DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

         How many Christmas commercials do you see where the fruitcake gets passed as a recycled gift from family to family?  No one really likes it!  Finally it's given to the mailman, who gives it back to its original owners.  Have you ever wondered if there is anyone out there that truly enjoys fruitcakes!  But then again not all fruitcakes are created equal.  So here's a little history about the origins and how it became associated with the Christmas holiday.  The story of the recluse, a favorite dessert of some insane person, the CHRISTMAS FRUITCAKE!!    It turns out that the earliest mention of fruitcake goes back to ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire (from a Star Wars episode of "The Empire Strikes Back").  Later it was the English, who actually started the Christmas tradition.  It was known back then as plum porridge, and it was eaten on Christmas Eve, as a transitional food after a day of fasting.  Later, dried fruits, honey and various spices were

         As the Christmas season is fast approaching, I thought it might be interesting to delve into the history of the holidays.  It turns out that there are many myths, false tales, and little known facts about the Christmas holiday and I thought I would share some of these.  The tradition of Santa being pulled by reindeer began in the 19th century when a group of people moved from  Norway to Alaska with a heard of reindeer, who were later used to pull sleds with Santa on them for an advertising campaign. Rudolph the Red Nosed reindeer was invented in 1939 by a man working for a department store, previous to this there had only been 8 reindeer. In North American tradition, Santa Claus lives at the North Pole.  However, in Denmark folklore he lives on Greenland, and each country on the Scandinavian peninsula has an area in which he is told to reside. The X in the abbreviation X-mas is derived from the Greek letter Chi which is the first letter of Christ's name in

           Although decorating Christmas trees can be traced back to ancient Romans who decorated trees with small pieces of metal during their winter festival, it was not until the 16th century that fir trees where brought indoors at Christmas.    And in the 1840's, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert introduced the Christmas tree as the centrepiece of the royal family's holiday celebration.  In fact many of our festive customs and traditions date back to Victorian times.  The Victorians loved music, many had a piano or organ in the parlor at home and family sing a longs were customary throughout the year.  It is not surprising that they revived the old medieval carols and also composed new ones.         Christmas Cards    We also have the Victorians to thank for the tradition of sending Christmas cards.  The very first Christmas card was printed in December 1843, at the request of Sir Henry Cole.  The artist J.C. Horsley was commissione

           Nutcrackers started out simple and useful ways of cracking open the hard shells of nuts.  In some regions of Germany, there were many mines and miners.  During the winter months, the miners carved dolls, nutcrackers, that actually resembled the powerful people in their poor lives.  They loved carving policemen, soldiers, and even kings, because they enjoyed seeing their superiors performing the lowly task of cracking open nuts.  When the mines were stripped, the miners kept carving their nutcrackers full time.  Changes came over the years and eventually the moving jaw and the name nut biter and then nutcracker came into existence.          These unusual, wooden figures with their long beards, big mouths, harsh looks and large heads are considered, by legend, to represent strength and power.  According to German folklore, nutcrackers are protectrors of family and home and represent goodwill and good luck.          Nutcrackers are also c