With that said, please make sure you are all good boys and girls. The North Pole is excited to make and deliver great gifts for the “Nice List”. Will that be you?

 What are you planning on asking Santa for this year? Feel free to post it here.

More to come soon! The season is coming.

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To make these simple ornaments, you will need:

* white pipecleaners (they’re thin, flexible fuzzy things—ask an adult)
* red beads (these can be pony beads, faceted beads or tri-beads)
* white or clear beads (pony, faceted beads or tri-beads)
* green beads (pony, tri-beads or transparent green starflake beads)
* gold ribbon to hang the wreaths with, and to tie around the candy cane ornaments

Beaded Candy Cane Ornaments:

With an adult’s help, bend a knot in the very end of one pipecleaner. Using red and white beads, carefully slide a red bead on first, then a white bead, and then a red bead…

Continue sliding beads on, alternating a red one and then a white one until the entire pipecleaner is almost beaded.

Before you get to the very end, bend the pipecleaner to look like a hooked candy cane and knot or bend the end of it so the beads are secure.

Take a piece of ribbon and tie it around the curve of your beaded candy cane and hang your ornament from a Christmas tree branch or some tinsel or garland.

Beaded Wreath Ornaments:

With an adult’s help, bend a sharp hook in the end of the pipecleaner.

Using your green beads and slide three or four of them onto the pipecleaner and then a red bead. Then slide on a few more green beads and another red one.

Continue doing this until the pipecleaner’s nearly filled. Before the pipecleaner’s completely beaded, bend it in a circle and hook and twist the two ends of the pipecleaner together.

Take a piece of ribbon and tie a knot and a loop at the place where the ends of the pipecleaner meet. You can now hang your ornament on the Christmas tree!

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If it were not for Joel R. Poinsett’s love of botany, we may have never even known about this beautiful and festive flower at all. In 1825, Joel Robers Poinsett was appointed to the prestigious title of the United States Ambassador  to Mexico.

On one of his journeys to Mexico, he discovered the vibrantly red flower. He immediately fell in love with it as a practicing botanist, and shipped some of them back to his home in Greenville, South Carolina.

After a short time of cultivating the flowers inside his hothouses, he began sending them to his friends and family as a Christmas gift.

Now, we display them within our own homes. And can purchase them from any greenhouse or corner shop. We do not have these beautiful flowers in the Northpole, but boy do we wish we could!

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It’s true.

Back in the 1670’s, a choirmaster at the Cologne Cathedral in Germany, took a well known candy, a “sugar stick” and bent one end to resemble that of a Shepherd’s staff during the long church Christmas ceremonies. This new idea quickly spread over to America and churches then began performing the same tradition within their midst.

Candy Canes, in their infancy, were mostly reserved for Christmas themed religious ceremonies. But, there was one documented case of someone decorating their own Christmas Tree with the traditional “white” candies.

A man by the name of August Imgard, a German immigrant, displayed candy canes on his family Christmas tree in Wooster, Ohio, in the year 1847.

At first, the Candy Canes were all white, void of any other color. Until in the 1920’s, a man by the name of Bob McCormack began making the Candy Cane as we know it today, with the red stripes included, for his family, neighbors, and friends. Bob did this process, every year all by hand.

That all changed when his brother in law, a Catholic priest by the name of Gregory Keller, invented a machine that automated the Candy Cane creation process in about 1950.

Now, we all enjoy Candy Canes, from the traditional red and white striped peppermint candies, down to the multi colored fruity flavored ones.  We use Candy Canes in the Northpole to stir our hot chocolate, decorate the trees, and of course as yummy candy!

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Because the act of caroling is an unwritten tradition, it makes the task of origination all the more difficult.

As the term “carole” or “carol” implies, in the beginning, there were no Christian ties involved whatsoever. When one would “carol” in early times, they would be performing a traditional cultural dance often times accompanied by some sort of music. In the French translation of the word, it is accompanied with song. In the early stages, there was no singing associated.

What is known is that St Francis of Assisi ushered in a more well known form of caroling by combining singing Christian songs, or hymns, with Christmas church services. But where did these hymns come from? It is believed that they were written around the 4th or 5th century A.D. praising the birth of Jesus Christ.

But why do Christmas carolers travel in groups going from house to house singing and celebrating the season today?

It is believed that this portion of Christmas caroling developed in or around the 16th century with those too poor “singing for their supper”, going from door-to-door until they received enough food and drink to sustain them for the night.

The Christmas carol as we know it today wasn’t widely accepted in America until the late 19th century, when it was concurrently made popular in England during the Victorian era.

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Or, you may know it simply as a little cake that resembles a wooden log!

Either way, they both originated from the same place. Northern Europe. While different regions would make use of the Yule Log in various ways, it was always used as part of Christmas Eve festivities.

More often than not, the Yule Log was bought inside, lit in the hearth, and kept burning from 12 hours to 12 days. Which could be where the 12 days of Christmas idea came from.

During the Yule burning ritual, it was believed that a household would enjoy good luck in one form or another to every member of the home that the warmth of the fire from the Yule Log touched. Normally this mean a life full of health, wealth, and happiness.

It was also considered a tribute to Odin, the Norse god of war, wisdom, and death. And, in Scandinavian culture, the name of Odin was actually Jolnir. It is interesting to note that the first three letters in the aforementioned name was also the name of a popular Solstice festival and when pronounced it sounds like “Yule”.

This tradition finally made its way to England, where the gathering of the Yule Log was an entire family involved event. Family members would venture out into the forest, select a huge tree, chop it down, make one great log from a portion of it, and drag it with ropes back to their home. The log had to be big enough to keep ablaze for 12 days.

It was widely believed that if you participated in the dragging, you would have good luck throughout the following year.

After the log had finished it’s burning cycle, a small bit of it was saved back for lighting next year’s Yule Log. Indeed, some of the ashes from the Yule Log were scattered throughout home owner’s fields to ensure a healthy crop the following year.

What a great tradition! We still keep this going in the Northpole. It is fun and we sure do need the warmth!

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This traditin began in Germany in about the 8th century. There was a missionary that went by the name of Winfred. Later this man attained Sainthood and was called St. Boniface. As the story goes, St. Boniface happened to run across a group of pagan worshipers near an oak tree, who were in the process of making a human sacrifice by means of a small boy, to their god, Thor.

Enraged by what he saw, St. Boniface chopped down the oak tree immediately. Once the tree was down, St. Boniface noticed that a tiny fir tree had miraculously sprung up in its place!

At this time, and forever after, the image of the fir tree was a symbol of Christianity and one of everlasting life.

Not until the 16th century did bringing a living tree indoors become a tradition. There is much speculation as to who exactly this tradition is accredited to. But, here is one scenario.

Around the year 1500, a man by the name of Martin Luther saw an amazing site one winter evening while walking home. Some say it was Christmas Eve. He came across a small patch of evergreen trees in the woods, covered with freshly fallen snow that seemed to twinkle in the moonlight.

Martin Luther thought this was such a beautiful sight, that he wished to share the story with his family. Thus, Martin Luther cut down a small  fir tree, took it into his home, and decorated it with small, lit candles tied to the branches to recreate what he saw. It is believed that the lighting of the candles was to simulate the stars that shone in the night sky, just as they had done during the first Christmas Eve over the small town of Bethlehem.

That was the earliest documented case of the indoor Christmas Tree. In the above Martin Luther story, more people give him credit for decorating the first Christmas Tree, however.

From 1500 or so up until around 1700, the indoor Christmas Tree was growing as a German custom in certain areas.

After the year 1700 or thereabouts, adding lights and decorations such as apples etc., really made this custom take off and placed it into “tradition” status quickly across the land.

It is even rumored that during the Revolutionary War of 1776, in what is now more commonly known as Trenton, New Jersey, the Hessian soldiers left their posts to celebrate around a candlelit evergreen tree on Christmas Eve, with thoughts of home. Because of this, they were defeated by George Washington and his troops.

Then, around 1848, England’s Queen Victoria was presented with the gift of a Christmas Tree from her husband, Prince Albert. It’s important to note that Price Albert was of Germanic descent, and therefore, having an indoor, decorated tree would be more traditional to him.

When the people saw the sight of this gorgeously decorated and glowing indoor tree, they decided that “if it was good enough for the Queen we love and admire so much, then it must be good enough for us!”. Thus more and more homes across England began including the “royal” tradition of a Christmas Tree into the holiday season.

Eventually, the tradition of an indoor, freshly cut and decorated Christmas Tree became a part of Christmas History.  Now, in the Northpole, we have always decorated trees (both indoor and out). But, it took a much longer time for everyone around the world to catch on.

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First, get an adult to help you print the card designs (the front and the back of the cards) on a sheet of blank cardstock or heavy paper. With an adult’s help, use scissors to cut neatly along the straight gray lines so you have a stack of twelve cards.

Now color the front of each card, but leave the back (the side that says, “Happy Holidays!”) plain and uncolored.

When you’re ready to play Memory with a friend, place all of the cards in 4 neat rows, face down, between you both.

Choose who will go first and have the first player turn over 2 cards. If they match, the first person gets to keep them. If they don’t match, try to remember what they both were, and flip them back over in the same spots. Now the second player flips over any two cards they want. If they match, the second player gets to keep them.

Continue taking turns back and forth until all of the cards have been matched up and there are no cards between you anymore.

Finally, count up all the cards each player has—The player with the most cards wins!

HINT: In the Northpole, we print out many sheets of the cards to match different colors, reindeer, ornaments on the trees, etc. Have fun!

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Throughout the holiday season, cities and towns are filled with elaborate nativity scenes or crèches made by local Christians. Some nativity scenes fill the display windows of stores and some are miniatures set on workers’ desks. Full size nativities on the lawns of churches and in city plazas are usually the most exciting. The grandest nativity displays feature live actors (portraying Mary, Joseph, Jesus, angels, shepherds and the Three Wise Men) and live animals that might have been sharing space with the baby Jesus on the night of his birth (often sheep, cows, and donkeys).
But Spain doesn’t stop the Christmas celebration with just ornate nativity scenes! In some cities in southern Spain people light special bonfires, called hogueras, and jump over them in celebration. The Spanish have also adopted the Germanic tradition of decorating Christmas trees and lighting lamps and candles in their windows.

In small towns and rural areas children still gather in small groups and sing Christmas carols to their neighbors in exchange for a piece of candy or a few coins. This is just one way the Christmas traditions are passed from adults to children.
On Christmas Eve (December 24) families feast on things like turkey and truffles (a mushroom-like delicacy that grows underground). The feasting begins late at night and family members sing and share stories, staying awake until the “Rooster Mass,” a special church service that starts in the wee hours of the morning.

Christmas Day is spent celebrating Christ’s birth in church and with friends and family members. But the Spaniards don’t stop the celebration on the 25th…
On December 28th the Feast of the Innocents commemorates the slaughter of children King Herod ordered in an attempt to kill the baby Jesus. Although the Feast of the Innocents started tragically, now it is a time for practical jokes and great fun.
On midnight of New Year’s Eve, all the churches in Spain ring their bells twelve times and everyone eats twelve grapes—One grape to bring good luck for each of the twelve months in the New Year.

On the Eve of Epiphany (January 5), children set their shoes outside and fill them with straw or hay. Instead of Santa, the Three Wise Men (the Magi: Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar) come and put gifts in the children’s shoes.

The Christmas season comes to an end in Spain on January 6th, Three Kings Day. Families often celebrate Three Kings Day by eating a special dessert called the “Roscón de los Reyes.” The dessert is a large cake shaped like a ring and decorated with candied fruit to symbolize the riches that covered the long robes of the Three Kings. Inside the cake a special surprise is hidden, and whoever gets the piece of cake that has it will get to be the King or Queen of the house for the rest of the day.

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In the Middle Ages the lord of a manor gave practical gifts like cloth to his serfs (the people who farmed his fields) on the day after Christmas. It’s believed the gifts were put into a box for delivery, and so the day got the nickname of Boxing Day.
In artisan’s and tradesmen’s shops, they traditionally kept what we’d call a “tip box” where extra coins were placed and customers, clients and the shop’s master could put coins when a job was especially well done. On December 26 the box was opened (sometimes even smashed) and the coins inside were split among all the workers as a reward for good work.
Boxing Day was first recognized officially by Queen Victoria of Great Britain and soon was a recognized holiday throughout most of the English-speaking world.

In churches, the twenty-sixth of December is traditionally the day that the priests or pastors take the contents of the poor box (where people make donations for the poor throughout the year) and distribute the money inside it to poor families living in their region. It is the connection with the church that also gives Boxing Day its other traditional name, the “Feast of St. Stephen.” St. Stephen was one of the first deacons of the Christian Church and he was assigned the job of taking care of the poor and widows, so it only makes sense that the poor box, or alms box, is distributed on his feast day.

Boxing Day is also the day that a wealthy master of a house would give his servants the day off and have the food leftover from the Christmas Day feast boxed up to send home with his servants or household staff members.

In some places Boxing Day signaled a day when people packed up their old toys and gifts and set them out on the curb in boxes so there was room for all the new gifts they had gotten at Christmas. Other people walking down the street could then come out and take the things they wanted or could use. It was like recycling gifts!

You can start your own family’s Boxing Day tradition after opening up your Christmas gifts and deciding what old toys, clothes and books you no longer need because of the new gifts you received. Box up your old, unwanted things and have a parent help you take them to a donation center where someone else can get them, use them and enjoy them! While Christmas is a great time to be thankful for what we have, Boxing Day is a great day to give away things someone else can be thankful for later!

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