We are thrilled to feature a new story from the famed storyteller Brian “Fox” Ellis from FoxTales International FoxTales We hope you enjoy it.

A SNOW MAN IN FLORIDA?

(Or, Why are snowmen part of the holiday celebration even in the south?)

“Mommy, Mommy, please tell us about the snow.”

“Please, please, please,” a chorus of swimsuit clad children were pleading with their mother as they took a break from swimming on this unusually warm, sunny day in December on Miami Beach.

“You see, I was born in New Jersey,” she began for the hundredth time, “and what I loved most about the winter was the snow, soft, deep and fluffy or the thick clouds of howling, blowing blizzards of snow, I just loved snow.”

“When will it snow here, mommy? Why don’t it snow here?” were Charlie’s constant questions.

His older sister Sarah answered, “cause it’s too warm here, the snow would melt, silly! Shush.”

Mother continued, “When I was a little girl, not much bigger than you, I remember school being cancelled because of the deep snow. I remember being so excited to spend the day playing in the snow with all of my friends!”

“We would all bundle up in layers and layers of clothes, long underwear, two or three shirts, a sweater, a jacket, a coat, mittens, boots and a hat. We wore so many clothes it was hard to walk. We would all meet at the park down the street. My brothers would go off with the older boys and build a big fort for a rowdy, wet and cold snow ball fight.

“One of the older girls would line us all up and make sure we all stepped in the same footsteps, so 30 kids left only one set of tracks. When she gave the signal, we would all fall down on our backside and move our arms and legs just so… this was not just any old snow angel, no way, by working together we could make a whole choir of angels, a heavenly host singing hallelujah!”

“But my favorite part of winter was making a snow man. When all of us kids worked together, the bigger kids making humongous snowballs, the middle sized kids making medium sized snowballs and the little kids making heads, we could make a whole family of snowmen, snow women and once we even tried to carve a snow dog!”

The kids laughed. The mother was lost in moment of nostalgia, remembering those warm feelings on that coldest of days.

The kids ran off towards the surf. As the youngest boy lay down, he moved his arms and legs just so, making a sand angel. Mother smiled. An idea flashed across her imagination.

On the way home she bought a bag of ice. While the kids were showering and changing, she shaved the ice in the icy maker, forming it into large and smaller snowballs. By the time the kids came back down stairs, there was an entire family of snowmen, snowwomen and even a snow dog sitting in bowls on the kitchen table. The kids laughed and clapped as mother coated them in flavored syrup and everyone ate their own icy snow man.

The oldest daughter Sarah had the biggest Cheshire grin, but said nothing. She knew what lay under the tree wrapped in glittery ribbons and bows.

On Christmas morning, when mother opened her present and first saw a picture of herself as a little girl bundled up in many layers, standing next to a giant family of snowmen, she had a puzzled look on her face. She folded back the tissue paper and saw a beautiful glittering snow man and her heart melted.

“Momma, I got you a snowman that will never melt!”

How many Christmases had passed since that first snowman?

“And so you see, that is why we have snowmen for Christmas, even in the south. That momma, that was your grandmother; that boy, Charlie, was your Uncle Chuck; and that older sister, Sarah, that was me. My grandma sent me the picture of my mother from her snowy childhood in New Jersey.”

As the children sat quietly, snuggling with their mother, they knew they had seen beautiful crystal snowmen, wooden carved snowmen, even plastic snowmen that danced and sang with brightly colored lights, but they had never seen a real snowman.

Their eyes were drawn to the shelf in the corner above the Christmas tree, loaded down with snowmen of all sizes. There were tall snowmen standing under the tree, and several snowmen hung as ornaments upon the tree. The children now knew why their mother loved them so, and wondered, because of the snowmen they had seen at their friends’ houses, how many of their friends longed for the cold bite of snow upon their cheeks.

Dedicated to Trisha Shabet, whose grandchildren still make snowmen for her every winter!

© Brian “Fox” Ellis – www.foxtalesint.com

From time to time we are honored with a Christmas related story from the famous raconteur and children  story teller Brian “Fox” Ellis of Fox Tales International. Brian has taken time out from his busy schedule of movie making, musical theatre  production and live performances to write several of his intriguing and entertaining stories for us. The first one is entitled:

Dancing Toy Soldiers, Wrestling Ballerinas and A Nutcracker

The ballet company’s annual production of “The Nutcracker” is a ritual for many families with young children. Every little girl dreams of dancing with the sugar plum fairy. It is the one time a year when everyone and their mother dresses up for a night at the ballet. Everyone wants to see their niece, granddaughter, or little sister in their glorious moment.

My daughter danced as one of the little mice who fought the toy soldiers in a ferocious mock battle. The choreography was thrilling. The audience gasped, held their breaths and let out a palpable sigh when things turned south for the mouse king. In graceful pirouettes the mice wrestled the toy soldiers and everyone applauded. My daughter crowned the Nutcracker with her sword and sent him reeling. Everyone laughed, except the Nutcracker.

For one night we can imagine a cornucopia of candied confections twirling and leaping, exotic treats prancing and dancing on stage. The whole production takes the Victorian idea of ‘visions of sugar plums danced in their head’ to a sweeter level of fancy.

The nutcracker is the prized toy, gallant in his uniform, firm in his self confidence, and the one who cracks the hardest shells so you can get at the goodness inside. He leads an army of toy soldiers to protect the confections from the wicked mice.

At the cast party after the show my daughter won a door prize, a three foot tall nutcracker, nearly as tall as she was! She beamed as she struggled to take it out to the car after the late night wound down. I placed it on the hearth of our fire place, next to the Christmas tree, next to the little table where we would place Santa’s cookies. We all went to bed.

When I woke up the next morning, the Nutcracker had moved. It was over near the back door. The doggy door looked askew. I peered through the frosty glass. There were a wide variety of fresh tracks in the new fallen snow, tracks large and small, some like feet, or should I say boots, and others looked like paws, mostly little tiny paws, but one set was huge. There were also more than a few indistinct wet footprints inside on the rug.

Did the mouse king track down the Nutcracker for round two? Did the Nutcracker beat back another attack on the sweetest confections and exotic treats? What happened last night as visions of sugarplums danced in our heads?

As I placed the Nutcracker back over by the fire place he looked a little disheveled, but there was a hint of a smile painted on his stern face I had not noticed before. As I turned to walk into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee, I thought I heard that song, that unforgettable melody of Tchaikovsky’s most famous waltz whistling in my head. I turned to see where it was coming from. Just then a gust of wind lifted the doggy door. A flurry of snow blew in on the rug, wiping clean the footprints inside and out. This could not all be in my head, but now there was no proof. No one would believe me… it was only the wind I tried to convince myself, it was only the of a smile Tchaikovsky whistling wind…

Our Nutcracker still shows the faintest hint of a smile.

This is the time of year when we get very busy. Right now, we are answering many quote requests from commercial Christmas decorators and installers. Maybe it’s the economy, but it seems to me that there is less large out door Christmas product available, while demand has only declined a little. Our new “Larger than Life Size Nativity” set is about to sell out and we have already sold out of many versions of Toy Soldier and Nutcracker. With typhoons and tropical storms in the Pacific, timely replenishment for these figures is pretty much ruled out.

One really interesting development from a supplier is the substitution of LED bulbs for incandescent on consumer Christmas Light displays. The LED bulbs have been offered as an alternative on commercial Christmas Light Displays for a few years now. They offer a quite different look, less heat and energy use and long life compared to the incandescent light. The lighting in our homes is changing, why shouldn’t our Christmas decorations?

We are certainly seeing the impact of job losses and the reduced economy on Church giving. Many of our Nativity sets are purchased by church congregations, usually led by a parishioner who provides the leadership and often the lion’s share of the money needed to purchase the set. This year, the process is more democratic and more people are participating but it is more difficult to get people to provide money, not a surprise.

We recently wrote about several different approaches to raising small capital funds  from church members to purchase a beautiful new Nativity scene. These programs included presentation packages of large color photos and information for the buying committee, a “Christmas in July” party with a Christmas tree decorated with pictures of the individual Nativity figures with their purchase price written on the back and a silent auction gathering again with the opportunity for members of the congregation to buy individual  pieces to complete the set. All of these methods have  worked  effectively for our customers who have reported them to me.

A recent program involved a few more steps, but was equally successful. The decision makers group decided what Nativity set they wanted asked us for the shipping cost and several full color 81/2×11 photos of the set, then sent out letters to all parishioners, describing the set, spelling out how many donations of a certain minimum amount they would need and inviting people to commit the following Sunday at church, with sign up sheet beside the large photos of the set. They were over subscribed!.

Between, bake sales, cookbook sales, raffles and many other ideas, most churches are very innovative in raising money for capital items. We offer to help any way we can.