“Why does smoke come out of the smoke stack?”
I must have been 7 or 8 when I posed the question, gazing up at the winter sky to observe thick, dark clouds billowing from the tip of Flin Flon’s tallest elevation.
“It’s so people know which way the wind is blowing,” Dad replied, unprepared to go into the specifics of HBM&S’s smelting process, which even today I understand only in basic terms.
When we’re children, we ask a lot of questions. And around this time of year, children are full of queries about Santa Claus and the magical process that puts gifts under trees in millions of homes around the world.
I was always curious about Santa’s preferred method of entry, the chimney. Our house had a chimney, but it was nothing like those big, spacious ones you see in the movies. There is no way a man of Santa’s girth, or pretty much any man of any size, could shimmy his way down it.
Furthermore, our chimney had not been used in many years, having given way to a fuel-fired furnace that made our winter nights oh-so cozy. Nor was our chimney connected to a fireplace, so where, pray tell, would Santa make his grand entrance into the living room?
Naturally I pitched the question to Mom: How does Santa get into houses without usable chimneys?
“His mitts are magic and can open any door,” she replied.
That amazed me. I thought of the wooden Santa ornament in our front yard, and how his mitts were a nice emerald green. To this day when I see green mitts, I think of magic mitts.
Another query of mine revolved around Santa’s workshop. Nothing I ever got for Christmas, it seemed, could have been manufactured by hammer-toting elves.
My gifts tended to come in sealed factory boxes bearing brand names such as Mattel, Kenner and Sega. They bore the words “Made in China,” which, as far as I could tell, was pretty darn far from the North Pole.
Fortunately it was explained to me – I think by a teacher – that Santa and his elves do, from time to time, order items from toy manufacturers to fulfill wish-list requests. The North Pole wasn’t in direct competition with the makers Monopoly or Sonic the Hedgehog.
At one time or another, I think we’ve all wondered how Santa can deliver gifts to so many homes around the world in a single night. I know I did.
Looking back in our archives, The Reminder posed that very question to Santa in an interview. Here’s what he said:
“See, I don’t go to every home. There are millions of homes without any children, homes with only naughty children, homes with ‘no trespassing’ signs. It’s a race against time, but I get a little hot chocolate in me, ho, ho, and I move pretty darn fast.”
I’m glad the adults in my life took time to answer my questions about Santa. He’s such a magical figure in all of our lives, and before you know it, you’re the one answering a child’s questions about the jolly gift-giver.
May Santa be generous to Flin Flon, Creighton, Denare Beach and areas this Christmas.
Local Angle is published on Fridays.
