Christmas Letters, Part I

 

You can see the other Christmas Letters posts here:  II, III, IV, V, & VI.

Merry Christmas!  

I am a Christmas fanatic, I admit. I have always loved the holiday, the traditions, the history, pretty much all of it.  And I still believe in Santa Claus, no matter what names he is given. 

Bellringer the Elf delivering his gifts on 
Christmas Eve, 2011.

Along with Christmas, I've also always loved the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, and I was especially impressed by the Letters from Father Christmas that the Tolkien children received each year as they were growing up.

Naturally, I was over joyed when my children began to receive their own letters. Of course, their letters came most often on Christmas Eve, when Bellringer arrived - the personal Christmas Elf of my wife's family, who had been pursued by generations of fathers and grandfathers when he left his "Bellringer gifts" on the stoop in Christmas bags... always announced by a mysterious door bell ring.   

Now that my children are grown, I decided this year to share a letter a day in the last few days before Christmas, with amusing tales of Bellringer and a few others of Santa's helpers and even some foes.  

This was not the first letter, but the early letters were very short. This is the first of the longer letters, and it introduces Bellringer the Elf.

 

Dec 24th, 2005                                       

🎅Santa Claus

No. 1 Santa Claus Lane 

Christmas Town, The North Pole

Dearest Ren & Tori,

Merry Christmas!  And thank you very much for your letters! I see that you both made the Nice list this year! I am sure you will be very happy Christmas morning with your presents!  

I am sorry my letter is later this year, I've had some trouble with the elves and I completely forgot to write you back! But I remembered last night, and told Bellringer the Elf to add it to your Christmas Eve package. 

You have heard of Bellringer the Elf, have you not? He is one of my oldest friends and workers. Every year he travels ahead of me, checking to make certain the address of each child is correct. For especially good children he leaves a small gift of his own. Bellringer takes his job very seriously, though some fathers and grandfathers like to shoot at him! Of course, the rest of the year he is my chief elf, he makes certain everything is running smoothly as we get ready for Christmas.

This year, though, Bellringer has had many problems!  First, when he was testing the Teddy Bears he pulled one from the bottom of the pile and they all fell over on top of him  It took the other elves three days to get him out! Then he burned his tongue badly when taste testing the Gingerbread cookies.  His tongue swelled up and the other elves could not understand what he said, he had to repeat himself over and over. This was really bad when we raised our Christmas Tree, when he said "Pull!" they heard "Fool!" and got angry at him! It took another three days to get the elves to listen to him again.

But, all is better now, and Bellringer is excited to be leaving to check addresses and leave small presents again.  I know he has some special gifts for you. Well, better go attend my pre-flight briefing with Rudolph. 

'Til next year 

Santa Claus