for a whistle, a trumpet, and a drum. His mother has implored that he should be given something that will not make a noise. At first this is puzzling but they solve the problem by giving him some tools. At last the letters are finished, and they all settle down to prepare the different presents, after which the names of children to whom they are being sent, are put on. When the toys have been packed into a large bag, everyone lies down to have a good sleep (for they are tired after their work) until it is time for Father Christmas, or Santa Claus, to go on his long journey. —Prize of 1/- to Cousin Mary Maloney (10), Makarewa. —Prize— Santa Claus and his merry elves, pixies and fairies are very busy just now. The elves in the workshops work from morning till night making toys for all little children. They make everything wonderfully, because, if they did not, Santa Claus would not let them work for him. Every day the fairies trip daintily into Santa Claus’ room, with their arms full of toys, painted in very gay colour's. They put them down in a neat pile on a table and go out for more. Beside Santa Claus is a pile of letters from many children, telling him what they would like in their stockings at Christmas time. When one of the letters is read, Santa Claus writes down what is required and then rings a bell. In comes a pixie who takes the message out to one of the workshops. When the pixie returns to Santa Claus, that note is put on a file, until a fairy comes in with the toys. If the right ones have been brought they are wrapped up in some paper and a label with the child’s name on is glued to the parcel. It is put in one of Santa Claus’ bags, and left there until Christmas Eve, when Santa Claus takes them away to be put in children’s stockings. —Prize of 1/- to Cousin Dorothy Frew (11), Milton street, South Riverton. —Very Highly Commended.— —Highly Commended.—

It is now about eight weeks till Christmas which seems a long way off to us, but to* Santa Claus it will be the opposite. Since last Christmas he has been busy working for this great day when his large family of children prepare for his arrival by hanging up their stockings. His factories will be all busy finishing off engines, dolls, teddy bears, motor cars, and all sorts of other toys, and Santa Claus will be going from one to the other to see that all are right. The packing room at the factory will be piled high with toys of every description, all of which have been passed by Santa himself. In one comer will be a special pile for the little sick children in Hospital. Santa’s aeroplane will need some attention, for he must have the very latest improvements to help him travel all over the world in so short a time. The mechanics, little gnomes, will be trying out the plane on short trips, to make sure that eveiything is just right. From now on his mail bag will be full with letters telling him what they would like in their stocking. —3 marks to Cousin Ronald Deal (10) 53 Mitchell street. —Very Highly Commended.— Far away in the icy regions of the North Pole, the castle of Santa Claus is a scene of busy activity. Hundreds of pixies and elves are busy making presents for good boys and girls. Swish, swish, goes a thousand paint brushes putting the pretty coats of paint on toys. The tap, tap, of tiny hammers and whirr of sewing machines is heard everywhere as the tiny sprites work. In front of a writing desk Santa Claus sits studying a huge ledger. In it are the names of all the boys and girls of the earth, and all their wishes for what they would like Santa Claus to bring, which they have thought during the year, are written opposite their names. Here also are recorded all the good and kind deeds done by each child. All day long fairies fly back and away again, whispering their reports of the children whose names are in the book and Santa Claus rewards them according to their good or bad reports. In the stables the grooms are busy brushing and feeding the mighty reindeer and seeing that the sledges are fit and trim for soon Santa Claus will be starting his long trip to visit all the children on Christmas Eve. —3 marks to Cousin Pat Henderson (11) Waikana. —Highly Commended.— Just about now he is going away to the large cities to buy presents for all the little children. He goes to London, New York and other main cities to buy his goods. As soon as he has bought enough presents for all the children in tire world, he goes back to the frozen ice-land and sleeps and waits there until it is time to pack his presents in the stockings, and start away on his sledge or an aeroplane to visit all the little children. Santa Claus prepares his whiskers to come and see the children. He wraps all his presents up in little parcels. The night Santa Claus comes you must keep the windows open, and have your chimneys nice and clean. —2 marks to Cousin Myrtle Barker (10), Section 7, Invercargill-Otara R.D. —Highly Commended.— Santa Claus is getting his toys ready for Christmas Eve. He is packing them into his bag. He will put in dolls for the girls and crackers, lollies, cameras and many other things. For the boys he will bring tops, motor cars, bats, and fishing reels. He is peeping down the chimneys at present to see how the children are behaving. If the children are naughty he will bring them nothing. He is also getting his reindeer ready in Snow-land. I hope I get a lot of toys as I am very good.

2 marks to Cousin Joyce Howden (10), Mataura Island.

Just now Santa Claus is packing his toys into his sack, and tying labels on them so that lie will know to whom each one belongs. There will be dolls and their prams and cots, and lots of other things, for girls. For boys there will be tops, cricket sets, footballs, bats and balls of all kinds. If Santa gets his gown dirty from the last chimney he came down, he will have to wash it and iron it out like it was before, and if his beard, is tangled he will have to comb it out, too. The cobblers will be making Santa slippers so that he will not make a noise when he fills our stockings. Santa Claus will be busy polishing his reindeer’s hoofs and horns, and grooming their coats, so as to be ready for Christmas. —2 marks to Cousin Joan Waterhouse (11), Orepuki. —Late Entry— Far away in the midst of Cloudland there lives a man who comes down every Christmas. His name is Santa Claus who is now making toys for all the children that live in the large countries below. His sledge is waiting outside his beautiful ice palace. His toys are made not only out of wood but also out of rubber and cardboard. He used to be a poor man who lived in a broken-down shed. He made beautiful toys for all around the part where poor children lived. He became a saint by going out long distances, giving toys out of his tray to the poor children. As it is near Christmas this is his busy season in Cloudland. He collects bits of fluffy clouds to put on woolly lambs for babies. —2 marks to Cousin Eileen Deaker (9), Bowmont street. —Highly Commended.— Well may we ask that question, for we shall soon see the fruits of his labours displayed in the shop windows. Santa Claus is naturally a very busy man, for his task is an enormous one. Each year he has to design gifts, which will afford interest and amusement for the ’ children, and so the things must be original and different from the previous year. This all takes time, so that Santa has very few moments for his own leisure. In these modern times he is able to save a little time by journeying by aeroplane. Last Christmas he arrived in Invercargill by air causing much excitement. Although weary with the months of arduous work, he always makes a point of receiving the boys and girls in his cave to hear exactly what their wishes are. As well as all this he has much correspondence to answer, because some children living in the back blocks, write to him expressing their wishes for Christmas. He always endeavours to please everybody. —2 marks to Cousin Jeanette Moore (11), 231 Gala street; —Highly Commended.—• Santa Claus is making toys for little children just now. His Christmas elves hurry to and fro, doing odd jobs for the kind man, while he busily saws up wood, planes blocks, chops up boards, and hammers in nails. His artful little elves paint the models, and when the articles are finished, they are put in Santa Claus’s big sack. Soon he will come forth to judge those who deserve toys. His big book has two lists. One headed bad children, the other good children. Away he will ride in his reindeer sledge to fill little children’s stockings. —2 marks to Cousin Mona Bell (11), Lumsden. —Highly Commended.— Santa Claus is very busy making toys for the children’s stockings just now. He has his elves chopping, sawing and planing horses and carts etc. He is also shining his reins and cart ready for the journey which is to take place shortly. Some little children leave him fruit sweets and chaff for his reindeer, and a note saying what they would like. —2 marks to Cousin Daphne Earl (11), Lumsden.