Mrs. Claus


Mrs. Claus is the mythical wife of Santa Claus, the Christmas gift-bringer in Western Christmas tradition.
She is known for making cookies with the elves, caring for the reindeer, and preparing toys with her husband.

Origin

The wife of Santa Claus is first mentioned in the short story "A Christmas Legend", by James Rees, a Philadelphia-based Christian missionary. In the story, an old man and woman, both carrying a bundle on the back, are given shelter in a home on Christmas Eve as weary travelers. The next morning, the children of the house find an abundance of gifts for them, and the couple is revealed to be not "old Santa Claus and his wife", but the hosts' long-lost elder daughter and her husband in disguise.
Mrs. Santa Claus is mentioned by name in the pages of the Yale Literary Magazine in 1851, where the student author writes of the appearance of Santa Claus at a Christmas party:
An account of a Christmas musicale at the State Lunatic Asylum in Utica, New York in 1854 included an appearance by Mrs. Santa Claus, with baby in arms, who danced to a holiday song.
A passing references to Mrs. Santa Claus was made in an essay in Harper's Magazine in 1862; and in the comic novel The Metropolites by Robert St. Clar, she appears in a woman's dream, wearing "Hessian high boots, a dozen of short, red petticoats, an old, large, straw bonnet" and bringing the woman a wide selection of finery to wear.
A woman who may or may not be Mrs. Santa Claus appeared in the children's book Lill in Santa Claus Land and Other Stories by Ellis Towne, Sophie May and Ella Farman, published in Boston in 1878. In the story, little Lill describes her imaginary visit to Santa's office :
Later, Lill's sister Effie ponders the tale:
Much as in The Metropolites, Mrs. Santa Claus appears in a dream of the author E. C. Gardner in his article "A Hickory Back-Log" in Good Housekeeping magazine, with an even more detailed description of her dress:
Mrs. Claus proceeds to instruct the architect Gardner on the ideal modern kitchen, a plan of which he includes in the article.
Santa Claus' wife made her most active appearance yet by Katharine Lee Bates in her poem "Goody Santa Claus on a Sleigh Ride". "Goody" is short for "Goodwife", i.e., "Mrs."
In Bates' poem, Mrs. Claus wheedles a Christmas Eve sleigh-ride from a reluctant Santa in recompense for tending their toy and bonbon laden Christmas trees, their Thanksgiving turkeys, and their "rainbow chickens" that lay Easter eggs. Once away, Mrs. Claus steadies the reindeer while Santa goes about his work descending chimneys to deliver gifts. She begs Santa to permit her to descend a chimney. Santa grudingly grants her request and she descends a chimney to mend a poor child's tattered stocking and to fill it with gifts. Once the task is completed, the Clauses return to their Arctic home. At the end of the poem, Mrs. Claus remarks that she is the "gladdest of the glad" because she has had her "own sweet will".

In popular media

Since 1889, Mrs. Claus has been generally depicted in media as a fairly heavy-set, kindly, white-haired elderly female baking cookies somewhere in the background of the Santa Claus mythos. She sometimes assists in toy production, and oversees Santa's elves. It is worth noting that, when not portrayed as white-haired or elderly, she is often shown to have red hair. This could be because red hair is the color that most commonly fades to white with age. She is usually depicted wearing a fur dress of red or green.
Her reappearance in popular media in the 1960s began with the children's book How Mrs. Santa Claus Saved Christmas, by Phyllis McGinley. Today, Mrs. Claus is commonly seen in cartoons, on greeting cards, in knick-knacks such as Christmas tree ornaments, dolls, and salt and pepper shakers, in storybooks, in seasonal school plays and pageants, in parades, in department store "Santa Lands" as a character adjacent to the throned Santa Claus, in television programs, and live action and animated films that deal with Christmas and the world of Santa Claus. Her personality tends to be fairly consistent; she is usually seen as a calm, kind, and patient woman, often in contrast to Santa himself, who can be prone to acting too exuberant.

Literature

Mrs. Claus has appeared as a secondary character in children's books about Santa Claus and as the main character in titles about herself.
Mrs. Claus played a major role in several of Rankin/Bass' Christmas specials. In Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, she is seen as pestering her husband to eat, lest he become a “skinny Santa,” and in Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July, Santa calls her "Jessica" at one point.
In Santa Claus is Coming to Town, she is introduced as a teacher named Jessica, who first meets Santa Claus as a young man, when he's trying to illegally deliver toys to a town run by a despotic ruler. She assists him, and thus becomes a wanted fugitive herself with Kringle and his confederates. In light of this sacrifice, Jessica and Santa soon fall in love with each other, and marry in the nearby forest. In 1974's The Year Without a Santa Claus and the 2006 live action remake, Mrs. Claus played a large role, as she attempts to show Santa that there's still some Christmas spirit left in the world. Mrs. Claus also made appearances in several other Rankin/Bass specials.
The lady was also portrayed in a television musical, Mrs. Santa Claus, played by Angela Lansbury, with songs by Jerry Herman. Neglected by her husband, she goes to New York in 1910, and gets involved in agitating for women's rights and against child labor in toy manufacturing. Of course, she gets to learn how "Santa misses Mrs. Claus", as the sentimental song lyrics have it. She goes by the name of Anna.
One of Mrs. Claus's most unusual television appearances is in The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy Christmas special Billy and Mandy Save Christmas. In this story her name is Nancy and she is a powerful vampiress who, angry that Santa leaves most of the work for her, turns him into a vampire so she can take a break, when she gets the idea from Mandy to try and take over the world before Billy reconciles them. Another unusual appearance is in the Robot Chicken Christmas Special, during which, in a Dragon Ball Z parody sketch, she gains powers from the North Pole's radiation, and becomes a giant monster that Goku, Gohan, and Rudolph must destroy.
In A Charlie Brown Christmas, Charlie Brown's sister Sally writes to Santa and asks, "How is your wife?" Later, in It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown, she writes Santa's wife herself, and, when Charlie Brown comments that some people call her "Mary Christmas," Sally congratulates her on choosing to keep her own surname. In Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales, Sally writes Santa Claus as "Samantha Claus", inadvertently thinking Samantha Claus is Santa Claus's wife.
Mrs. Claus appears in A Chipmunk Christmas, where she buys Alvin a harmonica after he gives his old one to a sick boy. Her identity isn't revealed until the end, when Santa returns home and she greets him.
Boost Mobile created some controversy with an ad featuring Mrs. Claus in bed with a snowman. One version was briefly aired on late-night TV while two alternate versions were posted online. Ad Age had some commentary about the spot, including “This latest ad from Boost Mobile and agency 180, Los Angeles, features Mrs. Claus doing something very, very bad." Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly, CNN and a number of local TV news channels commented about the ads.

Marks & Spencer 2016 Christmas Campaign

For 2016, British clothing and food company Marks & Spencer launched an integrated marketing campaign centered on a modern interpretation of Mrs. Claus. The campaign included a three-minute ad released on 11 November 2016 which sees Mrs. Claus receiving a letter from a seven-year-old child asking for help with a gift for his older sister, whom the boy has a difficult relationship with.
The ad depicts Mrs Claus as more modern than previous examples, with her riding a snowmobile and flying a helicopter while Santa is out delivering gifts in the traditional sleigh. At the conclusion of the ad, she says to Santa “Well it wouldn’t be fun if you knew all my secrets” suggesting she has a secret life assisting with Christmas present delivery. The brand also created a social media campaign in which Mrs. Claus answered requests and questions from members of the public.
The ad was received positively by customers and the press with many people commending the brand for taking a feminist approach to a traditional character.
The ad was directed by Academy-award winner Tom Hooper with Mrs Claus played by British actress Janet McTeer. Music was composed by Rachel Portman. The ad was created for Marks & Spencer by advertising agency Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe, a London-based division of Young & Rubican.

Music

In 1953 Nat King Cole had a single released, "The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot", featuring on the flipside his rendition of a song, "Mrs. Santa Claus", with accompaniment by Nelson Riddle's orchestra.
In contrast to her stereotypical portrayal, Mrs. Claus is portrayed as a woman bored with her relationship with Santa Claus in the song "Surabaya-Santa" from Jason Robert Brown's musical Songs for a New World and in the Oszkars' off-color song "Mrs. Claus has a Headache Again".
In 1971, comedy duo Cheech and Chong released their take on Mr. and Mrs. Claus in a skit entitled "Santa Claus and His Old Lady," in which Cheech is trying to write his version of a classic Hispanic Christmas song, and explains the origin of Santa and Mrs. Claus to his always-stoned friend, Chong.
In 1987, George Jones and Tammy Wynette released a single, "Mr and Mrs Santa Claus", a love song sung by Jones and Wynette as Mr. and Mrs. Claus respectively.
Bob Rivers recorded a parody of the soul song "Me and Mrs. Jones", entitled "Me and Mrs. Claus", on his 2002 album White Trash Christmas.
Bob Ricci recorded a parody of the pop hit "Stacy's Mom", entitled "Mrs. Claus".

Video games