In 2010, Kevin, Katelynn, Sara, and I went to our local Christmas Parade again. This time, the girls got a glimpse of Santa. Katelynn was in first grade. Her class had the school play βSantaβs Suitβ, where she was the βLegoβ Elf. On Christmas Eve, Katelynn lost her first tooth. So, the Tooth Fairy and Santa visited our home on the same night. Unfortunately, Sara had a bad cold on Christmas Day. She wasnβt too happy. But we made the best out of the situation.
Santa left apples, oranges, nuts, and candy under the tree. Of course, Sara found the candy first and wanted some. Kevin and I said she could have some after breakfast. Instead of listening, she was very sneaky, put one in her mouth, and acted like she didnβt know what we were talking about. Lexi was happy; she had a new toy duck, which was shredded by her and Ranger the same day.
PfeffernΓΌsse, known as βpepernotenβ or peppernuts, originated from Central Europe. A confectioner from Offenbach am Main, named Johann Fleischmann, is believed to have created the recipe in 1753. Since then, the cookie has become very popular, attracting the interest of many people, including renowned individuals like Felix Mendelssohn.
Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands are the countries most popularly known for this delicacy. In North America, the ethnic Mennonites are also very fond of pfeffernΓΌsse. Today, the recipe is widely available, and the cookie is widely consumed worldwide. However, pfeffernusse is traditionally reserved for the holiday period, around December. This is in keeping with the tradition of its origins, as the cookie has been associated with the celebration of Saint Nicholas Day and Christmas.
The traditional recipe consists of nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, black pepper, mace, anise, sugar, butter, eggs, and flour. Popular nuts such as walnuts and almonds are also used to give the cookie some flavor. Leavening agents are applied to the mixture, kneaded, and then baked. They usually come out hard from the oven, but would soften after a few days. Also, they are tiny and are sometimes shaped like nuts, which is probably why they are called peppernuts. Nowadays, bakers make alterations to this recipe to include some other ingredients or remove some existing ones. While they generally have a spicy taste, you can easily adjust the spice you want. On National PfeffernΓΌsse Day, homemade peppernuts are made available for the family and guests.
Our ancestors depended on the passage of time and seasons. And the best way to measure the seasons was by observing the Sun and the Earthβs orbit around it. The winter solstice is the time of the year when the Sun is reborn, announcing a new season.
On December 21, the day is shorter as the Sun seems to stand still at a lower elevation, making the night longer. But it is a transition period that ushers in a new season of more sunlight. Yule celebrations used to be tied with different pagan traditions, bordering on mythology and culture. Popular notions include the myth of the goddess giving birth to the Sun god. There is also the celebration of the surrender of power from the Holly King to the Oak King. Plus, the ancient festival of the Germanic people about the Wild Hunt and the god Odin is also around the same time.
All the above form the crust of the Yule celebration. But, as stated earlier, it is even more symbolic in that it helped our ancestors to determine times and seasons. Understanding times and seasons was usually the difference between life and death, food availability and famine, victory and defeat, and many other things. With the introduction of Christianity, the Yule celebration has been linked with Christmas traditions too. Itβs thought that December 25 was chosen to celebrate the birth of Christ because it is the renewal period. Yule and Christmas both share certain similarities, and they often overlap as well.
Aurum & Evergreen Festively blended with pink grapefruit and apple infused with pomegranate and cinnamon leaf, Aurum & Evergreen is a noble scent with ribbons of vanilla snow and Siberian Fir throughout.
Top:Β Sparkling Pink Grapefruit, Green Apple Peel, Valencia Orange Mid:Β Pomegranate Juice, Cinnamon Leaf, Strawberry Jam Base:Β Sugar Crystals, Vanilla Snow, Siberian Fir
Since Kevinβs homemade Christmas tree got positive feedback, he installed it again in 2008. The same year, I decorated a Christmas wreath for our girls.
That pop of floral color in everyoneβs home means the holidays are right around the corner. National Poinsettia Day on December 12 also forms a cultural bridge between the U.S. and Mexico. Poinsettias, known as Euphorbia Pulcherrima, come in hundreds of beautiful colors. Even if you have a limited holiday decorating budget, strategically placed poinsettias can enhance your home in a variety of ways. Bottom line: Whatβs a holiday party without a gorgeous poinsettia plant on the mantle?
Nothing brings in the holidays like the smell of freshly baked gingerbread. But before the decorative cookie led the popularity contest on the holiday dessert table, baking gingerbread was acknowledged as a specific profession. In the 17th century, only professional gingerbread bakers were allowed to make gingerbread, except at Christmas and Easter, when anyone was allowed to bake it.
In Europe, gingerbread was sold in special shops and at seasonal markets that sold sweets and gingerbread shaped as hearts, stars, soldiers, babies, trumpets, swords, pistols, and animals. Gingerbread was especially sold outside churches on Sundays. Religious gingerbread reliefs were purchased for particular religious events such as Christmas and Lent. Decorated gingerbread was given as presents to adults and children or as a love token bought specifically for weddings.
Gingerbread was also considered a form of popular art in Europe. Molds often displayed actual happenings by portraying new rulers, their children, spouses, and parties. Substantial mold collections are held at the Ethnographic Museum in ToruΕ, Poland, and the Bread Museum in Ulm, Germany. According to some food historians, the tradition of making gingerbread houses started in Germany in the early 1800s. The first gingerbread houses were the result of the well-known Grimmβs fairy tale βHansel and Gretel.β After this story was published, German bakers began baking ornamented fairy-tale houses made from gingerbread. They were brought over to America by German immigrants and became popular during the Christmas season.
In the Christmas Season of 2006, Kevin, Katelynn, and I visited California. Since we celebrated the 60th Anniversary of Kevinβs grandparents in Anaheim, we stayed an extra day to go to Disneyland.
Christmas Stroll Inspired by fresh-cut Christmas trees and the hot mulled cider served during Nantucketβs Christmas Stroll, the company presidentβs father, Mike Kittredge II, helped design this bright holiday scent.
Top:Β Balsam Fir, Pine Mid:Β Green, Moss, Sweet Base:Β Spice, Winter Air
In German folklore, Knecht Ruprecht, which translates as Farmhand Rupert or Servant Rupert, is a companion of Saint Nicholas and is possibly the most familiar. Tradition holds that he was a man with a long beard, wearing fur, or covered in pea straw. Knecht Ruprecht sometimes carried a long staff and a bag of ashes and wore little bells on his clothes.
According to tradition, Knecht Ruprecht asks children whether they know their prayers. If they do, they receive apples, nuts, and gingerbread. If they do not, he beats the children with his bag of ashes. In other (presumably more modern) versions of the story, Knecht Ruprecht gives naughty children gifts such as lumps of coal, sticks, and stones, while well-behaved children receive sweets from Saint Nicholas. He can also be known to give naughty children a switch (stick) in their shoes instead of candy, fruit, or nuts, in the German tradition.
Ruprecht was a common name for the devil in Germany, and Grimm states that βRobin fellow is the same home-sprite whom we in Germany call Knecht Ruprecht and exhibit to children at Christmas β¦β Knecht Ruprecht first appears in written sources in the 17th century, as a figure in a Nuremberg Christmas procession.
According to Alexander Tille, Knecht Ruprecht represented an archetypal manservant, βand has exactly as much individuality of social rank and as little personal individuality as the Junker Hanns and the Bauer Michel, the characters representative of country nobility and peasantry respectively.β Tille also states that Knecht Ruprecht originally had no connection with Christmastime.
Ruprecht sometimes walks with a limp because of a childhood injury. Often, his black clothes and dirty face are attributed to the soot he collects as he goes down chimneys. In some of the Ruprecht traditions, the children would be summoned to the door to perform tricks, such as a dance or singing a song, to impress upon Santa and Ruprecht that they were indeed good children. Those who performed badly would be beaten soundly by Servant Ruprecht, and those who performed well were given a gift or some treats. Those who performed badly enough or had committed other misdeeds throughout the year were put into Ruprechtβs sack and taken away, variously to Ruprechtβs home in the Black Forest to be consumed later or to be tossed into a river. In other versions, the children must be asleep and would awake to find their shoes filled with either sweets, coal, or, in some cases, a stick.
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Krampus is a terrifying figure found in parts of Austria, Bavaria, South Tyrol, Slovenia, and Croatia, most probably originating in the Pre-Christian Alpine traditions. In Tyrol, he is also called βTuiflβ.
The Feast of Saint Nicholas is celebrated in parts of Europe on December 6. On the preceding evening, Krampusnacht, the wicked, hairy devil, appears on the streets. He sometimes accompanies St. Nicholas. However, Krampus will at times be on his own, visiting homes and businesses. Saint Nicholas dispenses gifts, while Krampus supplies coal and bundles of birch branches.
Europeans have been exchanging Krampuskarten, greeting cards featuring Krampus, since the 1800s. A Krampuslauf is a run of celebrants dressed as the beast and is still quite popular; many of the participants are fortified with schnapps. Over 1200 βKrampusβ gather in Schladming, Styria, from all over Austria wearing goat-hair costumes and carved masks, carrying bundles of sticks used as switches and swinging cowbells to warn of their approach. In the past few decades, village Krampus associations have paraded without St. Nicholas at Krampus events throughout late November and early December.
In December 2004, we had a Dallas Holiday Wish Celebration. The Beach Boys had a concert, and even Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto came to visit and sing and dance in front of Dallas City Hall. I have it all on videotape footage and didnβt capture too many event photos.
Wintry mornings wrapped in white, Evening, calm and still, Snowflakes dancing all around, Sled rides down a hill, Gatherings with loved ones β Such a pleasure to remember β all memories and special gifts That comes with each December.
Under The Harvest Moon 