Getting into the Christmas spirit

By Cecil Chandler
Feature Reporter
Published: December 21, 2008

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Cecil’s World in Print. With Christmas just a few days away, I sure hope some of you have done some Christmas shopping. I am a late shopper. I always wait until a couple of days before Christmas or Christmas Eve. I know that is crazy, but think about this: on Christmas Eve, you do not have time to think about, “should I get this or should I not?” It is the day before Christmas and it has to happen. I think I work better under pressure. I know some of you are thinking by waiting until the last minute to shop, some of my gifts are leftovers. That is not true. I think I do very well on gift buying most of the time.

Today we are going to really get into the Christmas mood. It is time for some Christmas trivia that we all know about, but we are going to take it one step further.

At Christmas time, the tradition is to kiss someone when they walk under what kind of plant? Of course, it is mistletoe. But did you know that in ancient Scandinavia, mistletoe was associated with peace and friendship? That may have been where the kissing under the mistletoe tradition started. I have got to make myself a note to get some mistletoe this week, just in case.

OK, here is another one. What does it mean in the Ukraine when you find a spider web in your home? In the United States, it simply means you have a spider in your house. In the Ukraine, it means good luck. At Christmas time in this country, you will find artificial spiders and webs used for Christmas decorations.

Have you ever heard the expression, “The prize is in the pudding?” It is a tradition that dates back to the Middle Ages. Some households, even today, have fun hiding trinkets in the Christmas pudding. Most of the time, a coin, ring, thimble or button would be placed in the pudding. This would be dangerous with some of my friends who would eat the trinkets, too. If you find the coin, you will become wealthy; finding the ring means you will marry; the thimble predicts spinsterhood; and finding the button means you will be a bachelor. If you are planning on doing this over the holidays, make sure you tell everyone about it before they start eating.

If you are planning to attend a Medieval Christmas party and they ask if you would like some frumently, would you know what they would be talking about? It’s a spiced porridge that both the poor and rich ate during this time period. This is linked to a legend of the Celtic God Dagda, who stirred a porridge made up of all good things of the earth. I learn something new every day.

At Christmas time, I am sure a lot of you have favorite stories you love to read to your family.  One of the most loved Christmas stories is “A Christmas Carol.” The trivia question is, who wrote it? Come on, you know, it was written by none other than Charles Dickens. This is the book about the life of Ebenezer Scrooge. The book was an instant hit, and after that, he wrote a new Christmas story each year. Do you have the Charles Dickens collection of Christmas stories? This might be the perfect holiday to bring out one of the old classics.

Trivia is so much fun and before I leave you, I have a few more Christmas trivia questions for you. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? How about the names of the three wise men who traveled from afar, and do you know the most popular Christmas carol? If you know the answers to these final three questions, you are good. No, I’m not going to give you the answers. Look them up if you do not know — or better yet, ask a kid, they will know.

Merry Christmas from my family to yours and let’s not forget the real meaning of Christmas. I’ll see you next week, right here in the Morning News and on the tube.

— Cecil Chandler is a veteran reporter at WBTW News13. His column appears Mondays in the Morning News.