The blue Santa Door Stopper is about 11 inches tall. On his body are 2 trees done in green sequins with a birdhouse next to the trees which is also done in red and gold sequins. Also on his body are gold snowflakes. He has a blue cloth Santa hat with a bell on the end of it and a blue cloth body with short arms raised part way up as if to greet everyone. This Santa has a very kindly face with a big fuzzy beard and fuzzy hair. The beard and hair are white string with shiny cellophane woven into the string. This Santa can be used to welcome guests into a house or room by keeping the door open or as part of a centerpiece decoration, either way he is sure to please. Select this link to view our Christmas Figurines.
Gifts, Shoes and Stockings.
In Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Czechoslovakia and parts of Germany, folk tradition cast St. Nicholas in the role of a Christmas season gift bringer. Folk representations of St. Nicholas usually portray him as an elderly white bearded man who carries a bishop’s staff and dresses in a red bishop’s robe and miter. This kindly saint distributes presents to others in honor of his feast day. On the night of December 5 he brings fruit, nuts, cookies, candy and other small gifts to well behaved children. Those who have misbehaved too often during the year might receive a stick, warning them of punishment to come. Children expecting presents on St. Nicholas’s Eve helpfully provide small receptacles in which the saint may deposit his gifts. In the Netherlands children leave their shoes by the fireplace. In Czechoslovakia children attract the saint’s attention with stockings hanging on the window frame. In Austria Nicholas knows to look for children’s shoes on the windowsill. Perhaps inspired by legends of pagan spirits descending into homes via the smoke from the hearth, St. Nicholas often enters homes through the chimney. Select this link to view our Unique Christmas Gifts.
“‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,” Poem History.
Clement Clarke Moore, a professor of Greek and Oriental Literature at the Episcopal General Theological Seminary in New York City, wrote “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,” also called “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” for his son Robert in 1822. Robert liked to ride his pony, Lightening, in the woods and one day, he and his pony took a spill. Since his pony had broken 2 legs, they shot it. Robert loved his pony so much, so he did not try to get well, and each day he called pitifully for Lightening. His father had been working on a dictionary before the accident and thought if only he could write a Christmas story that would interest his son. He had written many books for college students, but never a children’s book. He finished writing “Twas the Night Before Christmas” on Christmas eve. As he started to read, a few lines at a time, Robert responded with a tiny smile and by the time he was through reading the Christmas poem, he said, “Read it again.” Again his father read the story of a visit from St. Nicholas. This time when Moore finished reading the holiday poem, Robert asked if their tree was up. When his father said it was, Robert asked to see it. Moore’s holiday poem is now a classic American Christmas story. Despite the reason he wrote it, Moore was a private person and was embarrassed by the popularity of his Christmas poem. The Sentinel, the Troy, New York newspaper, published “Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas” in 1823, but Moore did not acknowledge writing the Christmas story until 1837 when he published the holiday poem in a book under his name. In 1863, the cartoonist Thomas Nast created images of the Christmas story. We associate these images with the Christmas story even today. Clemet C. Moore spoke modestly of his Christmas poem but it is a special present to us all. Select this link to view our Unique Christmas Ornaments.