I mentioned at the conclusion of yesterday’s post that today’s would address the same subject matter, and seeing as I am not a spontaneous person nor do I treat my blog with spontaneity, today’s post will be a continuation of the topic of Christmas and interesting information pertaining to it.
I’ll admit I was a bit taken aback by some of the knowledge I shared in yesterday’s post – I thought I had a relatively firm comprehension of Christmas, but alas, I stand corrected. But, learning is always beneficial, so without further delay, today’s information again comes from goodhousekeeping.com.
“You probably already knew that the idea of Santa Claus came from St. Nicholas. The saint wasn’t really a bearded man who wore a red suit; that look came much later. In the fourth century, the Christian bishop gave away his large inheritance to the poor and rescued women from servitude. In Dutch, his name is Sinter Klaas, which later morphed into Santa Claus.
“Before Coca-Cola decided to use his image for advertising, Santa looked more spooky than jolly. Then, in 1931, the beverage company hired an illustrator named Haddon Sundblom to depict the jolly old man for magazine ads. Now, kids see visions of sugarplums instead of having Santa-themed nightmares.
“Legend has it we hang stockings by the chimney with care because one year a poor widowed man didn’t have enough money for his three daughters’ dowries, making it difficult for them to marry. Generous old St. Nick dropped a bag of gold down their chimney one night and into the freshly washed stockings the girls had hung by the fire to dry. After that, the tradition stuck!
“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer first appeared in 1939 when the Montgomery Ward department store asked one of its copywriters to create a Christmas story for kids that the store could distribute as a promotion. In the first year alone 2.4 million copies were distributed and late in 1949 Gene Autry recorded the song ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’. The adorable movie featuring the island of misfit toys and Herbie the elf hit the airwaves (and our hearts) in 1964,” the web page explains.
Interesting stuff, right?
Photo by Donna Spearman on Unsplash
ontheedgeofeverything 