L. Frank Baum wrote a lot more than the 'Wizard of Oz' series of stories. One of his books is 'The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus'. He later wrote a short story, 'A Kidnapped Santa Claus'. See more about L. Frank Baum and his wide range of books on Wikipedia: L. Frank Baum.

This book is about Santa Claus, from his birth to growing up and how he became Santa Claus. L. Frank Baum wrote a book explaining all the Santa Claus traditions, why Santa gives presents, how he started using the reindeers and where the elves came in. For every child who has wondered about Santa Claus, this book gives them answers and pulls together so many other traditions and legends of the great jolly man in the red suit.

My family had a vintage copy of the first edition of this book. The cover was very red. If you picked up the book it would leave your fingers stained red, even after all the years we had the book on our shelves. This is why I never really read it I think. We had the book from my Mother's family. It was one of two books she saved from a house which was demolished to make room for a McDonald's restaurant in the town of Woodstock, Ontario (many years ago).

Sadly, the book ended it's days stored in the basement after yet another move to yet another house with our family. A hot water tank burst, flooded the basement and was not noticed right away. So many things stored in the basement then were left standing in water. One of the books in the most ruined box was the L. Frank Baum book, 'The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus'. The insurance company paid us the value of the book, and some other things, but we have never really tried to replace the book. Some things are more than just objects. Replacing the object does not also replace the history and the feelings for it. So our messy old red book is gone.

It would be lovely to read the book. I think about it each Christmas. But, it's one of those things that gets pushed down on my to-do list as I keep adding more and more to be done first.

Dear Santa,

I need a new Christmas tree this year. I gave my old tree to my nephew. I thought he would be happy to have a Christmas tree of his own. It's his first year of living on his own, so far away from his family, attending university. Do you remember that tree, Santa? It was the first Christmas tree I ever bought for myself when I had a place of my own. The store I bought it from doesn't even exist now. I kept the original box, packed the tree up carefully each year. Until the divorce and then I didn't put up a tree for a long time.

But, divorce doesn't last forever and yes, I did buy myself a new Christmas tree, a fancy one! A celebration tree! I picked it out after Christmas so I could get a huge, expensive tree for just $40 on sale. I couldn't take it home on the bus, it was just too bulky and heavy. But, even with the taxi fare I still didn't pay the full amount the tree had been selling for. Practical even as I splurged on that tree. It was tall, lots of branches for all my ornaments. I loved the branches too, much nicer than my old tree (as much as I still liked it too). Still, the old tree did not come pre-lit! What a luxury that was. Just get the right plugs in the right places and there it was... all lit up and even a dimmer switch. What a glorious tree it was. Until the top of the three sections disappeared and I felt too discouraged to put it up that way.

This year, already November, Santa Claus, I gave away my old tree out of love and I can't put up the broken tree because it hurts my heart. Have you got a new Christmas tree in your Santa sack for me? Could you send it early, pretty soon in fact? I've got all the decorations out from the garage and they look forlorn sitting out without a tree to decorate.

It must be an artificial tree. I can't even remember ever having anything else since I was a kid and my brother was allergic to real trees. I'd like a tree that will be a little easier to store away, probably about 4 feet tall so I can get it inside a storage tote to keep the dust and mice away from it while it's in the rafters of the garage most of the year. I'd like something pretty. A pre-lit tree again for sure. I found the loveliest tree online (so far) but it's too far out of my budget to consider.

I know you must be crazy busy as December gets closer, but if you can, help me find that perfect little tree so I can put one up again this year. I need my Christmas spirit as much as everyone else.

Take care of yourself,

Me.

Note: This is not written to request anyone send me a tree. I've narrowed it down to a couple from stores in the area. I will have the tree ready to set up by the middle of this week. Thank you to anyone who would consider being charitable, but I'm just fine and I like being independent.

Should you get a Real Tree or a Fake Tree?

You may not have asthma and/ or allergies in your family, this is the most practical reason for having an artificial Christmas tree, to me. You may have animals in your home and want to keep them from treating a real tree like a.... real tree. Or, you may just not like throwing away a real tree after Christmas. If you have enough garden or yard space you can compost the tree but it's not going to compost quickly and it will change the garden soil condition - good for some plants and not so good for others.

In the end, consider a fake tree because they don't shed needles, don't need to be replaced each year and you leave the real trees out there to keep on growing and producing oxygen.

• Flickr: Christmas Tree Carcasses
• Flickr: Christmas Trees Discarded

Modern Artificial Trees are Beautiful Too

There are so many options for the modern artificial Christmas tree, I wonder why people keep cutting down real trees. It is especially sad to see all those real trees thrown out in the trash such a short time later.

Poinsettias are not Poisonous

Did you suddenly feel the need to gnaw on a poinsettia? Unusual but the odd pet or child will give the poinsettia plant a nibble. Luckily, the urban legend is untrue. Poinsettias are not a poisonous plant.

Spurges, the plant family poinsettias (Euphorbia pulcherrima) belong to, do contain some highly toxic plants. The poinsettia itself is not toxic. There were cases where poinsettias were thought to have poisoned children but it was later proved to be something else over looked at the time.

The POISINDEX says a 50 pound child would have to eat over 500 poinsettia leaves to be in any danger of being poisoned by enough toxins in the poinsettia plant. Only a garden centre might have that may poinsettias in one room at one time. But I'm pretty sure eating the first few poinsettia leaves would be enough to make anyone re-think the plan of eating more.

The poinsettia does not taste nice (very unpleasant from opinions I have read) and eating the leaves can bring on nausea and vomiting. Most children, animals and people in general will not continue eating the poinsettia plant after the first taste of it.

There are no documented cases of death from poinsettia ingestion.

However, the sap from the poinsettia can cause skin irritation (just as it irritates the gastrointestinal tract when eaten). Use soap and water to wash the skin. Avoid rubbing or touching your eyes if you have gotten the poinsettia sap on your hands.

Where did the Urban Legend Start?

In 1919, the two year old daughter of a US Army officer died. People attributed the death to the little girl having eating poinsettia leaves. No real proof was found when this was investigated later.

There was never any real proof that the girl had died as a result of the poinsettia leaves. Likely she had eaten them at some point, become sick and then died hours later from some other cause. Death by poinsettia was ruled out through research into poinsettias years afterwards.

Poinsettia History

Poinsettias are native to Central America and Mexico.

The plant was named after an American ambassador to Mexico, Joel Robert Poinsett. In 1829 he sent some poinsettias home to his greenhouses in South Carolina. They grew very well there and became popular.

Paul Ecke created the grafting technique which made it easier to grow and market poinsettias. His son, Paul Ecke Jr., heavily promoted the poinsettia as the Christmas flower. Paul Jr. shipped poinsettias to TV and movie stars and appeared on TV himself, promoting the poinsettia, grown by his family.

In the 1990's a university researcher discovered the same grafting technique used by the Ecke family and ended their monopoly, bringing in competition from nurseries all over the US. The Ecke family still deal in plants but they no longer produce poinsettia plants in the US. But, no fear, there are endless other places which do and it is not likely you will ever be unable to find a poinsettia in a shopping mall, grocery store, garden centre or even the odd dollar store, near you.

Why the Poinsettias are a Christmas Flower

According to Mexican legend (starting sometime in the 16th century), the poinsettia was a Christmas miracle.

Mexico had their own Little Drummer Boy who had nothing to offer the new baby Jesus at his birthday. The poor child gathered weeds and created a boquet with them. Some say his sadness caused poinsettias to bloom at his feet and that was the bouquet he gathered. Either way, when he visited the altar for the baby Jesus, the weeds transformed into (or were already) beautiful red blooming poinsettias.

Mexicans also know the poinsettia as Flores de Noche Buena (Flowers of the Holy Night).

Thus, poinsettias are the Christmas flower.

Poisonous Poinsettias are an Urban Legend

• Myth Busted: Poinsettias Are Poisonous - Urban Legends

• Poinsettia plants are poison to children and pets - Fiction!

• Snopes.com: Poisonous Poinsettias

• Poinsettia - Wikipedia

We send out Christmas cards each year, sometimes we get them done with enough time for them to be mailed and even arrive by the big day (sometimes I don't). One thing I wish I had more time to do was actually write a note of some kind along with the card. So, I went looking for some ideas I could use. I wanted something more interesting than the typical newsletter style. Though that can be fun too if you design it like your own zine. A zine is a non-professional (amateur/ indie) magazine, kind of a retro thing.

Anyway, here are the ideas that appeal to me (along with some of my own ideas). I have written this for people with family but these could all work just as well if you are single and have only yourself to talk about (as I am myself).

• Change perspective. Write as if you were someone else. You can go so far as to make it a True Confessions type of thing, telling all the comings and goings as reported by your babysitter or the neighbour across the street with the really big binoculars.
• Pick different characteristics about yourself or each family member and write a list of the geekiest thing I did this year, or the most romantic thing that happened this year, or the most carefully planned and organized thing I did this year, or the most stubborn, the most optimistic, the most creative...
• Write it as if you are a year in the future, or ten years in the future, looking back on this year. I remember that year...
• Make it all up. Go all the way. Put in a note saying it is all fictional at the end or the beginning, if you desire. (Though you may want to not send anything too elaborate to relatives who tend to be gullible or need things explained, slowly).
• Use the alphabet or the letters of a word (Christmas for instance) and write a point about something starting with each letter.
• Write the family news as if it were an ad for something: a new car, laundry soap or a movie coming to a theatre near you! Make it exciting, give it a commercial spin, sell it!
• Write it all as a poem, rhyme it. Or use some style of verse, like haiku. (Haiku may take some thought and planning but it is short to write out if you are working with pen and paper rather than using a printer).
• Give them a test, try a quiz about your family or Christmas itself. See what they know about the old, traditional holiday. Stick in some family news here and there, where it has some relevance to your quiz question.
• Get inspired by Talk Like a Pirate day and write the Christmas card in Pirate speak, in the style of a Borg or some other character from history or fiction.
• Make a top ten list. Go through the family news from the past year and pick out ten things you really want people to know. Turn them into a list. Or be a bit silly and go with something like the top ten things the members of your family don't want for Christmas, etc.
• Create a timeline of things that have happened in Christmases past in your family and your extended family. Christmas is a nice time to remember things everyone felt happy about in the past.
• Send some heart warming quotes about family, holidays and the good times and things in life. You can even get each family member to think of a quote (their own words).
• Get each family member to pick something that happened in the year past and write about it themselves. Then add all the notes together to go out with the cards.
• Use this as a mass thank you note to family members who have helped you and your family. Give credit for small and big favours in a way that everyone can read about how you appreciate the help given. Let family know if you still need help or not. Or, ask if others need help, pass along the goodwill.
• Personalize each card with a short note. Kind of getting back to the newsletter idea but it does give you a sincere connection to each person you are writing to. Of course, you may only see some of then once a year and not really have much of a personal nature to write about.
• If you have children get them to draw Christmas artwork which can be mailed out with the cards. This is a nice way to get the kids busy and yourself off the hook for writing anything more than "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!" in each card.
• Send a postcard, or print a family photo and send that in the card instead of written contents. You can also do something with scrapbooking, graphic arts or drawing - as long as it will easily fit inside the envelope. Try some mail art on the envelope too.

If nothing on my list really works for you, at least it may give you inspiration for ideas of your own. Let me know what you think of in comments here. You may have just the right idea for someone else.

After the first couple of Christmas cards you write it gets harder to find something different to say in each one. You can write a bit of news, a bit of something happening but you still need that bit to transition from the news to the part when you sign your name. Here are some to keep you going:

• Enjoy the Holidays, the calories will count themselves.
• May your Holidays begin and end on a happy note
• Keep your family close the Holiday Season
• The presents are wrapped, shopping is done, now just have some Holiday fun
• Find your real meaning of Christmas'
• Health, wealth and happiness all year long
• Welcome the Season with the people you love most
• Put your worries aside and welcome the Christmas Spirit with your whole heart
• May Santa bring you everything you want and nothing you deserve.
• Keep the Holiday Spirit for the whole New Year
• Sing all the Christmas Carols, Loud and Proud
• Keep yourself warm and toasty all Season long
• God Bless us everyone
• Be merry and bright!
• Get your Christmas tree up if you haven't already
• Leave Santa extra chocolate for the reindeer
• Even Santa isn't perfect
• Keep your hot chocolate warm
• Celebrate the Season
• Enjoy every sparkle and twinkle this Season
• Enjoy The magic of the Season
• Holiday Greetings
• Keep the joy all year
• Merry Yule to you and yours
• May your heart be light
• Bright Blessings
• Wishing you peace, love and joy
• Wishing you happiness this Season
• Christmas blessings to you
• Celebrate the Spirit of Christmas
• Laughter, love and Holiday cheer
• Have a wonderful Holiday Season
• Sparkle through the Season
• Christmas cookies to you!

Write a few of your own. Try to have a variety of syrupy sweet, sentimental and a bit of humour too.