Ten Hints for Santa’s Helpers

by Donna Hruska

‘Tis The Season To Be Jolly, particularly if you are a grandparent, aunt or doting godparent. During the rest of the year we may feel a twinge of guilt about over-indulging the little ones, but in the month before Christmas, all conscience disappears. All too often, so does all energy, for Christmas shopping for children can be physically as well as financially exhausting. With this in mind, we offer the following guide to playing Santa Claus, designed to keep you humming throughout the Christmas season.

1. God Rest Ye Merry Grandparents. You’ll not be dismayed by the task ahead of you if you plan beforehand. Use Christmas catalogs. You don’t need to order from them, but they are handy guides to the products, features and prices available. By making a list, you’ll save yourself time and frustration and have enough energy left to bake an extra batch of Christmas cookies.
2. Hark, Little Harold, the Angel will be singing your praises if you choose toys that require imagination. Choose something that will let him be creative and he may even like the gift more than the box it came in. Need suggestions? How about an over-supply of something there is never enough of–such as drawing paper, crayons or transparent tape?
3. A stuffed Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer may thrill three-year-old Katie, but it will leave her twelve-year-old brother, George, cold. Choose toys that are proper for the child’s age. Grandfathers should be particularly wary of electric trains. They only frustrate four-year-olds. If you aren’t sure, look for a suggested age on the box or ask a clerk.
4. The Little Drummer Boy who is your favorite scene-stealer may not have the patience to assemble a thousand piece puzzle. His quiet cousin who loves detail may get hours of enjoyment from it. Any parent will be more than happy to give a few hints about what Johnny likes best.
5. Deck the Halls with rolls of bandages if you don’t remember to put safety first. Of course, no grandparent is going to buy baby a toy with tiny pieces that can be swallowed, but what about teething rings filled with contaminated water, dolls that burst into flame near heat and electric ovens that reach internal temperatures near 500 degrees? In the case of chemistry sets and similar gifts, check with parents first. Does Billy always show the maturity needed to handle such a gift? Do younger children in the family like to plunder in older brother’s drawers?
6. That crunching you hear is not the Nutcracker Suite, but the sound of poorly chosen Christmas toys being demolished. Part of being a child is banging, shaking and taking apart. Watch for wheels that snap out easily, game boards of light weight paper and boxes without reinforced corners.
7. Do You Hear What I Hear–Mother crying in the background? The many tiny pieces mean much bending and stooping for poor Mom when the kids forget to put games away. A little girl’s favorite doll that is stuffed with cotton batting can’t be thrown in the washing machine when it’s dirty. Wooden blocks that come in their own canvas bag are easier to keep track of than those wrapped in cellophane.
8. O, the Little Town of Bethlehem was not nearly as crowded as some homes after Christmas. There really isn’t much sense in giving a racing set with a twelve foot track to a boy who shares a two-room apartment with the rest of the family. Give him one of the good miniature sets instead.
9. How many Nights Before Christmas have been spent trying to fit bolt B into slot A? Unless you are expert with tools, it might be worth paying a few extra dollars at a store that will assemble that bicycle for you.
10. Silver Bells on your shoes may have been the style when you were a teenager, but if they’re not in now, you may have wasted your money on clothes for the junior and senior high schoolers. That doesn’t mean you have to go for psychedelic, tie-dyed bell-bottoms, but you can glance through the teen magazines on the news stands to see what the current trends are. Check a recent copy. The kids have often moved on before the rest of us are aware of last month’s fad.

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas will have nothing on you if you plan ahead carefully. You’ll Come Singing Noel from your shopping, spend a Silent Night before Christmas, and feel like you caught the Thanksgiving of Orient Are as you watch the kiddies open their gifts on Christmas Day.

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Donna Hruska 2711 2nd Private Road Flossmoor, Illinois 60422

Thanksgiving approaches–the time when Americans take their annual accounting of their spiritual and material assets. But while others are totaling up their goods and opportunities, I’m happy counting all the chances I’ve missed.

Things I’m Thankful I Never Had To Do:

–cross the Atlantic in a leaky 90 foot sailing ship; –take farming lessons from an old Indian named Squanto; –shoot a wild turkey for Thanksgiving dinner.

No one ever asked me to:

–attend a tea party where the tea was sunk, not drunk; –choose between Liberty and Death, or –cross the Delaware in a row boat.

I never had to:

–split rails; –study by firelight; –decide between the North and the South; –cross the country in a covered wagon; –find a pass across the Rockies; –convince Geronimo that Florida is a lovely place to retire, or –meet Sitting Bull by the Little Big Horn.

I was never called upon to:

–remember the Maine; –follow Teddy Roosevelt up San Juan Hill; –dig a canal across Panama; –serve as a target for a Panamanian mosquito in the name of medical science; –fight to “make the world safe for democracy”; –curse the Red Baron, or –try to cross the Seigfried Line.

I didn’t have to:

–work on Wall Street on October 29, 1959; –stand in a bread line; –work 16th Sweatshop, or –support child labor laws.

Nor did I:

–toil in a defense plant; –get to know Joseph Stalin at Yalta; –see the inside of a concentration camp, or –have to decide whether to drop the atomic bomb.

I wasn’t asked to:

–split an atom; –understand the inner workings of a computer; –develop a polio vaccine; –transplant a heart, or –produce the first live TV show from the moon.

No, I’ve missed a lot because someone else did it for me.

I’m thankful.