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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.
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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] |
