The weekly news update featuring A Christmas Carol Published
To all North Pole City Elves, those in Santa's Village, in the Lower 48 and all around the world, this is your weekly update for the week of December 19, 2022. I'm your host Walter "Mistletoe" Livingstone and I'm your co-host, Becky "Marshmallow" Livingstone, Let's go to press.
For the week of December 19, 2022 your sponsor will be Sandy's Super Snickerdoodles. Located at 997 Gum Drop Way, Sandy only sells specialized snickerdoodle cookies. She has spent the last 1000 years perfecting her special family recipe and you cannot find any others in North Pole City that are as tasty as Sandys. Stop by today to pick up yours. Mention WELF-NPC and receive a free 1/2 dozen with every purchase, that's Sandy's Super Snickerdoodles.
All of the testing of the vertical take off and landings have been completed and now it is time for Santa himself to take the Red Zephyr out for a test. The test flight is scheduled for early Tuesday morning and Santa will have the entire team out for one last test and work out before delivery. If you have time to step outside and watch, we can guarantee you will see a spectacular flight show as Santa will put the sleigh and team through their paces. Every year this has been an amazing spectacle as Santa simulates all of the different situations that he experiences during his delivery night flight.
Edward Hinklemyer has posted the final meeting schedule for this week for all of the supervisors and divisions to make sure we have a "Go/No Go" check list completed before Friday night. As you know, Edward likes to check out everything at least three times before Santa takes off just to make sure everything is ready for the all night flight and delivery. At this point, we do not see any major issues, and the delivery satellites have already be checked over and are scheduled for take off on Thursday.
A lot of divisions at the Department of Elfland Security have been busy working with the division of WWW/PR over at TAOLF.com to post out information on the website, and this will continue on until the delivery party on Christmas Eve. Some of these posts include: How the Naughty and Nice list works, information from Flight Command, Information on how to find your elf name, information from Santa's Reindeer Stables, and even information from the Landing and Preparation Team, plus much more. Please be sure you are following along with the posts coming out on the TAOLF.com website for all of this exciting information being posted daily.
Good News! Temperatures will be warming up to -23 for Christmas Eve and there is SNOW in the forecast. This is going to be great weather for Santa and for the Delivery Celebration.
Becky had a chance to go out to Flight Command and interview Orville "Zinger" Yeardley which was a very special interview and one that never happened before. We were able to broadcast live as a special report on our Podcast, so make sure you check that out. How was that experience Becky? "It was so amazing, and I had so much fun and learned so much. And I really liked getting the sneak peeks and behind the scenes information," said Becky. "Well, it sounded like Orville was flirting with you a little bit there Becky," said Walter. "Why, are you jealous Walter?" replied Becky. "Not at all," said Walter, "but if you get a chance to go up in the sleigh for a ride, please be sure to think of me as well. I'd love to do that," said Walter.
On December 19, 1843, Charles Dickens’ classic story “A Christmas Carol†is published. The full title is actually: A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas.
Dickens was born in 1812 and attended school in Portsmouth. His father, a clerk in the navy pay office, was thrown into debtors’ prison in 1824, and 12-year-old Charles was sent to work in a factory. The miserable treatment of children and the institution of the debtors’ jail became topics of several of Dickens’ novels.
Some of Dickens’ whimsical stories were about the kindly Samuel Pickwick and his fellow club members. When the stories were published in book form in 1837, Dickens quickly became the most popular author of the day.
The success of the Pickwick Papers was soon reproduced with Oliver Twist (1838) and Nicholas Nickleby (1839). In 1841, Dickens published two more novels, then spent five months in the United States, where he was welcomed as a literary hero. In 1843 he published "A Christmas Carol" and Dickens then never lost momentum as a writer, churning out major novels every year or two, often in serial form. Among his most important works are David Copperfield (1850), Great Expectations (1861), and A Tale of Two Cities (1859).
Unfortunately, when he died in 1870 at the age of 58, his last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, was still unfinished. Of course, due to its anniversary date, what we want to discuss today is A Christmas Carol.
A Christmas Carol is among Dickens' most popular work. When it was initially published in December 1843, Dickens had been certain the book would sell well — and had hoped those sales would resolve some of his money woes. At the time, Dickens' writing career was in a slump. His current serialized novel, The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, wasn't selling well. His publishers wanted to decrease his pay from £200 to £150 per month, which would have been devastating. Dickens was in debt and had a family to support. Not only was he married with a fifth child on the way, his father was also in a financial drain too. What he couldn't have foreseen how completely the tale would be embraced by the public, or that it would evolve into a beloved classic.
Dickens began to write what would become A Christmas Carol in October 1843. He was determined to get the book out in time for Christmas that year, giving him a very short window to work in.
He finished the story, which came in at less than 30,000 words, six weeks later.
Some books need to build a following, but A Christmas Carol was an immediate success. The debut print run of 6,000 copies, which arrived on December 19, sold out in a week. Upon publishing the first edition of A Christmas Carol, Dickens had his 66-page heavily revised handwritten manuscript bound in crimson leather and decorated in gilt before gifting it to his friend—and creditor—Thomas Mitton, whose name was also inscribed on the cover in gilt. You can see a digital copy of the manuscript on the Morgan Library and Museum website: https://www.themorgan.org/collections/works/dickens/ChristmasCarol/thumbs
Despite A Christmas Carol's success, Dickens didn't get his hoped-for financial windfall. Instead of £1,000, he received only about £250. Book sales weren't enough to cover the costs of production, which had included an array of last-minute changes insisted upon by Dickens, including being bound in red cloth binding, with gilt-edged pages and colored illustrations (by John Leech) all on on a very short time schedule.
The first public reading of A Christmas Carol was held in 1853 for charity, but Dickens also gave paid readings; between 1853 and 1870 he offered 127 performances of A Christmas Carol.
After hearing a Carol reading by Dickens in Boston on Christmas Eve in 1867, a businessman decided to close his factory for Christmas. He also provided all of his workers with a turkey, just like Scrooge. This demonstrates how these readings helped spread the message of A Christmas Carol. It's another reason why the name Charles Dickens is forever linked with Christmas and his famous novel, A Christmas Carol.
While A Christmas Carol was received favorably by many of Dicken’s author peers, Mark Twain was not a fan. Credited as the first writer to do reading tours of his work, Dickens read A Christmas Carol to American audiences during his second visit to the U.S. Twain’s review of the now-iconic book? “There is no heart. No feeling—it is nothing but glittering frostwork.“ Mark Twain may not have liked it, but countless others have enjoyed and cherished this story for many years since.
To read it yourself you can visit: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/46/46-h/46-h.htm
Representatives have been meeting with Mrs. Claus to put together the final touches for this year's Delivery Celebration. Setup will begin on the Thursday morning when the streets around Santa's Village and City Center will be closed off to vehicle traffic. All of the booths have been assigned and the large monitors have been brought out of storage and have been tested. This year, Mrs. Claus is going to be bringing back the lottery to have 3 lucky elves come up to Claus mansion when she retires for the evening and spend time time with her watching Santa's progress. Mrs. Claus used to do this in the past, but now with the basket raffle being in place, three of those prizes will be this very special gift. WELF-NPC plans on having a special report soon interviewed Mrs. Claus about the Delivery Celebration.
The North Pole City Council met this past week to read and vote on the new "No-Fly" ordinance it it has passed with a unanimous vote of 12-0. It reads as follows: BE IT RESOLVED that the council gives the full power to the Department of Elfland Security's Flight Control and Security Division to confiscate any aircraft including balloons, toys, and drones that are in flight during any training sessions and/or flights of Santa's Sleigh. Such flights will be posted in advance to notify elves at North Pole City that there is a no flight restriction. Also during the meeting, council has asked that the clerk review any resolutions that may need to be renewed in December, January, or February and have then addressed at this meeting. There were 2 renewals that were addressed and approved. One was the resolution for closing down the streets leading into Santa's Village from December 23rd - December 26th for the Delivery Celebration, and the other was a resolution giving the Office of Elf Affairs at the Department of Elfland Security to manage the hiring and human resources for city workers. Both of these resolutions passed unanimously as well. Council is not expected to meet again now until March, unless some other issues arise and a meeting needs to be called.
In the Tinsel Football semifinals this past week, the Leighton Gumdrops defeated the Darlington Tigers and the Hinklemyer Falcons defeated the Twinklestein Stars.
This week there is no game to allow for all hands on deck in the final push before Santa heads out on his deliveries so both teams have a bye week and a little respite before the final matchup.
The Championship game will be held on December 30th in Reindeer Stadium between the Gumdrops and Falcons. Be sure you are planning to attend as this game will surely be another nail biter like last year. Who will end up champion? Will it be the runners up from last year, the Hinklemyer Falcons, or will they come in second again with the Gumdrops heralding the trophy? Only time will tell.
Monday Dec 19th is Hard Candy Day. The elves from Mrs. Claus' Kitchen will be displaying some magnificent hard candy creations at the North Pole City Hotel Ballroom and will have samples of a variety of flavors of hard candy available both in the ballroom and in the workshop lunchroom all day. All of the NPC confectionary shops will also have hard candy samples available at their shops too. Everyone is encouraged to try out some new flavors of hard candies Monday.
Tues Dec 20 is Go Caroling Day so we expect to see many elves out caroling throughout the day, but we will have an official caroling hour in city center at 7 pm so stop on out and join in as we spread Christmas cheer by singing loud for all to hear.
But then on Wed 21 it is Humbug Day, though no elves will likely be celebrating. It is also Yule Day and Crossword Puzzle Day though so we will celebrate the arrival of the Winter Solstice with Yule celebrations including a bonfire party out at Polar Bear Lake, decorating with holly, mistletoe, and the boughs of evergreen trees all over city center, and to commemorate the birth of a challenging word game enjoyed by millions worldwide- the crossword puzzle (originally called the "Word-Cross") in all NPC hot cocoa bars crossword puzzles will be available and if you finish it correctly, you can get an extra hot cocoa on the house. (For more about the history of crossword puzzles and to see the original "Word-Cross" see the Smithsonian article: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/crossword-became-american-pastime-180973558/ )
On the 23rd it is Roots Day. The Division of history and research is encouraging families to delve into their family history, heritage, and ancestry. Check out the elf clan histories in the archives or online at: https://www.taolf.com/elf-clan-history.html
Of course on the 24th Santa will begin his annual world tour delivering presents to all the children of the world and we will have our Delivery Celebration in city center. Come out and join in all the festivities and fun.
WELF-NPC News Radio would like to wish a very happy 625th birthday to Noel Twinkle Cumberbatch from Santa's Workshop. Noel Twinkle has worked in Santa's Workshop as a Teddy Mountain Plush Stuffer for 480 years now. Her extra special care gives the stuffed toys there special finishing touches like no other elf in the department. We wish her many more happy years.
This is Walter "Mistletoe" Livingstone and Becky "Marshmallow" Livingstone with the reminder: It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air..
Have a good evening, and be sure to tune in next week for another WELF-NPC North Pole Radio News Update.
