A Special Visit from Hugo Kringle at Lincoln Public Library

 

[December 15, 2023] 

Lincoln received a notable visitor on Wednesday evening. Santa’s little brother, Hugo, brought songs and stories to children of all ages at Lincoln Public Library. Hugo Kringle, who goes by the name Mike Anderson when he is not working for his brother during Christmas time, performed Christmas favorites on a variety of instruments and told stories about growing up as Kris Kringle’s little brother.

He began by showing off the only birthday present he received as a child, a mouth harp, and told the story of how he learned to play it. Then the audience clapped along and joined him in singing a rendition of “Jingle Bells” accompanied by mouth harp.

Hugo then told the story of his brother Kris’s only birthday present growing up– two white rabbits named Snow and Flake. It was by playing with Snow and Flake as a 10-year-old that Kris Kringle discovered his ability to make animals fly, which turned out to be a valuable skill for his future career. Hugo confessed that, as a child, he begged and begged his brother to make him fly, too, until Kris relented and let Hugo fly around the room with Snow and Flake. Hugo also related the surprising information that Kris actually tried several different types of animals, such as cats and dogs, before settling on reindeer to pull his sleigh on Christmas Eve.

Hugo switched instruments to a special square guitar and led everyone in singing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” after which he cleared up a misconception. He explained that although some television shows would have us believe that Rudolph’s nose resembles a red light bulb, it is actually a regular nose that is just bright red and shiny.

Hugo and the audience then sang together “Up on the Housetop.” Hugo asked the audience what made the “Click, click, click!” sound of the song lyrics. The unanimous answer was the hooves of the reindeer. However, Hugo said that was incorrect and also rejected the follow-up guess of the reindeers’ antlers. Hugo explained that the hooves would make a “thud, thud, thud” sound, and that it is actually bones in the knees of the reindeer that create the “click, click, click” noise. [Lincoln Daily News was unable to independently verify this information.]

Hugo switched instruments once again to the banjo for a sing-along of “Frosty the Snowman.” Hugo met Burl Ives, who sings the most famous version of "Frosty,” and Mr. Ives told him that he had added a bit to the original song. Ives felt that the song lacked a part for children to sing along with, so even though the creators of the song were not fond of the idea, they let Ives add the lines, “Thumpity, thump, thump! Thumpity, thump, thump!” Hugo concurred that when children sing this song with him, this line is sung the most boisterously.

The next sing-along with the banjo was “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” which begins with the line “You better watch out. You better not cry. You better not pout, I’m telling you why.” Hugo was able to confirm that Santa Claus, indeed, does not like pouting.

The final songs of the evening were performed on the dulcimer. Hugo suggested that “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” was an overlooked Christmas song that could easily be about the Star of Bethlehem. Even the tiniest members of the audience were able to join in singing “Twinkle, Twinkle.” The last sing-along of the evening was “Jolly Old St. Nicholas.” Hugo offered no corrections or addendums to this song, leaving the audience to assume that his brother remains jolly to this day.

Refreshments of cookies and hot chocolate were provided by the library staff. Hugo let the children know that Santa’s favorite cookies are chocolate chip, but he also likes Snickerdoodles.

Children enjoyed getting photos with Hugo before he packed up his instruments to head out to his next Christmas season assignment from his big brother, Santa Claus.

[Stephanie Hall]