Tag Archives: holidays

Paper Fortune Cookies

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During the 15-day celebration of Chinese New Year, children and adults alike will take part in dances, feasts, and parades, all meant to clear the way for a happy and prosperous year ahead. One tradition families enjoy is writing and displaying chun lian, simple expressions of wishes for good fortune in the coming year. Your own well-wishers can easily create these colorful, fortune-filled paper cookies for their friends and family.

Materials
  • Paper
  • Paper cupcake baking liners
  • Markers
  • Craft glue
Instructions
  1. To make a batch, first help your child write a host of fortunes on small slips of paper.
  2. For each one, fold a paper cupcake baking liner as shown, slip the note inside, and apply a dot of craft glue to the bottom of the liner to secure it in place.

Christmas Stocking History

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Hanging a Christmas stocking is a tradition that has been followed since times immemorial. It is believed that St. Nicholas would fill the stockings with gifts, on the eve of Christmas. Small kids eagerly wait for his arrival and the gifts that he would bring along with him. They decorate their stockings beautifully and hang them nearby fireplace. Although there are no written records of the origin of Christmas stockings, there are some popular stories that have been believed since generations. One of the most popular legend talks about the history of Christmas. In the article, we have provided interesting information on the origin and history of Christmas stockings.

Origin Of Christmas Stocking
Many centuries back, there lived a poor man in a village. He had three beautiful daughters. His wife had passed away due to some illness and he had spent all his money to cure his wife. Thus, he was left with no money to marry off his daughters. The three daughters were very kind and strong and this is what worried their father even more. He was concerned what would happen to them after his death. One fine day, St. Nicholas was passing through the village, when he overheard the discussion of some villagers talking about the pitiable condition of the three girls. St. Nicholas wanted to help the poor father, but he knew that the old man wouldn’t accept money from him.

St. Nicholas decided to help the family secretly, without letting anybody else know about it. He waited until it was night and stealthily sneaked into their house, through the chimney. He had three bags of gold coins with him, one for each girl. As he was looking for a place to keep those three bags, he noticed stockings of the three girls that were hung over the mantelpiece for drying. He put each bag in each stocking and then went away. When the girls and their father woke up the next morning, they were thrilled to find the bags of gold coins. He happily married off his daughters, one after the other, and they remained happy for the rest of their lives. The story about St. Nicholas being so generous spread throughout the village and then all over the land. Since then, it has been a tradition to hang stocking on Christmas in the hope that St. Nicholas would bring a present
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Charles Dickens Saved Christmas

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By the early part of the nineteenth century Christmas had almost died out. The Times newspaper, for example, did not once mention Christmas between 1790 and 1835. Charles Dickens with his story A Christmas Carol did more than anyone to change all that. His tale of Scrooge, the Cratchit’s, and Tiny Tim was a smash hit from the start. He wrote the story in just two months, beginning in October 1843 and finishing at the end of November. The book was published on 17 December 1843 and immediately sold out.

A Brief History Victorian “Cracker”

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The first illustration of a Christmas cracker appeared in The Illustrated London News in 1847, but there is some argument as to who invented them. Two London sweet makers, Tom Smith, and James Hovell, both claim to have invented the cracker. In 1840s Paris, sweets called “bon-bons” were wrapped in twists of brightly colored paper. Tom Smith (or James Hovell) brought back the idea but added a little slip of paper with a message on it, called “kiss mottoes.” Later, other attractions were added, such as little paper hats, tokens and small toys, plus the “crack.” It is said that Tom (or James) was sitting in front of his Christmas fire where the yule logs were crackling, which gave him the idea of putting a cracker strip inside his bon-bons. The crackers were also made to look like tiny yule logs, as they still do today.