I always loved Christmas.
I remember growing up in Boston: the snow-lined streets, Christmas Carolers, Midnight Mass & the spirit of the season when people everywhere celebrated our savior Jesus Christ being born.... But I live in LA now, there's no snow, no carolers and the spirit of the season rests on the Box Office receipts of Les Miz... (Praise the Lord, there's good buzz!!)
All my kids know about Christmas is that it's the day they get lots of toys under the "Holiday Tree". This year on that special day, my children will tear open up the financial equivalent of a Third World's Gross National Product, fight over who got what and then sit around and watch TV, play video games while my wife and I clean up - it's not religious so much as it's retail-ious.
But if I get the chance, I will share these important, if not obscure little facts with my children so that one day, they too can know the pleasure of maxing out credit cards and hearing the Holiday chorus of, "But I didn't get ....(fill in blank of seasonal toy that will be gone from shelves in less than nine months)..."
Okay, so here goes: 11 Facts to Stump Santa
1. JESUS was probably born in a cave and not a wooden stable, say Biblical scholars. This helps explain why we haven't bought a manger scene for our front yard. Why we don't have a big enough front yard to display it is another thing altogether.
2. THE world's tallest Xmas tree at 221ft high was erected in a Washington shopping mall in 1950. It actually took six minutes less than the fourteen hours I needed to assemble our simple "Three-piece" artificial tree.
3. BEFORE turkey, the traditional Christmas meal in England was a pig's head and mustard. I would rather eat the tree.
4. In 1999, residents of the state of Maine in America built the world's biggest ever snowman. He stood at 113ft tall. But unfortunately never developed a post-game and has always been considered one of the Portland Trailblazers biggest draft day busts.
5. MANY parts of the Christmas tree can actually be eaten, with the needles being a good source of Vitamin C. See #3
6. THE holly in a wreath symbolises Christ's crown of thorns while the red berries are drops of his blood. A festive point to make before entering the home of anyone's Christmas Party.
7. JINGLE Bells was the first song broadcast from space when Gemini 6 astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra sang it on December 16, 1965. This effort unfortunately was not enough to get them voted off The Voice.
8. IN Britain, the best-selling festive single is Band Aid's 1984 track, Do They Know It's Christmas?, which sold 3.5million copies. Wham! is next in the same year with Last Christmas, selling 1.4million. The fact of which George Michaels blames for his 1998 arrest in a public bathroom.
9. KISSING under the mistletoe is thought to spring from Frigga, the Norse goddess of love, who was associated with the plant. The unsuccessful hole-ravaged defense George Michaels unsuccessfully used in his second arrest for drunk-driving.
10. THE Beatles hold the record for most Xmas number 1 singles, topping the charts in 1963, 65 and 67. Which unfortunately does not include their song, PIGGIES written about the former English Christmas tradition.
11. IN the Czech Republic they enjoy dinners of fish soup, eggs and carp. The number of people at the table must be even, or the one without a partner will die next year. This convenient wive's tale can be used if this man shows up at your door this Christmas...
MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!
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