Chapter 47

Sweetie and I would like to wish all of you a Happy Yule, Merry Christmas, or just a Happy Holiday Season, no matter how you celebrate. - OGD.

Some Christmas Trivia for you to share at the next gathering;

Guinness World Records stated that Seattle-based Northgate Mall’s 221-foot Douglas fir as the tallest Christmas tree ever erected. The L.A. Times, citing a 1950 Life magazine article and the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index inflation calculator, reported the tree cost $19,000 at the time and $185,000 when adjusted.

If you’re tired of the same old boring Christmas games, break out the Victorian-era classic, “Snap-Dragon.” Here’s how it works: soak a bowlful of raisins in brandy, set it on fire, then take turns pulling out handfuls and swallowing them whole. Better keep a fire extinguisher handy, though!

What we know about “Hot Cockles” comes from the book Sports and Pastimes (1801), written and illustrated by Joseph Strutt. How to play: place your head in another player’s lap while others kick or hit you from behind until you guess their identity.

“Takanakuy” is a Peruvian Christmas tradition also known as the “Fighting Festival of Peru.” It’s exactly what it sounds like. Members of the community duke it out to settle old scores or display machismo. It originated in the Chumbivilcas Province.

North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) started Santa Tracker in December 1955 by accident. A local department store had a typo in their newspaper ad misdirecting children to call NORAD instead. The organization has assigned one colonel to answer calls every Christmas since. (Personal Note: I had a friend in the Air Force in the mid 1970’s who was at NORAD and she told me that it was a lot of fun answering calls from children asking for updates on Santa.)

In 1982, Canada Post assigned Santa the postal code of H0H 0H0. It has received an annual letter volume of 1 million ever since, addressed to Santa Claus, North Pole, H0H 0H0, Canada.

Author/historian Wanda Chong notes that Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer creator Robert L. May had to fight for the red nose because they were typically associated with drunks. May’s employer, Montgomery Ward department store, finally accepted the concept after seeing illustrator Denver Gillen’s kid-friendly finished product.

Like most authors, Clement Clarke Moore was his own harshest critic. The intellectual professor wrote “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” for his kids, but did not publish it under his own name until 21 years had passed at the insistence of his then-grown children. He essentially was the last person to admit writing it.

The Addis Brush Company, a toilet brush company in the 1930s, invented the first artificial brush tree using the same equipment they used to create their signature product. They received a patent for the aluminum tree in 1950.