I found this article in a retro-futurism site that was originally published 110 years ago today:

---

From "The Duluth Evening Herald. Dec. 22, 1900":

"MERRY CHRISTMASTIDE

KRISS KRINGLE UP-TO-DATE

NO OLD-FASHIONED REINDEER FOR HIM- HE SKIMS OVER HOUSE TOPS IN A FLYING MACHINE.

Twentieth Century locomotion alone appeals to good St. Nicholas. Reindeer were all right for him a few years agone, but now he demands the swiftest of automobiles. There is something fine in this conception of the good old man making the rounds on the last Christmas of the century."

---

Steampunk even before there was steampunk. At least it beats using wind-up reindeer. (You bad-movie fans might be able to pick up on this reference.)

The url:
http://www.paleofuture.com/blog/200.....work-1900.html