Christmas Countdown!
Christmas Trivia Countdown #32 (Yes, it's a countdown. We start at 32 and go down.)
North Pole, Alaska does exist but it’s not the actual North Pole. Located 1,700 miles south of the actual North Pole (and 125 miles south of the Arctic Circle) is part of the Fairbanks, Alaska metropolitan statistical area.
The City of North Pole was incorporated on Jan. 15, 1953.
The developers of the city chose the name North Pole in hopes of that a large toy manufacturer would build a facility in the city.
North Pole, Alaska has its own zip code and the post office receives hundreds of thousands of letters to Santa Claus each year. A community program responds to letters addressed to:
Santa Claus
1 Santa Claus Lane
North Pole, Alaska 99705
32 Days left before Christmas!
Comments
https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/christmas
It looks like if you are snowed in until Christmas you are stocked up on survival gear😀
You might need some matches though😬
I'm still a boy scout at heart. Their motto? BE PREPARED... 👍
I have been considering a few more holiday blends, but haven't pulled the trigger yet...
I at least was able to get a holiday pipe ready... 😉
@PappyJoe probably appreciates the hat...
That will keep you on the good list.
You should take a drive down to Metairie and visit Lakeside Shopping Center. I will be on my sleigh from 11 to 6 pm today (Sunday) and from 3 to 8 pm on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week. No pipe though as I make it a rule not to smoke on days I'm wearing my Santa Suit.
Christmas Trivia Countdown #16
Only 16 days between now and Christmas Day!
When was Christmas first celebrated? No one really knows but December 25th as Christmas Day first appeared in a list of Roman bishops in the year 336 AD. According to Christianity.com, the list for contained these words: “25 Dec.: natus Christus in Betleem Judeae.” December 25th, Christ born in Bethlehem, Judea.
While there has been debate about the exact date of Jesus birth - some traditions give dates from late March through mid-November - it was a sixth century monk named Dionysus Exicuus who first dated all history from “December 25th, the year of our Lord 1.”
Historically, many cultures in and around Europe and the Mediterranean observed feasts in the month of December. Romans celebrated the festival of Saturnalia, the Jewish people had a Festival of Lights, Germanic tribes had yule festival. One theory has it that Church tried to ban all the different festivals but when that didn’t work, just co-opted many of the traditions into the Christian celebration.
has distinguished himself as a Santa, enhancing children's anticipation and enjoyment of the Christmas season.
The front page of today's NYTimes featured an article about the controversies roiling the International Brotherhood of Real Bearded Santas https://www.ibrbsantas.org/
Who Gets To Join Santa Society? Debate Over Inclusion Roils a Bearded Brotherhood.
It used to be easy for the International Brotherhood of Real Bearded Santas to know who could become a member. No more.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/20/us/santa-claus-international-brotherhood-members.html
Season's Greetings
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all, and a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2020, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great, (not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country or is indeed the only “America” in the western hemisphere), and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of computer platform, or sexual preference of the wishee. (By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for him/herself or others, and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.)
That was an interesting read which was posted on the many Santa Claus facebook group pages. As much as I love being a Santa during the season, I have grown to hate most of the facebook groups for Santa, they are filled with the most hypocritical, bigoted, non-Santa like people I have ever come across. It makes the divisive issues I've seen on other pipe smoker forums seem like genteel conversation. By the way, by bigoted, I'm not talking about racial issues but about the question of whether Santa needs a real beard or a designer beard. There are people who in one breath types "it's for the children" (where have we all heard that before?) while in the next breath spew the most hateful diatribe about either those who must wear a "fake" beard or those with natural beards who aren't as massive. It is so pathetic that's I find myself constantly laughing at them.
And its not just the beard issue. I have never seen people with such large egos! They get so offended if someone who has a beard shops within 10 miles of wherever they are pretending to be Santa. The constant, "I was working in the store today and someone with a long white beard had the audacity to walk past my set. He shouldn't be out shopping even if he isn't dressed as Santa." mentality is, again, absolutely hilarious.
After all that, you may ask, "Why do you do it?"
Simple. It's for the children.
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Here's to a Happy New Year to us all.
Sorry people, forgive me, I got carried away with my Christmas wish.
Actually, women wore the Santa suit quite often during World War II and today many venues have both Santa and Mrs. Claus.
I could see women being Santa, dressed in a Santa suit with faux beard sort of “incognito”, also Santa AND Mrs. Claus makes complete sense.
Thank you for the joy you spread.
It reminded me: I need to get my "I believe in Santa Claus" hat out of moth balls...
It helps keep me off the naughty list, right @PappyJoe ?.?. 😏