Featuring information on the World's First Lottery.
To all North Pole City Elves, those in Santa’s Village, in the Lower 48 and all around the world, this is your weekly update for the week of January 10, 2022. I'm your host Walter “Mistletoe†Livingstone. Let's go to press.
| For the week of January 10, 2022, your sponsor will be The Peppermint Shack. Located at 397 Snowball Run Road The Peppermint Shack offers the best smooth peppermint cocoa and pub games in North Pole City. Make sure to stop by the Peppermint Shack today. |
| Update from Santa’s Village, work has resumed at the workshops and all auxiliary factories.  Gift wrapping and the Syrup factory are on their full schedule and the main craftsman workshop is currently working on stocking up on miscellaneous parts. The main production of toys will begin once Santa and Mrs. Claus return to the North Pole this week. |
| From the Department of Elfland Security, Edward Hinklemyer reports that the Clause' will be returning this week to North pole City and Santa’s village. They have decided to cut their vacation a week short and both are ready to get back to work.  Flight command has filed the flight plan and Santa and Mrs. Claus should be touching down sometime after lunch on Wednesday. |
| The WWW/PR division are a bit ahead on updates for the website. They plan on taking a few days off as posts for Father Time and Frosty are already done and scheduled to be posted. Someone will be in the office each day to keep up with other posts to the website. |
| An update for North Pole City Weather, batten down the hatches again as another snow storm is expected to hit us Thursday morning.  Winds are expected to be extremely high and snow fall again will be measured in feet. This has been one of the determining factors for the Claus' return this week. |
| This Week in Elf History, on January 11, 1569 The world’s first state lottery took place. There had been lotteries for centuries but this was the first truly national event. It was instigated by Queen Elizabeth I who wanted cash to repair and refurbish England’s ships, ports and harbours, boosting trade and at the same time making the country better fit for war.The Queen’s advisers had told her that the option of a rise in general taxation would be deeply unpopular.This, however, was not to be a lottery for every Tom, Dick or Harry: the cost of a ticket was a hefty ten shillings. That was only half of one pound sterling, but it was a sum beyond the means of most working folk.The first prize was £5,000 – equivalent to many millions today. The value of the prizes then decreased so that the tenth prize, for example, brought the winner £200. The prizes were to be paid partly in “ready money†and partly in plate, tapestries and “good linen clothâ€.There would be 400,000 tickets sold.One of the great attractions of the lottery was the equivalent of a “get out of jail free†card. For a week, everybody who bought a ticket was immune from arrest for any committed crimes other than piracy, murder or treason.Syndicates were formed so that poorer people could share in the fun. The tickets were all sold and on January 11, 1569 the lottery was drawn by the Queen herself on the steps of St.Paul’s Cathedral in London before an enormous excited crowd. There is no surviving record naming the lucky winner. |
| The North Pole City Commerce association will be posting some images that were submitted for this year’s calendar on their website. If you remember, this year’s theme is the Tiger and they asked that any elf wishing to contribute to take an elfie with a tiger and submit it for approval to the council.  These will be posted on their web page on TAOLF.com. |
| Edward Hinklemyer held an informal luncheon this week with the North Pole City Council to discuss plans on securing the roads between Santa’s village workshops and the warehouses on the outskirts of town from wildlife wandering onto the streets and blocking the flow of deliveries.  It has been agreed by council that this has always been an issue; however, they do not want to block any type of migration paths for the animals. The solution is to build a new tunnel for the delivery trucks that will lead from the warehouse and come out right next to the workshop.  Construction will begin on this new tunnel this week and should be finished in a few days. |
| The 2022 Snowball Games have begun and the first week turned out to be a close one. All teams finished up the first three events; Snow Shoveling Race, Snowball Toss, and Snowball BounceThis week’s standings has Love at First Snowflake in the lead with 35 points, followed by Hinklemyer Cocoa Pub with 34 points, and The Jolly Elf in 3rd place with 33 points. Good luck to all teams and contestants. |
| This past week saw an impromptu parade throughout North Pole City lead by no other than Frosty the Snowman to usher in the start of the Snowball games, this was not a scheduled event but everyone had fun coming up to cheer on the teams.Also while the Snowball Games are taking place throughout North Pole City, all of the pubs and taverns have agreed to offer happy hour the first two hours of the games begin. These discounts are offered to everyone and just not those participating in the games. |
| WELF-NPC would like to wish a very happy 450 birthday to Jennifer “Gumdrop†Yeardly.  Gumdrop has been a seamstress with Santa’s Village for almost 250 years now and she is working on being trained to move over to the Naughty and Nice list office. We wish you many more happy years. |
This is Walter “Mistletoe†Livingstone with the reminder: Placing a handful of gumdrops in your pocket will keep them warm and soft throughout the day.
Have a good evening, and be sure to tune in next week for another WELF-NPC North Pole Radio News Update.
