You can get video proof of Santa’s visit to your very own house to show your kids. It’s easy. Just set up your video camera in the room where you want to catch St. Nick, send your kids off to bed…. and then sneak to the computer for a little Christmas magic at TheSantaVideo.com.

The Santa Video makes it easy for anyone to get a video of Santa in your house. All you need to do is upload a photo (not a video) of your living room, family room, or wherever Santa leaves presents in your home. Then select from one of 5 video clips of Santa at work. You’ll see him walk into your home, put down his bag of gifts and even enjoy some milk and cookies while he’s visiting. Once you choose the Santa video you prefer and indicate which of the songs (if any) you want to add as background music, you’ll be able to see a preview of your video showing Santa at work in your house. It’s so believable you might find yourself believing in Santa again, too!

The whole process of creating your video will take less than 5 minutes. And your kids will be amazed! Catching Santa has never been easier.

1. Free Christmas Music at Amazon
Throughout the year, Amazon offers a selection of free mp3 music titles every day, and during the holiday season they offer a special selection of free Christmas music downloads.

2. Free Christmas Invitations
You can save some money this year by printing your Christmas party invitations at home. You can find a nice selection of printable invitations on HubPages.

3. Free Santa’s Nice List Guide
If you’ve got little kids at home who believe in St. Nick, download the free Santa’s Nice List Guide from Package from Santa. This guide lets kids know what they need to do to get on Santa’s Nice List. Five requirements are already on the list (being kind, respecting your family, smiling, helping others and believing in Santa Claus) and you can add five more.

4. Free Christmas Powerpoint templates
If you’re making a holiday presentation, check out the free holiday PowerPoint templates. They’ll add some great Christmas cheer to your presentation.

5. Free Christmas Postcards
It’s cheaper to send a postcard through the mail than to send a card in an envelope, so if you’re looking to save money this holiday season, try sending postcards rather than cards. You can find some free printable Christmas postcards with vintage Santa images at Printable Santa Letters.com.

From free Christmas downloads on Squidoo.

It’s true that a professional photographer can create a one-of-a-kind image that will certainly make your holiday photo cards look great. But with today’s user-friendly digital cameras, you can also create great-looking photos yourself.

Many people like to take a photo of the family in front of the Christmas tree. They simply put the camera on a tripod, stand in front of the tree and snap. But there are plenty of ways to make this type of photo more creative. One idea for getting a great Christmas photo card in front of the tree is to have family members dress in opposite colors – for instance, the men could wear red and the women could wear green. Or everyone can wear the same contrasting shirts and pants.

If you’d like to have a little fun, have everyone wear reindeer antlers or Santa hats. If your normal holiday photo just includes a standard photo of everyone looking at the camera and smiling, this will be a fun alternative. You can also turn a standard photo of everyone in front of the tree into a more whimsical image simply by selecting new poses and adding some variations in height and perspective.

For instance, you could have one person standing on a ladder placing an ornament on the tree, while others stand. If you’re a couple with a child, you could even have the two of you standing while holding the child in a horizontal position in front of you. Or you could all lie down on the floor with your heads together and have someone stand above and shoot down. Be creative!

Another idea is to take the photo in front of a Christmas-themed backdrop rather than at home in front of the tree. Check out the holiday displays at the local mall or other area businesses. Since businesses are looking to pull in the Christmas shoppers, they’ll often have colorful display featuring Christmas scenes. You can usually get pictures of your family in front of these displays. But if a particular business won’t let you do that, head for a smaller shop and just ask. Most business owners are happy to oblige.

For more ideas, just look at any website offering photo Christmas cards. The sample images you’ll find on these cards will give you some great ideas. Then go have fun! And remember – the perfect Christmas picture is the one where everyone in the photo is enjoying themselves and the camera has captured the moment so you can enjoy it for years to come.

Santa Letters
Personalized letters from Santa are a great way to keep your kids believing in Santa Claus. Many people think you need to purchase an expensive letter from a company specializing in this service if you’d like to share a Santa letter with your child. But you can save money – and still get a professional-looking letter – by creating your own personalized Santa letter at home. You can buy professional-quality printable Santa letter templates right here at Christmas Letter Tips for less than $5. These templates are saved as Microsoft Word documents, so you can use them for all the kids in your family and again in coming years.

Getting a personalized letter from Santa can definitely keep your child believing in Santa Claus, but the letter is even more effective when you add an official North Pole postmark. The US postal service in North Pole, Alaska, offers this free service every year. To get the North Pole postmark on your child’s letter, simply place your child’s Santa letter in a stamped envelope addressed to him or her and put THAT envelope inside another envelope. Then send them both to: North Pole Christmas Cancellation, Postmaster, 4141 Postmark Drive, Anchorage, AK 99530-99998. The post office will open the outer envelope, stamp the inner envelope with the North Pole postmark and send it back to your child. (Don’t forget the postage on the inner envelope!)

“I Caught Santa” Photos in Your Home
Another great way to keep your child believing in Santa Claus is to “catch” Santa delivering gifts on Christmas Eve. How do you do that? It’s easy with a service such as Capture The Magic. At Capture the Magic, you simply upload a photo of your living room, family room, or any other location, and then follow the simple process to place an image of Santa in your photo. In minutes, you’ll have a great-looking photo of Santa right in your own home! Your kids – and other family members, too – will be amazed.

Santa Videos
There are now a few different websites that help you create personalized videos in which Santa says your child’s name and/or shows a photo of him or her. Some of these services are free, while others charge a small fee. Disney offers a free video in which Santa checks to see if your child is on the Nice List and then shows his or her photo (which you have to upload, of course.) Portable North Pole.Tv is another one. Both of these are only available during the holiday season (November and December).

Tracking Santa
On Christmas Eve, you can track Santa Claus online with your child. NORAD Tracks Santa is a website operated by none other than the North American Aerospace Defense Command. Yes, the military. NORAD is a bi-national United States and Canadian organization charged with the missions of aerospace warning, aerospace control and maritime warning for North America. And since Santa flies through North American airspace on Christmas Eve, the military tracks his movements and reports on his whereabouts so children all over the world can know Santa will soon be at their home. This website opens each year on December 1.

With these high-tech options, you can help keep your child’s belief in Santa alive just a little longer. Eventually he or she will learn that Santa is a wonderful childhood fantasy, but until then, you can share these magical moments with your child.

There are dozens of books about the meaning come in different formats and are easy to find online or at your local bookstore. If you have little ones at home and you want them to understand that Christmas is not about the material possessions, start a practice of sharing Christmas- related stories every night during the days leading up to Christmas.

You can easily purchase these books from most retail stores or online stores that carry Christmas products. Some books will offer you the opportunity to personalize the stories by putting your child’s name in the book. Children remember the stories because of hearing their name.

What are the best books to teach the meaning of the holiday? Good books for young children include What Is Christmas?, God Gave Us Christmas or Mortimer’s Christmas Manger.

Other stories may not directly discuss Jesus’ birth, but still remind us that Christmas is a special time. A Chicken Soup for the Soul Christmas is a good book that contains uplifting short stories, and the classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas! reminds everyone that “Maybe Christmas..doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”

How will my Santa letter and/or Nice List certificate be delivered?
To get the free files, simply click the download link. For the premium Santa letters and/or Nice List certificates, click the Buy Now button to go to PayPal (the page will open in a new window, so turn off your pop-up blocker) and make your purchase using a credit card or PayPal. After you make your payment, you will receive an email with the link(s) to download your file(s). If you don’t see the email after a few minutes, please check your spam filter.

What are the requirements for downloading and using the letters and certificates?
You will need Microsoft Word 97 or newer to open the Santa letter templates and Nice List certificates. They will NOT open with Microsoft Works. If you do not have MS Word, you can download a free trial from the official Microsoft website. In addition, if you purchase the Complete Santa Letter Template Package, you will need a program to unzip the file.

Is my purchase secure?
Yes, when you click on the Buy Now button, you will be taken to a secure PayPal checkout page where you can make your purchase with a credit card or PayPal account. You will need to turn off your pop-up blocker to open the new PayPal page.

How do I open my Santa letter or Nice List certificate?
To open and personalize your Santa letter templates or Nice List certificates, simply click the download link from the email and save the file to your hard drive. You can then open it like you’d open any other MS Word document.

I tried to open my letter or certificate and I see some writing, but no image. Why?
The images in these files are very large to ensure a high-quality print output and it can take a few seconds for the picture to load AFTER the text loads. Please wait for several seconds and the image should appear.

The link I used to download my file expired. What do I do?
The download links will expire 14 days, so please be sure to save your file(s) to your hard drive when you first download them. If you do need to download again after the link has expired, you’ll get a message giving you the opportunity to request additional downloads. There is no additional charge.

Can I give these Microsoft Word files to my friends and family?
No, the files you purchased are for your personal use only. You may personalize and print as many Santa letters and Nice List certificates as you like for as many children as you know in your family, classroom, circle of friends, church group, etc. But we ask that you do not give or sell the actual documents to others.

Can I use these Santa letters and Nice List Certificates to start my own Santa letter business?
No, these documents are for personal use only. By completing a purchase, you are agreeing to use them for your personal, noncommercial use only. The letters and images contained in these documents are copyrighted, and may only be used for personal purposes.

I can’t edit the date in the Nice List certificate I purchased last year. What do I do?
If you purchased a Nice List certificate in 2009, it didn’t include the ability to edit the year. This was mentioned in the description at the time, but we’ve fixed that problem, so the new certificates now include the ability to edit the year. To get a complimentary copy of the new Nice List certificate, please email webmaster [ at ]christmasletteripts [dot] com with your transaction ID (or, if you don’t have that, please provide the email address you used to make the purchase).

I have a question that’s not answered here. How can I contact you?
Please email webmaster [at] christmaslettertips [dot]com for all other questions. Please note that this site is run by a working mom. It may take up to 24-36 hours to get a reply during “Santa letter season” (October – December), but normally I’ll respond sooner. During the rest of the year, this email is checked infrequently, so it may take up to 7 days to get a reply. Please be patient! I will respond.

2. Because Christmas trees used to be decorated with real candles, people used to keep water-filled containers near their Christmas tree.

3. Workers in the construction industry are responsible for the tradition of having a Christmas tree on display at Rockefeller Center in New York City. They are credited with placing an undecorated tree at the site in the early 1930s.

4. Since the mid-1960s, The National Christmas Tree Association has donated a Christmas tree to the First Family to decorate the White House.

5. The former Woolworth department store first sold manufactured Christmas tree ornaments in 1880.

6. The first mass-produced Christmas greeting card was printed in Britain in the late 1830s.

7. The use of Xmas for Christmas has been used for hundreds of years and is derived from the Greek word ‘Xristos,’ which means Christ.

8. According to the National Confectioners Association, candy canes were white only (no stripes) for about 200 years. The now-familiar red-and-white stripes first started appearing after 1900.

9. Santa’s wife, Mrs. Claus, was first mentioned in print by the poet Katherine Lee Bates, who wrote a poem called “Goody Santa Claus On A Sleigh Ride” in 1889.

10. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was originally written as a promotional giveaway for Montgomery Ward department stores.

11. The real Saint Nicholas was born in the part of the world that is now known as Turkey.

12. The US Congress was in session on Christmas Day, 1789, the first Christmas to be observed under the country’s new constitution.

ONE dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one’s cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.

There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.

While the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the second, take a look at the home. A furnished flat at $8 per week. It did not exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicancy squad.

In the vestibule below was a letter-box into which no letter would go, and an electric button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring. Also appertaining thereunto was a card bearing the name “Mr. James Dillingham Young.”

The “Dillingham” had been flung to the breeze during a former period of prosperity when its possessor was being paid $30 per week. Now, when the income was shrunk to $20, though, they were thinking seriously of contracting to a modest and unassuming D. But whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and reached his flat above he was called “Jim” and greatly hugged by Mrs. James Dillingham Young, already introduced to you as Della. Which is all very good.

Della finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with the powder rag. She stood by the window and looked out dully at a gray cat walking a gray fence in a gray backyard. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with this result. Twenty dollars a week doesn’t go far. Expenses had been greater than she had calculated. They always are. Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for something nice for him. Something fine and rare and sterling-something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim.

There was a pier glass between the windows of the room. Perhaps you have seen a pier glass in an $8 flat. A very thin and very agile person may, by observing his reflection in a rapid sequence of longitudinal strips, obtain a fairly accurate conception of his looks. Della, being slender, had mastered the art.

Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood before the glass. Her eyes were shining brilliantly, but her face had lost its color within twenty seconds. Rapidly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length.

Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride. One was Jim’s gold watch that had been his father’s and his grandfather’s. The other was Della’s hair. Had the queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty’s jewels and gifts. Had King Solomon been the janitor, with all his treasures piled up in the basement, Jim would have pulled out his watch every time he passed, just to see him pluck at his beard from envy.

So now Della’s beautiful hair fell about her rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her. And then she did it up again nervously and quickly. Once she faltered for a minute and stood still while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet.

On went her old brown jacket; on went her old brown hat. With a whirl of skirts and with the brilliant sparkle still in her eyes, she fluttered out the door and down the stairs to the street.

Where she stopped the sign read: “Mme. Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds.” One flight up Della ran, and collected herself, panting. Madame, large, too white, chilly, hardly looked the “Sofronie.”

“Will you buy my hair?” asked Della.

“I buy hair,” said Madame. “Take yer hat off and let’s have a sight at the looks of it.”

Down rippled the brown cascade.

“Twenty dollars,” said Madame, lifting the mass with a practised hand.

“Give it to me quick,” said Della.

Oh, and the next two hours tripped by on rosy wings. Forget the hashed metaphor. She was ransacking the stores for Jim’s present.

She found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and no one else. There was no other like it in any of the stores, and she had turned all of them inside out. It was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation-as all good things should do. It was even worthy of The Watch. As soon as she saw it she knew that it must be Jim’s. It was like him. Quietness and value-the description applied to both. Twenty-one dollars they took from her for it, and she hurried home with the 87 cents. With that chain on his watch Jim might be properly anxious about the time in any company. Grand as the watch was, he sometimes looked at it on the sly on account of the old leather strap that he used in place of a chain.

When Della reached home her intoxication gave way a little to prudence and reason. She got out her curling irons and lighted the gas and went to work repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love. Which is always a tremendous task, dear friends-a mammoth task.

Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that made her look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy. She looked at her reflection in the mirror long, carefully, and critically.

“If Jim doesn’t kill me,” she said to herself, “before he takes a second look at me, he’ll say I look like a Coney Island chorus girl. But what could I do-oh! what could I do with a dollar and eighty-seven cents?”

At 7 o’clock the coffee was made and the frying-pan was on the back of the stove hot and ready to cook the chops.

Jim was never late. Della doubled the fob chain in her hand and sat on the corner of the table near the door that he always entered. Then she heard his step on the stair away down on the first flight, and she turned white for just a moment. She had a habit of saying a little silent prayer about the simplest everyday things, and now she whispered: “Please God, make him think I am still pretty.”

The door opened and Jim stepped in and closed it. He looked thin and very serious. Poor fellow, he was only twenty-two-and to be burdened with a family! He needed a new overcoat and he was without gloves.

Jim stopped inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail. His eyes were fixed upon Della, and there was an expression in them that she could not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror, nor any of the sentiments that she had been prepared for. He simply stared at her fixedly with that peculiar expression on his face.

Della wriggled off the table and went for him.

“Jim, darling,” she cried, “don’t look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold because I couldn’t have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. It’ll grow out again-you won’t mind, will you? I just had to do it. My hair grows awfully fast. Say ‘Merry Christmas!’ Jim, and let’s be happy. You don’t know what a nice-what a beautiful, nice gift I’ve got for you.”

“You’ve cut off your hair?” asked Jim, laboriously, as if he had not arrived at that patent fact yet even after the hardest mental labor.

“Cut it off and sold it,” said Della. “Don’t you like me just as well, anyhow? I’m me without my hair, ain’t I?”

Jim looked about the room curiously.

“You say your hair is gone?” he said, with an air almost of idiocy.

“You needn’t look for it,” said Della. “It’s sold, I tell you-sold and gone, too. It’s Christmas Eve, boy. Be good to me, for it went for you. Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered,” she went on with sudden serious sweetness, “but nobody could ever count my love for you. Shall I put the chops on, Jim?”

Out of his trance Jim seemed quickly to wake. He enfolded his Della. For ten seconds let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the other direction. Eight dollars a week or a million a year-what is the difference? A mathematician or a wit would give you the wrong answer. The magi brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them. This dark assertion will be illuminated later on.

Jim drew a package from his overcoat pocket and threw it upon the table.

“Don’t make any mistake, Dell,” he said, “about me. I don’t think there’s anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less. But if you’ll unwrap that package you may see why you had me going a while at first.”

White fingers and nimble tore at the string and paper. And then an ecstatic scream of joy; and then, alas! a quick feminine change to hysterical tears and wails, necessitating the immediate employment of all the comforting powers of the lord of the flat.

For there lay The Combs-the set of combs, side and back, that Della had worshipped long in a Broadway window. Beautiful combs, pure tortoise shell, with jewelled rims-just the shade to wear in the beautiful vanished hair. They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had simply craved and yearned over them without the least hope of possession. And now, they were hers, but the tresses that should have adorned the coveted adornments were gone.

But she hugged them to her bosom, and at length she was able to look up with dim eyes and a smile and say: “My hair grows so fast, Jim!”

And then Della leaped up like a little singed cat and cried, “Oh, oh!”

Jim had not yet seen his beautiful present. She held it out to him eagerly upon her open palm. The dull precious metal seemed to flash with a reflection of her bright and ardent spirit.

“Isn’t it a dandy, Jim? I hunted all over town to find it. You’ll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch. I want to see how it looks on it.”

Instead of obeying, Jim tumbled down on the couch and put his hands under the back of his head and smiled.

“Dell,” said he, “let’s put our Christmas presents away and keep ‘em a while. They’re too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs. And now suppose you put the chops on.”

The magi, as you know, were wise men-wonderfully wise men-who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.

Afrikaans – Geseënde Kersfees
Czech – Veselé Vánoce
Danish – Glædelig jul
Filipino – Maligayang Pasko
Finnish – hyvää joulua
French – Joyeux Noël
German – Frohe Weihnachten
Hungarian – Boldog Karácsonyt
Indonesian – Selamat Hari Natal
Irish – nollaig súgach
Italian – Buon Natale
Malay – Selamat Hari Natal
Maltese – Milied Merry
Norwegian – God jul
Polish – Wesołych Świąt
Portuguese – Feliz Natal
Romanian – Crăciun fericit
Spanish – Feliz Navidad
Swedish – god jul
Turkish – Mutlu Noeller

One way to save money on Christmas decorations is to decide ahead of time what you’ll need, create a list and stick to it. If you regularly shop at superstores such as Wal-Mart or Target, it’s too easy to go to the store for laundry detergent and come home with a shopping cart full of decorations you saw while walking the aisles. Having a list can help eliminate this kind of impulse buying and allow you to stick to your budget.

If you’re really on a tight budget, however, rather than starting your quest for Christmas decorations at a large superstore, one of your first stops should be your local dollar store. While many people assume items sold within dollar stores are low quality, this isn’t always the case. Some items are made especially for dollar store shopping, while others may simply be closeouts or last year’s products that are no longer popular. Depending on the dollar store you choose, you may be able to pick up inexpensive Christmas tree decorations, Christmas lights, Christmas knickknacks and even Christmas placemats for the dinner table.

Another good place to shop on a budget is your local discount store, such as Big Lots. Discount stores usually aren’t very big, but most of them carry a wide variety of different products, including Christmas decorations. While the prices at discount stores will vary, you should be able to find beautiful Christmas decorations for fewer than five dollars each. Of course, there will always be items that cost more than five dollars, but you may be surprised with the selection of low-cost Christmas decorations that can be found at your local discount store.

If you don’t mind slightly used items, Craigslist is a great place to shop for bargains, especially for large items such as lawn decorations. Many people tire of their decorations after a few years and are willing to part with them on Craigslist for a fraction of the original price.

If you can’t afford to fully decorate your house before the holidays, keep in mind that most stores have great after-Christmas sales that will often slash the price of decorations to half of the original price. It’s a great time to shop and save, and next year you’ll be able to hang your decorations knowing that you did it all on a budget.

- Guest post

Although Snowman Soup is really nothing more than a pack of hot chocolate given with “snowman pieces” in a gift mug, the poem you attach makes it a fun gift for just about anyone, and you won’t have to spend much money. You can pick up cheap mugs at the dollar store or splurge on a Snowman Soup mug online such as the one shown here. 

Here’s a Snowman Soup “recipe” and poem. You can find other variations online, including this article: Snowman Soup Recipe and Poem.

Snowman Soup Recipe and Poem

Snowman Soup Recipe
Ingredients
1 pkg hot chocolate mix
2 Hershey’s Kisses for the eyes
1 Hershey’s Hugs for the nose
10-15 mini marshmallows for the snowballs
1 peppermint candy cane (alternate: cinnamon stick)

Directions
Place hot cocoa package, Hershey’s Kisses, Hershey’s Hugs and mini marshmallows in a plastic bag or cellophane wrap and put in the bottom of a mug. Put the candy cane stick inside or tape it to the outside of the mug. Then add one of the Snowman Soup poems. You can either tie it to the candy cane or stuff it inside the cup. That’s it! You’re done!

Don’t like ads? Then sign up for the 14-day free trial. You’ll get all the premium features – such as full-screen, ad-free versions of your creations – at no cost for two weeks. If you want to continue the premium service, you can upgrade any single card for just $2.99 or $5.99 for unlimited cards during the month. They also have an annual membership.

Smilebox greetings are so easy to creat, anyone can do it. You simply drag and drop your photos into their templates, add your text, and select the music. That’s it. You’ll have a great, personalized greeting in just minutes.

Here are three examples of the types of free animated Christmas cards you can create at Smilebox.

Let it Snow!
Personalize with 5 – 10 photos

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Animated Nativity Card
Personalize with 1 – 5 photos

Make a Smilebox greeting

Animated Dancing Snowmen Card
Personalize with one photo

Make a Smilebox greeting

See more free animated Christmas cards.

The Politically Correct Night Before Christmas
‘Twas the night before Christmas and Santa’s a wreck…
How to live in a world that’s politically correct?
His workers no longer would answer to “Elves,”
“Vertically Challenged” they were calling themselves.

And labor conditions at the North Pole
Were alleged by the union to stifle the soul.
Four reindeer had vanished, without much propriety,
Released to the wilds by the Humane Society.

And equal employment had made it quite clear
That Santa had better not use just reindeer.
So Dancer and Donner, Comet and Cupid,
Were replaced with 4 pigs, and you know that looked stupid!

The runners had been removed from his sleigh;
The ruts were termed dangerous by the E.P.A.
And people had started to call for the cops
When they heard sled noises on their roof-tops.

Second-hand smoke from his pipe had his workers quite frightened.
His fur trimmed red suit was called “Unenlightened.”
And to show you the strangeness of life’s ebbs and flows,
Rudolf was suing over unauthorized use of his nose
And had gone on Geraldo, in front of the nation,
Demanding millions in over-due compensation.

So, half of the reindeer were gone; and his wife,
Who suddenly said she’d enough of this life,
Joined a self-help group, packed, and left in a whiz,
Demanding from now on her title was Ms.

And as for the gifts, why, he’d ne’er had a notion
That making a choice could cause so much commotion.
Nothing of leather, nothing of fur,
Which meant nothing for him. And nothing for her.

Nothing that might be construed to pollute.
Nothing to aim. Nothing to shoot.
Nothing that clamored or made lots of noise.
Nothing for just girls. Or just for the boys.

Nothing that claimed to be gender specific.
Nothing that’s warlike or non-pacific.
No candy or sweets…they were bad for the tooth.
Nothing that seemed to embellish a truth.

And fairy tales, while not yet forbidden,
Were like Ken and Barbie, better off hidden.
For they raised the hackles of those psychological
Who claimed the only good gift was one ecological.

No baseball, no football…someone could get hurt;
Besides, playing sports exposed kids to dirt.
Dolls were said to be sexist, and should be passe’;
And Nintendo would rot your entire brain away.

So Santa just stood there, disheveled, perplexed;
He just could not figure out what to do next.
He tried to be merry, tried to be gay,
But you’ve got to be careful with that word today.

His sack was quite empty, limp to the ground;
Nothing fully acceptable was to be found.
Something special was needed, a gift that he might
Give to all without angering the left or the right.

A gift that would satisfy, with no indecision,
Each group of people, every religion;
Every ethnicity, every hue,
Everyone, everywhere…even you.
So here is that gift, it’s price beyond worth…
“May you and your loved ones enjoy peace on earth.”

copyright Harvey Ehrlich, 1992

Notice: This poem is copyright 1992 by Harvey Ehrlich. It is free to distribute, without changes, as long as this notice remains intact. All follow-ups, requests, comments, questions, distribution rights, etc should be made to mduhan@husc.harvard.edu. Happy Holidays!

Where do you find flying reindeer?
Wherever you left them

Can Santa’s reindeer fly higher than a 15-story building?
Of course, they can. Buildings can’t fly at all.

Why do reindeer fly over tall mountains?
Because they can’t fly under them.
 
Which one of Santa’s reindeer has the worst manners?
Rude-olph
 
What do reindeer hang on their Christmas trees?
Horn-aments
 
Where do reindeer like to stop for ice cream?
Deery Queen
 
What’s the difference between a biscuit and a reindeer?
You can’t dunk a reindeer in your tea.

What’s the difference between a reindeer and a banana?
They’re both yellow – except for the reindeer.
 
Which reindeer has the cleanest antlers?
Comet
 
What does a reindeer say before he tells you a great joke?
This one is going to sleigh you!

How does Rudolph know when Christmas Eve is coming?
He looks at a calen-”deer”

How do you fit four reindeer in a car?
Two in the front, two in the back.
 
How do you fit four elves in a car?
Take the reindeer out first.

1. Christmas Newsletter – If chronicling your entire year in one long letter seems too daunting, think of a few major events and write a short summary of each one to create a personal newsletter. You can use programs such as Microsoft Publisher to format your Christmas newsletter into a fun update, or try one of our printable Word Christmas letter templates.

2. Multiple choice quiz or crossword puzzle – What did your son do in the school talent contest this year? How many colors did you look at before you decided to paint the kitchen walls a light blue? Keep your readers guessing by putting together a quiz or crossword puzzle that gives highlights from your year. You can find free online programs to help you with the formatting. Also, be sure to check the creative Christmas letter examples for ideas.

3. Christmas story – If you enjoy writing, create a story that weaves the events of your year into a Christmas-themed narrative. For help, use our instant Christmas letter generator (still on the old Christmas Letter Tips.com site) or see the creative Christmas letter examples.

4. Christmas Slideshow – If you have a digital camera and a CD burner, consider making a slideshow CD to include with your Christmas card instead of a letter. Simply select a favorite song or a Christmas carol and add photos for a fun way to share images of your year. Services such as Shutterfly make it easy to create your photo show, or use an online digital scrapbooking service such as Smilebox.

5. Photo Layout – If wordsmithing isn’t your strength, skip the Christmas letter all together and send family and friends a page of photos printed from your computer. Make the photos different shapes and sizes and use captions to tell about things that happened to your family throughout the year. Or if you don’t have time to print your own Christmas photos and want to save time, you can always find beautiful Photo Christmas Cards online.

6. Top 10 list – What are the 10 most important things that happened to your family this year? How about the most humorous? Or most unbelievable? A top 10 list can be a fun and easy way to describe your family’s year. Think David Letterman and you’ll be on your way.

7. C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S spells Christmas – Eddy Arnold’s 1961 song that gives a meaning for each letter of the word “Christmas” is a great example of how to turn a single word into a story. What did those letters mean to your family this year? C is for a trip to California? H is for the new house you bought? Use the letters of a Christmas-related word or phrase to create a Christmas letter people will be sure to remember.

8. Guest Author – How would your five-year-old child describe the year? Try writing your letter from the perspective of your child, another family member, your new neighbors, a pet, or any other person that could give your letter a fresh new outlook.

Check this page for links to samples of Christmas letters created by real people.