“Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies!”
Last night it rained. It was a gentle rain at first as Henry’s wet fur was how I knew it was raining. Later it poured. I was lying in bed and could hear it on the roof. Today is dark and damp. The clouds are rain clouds so more is coming. I have one errand today. Henry is having his picture taken with Santa.
When I was really young, Santa came to our apartment in South Boston. I have a picture of me on Santa’s knee. The look on my face is pure wonder. My brother was too afraid to leave the bedroom so there are no pictures of him with Santa. It is probably a good thing as I suspect he was always on the naughty list.
Going to Boston at Christmas time was wonderful. The Common was filled with lights, and reindeer were in a fenced-in pen. That was the first time I was ever so close to reindeer. I remember their antlers and the color of their fur. I also remember the clouds in the air from them breathing out their noses.
We went to Jordan Marsh to see Santa and the Enchanted Village. The line to get to Santa was long, but we didn’t care. We were enthralled by the Enchanted Village. It was all along the route to Santa, sometimes on both sides. There were houses filled with people, toy shops, animals, people skating and shopping and so much more. All of the characters moved. Their heads swiveled or bowed, their hands worked on toys, and the shoemaker fixed a shoe. I was so excited. I had never seen anything like that before. Jordan Marsh, according to my mother, always had the best looking Santas. I don’t remember what any of them looked like. I just remember being in awe. He was the real Santa to me.
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November 25, 2018 at 11:47 am
In Gothenburg there were two stores competing in having the best Christmas displays in their windows and the best Yule Gnome too. I hated to meet the Yule Gnome but I could stand for ever and watch the displays, especially the children’s departments window but oddly enough the other ones too. I guess it was because they too had moving dolls in there.
One of those stores are gone since long and the other one is remodeled so each department is its own business so they really don’t care much about the displays any more and that’s a bit sad I think.
Sunny and cold almost all day here and no wind so it was really nice being out on walks.
Have a great day!
Christer.
November 25, 2018 at 7:02 pm
Christer,
It is sad that they don’t have those big displays anymore. I loved all the windows in the department stores in Boston. Now even the stores are gone. I miss all of that.
Rainy on and off here today. It will be mild the next few days then the cold will be back. It has been unseasonably cold so far this winter.
Henry did get his picture taken but it was a struggle.
Have a great day!!
November 25, 2018 at 12:28 pm
Last night we watched my all time favorite Christmas movie, “A Christmas Story”. Watching Ralphie and his kid brother Randy waiting in line to see Santa is classic holiday nostalgia. When Ralphie, who really doesn’t believe in Santa, reaches his lap he can’t remember what he really wants for Christmas, he then bleats out a BB gun as he’s headed down the slide from Santa’s mountain. Of course the department store Santa replies with the standard mother’s reply, ‘kid you’ll shoot your eye out’. 🙂 Of course, the film is narrated and based on books by one of my teenage idles, Jean Shepherd.
Obviously, Christianity had to come up with fantastic characters such as elves, fairies and Santa Claus to stand in for the kids of faithful parents to prepare them for the big fairytale that is the basic premise of Christianity. The whole holiday is based on the nonsense of a virgin birth fathered by God. The apostle Paul dreamed up this fantastic mixture of watered down Jewish monotheism that he could sell to the pagans of the first century Roman Empire. Pagan religions of ancient times were filled with stories of the pantheon of their gods having sex with human woman. Of course deleting the Jewish custom of circumcision for converts helped spread the new religion in the era before anesthesia.
Now Jews have elevated the minor holiday, Chaukah, to a major celebration as an excuse to join in the winter solstice spending frenzy with eight nights of presents including decorations and parties. Some very reformed Jewish families have Chaukah bushes in their homes along with menorahs. After all why shouldn’t Jewish kids presents?
The whole thing is now the cornerstone of our consumer society. If retailers have a lousy Christmas season there’s nothing they can do the entire next the year to make up for the loss. Let’s all spend and load up on debt to keep the wheels of industry in China humming along. 🙂
In the end all this nonsense is part of our DNA and we might as well just enjoy in the spending and hoopla because the coming two cold months bring very little joy and only one silly holiday, Valentine’s Day. 😦
The cool front arrived during the night dropping our temperature to the low 50s. There’s no rain in the forecast until next weekend.
November 25, 2018 at 8:00 pm
Bob,
I never thought Ralphie didn’t believe in Santa. That scene in the department store was Ralphie being stage struck when he finally got to Santa. I always chuckle when he climbs back up the slide and tells Santa what he wants in about four seconds.
For a long time Christmas didn’t have anything fantastical: no elves, no fairies. The Christmas elves first appeared here in 1856 and were the literary invention of Louisa May Alcott. The elves themselves were not associated with Christianity but rather with Germanic paganism. I found more on line: “Centuries ago, in the pagan times, Scandinavian people believed that elves are house gnomes who guarded their homes against evil. If you were good, the elves were good to you, but if you were bad, the mischievous elves would play tricks on you. Although these gnomes mostly were benevolent, they could quickly turn nasty when not properly treated, so it is told. Some of the tricks they enjoyed playing were giving you nightmares by sitting on your head while you were dreaming, tangling your hair as you slept, making your milk turn sour, and stealing your sausages. Folks believed that if they left a bowl of porridge on the doorstep at night, the elves would be happy and not subject them to their ornery antics. Throughout the centuries, they were either loved or loathed. Some people even believed them to be trolls and cannibals. The perception of gnomes largely depended on whether a person was naughty, or nice.” Sound familiar? It was these elves who morphed into Santa’s elves.
I think Christians would take umbrage with your bashing one of the beliefs of Christianity, the Virgin birth. Circumcision was considered Old Testament while not doing so was New Testament. That was part of the reason.
I can’t comment about the gifts of Chanukah becoming over the top. The only ones I knew for certain were dreidels and chocolate coins.
Retailers now institute huge savings. I have gotten as much as 65% off gifts. The customary sales after Christmas have become the sales of Christmas.
I love all of Christmas: the lights, the decorating, the tree and the gifts. Christmas is such fun and so filled with traditions. I wouldn’t
want ever to get as cynical as you seem at times.
It rained all and off all day. It will get warmer before the cold returns.
November 25, 2018 at 11:36 pm
I don’t think Ralphie still believed in Santa but he wasn’t going to take a chance on not asking Santa for the BB gun. 🙂
Wow, that’s a lot more about elves than I ever knew. I think not only virgin births are a fantasy requiring lots of faith. This includes creation in seven days, talking snakes or Moses spending 40 days on mount Sinai to get two, or maybe three tablets. According to Mel Brooks he dropped the third tablet containing the lost five commandments. 🙂
Prior to Rome going Christian many Roman men married Jewish woman and monotheism was on the rise. Of course if the men converted to Judaism they would have to be circumcised. Along came Paul and Christianity, kind of like Judaism light without circumcision and a visible son of God instead of a pantheon of visible gods.
November 26, 2018 at 9:20 am
Bob,
It was also more about elves than I knew. Christer’s Sweden is still the home of witches, elves and so many more. It is the most pagan Christian country.
I never saw any indication that Ralphie wasn’t a believer in Santa. He lived in the days when kids stayed young longer.
November 25, 2018 at 6:06 pm
Do read “Christmas the Biography” by Judith Flanders. A rather lovely book with the premise that “Nearly Everything You Know About Christmas Is Wrong”
Christmas decorating will begin on Friday as the tree and lights go up with ornaments scheduled for Saturday. This will be the first year for our new nativity from the Holy Land. My son asked for ornaments and Christmasy stuff and I love the idea that some will pass to his new home and the new generation
Advent calls, Mrs MDHs Christmas is being completed and that Father Christmas is due again
November 25, 2018 at 8:05 pm
My Dear Hedley,
Thank you for the book title. I know some, but I’m sure I’m probably wrong about the origins of many of our celebrations.
My mother gave all of us ornaments which dated from our childhood. I love putting them on my tree. They keep my mother and father close. I will start decorating next week. I do a little bit every day. The tree will be next week as well. I’m thinking of getting two smaller trees and putting them right by each other. I have so many decorations I could do several trees.
I bought several gifts in town and on line. I was thrilled with my purchases.