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Christmas Countdown Characters #10

Jingle Belle - watercolour, pencil and ink sketch - Wilma Simmons 
J is for Jingle Belle 
These Christmas celebrities are becoming more curious as the month progresses. Jingle Belle is a very modern creation of comic  book writer Paul Dini. Jingle Belle is the teenage daughter of Santa Claus. Jingle Belle has a a strangely elfin look, and is forever a teenager - well, Santa and Mrs Claus don't seem to age, do they?  The Jingle Belle comics were first published in 1999 and the stories mostly relate the antics of a rebel teenager and her contentious relationship with her famous father. 
There are constant complaints of a non existent social scene - just a few elves and Eskimos to hang out with and practically the only excitement she claims  is to sneak a joyride in the old man's sleigh.
In spite of all that teenage angst, there appears to be a "Christmas" side to Jingle Belle. Here is an extract from a story she tells about a time when her father, Santa was having a bad day and thought of quitting Christmas were entertained.  

"Look dad ( Santa Claus) ," I  (Jingle Belle) said, "You’re beating yourself up because you feel you can’t give any meaningful gifts. Things like comfort, reassurance, or the strength to face one more uncertain day. But you forget, those are gifts most people already have, and whether they realize it or not, they exchange them with each other every day. When they help each other, when they listen, or smile, or even just leave each other alone. I don’t think you can give anything more meaningful than that. I don’t think anyone can."
My hand strayed toward the pile of toys on the table. "As far as the big ticket items go, I think they’re pretty well set. Still, if you want to give something extra, I hear a little foolishness ain’t bad. God knows there are a lot of kids down there who’d like to see there’s still one adult who remembers how to laugh. I’m pretty sure most of them would welcome a visit from a not so irrelevant, not quite outdated holiday icon,"  ... . Santa call it quits? Not this year, No way.   (from http://www.jinglebelle.com/)  Jingle Belle?  Not such a difficult  teenager after all! 

Another  contender for the letter J  is Joulipukki a Finnish Santa Claus, literally translated Christmas Goat. and of course  at Christmas, J is always for Jesus.

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