Christmas Traditions part 2

Each December my family had a pretty full schedule. Actually it all started right after Thanksgiving. We would go to a tree lot and buy our Christmas tree. The entire time I grew up we always had a real tree. I loved it, probably because I wasn't the one cleaning up after it. My parents now have a really nice artificial tree (mostly because my mom finally won the argument) that they use each year. Ah, but I digress. So, choosing a tree wasn't just a mere trip to the lot, it was a war mission. John and I would always take off and run around the lot and climb in between the trees spying on people pretending we were on some sort of secret mission. We'd always keep tabs on my parents so we would know when they needed us or so we could persuade them to buy a bigger tree or something. While out on our missions we would survive on nothing but peanuts. The lot we went to always had a big barrell of peanuts just waiting and pleading to be shelled and eaten, and we were only too happy to oblige. The shells would be discarded and thrown to the ground, casualties of our war. Even though it was never long, I always loved our annual trip to the tree lot. It always made for a great evening of high adventure.

Krampus Lauf

The 5th of December in Austria is Krampus Day. It goes hand in hand with Saint Nicholas Day, which is on the 6th. A Krampus is a devil-like creature who roams the streets punishing those for their bad doings throughout the year. They are often accompanied by St. Nicholas and often appear in parades or will show up at parties. The Krampus often wear wooden masks, are dressed in furs, and often carry bells, chains, whips, and baskets with them. The baskets are for taking naughty children away. As they walk the streets they'll beat or whip people standing around (yes, it's done fairly lightly, but it depends on the person they're "attacking"). It might seem wierd, and it is definately different, but it's a lot of fun.

The 6th of December is Saint Nicholas Day. The children will put their shoes outside their door in the hopes that St. Nicholas will come and bring them candy, money, or other goodies. This isn't done instead of Christmas, but in anticipation of it. Of course, if you're bad you recieve coal, sticks, or potatoes. Hmm, I think being good is better...especially if the consequence for being bad is being beaten by a Krampus and getting coal. We do the shoe thing with Emma, but so far haven't done the Krampus thing. We'll see if that changes in the future. =)

Christmas Traditions

There are so many fun things that people do (and so many different and unique things), I thought I would share a few of my favorite memories and family traditions from this time of year. Not that any of them are unique necessarily, but thinking about them (let alone doing them) makes me happy.

When I was younger I shared a room with my sister while my 2 brothers shared a room through the wall. There was a small hallway and a bathroom, and then another door which closed off this part of the house from the kitchen/dining room and living room. We each had a small Christmas tree in our room in addition to tons of other lights and pictures and decorations. We kind of went nuts with it all. Anyway, each year Santa would always leave each of us one small present under our little trees which we were allowed to open right away, without waiting for my parents to get up.

Here is how the morning would usually go: My older brother (John) would wake up and come wake me up. I think the earliest he ever woke me up was 2:30am! I would grab my present from under my tree and go into his room where we would each open our gift. He would usually get a video game which he would proceed to play (and sometimes beat!) while I watched/played. Later in the morning we would wake up our younger brother and sister (Mike and Jill), and they would open their gifts and we would just play. At some point John and I would lead Jill and Mike out beyond the hallway door into the kitchen so we could all look at the empty plate of cookies and the note from Santa which, oddly enough, always looked just like my dads handwriting. Then we would peek into the living room and without touching anything (really- we were pretty good kids...at least about this) we would take in the beauty of the room and stockings filled with presents. At around 7:00am we would go downstairs and wake my parents up, which I'm sure they always deeply appreciated. We would give them about 15 minutes to be upstairs, and then, as soon as my dad put on some Christmas music, we would begin with our stockings, followed closely by the gifts under the tree. We never took turns opening presents or had any of us "play" santa, we just all dove right in.

This same thing happened every year for many many years. It just made the anticipation of the morning grow and intensify until the very last minute. I always loved Christmas morning. It's the most magical morning of the year, and sometimes I wish I could go back and relive it as a child just one more time. Seeing Emma's face on Christmas morning is one of my absolute most favorite things. Through her eyes I can come pretty close to getting my wish.

So So Funny!

Okay, I was reading the newspaper the other day and came across a short article that had me laughing hysterically in a matter of seconds. I don't know why, but I thought it so ridiculous that it was funny. I couldn't find it online at the newspapers site, so I've typed it up here for you. I found it in the local Tribune, but it was a story by the Associated Press in Paris. Enjoy!

A French appeal court has said that voodoo dolls of President Nicolas Sarkozy may remain on sale but must carry a notice saying that pricking them harms the president's dignity. Sarkozy's lawyer had asked that the dolls be withdrawn from sale, saying the president, like any French person, owned the right to his own image. The court backed a ruling allowing the dolls to stay on the market in the name of freedom of expression, but ordered the marketing company K&B Editions to add a warning that using needles on the doll "constitutes an attack on the personal dignity of Mr Sarkozy".