Fireside Al reads 'Hoodoo McFiggin's Christmas'
Hoodoo you love? We kick off our annual Christmas readings with Fireside Al, and his reading of "Hoodoo McFiggin's Christmas," Stephen Leacock's classic short story about a boy who dreams big at Christmas, only to receive gifts of a more practical nature.
Giving him the name Hoodoo should probably have been the first sign that his parents were lacking in good judgment.
But Hoodoo was an optimist. And on Christmas morning, he woke up filled with excitement for the presents awaiting him in his stocking.
"He prayed every night for weeks that Santa Claus would bring him a pair of skates and a puppy-dog and an air-gun and a bicycle and a Noah's ark and a sleigh and a drum — altogether about a hundred and fifty dollars worth of stuff."
And then, like a giant meteor hitting him directly in the eyeball, Hoodoo was struck by the reality of the situation.
First broadcast in 1977, former As it Happens host Al Maitland reads Stephen Leacock's classic holiday story, "Hoodoo McFiggin's Christmas."