The Saturday Evening Post » Santa

Cartoons: Have a Merrier Christmas

Diana Denny — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 15:00:00 +0000

We wish you a Merr(ier) Christmas!

"Whoa!"

December 1988

"Wait till the last minute, he says; they've got millions of trees left then and you'll get one for practically nothing."

December 1946

"—And then Santa comes into the room. He always smells of moth balls."

December 1943

December 1978

"Is she for me, mommy, or am I for her?"

December 1951

"Well, what have we here—‘To Elmer from Elmer.’"

December 1978

"She found the Santa Claus suit in my closet. Now she thinks we’re having an affair."

December 1975

Cartoons: Have a Merrier Christmas The Saturday Evening Post

Christmas Craft Idea: Santa Ornaments

Jacki Hill — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 21:40:04 +0000

Bring a holly-jolly personal touch to your Christmas tree and holiday gift bags with these adorable Santa ornaments.

How to Make the Santa Ornament

Materials

Wooden clothespins (sold in craft stores)
Shoebox
Fine grain sandpaper
Acrylic paint: black, white, red, and flesh tone
Glistening Snow-Tex Glitter Snow (if desired, sold in craft stores near the paints)
Clear gloss varnish (sealer)
18 or 20 gauge sterling silver wire
Jingle bells
Silver star wire garland

Tools

Paintbrush(es)
Toothpicks
Cotton swabs

Directions

Use fine-grain sandpaper to smooth rough edges on clothespins. Paint ball and one side of clothespin white, as shown below. Depending on the type of paint, you may need two coats. Set clothespins on shoebox to dry. Paint remainder of clothespin red. Let dry. Paint a small flesh-toned oval over the white section, as shown below. This will be Santa’s face. Let dry.

Tip: Practice first on a piece of paper, or use a pencil to draw the features on the clothespins before painting the face.

For eyes: Dip toothpick tip into black paint, and place two small dots for Santa’s eyes. Let dry. Dip reverse side of toothpick in white paint, and add smaller white dots in the center of each black dot, then add two vertical lines above the eyes for eyebrows. For mouth: Mix a dab of red paint with a smaller dab of white paint for a dark pink. With a small paintbrush or cotton swab, add a small oval under Santa’s eyes. For cheeks: Add another dab of white paint to lighten pink mixture used for Santa’s mouth. Using small paintbrush or cotton swab, add small circles under Santa’s eyes and above the mouth (it’s OK if they touch in the center).

With cotton swab or small brush add dabs of white paint around top of face (this will be the fur brim for Santa’s hat). Then paint a mustache over the top of Santa’s mouth. Let dry. Cover entire clothespin with gloss varnish to seal. Let dry.

For Santa’s beard: There are many options to create a white-as-snow beard for Santa. You can leave the beard as is, add thick dabs of white paint, or even glue cotton to the clothespin. I like using Glistening Snow-Tex Glitter Snow. Just apply “snow” to bottom of clothespin under mouth.

Cut about 12″ of 18 or 20 gauge sterling silver wire. String one jingle bell onto wire and twist wire to hold bell in place. Curl wire around paintbrush or pencil to create spiral design. Wrap both ends of wire around base of clothespin ball. (Don’t worry if it looks sloppy; we are going to cover it!) Cut 12″ to 18″ of star garland, wrap around paintbrush or pencil. Wrap star garland around base of clothespin ball to cover the sterling silver wire.

Santa is ready to decorate the tree or dress up a festive gift bag. Ho ho ho!

Christmas Craft Idea: Santa Ornaments The Saturday Evening Post

How Norman Rockwell Escaped His Celebrity

Robert Berridge — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:10:29 +0000

To us mere mortals, the idea of fame is exhilarating. The life of a celebrity, we imagine, is a world where everyone knows you, worships you, and hangs on your every word. It’s easy to forget that fame can also be a burden. Strangers come up to you while you’re dining in a restaurant and speak to you as if they know you. Most celebrities ultimately wish they could just be regular folks again.

By the 1920s, Norman Rockwell was a major star. And, like many other public figures before and since, he relished nothing more than the opportunity to get away from it all. He needed to escape the shackles of celebrity to stimulate his creative juices.

He found that freedom at Gibson’s Point at Louisville Landing—a town in upstate New York along the St. Lawrence River. It was a sleepy town with not much going for it aside from a small dance hall and the ferry dock where passengers boarded for the short voyage across the border to Canada.

Summering at Gibson’s Point, Rockwell shed his big-city background and fame. He retrieved drinking water from stone wells, carried firewood, and swam and fished in the river. It made him feel like a character in one of his illustrations. “This place is like a series of living Post covers—and I’m in it,” he told a young man who also visited there.

More than anything else, he enjoyed being treated like one of the local boys who sat on the porch of the general store in the evenings, listening to their elders expound on the comings and goings of the ferry. The stories told by these hard-working, honest men ignited ideas that later blossomed into Post covers. One of the themes that emerged was a return to innocence, as if the very process of quietly observing the elders of the town transported Rockwell back to his youth. It was while sitting on that porch that Rockwell was inspired to create the December 3, 1927, Post cover (pictured) celebrating the kid in all of us. The benevolent Santa is modeled on John Malone, a father figure to Rockwell and his host at Gibson’s Point.

How Norman Rockwell Escaped His Celebrity The Saturday Evening Post