Christmas

[weerach]

Anyone else excited about Christmas this year?? I don't know f it's because I'm not pregnant and exhausted but I'm so excited this year. What are everyone's plans? Do you decorate the house? Does anyone have any pictures of decorations to share?


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[MudPies]

I am soooooo excited. We are in our own house this year!!! I may even do mischevious elves this year!!

[weerach]

That's so exciting. We have the Elf on the Shelf stuff here. My sister does it for her kids but I can never come up with good stuff to do with the elves so I didn't bother. We have 3 Christmas trees this year. A 7.5ft one, a 4ft one and a 3ft one.


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[MudPies]

I think the elf on a shelf is creepy and we don't do santa really. Some of the elf things are simple and funny. I tend to stick with those.

Oh 3 trees❤️❤️❤️ So pretty I bet!

[Aerynne]

I love Christmas! Yesterday we put up our Thanksgiving tree (just a little fake Christmas tree with homemade fall-related ornaments on it) because lots of people are putting up Christmas trees but I don't want to rush it, so this is how we get festive now without putting the tree up yet.

Dd1 and I are playing in a Christmas orchestra this year. We've been rehearsing for 3 weeks now and it is really fun to play Christmas music with people! I'm also singing in the church choir and trying to put together a string quartet for a church activity.

I still need to do shopping, though- I've bought a few things but not much.

What I really love is the easy impromptu stuff- making coffee filter snowflakes in our pj's, Christmas play dough (we do seasonal play dough around here- sometimes I even scent it), driving around to look at lights, the music. Oh, the music!!

But I don't do Elf on the Shelf. This is my favorite, somewhat funny article about why not:

http://www.nauvootimes.com/cgi-bin/n...2#.WDB0n-b57IU

link broken because I haven't read that whole website.

(I'm not mad at anyone who does it, nor do I think it's wrong. It's just not for our family).

[Beth1231]

Me! Me! I have half of my shopping done and we're getting a new (fake) tree Black Friday! I'm looking forward to putting it up with my family and putting on Christmas music and bringing out the nativity scene and advent calendar
Last year,we bought lots of icicle lights for our roof and unexpectedly got a dog and the lights got forgotten. So this year,we are borrowing a neighbor's ladder and putting them up!

[milkmommy]

I pretty much have all my shopping done.
haven't decided if we will do real or artificial tree but we will wait a bit longer either way. I'll pretty much let Cecilia do outdoor lights.
We do "santa" but just as a silly game. Cecilia is obviously beyond Margaret still hold some belief though we've told her its just game. She doesn't always believe it though. I'm not going to hammer in the "truth".

[Maleldil's daughter]

Yes! I am so excited!
This is dd's first Christmas, and ds' first Christmas that he remembers in America (last one he was 6 mo).
Getting to spend Christmas with family and participate in church activities is a huge deal for me. And even cultural things like lights.
Plus last Christmas was spent in a Salvation Army center in Singapore after getting medically evacuated due to issues in my pregnancy, so really anything would be awesome by comparison. Although last Christmas did have a deep spiritual quality.

[MariJo7]

What is this Elf on the Self? I have seen it mentioned on this forum many times, but I have no idea what it could be and how it is related to Christmas. I know what an elf is, and I know what a shelf is, but together they seem to be something more. Is it a story?

I live in Finland. Everybody is exited about Christmas here . According to the story, Santa Claus lives in the Finnish Lapland. He even has his office by the mountain Korvatunturi, close to the city Rovaniemi (both are real places). Today, there even is a real guy who works as Santa Claus. Kids can write to him and they get a card back from him.

The idea of Santa Claus living in Korvatunturi comes from a guy named Zacharias Topelius. He was a famous and much loved Finnish author in the 1800's and he wrote many, many fairy tales and other stories for children. In his fiction, Santa Claus (or rather "The Old Christmas Man") lived in Lapland, by Korvatunturi, and the generations after Topelius have taken over his story.
Finland is a protestant country so Santa is not called Santa here but either Joulu-ukko ("Old Christmas Man") or Joulupukki ("Cristmas Goat"), which is the most common name for him today. The commercial tourist attraction Santa's Park is called Joulupukin maa ("Christmas Goat's land") in Finnish.

What on earth has Santa to do with a goat, then? I guess it is a mixing up of two different stories. Topelius has a Christmas story, probably based on an old legend. It is about a goat who refused to help Mary, the mother of Jesus when the Holy Family was fleeing from King Herod. On the way to Egypt they met a big, furry goat and Mary asked if he would be so kind please as to give some of his wools to her child who was shivering of cold. The goat said no, he'd need all of his wools for himself and everybody just needs to mind his own business, good bye! The poor family went on their way, but as soon as the goat had spoken his selfish words, an Angel came from Heaven and he rebuked the goat. "You poor, selfish goat! Do you see what you have done? Because you refused to help the Mother of the Saviour and her Child in need, you must be punished. From now on, you must wander arounfd the Earth and every Christmas you must go and visit all the Children and bring them gifts on Christmas. They will probably not be kind to you. They will pull your beard. They will laugh at you and make fun about you. You will bring them apples and raisins and toys and candy, and they will probably never even say thanks to you. And you will suffer from cold all the time. This will be your punishment untill the day that the prayers of the little children release you from it."

This is the backround story of the Christmas Goat, according to Topelius. And lo and behold, it has been an old Christmas tradition that young lads go from house to house, clotched as goats, bringing gifts, singing songs and pulling practical jokes. In some parts of Finland (the West Coast) this still happens, but after Christmas. In general, the Christmas Goat and the Old Christmas Man traditions have merged. The contemporary Finnish kids are visited by an old man with a beard in a red coat. He is called Joulupukki (Christmas Goat) but he is not a goat but a man. He comes with a bag with presents and he may have some helpers with him. We call such a helper Tonttu (gnome, goblin or something? I don't know if there is a good English word for them). A Tonttu's job, according to the contemporary Christmas tradition (to which Mr. Topelius also has made some contributions to) is to watch through the windows before Christmas in order to find out if the children are nice and obedient. They also help Mr. Joulupukki in his workshop where all the toys and other Christmas presents are made. The Tonttus also help with the delivery process of all thos presents which may happen by horse or by raindeers and today also by car, by boat and by air plane.

A Finnish family may ask a neighbor or a relative or a friend to play for Joulupukki, who comes to the house and brings the presents to the kids on Christmas Eve. For the bigger kids, guessing who the Joulupukki "really" is, is part of the fun. There are also Joulupukkis you can order by phone or internet. Many young lads advertise their services as Joulupukki around Christmas in order to get some extra money. One of my sons has also been Joulupukki for a local family .
Joulupukki is also an essential part of Christmas celebtarions at schools, kindergartens, Scout Clubs and other childrens clubs. He comes to the party with a bag full of some simple presents that are same for everyone. A traditional School Christmas gift is a colurful, little paper bag that contains a gingerbread cookie, a read apple and a piece of candy. Joulupukki comes in a hurry, because there are sooooo many other schools he still has to visit, and his raindeers are waiting utside, but he makes some time to sit down and to listen to a special Joulupukki song that the kids will sing to him (it is one special song that everybody knows here). Then he tells something funny that has happened on the road from Korvatunturi, hands out the gift bags and hurries further, or pretends to do so. A Joulupukki at school celebration can be the School Bus driver or one of the teachers or one of the parents. It is part of the fun to try to guess who it is this time.

Most Evangelical Christians here are not really exited abut Santa or Joulupukki. He is considered commercial and of pagan origins. I was also quite negative myself about all the Joulupukki busines when my kids were little. I was especially nervous about Santa Claus or Sinterklaas that is being celebrated in Holland the 6th December (my dad and DH are from Holland). I thought it was a suspicious and "compromising" thing to celebrate something that is a mixture of pagan and medieval Catholic traditions.
I bececame more lenient towards Santa after I learned more about the historical character that is behind the Dutch St Nicholas traditions. Santa Claus or St. Nicholas really existed. He was the bishop of Smyrna somewhere in the early Middle Ages. He was well known for his charitable deeds and he died a martyr's death. Much that is told about him is probably legend or fiction, but even those things can be fun and educating. According to one story, he had the habbit to put money into the shoes of those people he wanted to help. He did it because he wished to stay anonymous. Traditionally, the Dutch kids put their shoes before the fireplace on St. Nicholas Eve. They also put some hay or a carrot in their shoes. That is not meant for Sinterklaas but for his horse, who rides over the roofs with is Master that night and is probably very hungry. In the morning, the kids will find that the carrot and hay are gone but Sinterklaas has left gifts into their shoes. The most traditional Sinterklaas gift is a big chocolate letter (the initial letter of the first name of the child) that is wrapped in gold coloured paper or foil. The golden colour is to remember the golden coins that the real St Nicholas used to hide in the shoes of those he wanted to help. The chocolate initial letter could be explained something like this: "God knows all kids by name. When a kid is good or does something good, even when nobody else knows about it, God still knows who it was and he is happy about it and won't forget it."

I can now appreciate Santa Claus, Father Christmas and Joulupukki as ways to remember a good, benevolent man and the whole idea of being (or becoming) a good, benevolent person that helps other without seeking reward or fame in this life. I can now appreciate the idea of taking a special day to remember the Bishop of Smyrna and his exaple. And I don't believe it is wrong that this falls on the same season as the day when we remember that Christ was born. It is all related. Bishop of Smyrna was charitable because he had met Christ and was his servant. Christ has come to this world to make us all helpful, serving and charitable.

If my kids were little now, I'd tell them that Santa and Sinterklaas and Joulupukki and Father Christmas...are all story figures, but that their stories have some real life background that is worth of knowing and learning from. I would tell them that the traditions around these Christmas figures can be celebrated as a way to remember a certain good man and what he did, and other good men and women that were and are just like him.

[MudPies]

Elf on a shelf the real way I find creepy. Basically santa sends an elf to spy in the children then reports back to santa each night. If he moves to a new spot the kids were good. If he stays in the same the kids were bad.

Most GCM's just do mischevious elves. Elves come and do silly things just to be silly- like TP the tree, bring treats, bake cookies at night etc. My kids know santa is pretend and that I really do the elf stuff but they love it!

[MariJo7]

I see...

This Elf sounds like the Finnish Tonttu. He seems to have similar duties. How does it look like? What does it wear?

Finnish Tonttu's are often depicted as kids in gray trousers, a red jacket and a red, pointed hat. Kids often clotche themselves as Tonttu's and you can buy Tonttu hats anywhere. In school Christmas celebrations kids often perform Tonttu dances or little plays about Santa's workshop and what is going on there. Everybody knows it is fiction and just for fun. A tonttu hat is soft, pointed and has a bell hanging on the point. It looks a little bit like a medieval fool's hat but has only one poin. In fact, the whole Tonttu costume comes from the middle ages. It looks the same as the ordinary medieval male's costume. In fact, the whole Christmas Tonttu tradition seems to be rooted in old Carneval or Fool tradition.

Perhaps Tonttu ald Elf are the same thing. Dobby the House-Elf (from Harry potter) is translated as Dobby Kotitonttu.

[MudPies]

Dressed very similar but in reds and greens. Have you seen the movie Elf with Will Farrel? Like that

[Aerynne]

Thank you for sharing that cool story!

The thing about the elf that is different from Tonttu is that it is an actual little doll that parents buy and put in different places. There is the creepy idea that it is watching you all the time and reporting back to Santa Claus (and you can see the elf doll up there, on the bookshelf or on the mantle, it might be on top of a kitchen cabinet or the curtain rod or anywhere your parents put it, and they move it from place to place every day or every couple of days). Some parents also make the elf look like it has been doing other things, like put it next to a little candle with a mini marshmallow on a toothpick to make it look like it has been roasting marshmallows, or the parents spill some sugar or flour and make the elf make a snow angel in the sugar or flour, or put it on the toilet tank with a pretend fishing rod looking like it is fishing in the toilet, or things like that (there are a lots of ideas on Pinterest). Sometime they might make it look like it has been making cookies and there will be cookies out. This is the mischief side, which is different from the reporting to Santa side. Some families do either the reporting or the mischief, and some families do both. There's an official "elf on the shelf" you can buy and most of the people I have seen buy the official one, but some people will use some other kind of little elf or gingerbread man doll or something like that. https://www.amazon.com/Elf-Shelf-Chr...f+on+the+shelf

[3PeasInAPod]

I'm excited this year. We're doing something totally different. We're not buying any presents and instead going to an indoor water park . We'll decorate and all but Santa is taking a vacation this year.

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[MegMarch]

I am beginning to get excited. Our botanical garden has a light show and tomorrow is a walking night It's finally cold enough to feel wintery on the walk and I'm excited.