Category Archives: ~Christmas

A Santa History

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Santa Claus was really St. Nicholas.  Saint Nicholas was born in 245 AD and died in 350 AD in Lycia, Anatolia, a province on the southwest coast of Asia Minor.  This part of the world is now Turkey.  He was a bishop of a church.  The legend of his generosity has been handed down throughout the years through thousands of churches.

In 1823, Clement C. Moore wrote “A Visit from St. Nicholas’, which showed Santa Claus driving a sleight drawn by “eight tiny reindeer.”  We know this story as “The Night Before Christmas.”   The image of Santa Claus, as we know him,  was drawn by Thomas Nast.

There are many legends of St. Nicholas, but this is the most famous legend and it includes elements of today’s Santa.  A nobleman who lived with his three daughters had fallen on hard times. The daughters had no chance of marriage, since their father could not pay their dowries.

One night, St. Nicholas threw a sack of gold through a window of the nobleman’s shabby castle, which was enough for one daughter’s marriage. The next night, he tossed another sack of gold through the window for the second daughter.

But on the third night, the window was closed. So, St. Nicholas climbed onto the roof and dropped the sack down the chimney. The next morning, the daughters found the gold in the stockings they had hung to dry by the fireplace.

That, my friends, is why we leave our stockings out for Santa Claus.

Victorian Christmas “Cracker” How To

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Christmas Cracker

Materials:

  • 1 toilet tissue roll
  • snapper (available at craft stores)
  • any small favours you wish to add
  • an 8 x 10″ piece of crepe paper
  • 2 pieces of 8 x 5″ crepe paper
  • decorative trimmings
  • glue
  • transparent tape
  • decorative string
  1. Centre the toilet tissue roll lengthwise along the 10″ side of the 8 x 10″ piece of crepe paper. Wrap the crepe paper around the roll, securing it with 1 or 2 pieces of transparent tape. (The tape can be attached to the underside of the crepe paper so that it does not show.)
  2. Insert snapper and favours (e.g. paper party hats, candies, nuts, riddles, trinkets, etc.) into the roll. The ends of the snapper should extend beyond the ends of the cracker.
  3. Tie each end of cracker with string.
  4. To make fringe, take an 8 x 5″ piece of crepe paper and fold in half lengthwise. Cut 1″ deep slashes about _” apart along unfolded edges. Repeat with second piece of 8 x 5″ crepe paper. cc5.jpg (5342 bytes)
  5. Take about 12″ of decorative string (gold, silver, etc.) and place along inside fold of fringe. Gather and tie around end of cracker, over first tie. Repeat with other end, using second fringe. Ends of fringes may be curled gently.
  6. Decorative trims, lace, ribbons, glitter, etc. may be used to decorate the body of the cracker.

Ice Cream Cone Christmas trees

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What better way to keep kids feeling jolly than to encourage them to play with their food — which is the whole point of our Snack-tivity Station. To help your guests create these festive Ice-cream-cone Trees, stock the station with paper plates, sugar cones, sugar cookies (your own or store-bought), store-bought icing (one batch of white, one batch tinted with green food coloring), shredded coconut, sprinkles, lollipops, and a selection of bite-size candies. To make a tree, spread a cone with green icing; spoon a dollop of white icing onto a sugar cookie, then gently push the cone into the icing. Top the icing with shredded coconut snow. Decorate the tree with sprinkles and candy ornaments, and crown with a lollipop star (nibble a hole in the cone for the stem). Provide flat-bottomed brown bags so kids can take home their trees (or tree pieces!).

Bagel Christmas Wreath

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Forget the front door. These bite-size wreaths — whimsical enough to appeal to the smallest (and finickiest) guests — are meant to deck your plate (although they’re unlikely to stay there for very long). To make them, spread mini bagel halves with cream cheese (plain or tinted green with herbs or food coloring), then sprinkle on red, yellow, and green bell-pepper confetti.

Jingle Bell Bracelets

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