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The red plush Christmas stockings are 18 inches long including the hanger loop. The Christmas stockings have a 4 inch white plush cuff that is perfect for personalizing and decorating. The body of the Christmas stocking is red plush. Select this link to view our Christmas stockings.
Yule: The Olde Norse word jol representing the winter solstice celebration. It began 12 consecutive days of celebration for ending the old year and the beginning of the new.
Yule Log: Traditions around the Yule log:
The Yule log today is a chocolate cake rolled like a jelly roll.
Christmas Tinsel: From the French word sentinels meaning to sparkle. The English shortened it to tinsel where it became a kind of cloth made of silk or satin woven with strands of gold or silver. The legend is that spiders loved to decorate the christmas trees, but their cobwebs could only be seen from the ground, so they covered the entire tree with cobwebs. When the Christ child came to bless the tree, he touched the webs and they turned to silver. Select this link to view our Christmas tree skirt.
Wassail: In the American Christmas tradition, Wassail relates directly to the Christmas punch bowl. From the English ritual of “Wassailing” or partying, we derive the festive atmosphere of our own Christmas parties. Originally an English drink related to the apple harvest, it quickly evolved into a mid winter ritual, with a great deal of noise made, to signal the partying to begin. From Olde English, o waes hael meaning “good health”.
Mincemeat: The word itself comes from Middle French nincer “to cut in small pieces”. These pies were originally called mutton pies made from lamb that represented the treasures of the Three Wise Men. They were baked in a loaf shape to resemble a manger.
The Nutcracker Story:
It's Christmas at the Stahlbaum home. There' s a huge tree, and many guests arrive to celebrate with the family. Clara's godfather, Herr Drosselmeyer, makes magical toys. He entertains the guests with two life sized dolls that dance around the room. Then he gives gifts to the children, and gives Clara a very special gift of a nutcracker. Her brother, Fritz, is jealous, grabs the nutcracker and it gets broken! Clara is very upset, so Herr Drosselmeyer repairs the doll before handing it back to her..
Soon after, all the guests leave and the children go to bed. Clara gets up in the night and goes downstairs to get her nutcracker from under the tree. She falls asleep there, and is transported into Christmas fantasy where her nutcracker has grown to the size of a human. When the Mouse King attacks, the Nutcracker Prince tries to valiantly defend young Clara, but is struck down in the battle. Clara in turn saves her Nutcracker Prince by throwing her shoe at the Mouse King and defeating him.
With the nasty Mouse King out of the way, Clara runs to the Nutcracker Prince. When she kisses him, he turns into a human! Then she and her Prince are whisked away through the Enchanted Forest, where they see dancing snowflakes and other wonders. Then they travel further to the Kingdom of Sweets.
Icicles: Introduced from Nuremberg, Germany in 1878. Though originally introduced as silver foil strips, in the 1920’s they were made of lead that would not tarnish. In the 1960’s the were made of mylar due to the potential of lead poisoning. Legend has it that one cold winter night, the Christ Child sought shelter in the forest and all the leaves had fallen but for the pine tree. When the pine tree realized he was caring for the Christ Child, tears of happiness fell and froze into icicles. Select this link to view our gold and cream ornaments.
Definition of Bah! Humbug!: Bah! Is a French term for exclaiming scorn. Humbug! Is mid 18th century English slang for trick, sham, nonsense or hoax.