From “The Letters” in Silly Rhymes for Christmas Times: A Collection of Festive Poems by Nigel Smith:
10th December 1880:
Dear Santa, my name’s Vicky, and I’m only eight years old,
I’m sending you this note, because I’ve been as good as gold,
I’d really love a doll’s house, in my stocking Christmas day,
I hope your gnomes will make one, and you’ll bring it on your sleigh.
9th December 1881:
Dear Santa, this is Vicky, I’m the one who wrote last year,
I asked you for a doll’s house, which alas, did not appear,
I guess my note got lost, or failed to reach the gnomes on time,
I still would love a doll’s house, by the way, my age is nine.
14th December 1882:
Dear Santa Claus, it’s Vicky, it’s the third time that I’ve wrote,
I really can’t imagine why you didn’t get my note,
I’m ten, and getting anxious, for a doll’s house of my own,
please pass this letter quickly, to the doll’s house-making gnome….
From “The New Nutcracker Suite” by Ogden Nash in Poems of Christmas, edited by Myra Cohn Livingston:
A little girl marched around her Christmas tree,
And many a marvelous toy had she.
There were cornucopias of sugarplums,
And a mouse with a crown, that sucked its thumbs,
And a fascinating Russian folderol,
Which was a doll inside a doll inside a doll inside a doll,
And a posy as gay as the Christmas lights
And a picture book of the Arabian nights,
And a painted, silken Chinese fan —
But the one she loved was the nutcracker man.
She thought about him when she went to bed.
With his great long legs and his funny little head.
So she crept downstairs for a last good night,
And arrived in the middle of a furious fight.
The royal mouse that sucked its thumbs
Led an army of mice with swords and drums.
They were battling to seize the toys as slaves
To wait upon them in their secret caves.
The nutcracker man cracked many a crown,
But they overwhelmed him, they whelmed him down,
They were cramming him into a hole in the floor
When the little girl tiptoed to the door.
She had one talent which made her proud,
She could miaow like a cat, and now she miaowed.
A miaow so fierce, a miaow so feline,
That the mice fled home in squealing beeline.
The nutcracker man cracked a hickory nut
To see if his jaws would open and shut,
Then he cracked another and he didn’t wince,
And he turned like that! into a handsome prince,
And the toys came dancing from the Christmas tree
To celebrate the famous victory.
