Inside: It’s the mother of all important Christmas compilations–Santa’s list. We take a closer look at the tradition.
Making a List . . . or Two or Three
The other day I was pushing my cart around in the grocery store, close to the checkout lane, when a man turned to me.
“Are you in line?” he asked.
“No,” I said, glancing down at the items scribbled on a scrap of paper. “I’m just looking over my list.”
“And checking it twice,” he quipped.
I heard a smile in his voice, even if I couldn’t see his face properly. “Right. Exactly,” I said, returning the smile and chuckling.
What’s the deal with Christmas and lists?
I admit to being a person who makes lists, even more so this time of the year. To-do lists, lists of food, gift lists. I blame it on Santa.
Oh, I’m not keeping track of anyone’s behavior, mind you, but I have this insatiable urge to take inventory. To keep on task, stay sane when December gets crazy.
Santa’s List
But what of Santa’s List? No one seems to know exactly when the idea of Santa’s list came into being. According to a legend most of us are familiar with, Santa Claus keeps a record of all children’s behavior in his “naughty list” and his “nice list.” As a child, those lists held lots of clout. Parents often reminded kids their bad behavior would promptly remove their names from the nice list and add them to the naughty one. Horror of horrors!
And how did I know this to be true? The song, of course! The 1934 Christmas song, “Santa Clause is Coming to Town.” In it, J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie penned these words:
“He’s making a list
And checking it twice;
Gonna find out Who’s naughty and nice
Santa Claus is coming to town
He sees you when you’re sleeping
He knows when you’re awake
He knows if you’ve been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake!”
By the way, after being performed on Eddie Cantor’s radio show in November of ’34, “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” became an overnight hit with more than 30,000 records sold and orders for 500,000 copies of sheet music within 24 hours.
Kids never had a chance!