Santa's Favorites

Sayings/ Superstitions In Ireland it is believed the gates of Heaven open at midnight on Christmas Eve. Those who die then go straight to Heaven. If you refuse a mince pie at Christmas dinner, you will have bad luck for the coming day. If you eat a raw egg before eating anything else on Christmas morning, you will be able to carry heavy weights. "Snow on Christmas means Easter will be green." "Good luck will come to the home where a fire is kept burning throughout the Christmas season. "Place shoes by side on Christmas Eve to prevent a quarreling family." "A clear star-filled sky on Christmas Eve will bring good crops in the summer." "To have good health throughout the next year, eat an apple on Christmas Eve." "Eat plum pudding on Christmas and avoid losing a friend before next Christmas." "On Chrismas Eve all animals can speak. However, it is bad luck to test this superstition." "The child born on Christmas Day will have a special fortune." "Wearing new shoes on Christmas Day will bring bad luck." "A blowing wind on Christmas Day brings good luck." In Greece, some people burn their old shoes during the Christmas season to prevent misfortunes in the coming year. In the Swedish countryside, from cock crow to daybreak on Christmas morning the trolls (wicked elves) roam about. In Devonshire, England, a girl raps at the henhouse door on Christmas Eve. If a rooster crows, she will marry within the year. You will have as many happy months in the coming year, as the number of houses you eat mince pies in during Christmastime. "Shout 'Christmas Gift' to the first person knocking on your door on Christmas Day and expect to receive a gift from the visitor. A three year old once gave this reaction to her Christmas dinner: "I don't like the turkey, but I like the bread he ate." Quotes "'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring-not even a mouse: The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there." - Clement C. Moore "I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year." - Charles Dickens. "He who has no Christmas in his heart will never find Christmas under a tree." - Sunshine Magazine. "Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year" - John Lennon and Yoko Ono (Christmas 1971). "You might as well do your Christmas hinting early." - Anon. A three-year-old gave this reaction to her Christmas dinner. "I don't like the turkey, but I like the bread he ate." "No Santa Claus! Thank God, he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood." - Francis P. Church Mother decided that 10-year-old Cathy shoud get something "practical" for Christmas. "Suppose we open a savings account for you?" mother suggested. Cathy was delighted. "It's your account, darling," mother said as they arrived at the bank, "so you fill out the application." Cathy was doing fine until she came to the space for "Name of your former bank." After a slight hesitation, she put down "Piggy." For many of us, sadly, the spirit of Christmas is "hurry". And yet, eventually, the hour comes when the rushing ends and the race against the calendar mercifully comes to a close. It is only now perhaps that we truly recognize the spirit of Christmas. It is not a matter of days or weeks, but of centuries-nearly twenty of them now since that holy night in Bethlehem. Regarded in this manner, the pre-Christmas rush may do us greater service than we realize. With all its temporal confusion, it may just help us to see that by contrast, Christmas itself is eternal. - Burton Hills There was the little boy who approached Santa in a department store with a long list of requests. He wanted a bicycle and a sled, a chemical set, a cowboy suit, a set of trains, a baseball glove and roller skates. "That's a pretty long list," Santa said sternly. "I'll have to check in my book and see if you were a good boy." "Oh no, no, no," the youngster said quickly. "Never Mind checking. I'll just take the roller skates." "I heard the bells on Christmas Day Their old, familiar carols play, And wild and sweet the words repeat Of peace on earth, good-will to men! - Longfellow

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Guessing Time

It's guessing time at our house; every evening after tea We start guessing what old Santa's going to leave us on our tree. Everyone of us holds secrets that the others try to steal, And that eyes and lips are plainly having trouble to conceal. And a little lip that quivered just a bit the other night Was a sad and startling warning that I mustn't guess it right. "Guess what you will get for Christmas!" is the cry that starts the fun. And I answer: "Give the letter with which the name's begun." Oh, the eyes that dance around me and the joyous faces there Keep me nightly guessing wildly: "Is it something I can wear?" I implore them all to tell me in a frantic sort of way And pretend that I am puzzled, just to keep them feeling gay. Oh, the wise and knowing glances that across the table fly And the winks exchanged with mother, that they think I never spy; Oh, the whispered confidences that are poured into her ear, And the laughter gay that follows when I try my best to hear! Oh, the shouts of glad derision when I bet that it's a cane, And the merry answering chorus: "No, it's not. Just guess again!" It's guessing time at our house, and the fun is running fast, And I wish somehow this contest of delight could always last, For the love that's in their faces and their laugh-ter ringing clear Is their dad's most precious present when the Christmas time is near. And soon as it is over, when the tree is bare and plain, I shall start in looking forward to the time to guess again. "Guessing Time" by Edgar Guest "Guessing Time" by Edgar Guest Image source: https://internetpoem.com Thanks For Visiting

Secrets Of Christmas

I think the happiest time of year Surely is Christmas with all it's cheer. Listening to carols being sung Hearing sleigh bells gaily rung. Children with innocent eyes, aglow; Bundled up, to play in the snow. Hoping to see Santa on Christmas night; That jolly old fellow, in crimson and white. Shoppers with packages under their arm Hurrying home where the fire is warm; Hiding the gifts so no one can see; Keeping secrets, trimming the tree. Bows on the puppy; bells on the cat; Grandpa is sporting a red and white hat; Grandma is knitting a holiday vest; All of the children behaving their best. Secrets of Christmas, they think I don't know How Santa gets here, through all of the snow. So I shan't tell them; wont spoil their intentions; But Santa's wife comes along to give him directions! Toni Britton (The Calico's Mom) Nov. 5, 2001 Thanks For Visiting

Humor: No Room

A Modern Story About Christmas with a Happy Ending

Christmas Movie Quotes - Who Said It?

"What Movie "Said" This" Do You know? Here are 10 movie quotes – Can YOU guess the movie from the quote? Try your luck! Who Said It? Each of these phrases is a quote from a Christmas song, TV show, movie or story. Can you remember which Christmas character said it? Click on the green bars to see the answers! "Bah Humbug" Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens' 1843 novel: A Christmas Carol "Don't you cry, I'll be back again some day!" Frosty the Snowman "One can never have enough socks. Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books." Dumbledore in J.K. Rowling's, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone "Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!" The Grinch in How The Grinch Stole Christmas "I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love." Linus Van Pelt in A Charlie Brown Christmas "This fog's as thick as peanut butter!" Yukon Cornelius in Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer "The thing about trains... it doesn't matter where they're going. What matters is deciding to get on." The Conductor in The Polar Express "We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup." Buddy the Elf in Elf "You want the moon? Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down." George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life "Let's face it. We all know that Christmas is a big commercial racket. It's run by a big eastern syndicate, you know." Lucy Van Pelt in A Charlie Brown Christmas How did you do? Try some more Christmas Trivia questions. Or click here to reset this page. Adapted From:XmasFun Thanks For Visiting

Little Piccola

The best Christmas bird story is also a little-known poem by Portsmouth-born writer Celia Laighton Thaxter (1835 – 1894). Shared link at thee end of this story. In the sunny land of France there lived many years ago a sweet little maid named Piccola. Her father had died when she was a baby, and her mother was very poor and had to work hard all day in the fields. Little Piccola had no dolls and toys, and she was often hungry and cold, but she was never sad nor lonely. There were no children for her to play with. She did not have fine clothes and beautiful toys. For, in summer there were always the birds in the forest, and the flowers in the fields and meadows, the birds sang so sweetly, and the flowers were so bright and pretty! In the winter when the ground was covered with snow, Piccola helped her mother, and knit long stockings of blue wool. The snow birds had to be fed with crumbs, if she could find any, and then, there was Christmas Day. But one year her mother was ill and could not earn any money. Piccola worked hard all the day long, and sold the stockings which she knit, even when her own little bare feet were blue with the cold. As Christmas Day drew near she said to her mother, "I wonder what the good Saint Nicholas will bring me this year. I cannot hang my stocking in the fireplace, but I shall put my wooden shoe on the hearth for him. He will not forget me, I am sure." "Do not think of it this year, my dear child," replied her mother. "We must be glad if we have bread enough to eat." But Piccola could not believe that the good saint would forget her. On Christmas Eve she put her little wooden shoe on the hearth before the fire, and went to sleep to dream of Saint Nicholas. As the poor mother looked at the little shoe, she thought how unhappy her dear child would be to find it empty in the morning, and wished that she had something, even if it were only a tiny cake, for a Christmas gift. There was nothing in the house but a few coins, and these must be saved to buy bread. When the morning dawned Piccola awoke and ran to her shoe. Saint Nicholas had come in the night. He had not forgotten the little child who had thought of him with such faith. See what he had brought her. It lay in the wooden shoe, looking up at her with its two bright eyes, and chirping contentedly as she stroked its soft feathers. A little bluebird, cold and hungry, had flown into the chimney and down to the room, and had crept into the shoe for warmth. Piccola danced for joy, and clasped the shivering bird to her breast. She ran to her mother's bedside. "Look, look!" she cried. "A Christmas gift, a gift from the good Saint Nicholas!" And she danced again in her little bare feet. Then she fed and warmed the bird, and cared for it tenderly all winter long; teaching it to take crumbs from her hand and her lips, and to sit on her shoulder while she was working. In the spring she opened the window for it to fly away, but it lived in the woods near by all summer, and came often in the early morning to sing its sweetest songs at her door. Read the poem associated with this story from reknown author Cella Lalghton Thaxter here View another version of this story from Nora A. Smith taking place in Italy..  Thanks For Visiting