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Chuck Hinman: This House is Santa Claus Unfriendly Chuck Hinman: This house is Santa Claus unfriendly. There was no fireplace and/or fireplace chimney for Santa to enter the house! The next earlier Chuck Hinman Story: - Christmas Memories From My Show Biz Days By Chuck Hinman IJMA 027: 9 December 2008 This house is Santa Claus unfriendly My earliest Christmas remembrance is in the 1920's when we lived in the farm home where I grew up. It was between Liberty and Wymore in southeastern Nebraska. The house was large, almost new, and had all the "bells and whistles" except one. There was no fireplace and/or fireplace chimney for Santa to enter the house! Ye gads, Dad, why did we move here? This house is Santa Claus unfriendly! The house had a floor furnace with chimney but it wasn't made for Santa's grand entry. He prefers a big fireplace with a mantle for hanging socks. Did I just dream it or doesn't it say somewhere ... "the stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that Saint Nicholas would soon be there".... Everyone knows that! How will Santa ever find this Nebraska farm kid? No way! If necessity is the mother of invention, my parents found it just in time for Christmas and the Hinman kids in their new house. This house had a large kitchen and a wood burning cook stove. The chimney for the floor furnace would have to do for a place for Santa to enter the Hinman kids' house. This is how it all panned out (excuse the pun). We hung our stockings on the hooks Mom had on the wall next to her wood burning cook stove -- hooks intended to hold pot holders, not kids' Christmas socks! Santa would have a difficult-enough time negotiating the crooks and turns of the stove-pipe leading from the kitchen stove to the furnace chimney on the top of the house. And how he did all this, entering our house through the kitchen cook-stove mystifies me to this day! >From pictures, I get the idea that Santa is a little on the heavy side. Just in case, we Hinman kids removed ALL the lids on the top of the stove with a "lid lifter." The lids were only 10" in diameter. How in the world did Santa Claus wriggle out of four ten-inch holes in the stove and with his pack to boot? Oh well, that's his problem! I will never know the answer to that mystery; but somehow, some way he never missed a year leaving a Christmas present for this Nebraska farm kid! He even gobbled up the cookies and milk we left for him! Surely he rejoined the reindeer on the roof by way of the kitchen door. I never saw ladder prints in the snow! It does seem I heard him or someone yelling in the distance ... "and a Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!" ... or did I just dream that? One thing I know for certain, he did NOT say -- "Happy Holidays," he distinctly said "Merry CHRISTMAS"! Written by Chuck Hinman. Emailed: Tuesday, 9 December 2008. (Chuck sent out two slightly different versions with different titles: Memories of Christmases Past and Merry Christmas to All (IJMA 027) Editorial Note - RHS: Chuck is remembering the ending of "Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas" But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight -- Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night. Claims have been made for two authors: Clement Moore and Major Henry Livingston, Jr. Most credit Clement Moore and in his version "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (1823), the final line, originally written as "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night," has been changed in many later editions/ This story was posted on 2012-12-23 01:46:31
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Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know. More articles from topic Chuck Hinman - Reminiscences:
Chuck Hinman: Christmas memories from my show biz days Chuck Hinman: Merry Christmas, Mom, from your son, Chuck Chuck Hinman: When Someone You Love Takes Their Life Chuck Hinman: Living With Macular Degeneration Chuck Hinman: IJMA 030: Tuesday - Ironing Day: 1 August 2008 Chuck Hinman: Scared Spitless - a story for Veterans' Day Chuck Hinman: IJMA 122 : Cigarettes In My Life Chuck Hinman: IJMA 118 : Gypsies Are Coming Your Way! Chuck Hinman: IJMA 084 : What Makes Men Cry Chuck Hinman: IJMA 102 - My Earliest Remembrance View even more articles in topic Chuck Hinman - Reminiscences |
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