Snow and chills are more likely to hit London, England in January, February and March than in December, so if you bet on a no-snow Christmas you are likely to win. The further north you go in winter, the greater your chance of a white Christmas, the sort you see on Christmas cards showing Victorian England with sparkling lights in Christmas trees, and happy families skating on ice, or trotting past fir trees to glowing churches.
The cold month of Christmas turns cities into mock snow scenes. Decorations transform dark Britain into a red and white fairytale grotto for children. The lights are turned on in Regent Street. Mock snow of cotton wool or white paper lace like doilies is stuck on windows. Regent Street's Hamleys toy store, attracts crowds. Other department stores, Selfridges in Oxford Street, Harrods in Knightsbridge, have dazzling displays in windows.
Everybody is preparing for the UK calendar's Christmas, which culminates with the exchange of present on Christmas Day December 25th. To attract shoppers, from the start of the month of December the streets have lights sponsored by shops. Celebrities turn on the lights and make speeches. Carol singers on corner collect for charity. For the religious, churches display scenes of baby Jesus in the manger. For secular celebrations, Father Xmas appears wearing the jolly red coat made popular by Coca cola, like an ageing Toastmaster. Ho, ho, ho.
Where can Father Christmas find a speech suitable for children? To find jokes about Christmas go onto websites of one-line jokes created by and for children. Adult sites are cynical, saying that Good King Wenceslas of the Christmas carol, was neigh, neither good nor a king. But Wenceslas is the hero of the Czech Repugblic, and his statue stands in Prague at the top of the hill in Prague's main shopping street, so it would be prudent to say only good things about kind Wenceslas in that country.
The internet pages of Xmas jokes by and for schoolchildren, however, are not troubled by anything so cynical and serious. A children's joke, taking the words of the Xmas carol, goes, 'How does "Good King Wenceslas" like his pizza?' Answer: 'Deep and crisp and even.'
There are many sentimental songs about snow and Father Christmas. I'm dreaming of a 'white' write Christmas, was written by a Jewish songwriter. Every Christmas a new number one song celebrates Christmas.
Newspapers like to run stories about 'What Jews do for Christmas?' I wish I were writing a hit song about Christmas. Many Jews, Hindus and other Non-Christians will be saints in disguise, dressed as Father Christmas, working in hospitals and other essential services so that Christians can stay home to celebrate Christmas with their family. The Father Christmas in the children's ward in your local hospital is usually not a Christian but somebody of another religion, happy to make children happy.
My late father-in-law was father Xmas at the BB Evans department store in Kilburn High Road when he was a member of staff. After he retired he again applied to be a Father Xmas in a department Store.
As an adult, with two or more members of my family and friends dressing as Father Christmas, in Santa Claus costumes which I bought on the internet for under £5 each, I am naturally a non-believer in the idea that there is only one real Father Xmas, who rides through the sky on a sleigh.
Even as a trusting and naive child I found all the Christmas make believe confusing. For a long time I thought Father Christmas was the father of baby Jesus. Then I found that Father Christmas was also called St Nicholas. And the father of Jesus was Joseph. And Christians weren't Jewish. But Jesus was. After you were baptised you became a Christian.
Then we went on holiday to Spain where December 25th Xmas lunch was not traditional turkey as in England but sardines on a sandy beach. I discovered that in Spain they celebrated the birth of baby Jesus on January 6th with three Magi, not men wearing white, riding on camels, speaking Arabic, Aramaic or Hebrew, but Spanish-speaking men, wearing black, on horseback throwing sweets to Catholic crowds in the streets.
You can imagine my surprise on going to America and finding they had Christmas shops open in summer, staying open all year. Another Christmas summer struck me when I went to Australia, where the sunshine and snow seasons are reversed. In Bondi you go for a barbecue by the beach on Christmas Day. Some Australians celebrate Christmas in England's mid-summer when Australian weather is colder. Over in India, hotels in Delhi have plastic Xmas trees in the hallways to make foreign visitors feel at home in the heat. The Russians treat their children to a secular Grandfather Frost.
But surely this popularity of a jovial gift-giving grandfather figure has spread worldwide, a long way away from the origin of Father Xmas? If you really want to research Saint Nicholas, you will find he is popular across Europe and America, claimed by warmer countries such as Turkey, as well as the colder ones such as Finland.
I must admit I love the lights decorating the streets, the Christmas trees in London and Singapore, though trees may be pagan, imported by Prince Albert for Victoria and Albert's children. What of the Santas in the grottos? Surely you never find them in real snow. You do, nowadays.
When I worked as a travel writer I was taken by the Finnish tourist board on a trip around Finland. Far from England's Xmas turkey, America's turkey, buffalo, and beefsteak, in Finland I discovered that rheindeer provide meat which we call venison - which is very expensive in the UK. So I ordered steak instead. When I sneaked a peek at my hosts' dinner bill I was horrified at what I had done. My steak had cost my hosts twice the price of the venison I'd wanted to try. At the second restaurant I corrected my mistake and ate venison, feeling guilty about poor little Bambi. However, deer are so abundant in Finland that nobody worries about Bambi. Even in England we are secretly culling deer to prevent damage to forests, and serious road accidents on motorways caused by straying deer. Yes, you can enjoy venison in Finland where venison is cheaper than steak because snowy countries have more deer than cows.
In Finland we went to visit Santa in his grotto. I asked Santa what he would say to people who don't believe in Santa Claus riding through the sky on a horse or rheindeer-drawn sleigh. He said he travelled by horse-drawn sleigh. He must have had this question before. He asked how I had travelled to Finland. I replied, 'by plane'. He retorted wittily, 'I don't believe in planes. I don't see how a plane can fly.' What makes that funny is that he has echoed my thought about sleighs.
And the naive or inexperienced don't believe planes can fly either.
Back in London, more news about the 'myth' of Father Christmas. I read that a vicar had aroused the wrath of the parents in his congregation by telling the children that Father Christmas did not exist. This seems to happen in a church or school somewhere in Britain every year or two. The result was that some of the disappointed tinies burst into tears. parents were furious. Perhaps parents should give children badges warning, 'Father Xmas - he knows, you know', or 'Regarding Father Xmas, please pretend - he doesn't know!'
Whilst I will happily wear a Christmas hat and decorate with fireproof fake snow, unlike some people who decorate, I don't believe in Father Xmas, fairies and witches or ghosts. I was all set to tell my own children the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about Father Christmas. It's a popular pagan myth which brightens the short, dark days with bright lights, cheerful colours, and goodwill gifts to the rich and poor alike, goodwill to all. As a teacher of English I was determined to be straight forward about the origins of everything from Xmas cards, crackers, green fir trees, red suits and sleighs, with any pupil who asked.
However, this changed when a little Korean girl asked me if I believed in Father Christmas. I opened my mouth, and hesitated, trying to frame a reply. Then she interrupted, 'My father said that if you don't believe in Father Christmas, you don't get any presents!'
This made my life difficult. I was rather hoping to get a present from my pupil's father. In adddition, I did not wish to destroy her faith in her father by contradicting him. Nor did I want her to be denied the pleasure of receiving Christmas presents. Neither she nor her father would ever forgive me.
What should I have said? I talked evasively around the topic, saying most children in England, and worldwide, believe in Father Christmas, but some adults don't. You have to get used to the idea that other people don't always recognise what you think is the truth. But it makes life easier if you don't contradict them, but smile politely, and continue to believe what your parents believe.
So, my dear adults and children, have a wonderful Christmas, all seasons, all year, up north or down under. I hope you will believe in Father Christmas, whether you are on the beach in Bondi, or dreaming of a white Christmas. Meanwhile be good all year, to be sure that next Xmas you will get lots of presents.
The cold month of Christmas turns cities into mock snow scenes. Decorations transform dark Britain into a red and white fairytale grotto for children. The lights are turned on in Regent Street. Mock snow of cotton wool or white paper lace like doilies is stuck on windows. Regent Street's Hamleys toy store, attracts crowds. Other department stores, Selfridges in Oxford Street, Harrods in Knightsbridge, have dazzling displays in windows.
Everybody is preparing for the UK calendar's Christmas, which culminates with the exchange of present on Christmas Day December 25th. To attract shoppers, from the start of the month of December the streets have lights sponsored by shops. Celebrities turn on the lights and make speeches. Carol singers on corner collect for charity. For the religious, churches display scenes of baby Jesus in the manger. For secular celebrations, Father Xmas appears wearing the jolly red coat made popular by Coca cola, like an ageing Toastmaster. Ho, ho, ho.
Where can Father Christmas find a speech suitable for children? To find jokes about Christmas go onto websites of one-line jokes created by and for children. Adult sites are cynical, saying that Good King Wenceslas of the Christmas carol, was neigh, neither good nor a king. But Wenceslas is the hero of the Czech Repugblic, and his statue stands in Prague at the top of the hill in Prague's main shopping street, so it would be prudent to say only good things about kind Wenceslas in that country.
The internet pages of Xmas jokes by and for schoolchildren, however, are not troubled by anything so cynical and serious. A children's joke, taking the words of the Xmas carol, goes, 'How does "Good King Wenceslas" like his pizza?' Answer: 'Deep and crisp and even.'
There are many sentimental songs about snow and Father Christmas. I'm dreaming of a 'white' write Christmas, was written by a Jewish songwriter. Every Christmas a new number one song celebrates Christmas.
Newspapers like to run stories about 'What Jews do for Christmas?' I wish I were writing a hit song about Christmas. Many Jews, Hindus and other Non-Christians will be saints in disguise, dressed as Father Christmas, working in hospitals and other essential services so that Christians can stay home to celebrate Christmas with their family. The Father Christmas in the children's ward in your local hospital is usually not a Christian but somebody of another religion, happy to make children happy.
My late father-in-law was father Xmas at the BB Evans department store in Kilburn High Road when he was a member of staff. After he retired he again applied to be a Father Xmas in a department Store.
As an adult, with two or more members of my family and friends dressing as Father Christmas, in Santa Claus costumes which I bought on the internet for under £5 each, I am naturally a non-believer in the idea that there is only one real Father Xmas, who rides through the sky on a sleigh.
Even as a trusting and naive child I found all the Christmas make believe confusing. For a long time I thought Father Christmas was the father of baby Jesus. Then I found that Father Christmas was also called St Nicholas. And the father of Jesus was Joseph. And Christians weren't Jewish. But Jesus was. After you were baptised you became a Christian.
Then we went on holiday to Spain where December 25th Xmas lunch was not traditional turkey as in England but sardines on a sandy beach. I discovered that in Spain they celebrated the birth of baby Jesus on January 6th with three Magi, not men wearing white, riding on camels, speaking Arabic, Aramaic or Hebrew, but Spanish-speaking men, wearing black, on horseback throwing sweets to Catholic crowds in the streets.
You can imagine my surprise on going to America and finding they had Christmas shops open in summer, staying open all year. Another Christmas summer struck me when I went to Australia, where the sunshine and snow seasons are reversed. In Bondi you go for a barbecue by the beach on Christmas Day. Some Australians celebrate Christmas in England's mid-summer when Australian weather is colder. Over in India, hotels in Delhi have plastic Xmas trees in the hallways to make foreign visitors feel at home in the heat. The Russians treat their children to a secular Grandfather Frost.
But surely this popularity of a jovial gift-giving grandfather figure has spread worldwide, a long way away from the origin of Father Xmas? If you really want to research Saint Nicholas, you will find he is popular across Europe and America, claimed by warmer countries such as Turkey, as well as the colder ones such as Finland.
I must admit I love the lights decorating the streets, the Christmas trees in London and Singapore, though trees may be pagan, imported by Prince Albert for Victoria and Albert's children. What of the Santas in the grottos? Surely you never find them in real snow. You do, nowadays.
When I worked as a travel writer I was taken by the Finnish tourist board on a trip around Finland. Far from England's Xmas turkey, America's turkey, buffalo, and beefsteak, in Finland I discovered that rheindeer provide meat which we call venison - which is very expensive in the UK. So I ordered steak instead. When I sneaked a peek at my hosts' dinner bill I was horrified at what I had done. My steak had cost my hosts twice the price of the venison I'd wanted to try. At the second restaurant I corrected my mistake and ate venison, feeling guilty about poor little Bambi. However, deer are so abundant in Finland that nobody worries about Bambi. Even in England we are secretly culling deer to prevent damage to forests, and serious road accidents on motorways caused by straying deer. Yes, you can enjoy venison in Finland where venison is cheaper than steak because snowy countries have more deer than cows.
In Finland we went to visit Santa in his grotto. I asked Santa what he would say to people who don't believe in Santa Claus riding through the sky on a horse or rheindeer-drawn sleigh. He said he travelled by horse-drawn sleigh. He must have had this question before. He asked how I had travelled to Finland. I replied, 'by plane'. He retorted wittily, 'I don't believe in planes. I don't see how a plane can fly.' What makes that funny is that he has echoed my thought about sleighs.
And the naive or inexperienced don't believe planes can fly either.
Back in London, more news about the 'myth' of Father Christmas. I read that a vicar had aroused the wrath of the parents in his congregation by telling the children that Father Christmas did not exist. This seems to happen in a church or school somewhere in Britain every year or two. The result was that some of the disappointed tinies burst into tears. parents were furious. Perhaps parents should give children badges warning, 'Father Xmas - he knows, you know', or 'Regarding Father Xmas, please pretend - he doesn't know!'
Whilst I will happily wear a Christmas hat and decorate with fireproof fake snow, unlike some people who decorate, I don't believe in Father Xmas, fairies and witches or ghosts. I was all set to tell my own children the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about Father Christmas. It's a popular pagan myth which brightens the short, dark days with bright lights, cheerful colours, and goodwill gifts to the rich and poor alike, goodwill to all. As a teacher of English I was determined to be straight forward about the origins of everything from Xmas cards, crackers, green fir trees, red suits and sleighs, with any pupil who asked.
However, this changed when a little Korean girl asked me if I believed in Father Christmas. I opened my mouth, and hesitated, trying to frame a reply. Then she interrupted, 'My father said that if you don't believe in Father Christmas, you don't get any presents!'
This made my life difficult. I was rather hoping to get a present from my pupil's father. In adddition, I did not wish to destroy her faith in her father by contradicting him. Nor did I want her to be denied the pleasure of receiving Christmas presents. Neither she nor her father would ever forgive me.
What should I have said? I talked evasively around the topic, saying most children in England, and worldwide, believe in Father Christmas, but some adults don't. You have to get used to the idea that other people don't always recognise what you think is the truth. But it makes life easier if you don't contradict them, but smile politely, and continue to believe what your parents believe.
So, my dear adults and children, have a wonderful Christmas, all seasons, all year, up north or down under. I hope you will believe in Father Christmas, whether you are on the beach in Bondi, or dreaming of a white Christmas. Meanwhile be good all year, to be sure that next Xmas you will get lots of presents.
No comments:
Post a Comment