The Bay Head Beacon

Children everywhere will be saddened to learn that Santa Claus will not be coming this year. "I know the children will be disappointed, but have you seen the weather forecast? Right now, the North Pole is like the tropics compared to what's out there." Old St. Nick is right about the weather. In the United States almost every area will be hit with rain or snow and bitter temperatures. Some places are expecting wind chills of 40 below zero. "Do you have any idea how reindeer react to sub-zero temperatures?" Santa asked. "Let me tell you, it's not pretty. They can become so stiff that they can barely move. Their antlers will shatter if they bump into anything. And you can forget about flying. They can barely walk so don't expect them to get airborne." "Even if I did get the sleigh up in the air, navigating will be almost impossible," Kris Kringle continued. "Just imagine flying through a blizzard in a giant, open vehicle. There'

 With great fanfare and joy, Royal Farms in Brick has finally opened. After years of waiting, area residents can finally enjoy the crispy chicken corpses that made the store famous. For two friends who consider themselves "superfans" of Royal Farms, the wait was an eternity.  Bruce could hardly contain his excitement.  "Ya know, ever since my glory days on streets of Philadelphia, I've loved Royal Farms chicken," he said. "I've done a lot of travelling in my life. I could never stay put and my family said I was born to run. But I was so happy so settle down in my hometown at the Jersey shore. The only thing I was missing was Royal Farms chicken. Now that I can get my favorite chicken right here, it's like Santa Claus is comin' to town." John was just as excited as his friend about the grand opening. "I've been waiting since the they tore down the store that was here and I saw the walls come crumbling down," John said. "Th

Seven-year-old Abbie Genessee from Brielle has a very special pen pal. She met him when her family visited Italy two years ago and since then the two have been emailing each other regularly. "His name is Francis," Abbie said. "He's really old. but really nice. He's kind of like another grandpa." "I met Francis when we visited some kind of church. He was sitting up front and he waved at me so I went up to say hello," said Abbie. "He spoke English pretty good and told me he worked there and lived there, which I thought was pretty cool. He asked me my favorite thing about my visit, and I said all the food we had tried. Francis said he really liked pizza and I said it was my favorite too." The two friends exchanged emails and started writing each other regularly. "I told him about my school and stuff I was doing. He told me about his busy days and about his work. He taught me a lot about religion, too." Abbie got a surprise when Fra