Santa has to work harder this year
At
the North Pole I fear
Since
the jackpot of Euromillions
Santa has to work harder this year
At
the North Pole I fear
Since
the jackpot of Euromillions
Serving a roasted boar's head was for many years associated with Christmas feasting in England.
It
probably harks back to the Norse custom of sacrificing a boar at Yuletide in
honor of the Norse god Freyr.
A
more amusing telling of the story relates to a student at Oxford's Queen’s
College who was attacked one Christmas Day by a wild boar.
As
the Boar charged the poor student was armed with nothing more lethal than a
copy of Aristotle, so with all his strength he thrust the book down the boar's
throat killing it in its tracks.
The
student however wanted his book back, so he cut off the animal's head which he
took back to the college where it was served for Christmas dinner amidst much
pomp and ceremony.
Jamie Patterson Mason Douglas is jealous of his rich friend Blake Matthews (Juliocesar Chavez) so when he gets annoyed at his parents (Antonio Sabato Jr and Shannen Doherty) he makes a wish to swap families with his wealthy best friend at Christmas.
To
his delight his wish comes true, and he finds himself living the extravagant
lifestyle he always dreamed of true However despite
having everything he ever wanted, his new mother and father have little time
for him, and her grandmother has been dumped in a home and so he ends up trying
to put things back the way they were.
On Christmas morning since medieval times Church bells are rung on Christmas morning to announce to the world the birth of Jesus Christ.
A
legend has it that the bells were rung for an hour before midnight on the first
Christmas Eve to warm the forces of darkness of the imminent arrival of the
Savior and at the stroke of midnight the pitch of the bells changed into a
joyous peal.
The
sounding of the bells had another purpose namely to announce the death of the
Devil which would come to pass upon by the coming of Jesus Christ.
This
is why the church bell is also known as 'the Old Lad's Passing bell', 'Old Lad'
being a euphemism for Satan.
The
pealing bells also chase away evil spirits which easy repelled by any joyous
sound.
The
bells also have more frivolous uses than announcing the Savior on Christmas
morning.
The
bells are often used as Christmas tree decorations and also, they adorn
Christmas cards.
Traditionally
Wassailers would use bells to announce their presence by ringing them and
Father Christmas has jingling bells accompanying the progress of his sleigh.
In the morning Santa stood
by
the window to peer
And
said to Mrs Claus
“It
looks like rain dear”
The Christian legend of the origins of tinsel concerns a poor widow who was left alone to care for her large family.
It
was the first Christmas since the death of her husband, and she was determined
to make Christmas as special as she could possibly could for her children.
The
poor widow worked every hour god sent her washing, cleaning, and baking for the
town’s people.
She
went to the nearby forest and cut a Christmas tree for the house, but it was a
struggle for them to survive on her meager income and they could afford no
decorations for it.
Instead,
she and her children made decorations for the tree they made snowflakes from
scraps of paper and garlands from strips of old cloth and for baubles they used
pinecones.
Working
together they trimmed it as beautifully as they could with what little they
had.
Spiders
invaded the tree as they slept and as they crawled from branch to branch, they
left their shimmering webs behind them.
A
watching angel knowing the family would be devastated by what the spiders had
done transformed the webs into shimmering strands of silver.
When
they awoke next morning, they could not believe their eyes and they did indeed
have a very special Christmas.
Over the Christmas season alms boxes are placed in churches to collect for the
poor and these are what are opened on Boxing Day the day after Christmas day.
The
contents of the boxes are then handed out to the poor of the parish on December
26th, Boxing Day, also known as the Feast of St Stephen.
Stephen
was a Christian martyr who was stoned to death for being a follower of Christ's
shortly after his crucifixion.
Boxing
Day is celebrated in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada and it has
become a public holiday in the last century.
This
has been a godsend to many families by having Christmas Day and Boxing Day as
holidays this allowed them the time to travel to visit family members and
celebrate with them.
It
made it much easier for people to get together with those who were important to
them.
It
is perhaps better known today as a day of outdoor sports and horse racing and
hunting rather than for any religious significance.