Susan notes: thanks to the Christmas Traditions website, from which I have borrowed this piece on Mrs. Claus (wife of Santa Claus who rides around the world each year on December 24 in his sleigh drawn by reindeer to distribute gifts and goodies to well-behaved girls and boys).

First introduced to the world in the poem Goody Santa Claus On A Sleigh Ride by poet Katherine Lee Bates (1859-1929), Mrs. Claus has moved out of the kitchen and into the workshop over the past century.

In Bates’ 1889 poem, Mrs. Claus begs to be taken along in the annual Christmas Eve toy delivery sleigh ride with Santa. She has raised perfect candy trees all year long and feels deserving of a chance to participate in the fun.

As they make their deliveries, Santa pops up and down chimneys, and Mrs. Claus stays on the roof and holds the reindeer...

T'was the night before Christmas,
He lived all alone,
in a one bedroom house,
made of plaster and stone.
 
I had come down the chimney,
with presents to give,
and to see just who,
in this home, did live.

I looked all about,
a strange sight I did see,
no tinsel, no presents,
not even a tree.
 
No stocking by mantle,
just boots filled with sand,
on the wall hung pictures
of far distant lands...