Christmas Letters, Part V

 

I'm the little guy, seated at the table in front of the bar. 
To the right is the wall hanging with the deer.

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

Christmas Eve is magical, it always has been.  For me, the magic started very early. When I was a very young child my father's family gathered at my grandparents house every Christmas Eve for a family Christmas Party. Oma and Opa Westermeyer brought my father, his older sister and two brothers from Germany in 1950 to Cincinnati. By the time I was born the family was large, there would eventually be twenty grand-children (I am not certain how many great-grandchildren now!).  

The large family made these parties (well described by my Uncle on his blog) especially wonderful for me as a child. They were held in my grandparents basement, which was fully furnished with a bar and a pool table, it seemed large and magical to me as a child, walking down the stairs was like going through a magical portal to Germany, with neat international posters on the walls, and a beautiful decorative rug hanging on the way showing some deer in a forest, that my father had purchased while on leave in Germany. The basement was filled with kids who wanted to play and talk to me - very different from the playground a sort of shy book worm experienced at school! 

Most of the Westermeyer grandchildren
at one of the Christmas parties.

Of course, the drive after added to the magic. We lived in New Richmond,  and my grandparents lived in Mt Healthy, today with the I-275 bridge maybe a 45 minutes drive, but in the 1970s closer to an hour and a half.  Sleepy and happy, driving home through downtown Cincinnati, I created the "Rudolph game" with my sister. Every blinking or moving light in the sky was a Rudolph sighting as he pulled Santa's sleigh on his appointed rounds. We often fell asleep playing, then woke up in our beds Christmas morning. 

In this year's Christmas letter, Frau Perchta is at it again, talking with goblins, and possibly the Goblin King. And Rudolph and "magic oats" appear (oatmeal mixed with sugar and glitter, sprinkled on the ground outside for the reindeer each Christmas Eve).  

🎅Santa’s Workshop  

No. 1 Santa Claus Lane

Christmas Town, The North Pole

Dec 24th, 2012

Dearest Ren & Tori,

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

  You both made the nice list again this year! I know it is hard being good, but I can see in my magic snowball how hard you both tried this year.  Your parents must be very proud of you! 

It has been a hard year here at the North Pole. Frau Perchta, the evil witch who used to follow me on Christmas Eve to punish wicked children, is still lurking about. Bellringer has seen her several times while he was inspecting the 🎄Christmas Tree🎄 groves, and sometimes she has been in the company of Goblins! 

That is bad, as the Goblin King likes to steal children. I ordered the elves and polar bears to stay on special alert and the Nutcracker Guard started patrolling. But faithful Bellringer found out what the witch and the goblins were trying to do, of course.

He won’t say what he was doing, I suspect he was trying to find where I had hidden HIS Christmas presents, but Bellringer was down in the ice caves below Christmas Town when he heard some scratching and digging.  He discovered that the Goblins and Perchta were tunneling into my storerooms again!  

        He came and told me at once,  we led the elves, bears, and Nutcrackers down to the storerooms at once! There were goblins everywhere, and a huge battle broke out! Those goblins are vicious and mean, and Frau Perchta is strong; it was a close battle. She slashed us with a great willow switch, it really stung! But the nutcrackers had their muskets, and the polar bears are of course huge and strong, we managed to drive the witch and the goblins from the storeroom. Then I used my magic to seal their tunnel.

        Bellringer has saved Christmas again, but the witch had stolen many, many toys. The elves and I have worked hard to replace those stolen but though no child will be forgotten many will not get all they wanted this year. 

        Poor Frau Perchta. She has never understood the true meaning of Christmas… those toys will never bring her as much joy as she might have gotten by giving them to a child. I worry what she will try next year.

        But enough of her! I am sure you will be having a merry Christmas. My reindeer always love the magic oats you leave for them. Rudolph asks Ren, especially, if he will be certain to leave a special helping this year, we are worried there may be a great storm.

        Bellringer has promised to give you this letter.  I hope you enjoyed it, as well as your presents tomorrow.  Merry Christmas!

‘Til next year 

        Santa Claus