Christmas cheer: Trump tells boy that believing in Santa at seven is ‘marginal’

Donald and Melania Trump participate in Santa Tracker phone calls in the East Room of the White House. Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump on Christmas Eve took calls from children anxious to find out where Santa was on his gift-giving journey.

In one conversation, Trump asked a 7-year-old named Coleman: “Are you still a believer in Santa?” He listened for a moment before adding: “Because at 7, it’s marginal, right?”

Trump listened again and chuckled before saying: “Well, you just enjoy yourself.”

Mrs Trump told a caller that Santa was in the Sahara. Several minutes later, she reported that Santa was far away in Morocco but would be at the caller’s home on Christmas morning.

Mrs Trump later tweeted that helping children track Santa “is becoming one of my favorite traditions!”

The NORAD Tracks Santa program became a Christmas Eve tradition after a child mistakenly called the forerunner to the North American Aerospace Defense Command in 1955 and asked to speak to Santa.

The program wasn’t affected by the government shutdown. It’s run by volunteers at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado using pre-approved funding.

The Trumps later travelled to Washington National Cathedral to attend the Solemn Holy Eucharist of Christmas Eve. The cathedral’s website said the program included readings from Holy Scripture, favorite congregational hymns and seasonal choral and instrumental music as well as Holy Communion. Passes were required.

Trump most likely would have been attending Christmas services at a church near his estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

But he scrapped plans to head to Florida for the holidays after parts of the government were forced to shut down indefinitely in a budget stalemate with Congress.

Source: The Guardian newspaper article here.

Christmas with the family

Merry Christmas everyone and happy holidays. May the best things which happened to you this year be the worst things to happen to you next year and always.

PDF’s of puzzles, picture ebooks for children, etc.

I’ve finally published all my puzzle ebooks, picture ebooks for children, fiction and nonfiction ebooks in PDF. Brother, did that take a while. Sheesh!

• All my picture ebooks for children have an Appendix with large black and white graphics of characters in each story so you can print them out for coloring by your child or yourself.
• All puzzle PDF’s have solutions in the back to save you paper so you only have to print out the puzzle or puzzles you want and check your solution with mine.
• Both my cookbooks contain a large amount of information on herbs and spices.

Here is just a very small selection of the almost 40 PDF’s now available:

   

   

   

 

What the heck is Gumroad? Gumroad is located in California and is an ecommerce replacement for PayPal.

I chose Gumroad rather than PayPal for my PDF’s because I saw a number of famous artists and non-profits using Gumroad. While nowhere near as famous as any of them I could still use the same ecommerce system and bypass PayPal.

Why buy direct through Gumroad? Your ebook is personalized with your name, contains no DRM, uses HTTPS like your bank or credit union for safe and secure transactions, they don’t store your credit card information and so your privacy is protected, and besides that each sale earns me a couple of extra pennies because Gumroad fees are lower than PayPal and Smashwords.

It takes a few seconds to load the Gumroad site as there is close to 40 covers to render. I’ve found scrolling down to bottom of page a couple of times seems to help speed up the process.

All 40 or so PDF’s are available at my famous low prices at Gumroad here. Take a peek. It only takes a second or two.

A Christmas Tree For Santa gets updated

I’ve updated my picture ebook for children titled “A ChristmasTree For Santa” with a new cover, a few changes in story, and changes in pictures.

Forest Ranger ‘Ranger Rick’ decides to take a Christmas tree to Santa because there are no trees at the North Pole.

On the way, Ranger Rick runs into a thieving moose, a friendly polar bear, a vacationing penguin, Santa’s helpers, and Santa.

This colorful 51-page printable picture book for children 2-7 also has 19 large, black and white pictures in the Appendix for printing & coloring. Adapted from a script I wrote for a puppet show.

The ebook is available at most online retailers for the same low price of 99 cents.

Dog killer instructing BC lower mainland children.

Is your child being taught by a dog killer?

Parents living in the lower mainland of BC warned of dog killer teaching children.

Parents living in the Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Anmore, Belcarra, Port Moody, Maple Ridge, Burnaby, New Westminster, Vancouver, North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Surrey, and other lower mainland areas should search the Internet for information on anyone teaching or coming into contact with their child or children.

Has your child attended a class at Place des Arts, Place Maillardville, ArtsConnect, Port Moody Station Museum, Fair in the Square, or an event put on by the New Westminster Arts Council or your local school involving any of the following activities?

Children attending a lantern-making workshops or classes involving Easter or Christmas arts or crafts, heritage hats, masks or other arts/crafts may have been instructed by a known killer of a dog, a woman who lied to a vet in order to have a dog killed, and a woman who refused to comply with multiple court orders.

Read this list of posts on this dog killer.

Christmas Tree for Santa & Icky Foods; 2 new ebooks for children.

I’ve published two new ebooks for children. Both contain color pictures as well as large black and white pictures, which can be printed out for children to color, at the end of the ebook.

You may view a free sample of any of my ebooks by visiting Smashwords. (Link opens in new window)

A Christmas Tree For Santa is another of my color picture ebooks for children. This story is about Forest Ranger ‘Ranger Rick’, who decides to take a Christmas tree to Santa because there are no trees at the North Pole. On the way, Ranger Rick runs into a thieving moose, a friendly polar bear, a vacationing penguin, Santa’s helpers, and Santa. This colorful picture book for children 2-7 also has large, black and white pictures in the Appendix for printing & coloring. This story is an adaptation of a puppet show I wrote many years ago.

You may download a free sample of “A Christmas Tree For Santa”, or purchase it for $0.99, from Smashwords here.

“Icky Foods Make Me Sick”is a colorful, picture coloring book is about a very young girl named Susie Snorz, who is very fussy about what she eats. Susie, who can’t stand to see her baby brother enjoy anything, gets really mad one day because her baby brother is enjoying something she thought would be icky. She learns new things can be good. Appendix contains large black and white pictures for coloring. Suits 2-5 year old.

You may download a free sample of “Icky Foods Make Me Sick”, or purchase it for $0.99, from Smashwords here.

Thanks everyone, and happy holidays!

Thanks everybody. Happy holidays

Thanks to the thousands of people who downloaded or purchased my puzzles and ebooks this year. Your enthusiastic support is truly appreciated.

I’m going to take a brief break from the Internet.

Sharing holidays with friends

See you next year!

To everyone, may the best things that happened to you this year be the worst things that happen to you next year. Ted.