{"id":4914,"date":"2013-12-11T14:30:08","date_gmt":"2013-12-11T19:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=4914"},"modified":"2014-01-01T15:08:41","modified_gmt":"2014-01-01T20:08:41","slug":"inside-aurora-the-christmas-mailbag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/inside-aurora-the-christmas-mailbag\/","title":{"rendered":"INSIDE AURORA: The Christmas Mailbag"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Scott Johnston<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018Twas two weeks till Christmas and each day without fail
\nAll the North Pole\u2019s residents went through that day\u2019s mail
\nBags of letters were lugged, in piles they were dropped
\nIt was their busiest time, the \u2018asks\u2019 never stopped.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve a bunch from Aurora\u201d, said elves in the crowd
\n\u201cLet\u2019s hear them,\u201d Santa nodded, \u201cjust read them aloud.
\nSo an elf grabbed one off the top of the pile
\nCleared his throat lightly and began with a smile.
\n\u201cThe Leisure Complex users feel they are pressed
\nThey\u2019ve combined all their wishes in one group request.
\nThe time for needed repairs has brought them some doubt
\nAll they want, Santa, this year\u2019s a place to work out.\u201d
\nThe next one he read clearly stood out from the rest
\n\u201cPlease rid me of ash borers, they\u2019re really a pest.\u201d
\nSanta felt for this writer, but what could he say
\nAlthough treeless up north they were eating his sleigh.
\n\u201cHere\u2019s a related plea from, the south end of town
\nTo replace out on Longthorpe, three trees just cut down.\u201d
\nWhere, with no forests up north, could Santa get trees?
\nPerhaps the Streetfest seedlings he got from Frank Klees.
\nFor the next Petch House request St. Nick had some fears
\n\u201cHasn\u2019t it been re-built yet? It seems it\u2019s been years.\u201d
\n\u201cYes, it has been saved from those who abused it
\nBut now it\u2019s done the Town needs someone to use it.\u201d
\n\u201cFor Jubilee Park they ask, will it have slides
\nSwings, soccer or gardens? They want you to decide.
\nHere\u2019s one for the Youth Centre, it sounds much the same
\nThey can\u2019t agree on a budget, or even the name.\u201d
\n\u201cThere\u2019s a group out near Bathurst,\u201d the next elf stated
\n\u201cWith a special request that\u2019s cell tower-related,\u201d
\nWith surprise Santa heard what the folks had to say
\n\u201cMost people ask I bring things, not take them away!\u201d
\nSaid an elf, \u201cThis next letter\u2019s a little bit odd
\nThis one wants the Liberal candidacy nod.\u201d
\n\u201cThat\u2019s a request,\u201d Santa said, \u201cthat must be denied.
\nFor democracy we\u2019ll let the Party decide.\u201d
\n\u201cHere\u2019re similar letters, a great big selection
\nPleading success in next year\u2019s Fall-time election.
\nAnd an odd local request, \u2018Santa, if you see fit
\nRe-merge our Fed\u2019ral riding that has been split\u2019.\u201d
\n\u201cThis penultimate letter for Santa this year
\nHas a message Aurorans want Council to hear;
\n\u2018Please cooperate, budget, and plan at your best
\nAnd try suing each other, a little bit less\u2019.\u201d
\nWhen the Aurora letters but one had been read
\nSanta sat back and sighed, and held his forehead
\n\u201cI remember Aurorans would give me a lift
\nWhen they used to ask for more sensible gifts.\u201d
\n\u201cNow the wish lists from this town each year I am sent
\nSeem to always contain a political bent.\u201d
\nThe elf said, \u201cperhaps, there\u2019s no need to get stressed
\nIf this last note from Town Hall\u2019s a better request.\u201d
\nSanta wanted this appeal, the elf would read out
\nTo be more reasonable, but harboured some doubt
\nWhen he heard their request he was let down anew
\n\u201cWe need more in Reserve Funds – ten million should do.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Feel free to e-mail Scott at: machellscorners@gmail.com<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Scott Johnston \u2018Twas two weeks till Christmas and each day without fail All the North Pole\u2019s residents went through that day\u2019s mail Bags of letters were lugged, in piles they were dropped It was their busiest time, the \u2018asks\u2019 never stopped. \u201cWe\u2019ve a bunch from Aurora\u201d, said elves in the crowd \u201cLet\u2019s hear them,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-1hg","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-14 12:51:06","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4914\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}