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So -- on ... whatever day it was (Whenver Audrey and I were last in the car -- must have been when we were coming back from the new monitor) a week agp. yesterday, I think -- we somehow got onto the discussion of pre-Victorian Christmas traditions.
(probably the back-to-school sales displays in the store, which got me thinking about those Staples ads, that use "It's the most wonderful time of the year," as their back to school theme song)
[Sorry about that side trip. I just like to keep track of where my stray thoughts come from, so I don't lose them]
Anyway, in the early days of Christmas (as in 400-500 years ago), the holiday looked a lot more like our modern Halloween than our modern Christmas (of course, "Halloween" was pretty much a strict church holiday, so Christmas was the one day to celebrate both the harvest and the coming winter with folk traditions). Grownups let their kids dress up in costume and run around the streets making noise and mischief, and then gave them lots of sweets and trinkety toys -- but first, they had a little fun scaring the bejeezus out of them. It some towns in Germany, for example, "Hairy Nickolaus" ate the naughty children (which is where we got the idea of giving him children-shaped cookies to eat instead), and in other cultures (Denmark, f'rex), the naughtiest kids get scooped into the sack after the toys are taken out, and taken back to the workshop until the next Christmas.
When Audrey heard that second scenerio, she said: "That sounds like a great idea for a story -- maybe for NaNoWriMo."
And I said: "I was considering that possibility, actually."
And then she started to try and convince me of what the details of my story should be... so finally, I said: "Audrey, you write your version of the story, and I'll write mine!"
So I lent her my history of Santa Claus book. And we may have a duel of the WriMos in a couple of months.... oops... (unless I change my mind at the last minute, of course).
(probably the back-to-school sales displays in the store, which got me thinking about those Staples ads, that use "It's the most wonderful time of the year," as their back to school theme song)
[Sorry about that side trip. I just like to keep track of where my stray thoughts come from, so I don't lose them]
Anyway, in the early days of Christmas (as in 400-500 years ago), the holiday looked a lot more like our modern Halloween than our modern Christmas (of course, "Halloween" was pretty much a strict church holiday, so Christmas was the one day to celebrate both the harvest and the coming winter with folk traditions). Grownups let their kids dress up in costume and run around the streets making noise and mischief, and then gave them lots of sweets and trinkety toys -- but first, they had a little fun scaring the bejeezus out of them. It some towns in Germany, for example, "Hairy Nickolaus" ate the naughty children (which is where we got the idea of giving him children-shaped cookies to eat instead), and in other cultures (Denmark, f'rex), the naughtiest kids get scooped into the sack after the toys are taken out, and taken back to the workshop until the next Christmas.
When Audrey heard that second scenerio, she said: "That sounds like a great idea for a story -- maybe for NaNoWriMo."
And I said: "I was considering that possibility, actually."
And then she started to try and convince me of what the details of my story should be... so finally, I said: "Audrey, you write your version of the story, and I'll write mine!"
So I lent her my history of Santa Claus book. And we may have a duel of the WriMos in a couple of months.... oops... (unless I change my mind at the last minute, of course).
