And the I'm going to be. Welcome to this newscast. the podcast designed to help you fall asleep.

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This episode is brought to you by Red Velvet Trimmed with White Fur.

Tonight, for a monthly Snuscast Plus Deluxe Bonus episode, we'll read an original story about

a curious kitten named Baxter.

He accidentally falls whiskers over pause into Santa's sack during a midnight visit

and is soon whisked away to far-off lands to see new sites.

In the 1700s and 1800s, early depictions of Santa Claus as the gift-giver,

especially St. Nicholas, merged with the English character,

Father Christmas, then through a phonetic derivation of the Dutch Sinterclause, the English-speaking world came to refer to

Santa Claus as we know him today. Later in the United States, British and Dutch versions of the gift giver merged further.

For example, in Washington Irving's history of New York from 1809.

Santa was first pictured as a thick-bellied Dutch sailor

with a pipe in a green winter coat.

Irving's book was ultimately a parody of the Dutch culture of New York.

Let's get cozy.

Close your eyes.

Relax your body into the softness of your bed.

Now, take a few deep breaths. The Green family was asleep to begin with. Well, everyone except Baxter.

Baxter was a cat of about five or six years,

but he was so small and so cute

that everyone still referred to him as a kitten. He found himself nestled amidst the shadows of the living room. the The saucer-like eyes scanned the room, and his tiny heart beat under his fuzzy fur with excitement

...