Will Santa come for me?

December 24, 2021 64 Comments

May you all feel the excitement of Christmas.

WILL SANTA COME TONIGHT?

“Will Santa come? Will Santa come tonight?”

“He might. He might.

If you are good, he might.”

“Can I stay up and see?”

“No. He will not come for you or me

if we do not sleep . He’s too busy to meet us all.”

“And will he come for us?

Yes if you sleep – he does not like fuss.”

Tonight, by the lights of the tree,

there is, at last, some grown up time for me.

The cake is iced. The wine is spiced .The carrots diced.

The pudding’s steamed. The brandy butter creamed.

The turkey prepared awaits. And yes, I did clean the plates.

The tree is up, the table laid,

the cards are out , though the credit card’s unpaid!

So shall I soon with gifts a plenty mount the stairs to deliver twenty?

Do I dare to tread the stair?

And will it creak? And will it creak? When can I take a peek?

I need to know if they slumber before I arrive with my lumber.

If they are still awake what dreams will go? What heart might break?

Or do they know? And is their belief just all for show?

So tonight by the magic tree there is need of time just for me.

I will wait – and struggle to keep open my eyes

And wrestle with the morality of eating Santa’s mince pies.

My adult mind is full of Christmas chores

The cooking times, and the cards through neighbours’ doors

The parties on zoom with friends we cannot meet

Those little things that for loved ones are a treat

I was once a child too excited to sleep

with a torrent of thoughts about what I might be given

Hoping that it was a toy beneath the wrapping – should I look? –

Not more socks or hankies, preferably something to be driven

So could Santa still come for me? Drowsily I dream as if I were eight

Hoping that Santa would not be late

Like every little boy there is of course a much wanted toy

So will Santa come tonight? He might, He might.

If you sleep well and if you believe

Only if you believe.

And only if in your family Love fills the hours you will be spending.

It could be the true Santa on the stair

Or it could be someone from an empty chair.

So will Santa come? He will. He will.

DECEMBER 24, 2021

An updated version of my Christmas Eve poem

December 24, 2021 64 Comments

64 Comments

Mary M.
December 24, 2021

Delightful, Sir John. Thank you. (What would T. S. Eliot have made of the last 21 months?)
May I post again this poem by John Meade Falkner?

Christmas Day. The Family Sitting.

In the days of Caesar Augustus
There went forth this decree:
Si quis rectus et justus
Liveth in Galilee,
Let him go up to Jerusalem
And pay his scot to me.

There are passed one after the other
Christmases fifty-three,
Since I sat here with my mother
And heard the great decree:
How they went up to Jerusalem
Out of Galilee.

They have passed one after the other;
Father and mother died,
Brother and sister and brother
Taken and sanctified.
I am left alone in the sitting,
With none to sit beside.

On the fly-leaves of these old prayer-books
The childish writings fade,
Which show that once they were their books
In the days when prayer was made
For other kings and princesses,
William and Adelaide.

The pillars are twisted with holly,
And the font is wreathed with yew,
Christ forgive me for folly,
Youth’s lapses — not a few,
For the hardness of my middle life,
For age’s fretful view.

Cotton-wool letters on scarlet,
All the ancient lore,
Tell how the chieftains starlit
To Bethlehem came to adore;
To hail Him King in the manger,
Wonderful, Counsellor.

The bells ring out in the steeple
The gladness of erstwhile,
And the children of other people
Are walking up the aisle;
They brush my elbow in passing,
Some turn to give me a smile.

Is the almond-blossom bitter?
Is the grasshopper heavy to bear?
Christ make me happier, fitter
To go to my own over there:
Jerusalem the Golden,
What bliss beyond compare!

My Lord, where I have offended
Do Thou forgive it me.
That so when, all being ended,
I hear Thy last decree,
I may go up to Jerusalem
Out of Galilee.
1. Nottingham Lad Himself
  December 24, 2021
  
  Thank you for the repost.
  
  Now, for all of our young keen to own their own homes and hoping for a nice Christmas present of a fall in, or at least a stabilisation of prices, here’s a thing.
  
  In 2020 alone, according to the Economics Statistics Centre of Excellence, the number of UK residents may have dropped by “more than 1.3 million” – the largest fall since the second world war, and representative of the general trend since brexit.
  
  So what are we to make of the claim that it is the rise in population caused by immigration which is making property unaffordable for so many now?
  
  It is something else, isn’t it?
  1. No Longer Anonymous
    December 24, 2021
    
    Happy Christmas, NLH .
    
    I can answer that question.
    
    I’ve had the latest of umpteen leaflets through my door from estate agents asking if I want to sell my house.
    
    “There is a shortage of houses for sale in your area !”
    
    People have realised that money is worthless and that assets are everything and are sitting tight in their properties and/or renting them out. QE and rampant inflation.
    
    As with you I am bemused at the UK property bubble. The country is valued on the projection of a market valued on the few houses for sale across the whole stock. Were it all to become available for purchase at the same time prices would fall like a stone.
    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      December 26, 2021
      
      Yes, and there’s the vast amount of dodgy money pouring into this world-famous safe haven for it too.
      
      Did you catch the items about NatWest and HSBC reportedly accepting vanloads of black bin liners filled with notes, incidentally?
      
      They rightly attracted some significant fines for failing laundering regs.
  2. Peter2
    December 24, 2021
    
    Sounds very odd.
    Who are these people you speak of….the Economic Statistic Centre of Excellence.
  3. matthu
    December 25, 2021
    
    Are you suggesting that supply of housing now exceeds demand? If not, there would be no reason for housing to become more affordable.
    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      December 26, 2021
      
      Supply never exceeds demand for housing, because most people would live on a landed estate if only they could.
Everhopeful
December 24, 2021

Is Christmas Day still Christmas, behind a prison wall?
Are masks a celebration when neighbours come to call?
Did plastic tests hang from the star above the manger stall?
No! No! Not at all!!
We will throw off our shackles. We will be free again.
This Evil will be overthrown and Good once more will reign.

Optimistically.
Happy Christmas 🎄🎄
1. Iago
  December 24, 2021
  
  Or behind an abandoned border?
  1. Everhopeful
    December 24, 2021
    
    +1
    Absolutely!
2. Les
  December 24, 2021
  
  Quartus Law 2020:
  As soon as SAGE predicts worsening / the gov. imposes new restriction – the data becomes public that there is no basis for it.
  …
  How many proofs do I need before this becomes Lex Quartorum … Lego Quarti .. Boris Legorum?
javelin
December 24, 2021

My 23 year old daughter moved back in 6 months ago so my moral dilemma is not whether to eat mince pies but whether to buy them.
1. Everhopeful
  December 24, 2021
  
  +1
  And Sherry?
Andy
December 24, 2021

Alas. Bad news.

Santa comes from Lapland in Finland.

As an unskilled deliveryman from the EU he doesn’t qualify for entry to the U.K. under Priti Patel’s draconian immigration rules.

Instead he’s being sent to a detention camp on Ascension Island.

Ho, ho, ho, on no.

Reply You can’t even think of something nice to say for Christmas.
1. Peter
  December 24, 2021
  
  ‘Reply You can’t even think of something nice to say for Christmas.’
  
  As it is the festive season, maybe he has a sideline as the pantomime villain?
  1. Micky Taking
    December 24, 2021
    
    Are clowns featured in pantomime?
2. rose
  December 24, 2021
  
  I expect he registered for permanent residence in advance and will now have dual nationality.
  1. Lynn
    December 24, 2021
    
    I know he has a place near Reading – we went to help out as some elves apparently were ‘pinged’ and out of action.
    
    Beautiful poem Sir John. Thank you for all the lines you have held this year on our behalf – those of us who can only stand and wait.
    
    Thank you for explaining how our democracy works, we must hang onto it and our Glorious constitution, and rectify those things which have gone wrong.
    
    Merry Christmas from Rodney and me.
3. Glenn Vaughan
  December 24, 2021
  
  A characteristically toxic, adolescent message from the individual named “Andy”. UGH!
Andy
December 24, 2021

Merry Christmas to you all!

It’s that time of year when we get to celebrate good will to all men (and women and transgender folk) – by celebrating the birth of a persecuted refugee from the Middle East.

It’s what Christmas is all about.
1. formula57
  December 24, 2021
  
  @ Andy – and a Merry Christmas to you in return. I continue to marvel at how you, despite being a top rate taxpayer with your own businesses and supporting a Tesla and French villa etc., so authentically echo the views of some incel type sitting in his trackies posting from his Mum’s spare room futilely but constantly exercising his ego.
  
  As for the refugee from the Middle East, recall He was persecuted by an Evil Empire, the successor of which carries on the same work even today.
  1. Glenn Vaughan
    December 24, 2021
    
    You are spot on with your conclusion to your first paragraph “formula57”. The daily messages come straight from Fantasy Island: “The plane! The plane!”
  2. Fedupsoutherner
    December 24, 2021
    
    Great post Formula57
  3. SM
    December 24, 2021
    
    +10
  4. lifelogic
    December 24, 2021
    
    If by top rate tax he means 40% (& not the 45% one) the threshold is now very low and not increasing (thanks to tax to death Sunak) just £50,250. About 2/3rd of what my thee children cost at their colleges in fees and living costs. On top of the 40% you have about another 24% in NI emp. and employer!
2. No Longer Anonymous
  December 24, 2021
  
  Andy.
  
  Never mind Christmas.
  
  What’s Covid about ?
  
  Remain voting London. That’s what it’s about. It’s the epicentre of the UK Omicron outbreak with an infection rate 3x the rest of the UK.
  
  It is also the un-vaxxed capital of the UK. Like the denizens of Westminster they think they are better than everyone else.
  1. Nottingham Lad Himself
    December 26, 2021
    
    Well, it’s a young city – not with lots of ant-vaxxers – but with plenty of can’t-be-bothered-to-vaxxers.
3. Alan jutson
  December 25, 2021
  
  Not true Andy he was last seen sitting on the Lions Sleigh in Woodley Precinct together with his helpful supporters
Kenneth
December 24, 2021

Happy Christmas to John and everyone reading!!
DOM
December 24, 2021

Just seen Starmer’s and Johnson’s Xmas message. These two jokers run our nation. We have reached a point in our country’s development that people like this can claim power and exercise it according to an ideology that is capable of great harm

Look at the actions of Drakeford and that person in Scotland. Fining employers should their employees come into work to do a day’s work. These people are dominating our very existence

These dreadful people are deliberately trying to hurt us, divide us, demonise us and undermine us to assert control

WHEN WILL DECENT TORY MPS CONDEMN THIS VILENESS?
1. Lifelogic
  December 24, 2021
  
  Let us hope the vaccine passport laws and other oppressive laws can be repealed before even more state oppression is enacted through it.
  
  Still at least lefty dope John Snow of Kentish Town has finally retired. Which dire lefty dope will replace him I wonder.
  
  STARMER “one less at the Christmas dining table” has less taken over now?
  BORIS “we know the vaccine and booster protects others”. Do we and to what degree if it does? We do know it does more net harm than good in children and the young.
2. Fedupsoutherner
  December 24, 2021
  
  Drakeford is letting people go to the pub but not into their office. What a numpty. Richard Littlejohn is at his best today in the Daily Mail. Dare I say he is even funnier than Andy. Lovely poem John and hope you really enjoy your Christmas along with everyone on this site.
  1. lifelogic
    December 24, 2021
    
    Boris for all his recent socialist/net zero lunacy is miles better than Drakeford or Sturgeon.
    1. Fedupsoutherner
      December 24, 2021
      
      L/L it pains me to say you are correct.
3. rose
  December 24, 2021
  
  The PM is supposed to have said devolution is a disaster. And so it is. So Michael Gove wants more of it!
MickN
December 24, 2021

Sir John,
May I wish you and your family and all contributors here
a Happy and Peaceful Christmas.
graham1946
December 24, 2021

Happy Christmas, Sir John. Thanks for all you do for us. This site is much valued and it is obviously a lot of work. Rest awhile now and with best wishes for the New Year.
1. Lifelogic
  December 24, 2021
  
  +1
2. Fedupsoutherner
  December 24, 2021
  
  +1
rose
December 24, 2021

To Dear Sir John, to wish you a very happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year. Thank you for all you do, both here and elsewhere. You are a beacon of light and reason.
Billy Elliot
December 24, 2021

Merry Christmas Sir and thank you for having this superior blog.
peter
December 24, 2021

Merry Christmas to Sir John and all contributors.
Also belated thanks to the person who recommended the climate book by Jeremy Nieboer – a revealing read.
Iago
December 24, 2021

In the recent vote about the introduction of vaccine passports, did you abstain or vote against?

Reply Voted against
1. Lynn
  December 24, 2021
  
  Thank you, that was not properly recorded.
Newmania
December 24, 2021

Nice Xmas present for me , just tested positive , so has my wife. Good thing is , that every festive event we were going to attend was already cancelled . Result ( so to speak ).
I daresay that like a lot of people our Christmas treats will be deferred to January so I wouldn’t panic about a dip in spending just now
1. Bill B.
  December 24, 2021
  
  You tested positive, Newmania? What on earth did you go and do that for, at this time of year?
  
  Still, enjoy the festive season as much as you can, and best wishes for 2022 and your postponed jollies.
2. Narrow Shoulders
  December 24, 2021
  
  @New – I hope you both have the mild version that is going around and get well soon.
  
  Any idea where you caught it? Do you have kids?
3. No Longer Anonymous
  December 24, 2021
  
  I know lots of people who test positive. Never once does anyone say “OMG ! He’s got the Covid. He’s gonna DIE !”
  
  The chance of someone taking a bad turn with it is so infinitesimally small that there is never any concern for the person tested positive – maybe a “Lucky bastard has got time off with pay” if he’s a state employee.
  
  Readers, please note Newmania’s seeming lack of concern for either his own or his wife’s health and his pithy optimism about spending money in the New Year; this is – now he’s actually got Covid – in stark contrast to his shrieking hysteria about being forced back to work in a dangerous environment and his refusal to commute.
  
  I sincerely hope that his wife and he have the typically harmless version of Covid and that they are able to come away from the experience with a better perspective on the disease… rather like those in Government who knew they could breach lockdown rules perfectly safely.
  1. No Longer Anonymous
    December 24, 2021
    
    PS
    
    It’s based upon the theatrics and the hyperbole of the Newmanias that we have the restrictions and endless jabs that we have.
XY
December 24, 2021

Santa… Santa… oh, you mean Sunak?

No, sadly he didn’t – he refused furlough funding for my company because we filed our accounts 4 days after the arbitrary deadline.

We had until 5th April to send in the RTI, same as every other year, but in 2020 Sunak decided on 20th March that only those who had filed by the previous day, 19th March, would be eligible for furlough.

Quite bizarre. So no, Santa seems to be an unfulfilled dream for me and mine. We also dreamed of a conservative government for many years. We made a Christmas card with that theme and clicked to send it to our printer. Sadly it didn’t print, but I still live in hope: one day my prints will come.
Diane
December 24, 2021

Dear Sir John, wishing you and your family a Happy Christmas and to give thanks to you for this ever mighty blog & your expertise and good sense, and for the insight, opinion, humour and much else from all contributors. Best wishes to one & all.
Fedupsoutherner
December 24, 2021

So Ian Duncan Smith blames Putin for our energy crisis and high prices for gas. What a joke. How about blaming his and previous governments for their naivety and not realising that someone like Putin was always going to be a risk when it came to supplies? They have backed themselves into a hole. We sre too reliant on France too and maybe this is why Boris capitulate so easily to the French. What a load of dimwits. It is our political numpties that have created this problem and Johnson doesn’t give a stuff. There are things they could do but they do zilch. Evil.
1. No Longer Anonymous
  December 24, 2021
  
  +1
  
  I don’t blame Putin for holding us to ransom over gas and ICE cars. I blame Johnson for doing so and doing so unilaterally.
  
  No-one is irreplaceable.
  
  Johnson’s only benefit is that he used to reach the the parts that other peers couldn’t reach.
  
  Speaking to all parts of the country at once.
  
  Well. You can fool some of the people some of the time…
  
  Fourth jab, anyone ? Fifth ???
mancunius
December 24, 2021

Sir John, let me wish you a very Happy Christmas and New Year.
Dunedin
December 24, 2021

Seasonal cheer from north of the border…
Our dear leader, Miss Sturgeon, advises that windows should be kept open for festive gatherings – max 3 households.

A noisy, blustery northeast wind is currently blowing with similar expected tomorrow – maximum temperature forecast for tomorrow is 5C which will feel like 0C according to Met office.

To add to all this, my energy supplier has just sent a nauseatingly cheerful email telling me how much they love this time of year. No doubt they will love January even more when we have to pay for all the extra gas used due to the windows being open. I haven’t heard the Green MSPs (who keep Miss Sturgeon’s minority in power) objecting to increased CO2 due to the open window advice.

Despite feeling a bit bah humbug, I would like to wish a very merry Christmas to you and all your bloggers.
1. Fedupsoutherner
  December 24, 2021
  
  Dundon. Having been a resident of Scotland for 15 years my thoughts are with you. Happy Christmas.
No Longer Anonymous
December 24, 2021

Once again, Happy Christmas, Sir John .

You help to keep me sane (or not, as the case may be !) This outlet spares me from boring or falling out with people in real life.

I genuinely like the views on this site as they’re well constructed and I’d even like many of Andy’s if he’d just rein it in a bit on the old bashing.

Had I known the strength of the internal resistance to Brexit I’d never have voted for it. I’m sure I’d have been in a state of equanimity by now as I was fully prepared to accept a Remain outcome without question, Farage would have lost all support if he’d tried to overturn it.
1. Peter
  December 24, 2021
  
  NLA,
  
  I do miss the better-reasoned alternative views that used to appear here, even if I disagreed with the line of argument. Trolls and the same old, same old don’t appeal.
  
  As for Brexit, I would still vote for it. You have stick up for principles even if you believe they will be resisted and undermined.
  1. No Longer Anonymous
    December 24, 2021
    
    NLH is pretty good. Newmania makes me laugh and Andy could be REALLY good… if he weren’t the equivalent of what he claims to be against. There are others too. I don’t visit echo chambers and I like the fact that this site is moderated and allows a civilised discourse.
    
    Peter van Leewen made an appearance a few days ago too !!!
Peter2
December 24, 2021

Sir John.
Thank you so much for your daily articles.
I learn a great deal from your posts.

I have a very good local MP but I still wish you were my MP.

Please have a great Christmas and a happy new year.

May God bless you and your family.
Juno
December 24, 2021

My dream for Christmas is a Tory Government with an 80 seat majority. Just imagine what could be done with that !

It would see off all the green communists hell bent on seeing off the capitalist UK.

Oh well. It might happen one Christmas.

Alas we may as well have PM Greta. Or PM Whitty. Or PM Sturgeon. Or ALL of them.

Shocking.

Bloody shocking.
Juno
December 24, 2021

Yet more laws to criminalise drivers. A left hand turn into a minor road must stop for a pedestrian standing on a kerb (not yet on the road.)

So.

Cash for crash

Loads of rear end shunts into cars (including Teslas) turning major into minor roads.

On top of all the other shit.

PS. It’s not Putin who’s a threat to our heating, it’s Boris.

Happy effing Christmas.
Julian
December 25, 2021

Very Good! Merry Christmas
Bill brown
December 25, 2021

Sir JR

I never seem to receive a reply to why you voted for the annulment of Owen Paterson suspension from Parliament?

Reply I voted for no such thing. Do try and keep up and read the blog at the time if you are still fishing for something to dislike. Or better still go to a site you do like.

Comments are closed.