Julep

“ Of course there [80] must be real sorrow and joy wherever there is life and love, although among the Lapps it is hard to discern.
During Yule-tide the Lapps visit one another, attend to what governmental business there may be, give in marriage, christen the children, and bury the dead, whose bodies have lain beneath their covering of snow awaiting this annual visit of the Norwegian clergyman for their final interment.
Think of Christmas without a tree, without wreaths and flowers, without stockings full of gifts, with a dinner of reindeer meat and no plum pudding! ”

“ The ancient Goths and Saxons called this festival Yule, which is preserved to us in the Scottish word for Christmas and also in the name of the Yule Log. The ancient Teutons celebrated the season by decking a fir tree, for they thought of the sun, riding higher and higher in the heavens, as the spreading and blossoming of a great tree. Thus our own Christmas fir was decked as a symbol of the celestial sun tree. ”

“ Phœbe Cary.
[103]
AFTER ALFRED BUNN A YULE-TIDE PARODY
WHEN other wits and other bards,
Their tales at Christmas tell,
Or praise on cheap and colored cards
The time they love so well,
Secure from scorn and ridicule
I hope my verse may be,
If I can still remember Yule,
And Yule remember me.
The days are dark, the days are drear,
When dull December dies;
But, while we mourn an ended year,
Another's star will rise. ”

“ From thirty-six stockings came forth a veritable army of tops, balls, wooden animals of unknown pedigree, oranges, music-boxes, and cunning little pocket-books, each with a shining silver quarter in, love-tokens of one in the great city whose heart must have been light with happy dreams in that hour. Gimpy drew forth from his stocking a very able-bodied baseball bat and considered it with a stunned look. Santa Claus was a fake, but the bat—there was no denying that, and he had wished for one the very last thing before he fell asleep! ”

“ Chaucer alludes to "Nowel" as a festive cry at Christmastide: "And 'Nowel' crieth every lusty man." Some say Noël is a corruption of Yule, Jule, or Ule, meaning "The festival of the sun." The name Yule is still applied to the festival in Scotland, and some other places. Christmas is represented in Welsh by Nadolig, which signifies "the natal, or birth"; in French by Noël; and in Italian by Il Natale, which, together with its cognate term in Spanish, is simply a contraction of dies natalis, "the birthday."
CHRISTMAS: blest Feast of the Nativity! ”

“ The Norwegian Santa is known as "Kristine," and the children leave candles burning in the windows to give her light.
In Belgium, on Christmas eve, the children put their wooden sabots, or shoes, on the window ledge, stuffing them full of oats and hay for the "Santa Claus pony;" in the early morning, when they run on tiptoe to look, finding the fodder all gone and the shoes brimming over with toys and sweetmeats, they clap their hands gleefully and think what fun it would be to wake in time to catch the pony munching his breakfast. ”

“ It is Christmas Eve. All nature is hushed. As the shepherds once sat around their fire upon the plains of Bethlehem, discussing, perchance, the strange portents attending the birth of the son of Zacharias, so to-night the peasants in their huts along the shores of the Baltic, or in the shadows of the Black Forest, sit before the Yule log, and talk of the birth of the Son of man. ”

“ The mistletoe is still hung up in farm-houses and kitchens at Christmas; and the young men have the privilege of kissing the girls under it, plucking each time a berry from the bush. When the berries are all plucked, the privilege ceases.
Note B, p. 58.
The Yule-clog is a great log of wood, sometimes the root of a tree, brought into the house with great ceremony, on Christmas eve, laid in the fireplace, and lighted with the brand of last year's clog. ”

“ As the twilight, often hastened by the soft blur of falling snow, encroaches more and more upon the brief day, we gather closely about our firesides, and there, heart to heart, are wont to listen as at no other period of this prosaic nineteenth century life, to tales of olden time. More than ever are we drawn together at the season of our Saviour’s birth, when the yule log glows amain and the sweet spirit of Christmas kindles within us a warmth and gladness that responds to the cheerful blaze upon the hearth. ”

“ They are waiting for a beautiful little luminous hand to descend from heaven to fill them with preserved fruits and bonbons! In the olden time the presents intended for children were fastened to the two ends of the Yule Log. Later an attempt was made to introduce into France the Christmas tree, which, in a large portion of Europe, has superseded the Yule Log. But it is most usual to keep to the simple custom of filling the little shoes with bonbons, which more than one mother of the laboring classes has had the foresight to reserve for that purpose. ”

“ Each captive is offered a choice between "plum pudding" (that is Gertrude's side) and "ice cream" (that is Walter's side) . At the very moment when the tug-of-war is about to begin, the outside door opens, and in comes Santa Claus. At once, they all leave their games, and gather around him.
Oh, Santa Claus, cries WALTER, have you come to play with us?
How can I play with you? answers SANTA CLAUS. I'm far too big, and far, far too old. One of the fairies has gone to the table, and gotten a plate of plum pudding, which she now offers to Santa Claus. What's this? he asks. Plum pudding? ”

“ Up, up, up to the roof would go the sleigh, down the chimney Santa Claus would creep, then back again to his place and off, the reindeer seeming fairly to fly over the snow. Now a village, now a town.
And everywhere children in bed and asleep, their bedrooms dark or dimly lighted by a low night-lamp. And everywhere ready and waiting for Santa Claus, [117] though not always ready in just the same way. Sometimes there would be stockings hung by the chimney place, sometimes a little wooden shoe placed outside the door, sometimes a candle burning in the window to light Noel upon his way. ”

“ Claus looked upon the immortals who thronged around him with fearless eyes and smiling lips. He rode laughingly upon the shoulders of the merry Ryls; he mischievously pulled the gray beards of the low-browed Knooks; he rested his curly head confidently upon the dainty bosom of the Fairy Queen herself. And the Ryls loved the sound of his laughter; the Knooks loved his courage; the Fairies loved his innocence. ”

“ In Sweden and Denmark the Julklapp, or Christmas-box, inclosed in innumerable wrappers, and labeled with the name of the person for whom it is intended, is suddenly thrown into the room by some unseen, mysterious messenger, who accompanies it with a loud rap upon the door. No little ingenuity is frequently exhibited in the selection of the envelope inclosing the present. Sometimes an elegant vase is inclosed in a monster bale, or a costly brooch in a great straw boot, or some valuable ornament in an earthenware hen. ”

“ Mamma Cricket called Papa and they both had a laugh when Johnny told how startled he had been at the old man with the white whiskers who filled the stockings in front of the fireplace. "Why, Johnny!" said Mamma and Papa Cricket. "Don't you know? That was Santa Claus. We have watched him every Christmas in the last four years fill the stockings, and he saw your little red topped boots and filled them with candy, too. If you will crawl through the crack into the fireplace you will see the children of the people who own this big house playing with all the presents that Santa Claus left them!" ”

“ In the morning Santa Claus and his men hurried into the workshop after breakfast. There was a hum and a bustle, whistling and singing, and the sound of many tools being used.
"Lively, my merry men, lively!" cried Santa Claus, with a laugh, as he passed from bench to bench. "I will soon make a trip to Earth, and I shall need many toys to take with me. I want a big bagful to [Pg 42] load into my sleigh. My reindeer are waiting. All I need is toys—more toys—all the toys you can make!" ”

“ Then Rose told her all about jolly Santa Claus, with his red cheeks and white beard and fur coat, and about his reindeer and sleigh full of toys. "Every Christmas Eve," said Rose, "he comes down the chimney, and fills the stockings of all the good children; so, Piccola, you hang up your stocking, and who knows what a beautiful Christmas present you will find when morning comes!" ”

“ See, I am alone."
"No, you 're not alone, Joel," said Santa Claus. "There are children in this great city who would love and bless you for your goodness if you but touched their hearts. Make them happy, Joel; send by me this night some gift to the little boy in the old house yonder—he is poor and sick; a simple toy will fill his Christmas with gladness." ”

“ Over the land again, Santa Claus stopping so often now that Merrythought grew quite used to holding the reins. Here were more children fast asleep, here were mothers and fathers trimming Christmas Trees, and people trudging through the snow carrying presents and wreaths of holly and bunches of mistletoe.
‘Gay, isn’t it?’ asked Santa Claus, smiling with all his might. ‘There is nothing in the world quite like Christmas and plenty of toys for every one. ”

“ Oh, ’tis merry Christmas! Oh, ’tis merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas who’ll be our king!
He’s best of all the year!
(Repeat chorus, they all surround Santa Claus, taking him with them as they march around the stage, half the children on either side. If necessary, sing the chorus a second time to prolong the march. They end by leading Santa Claus to the throne and placing him upon it, and as the children sing the next verse they crown him. The holidays stand half on either side.)
Children—
There’s no other one under all the sun
Brings us such gay hearts and such cheery fun. ”

“ But I do not hang up my stocking, no! no!”
“All right,” said Santa Claus, “I must be going. If you change your mind about the stocking, it will be all right.”
Then Santa Claus put on his great fur cap and his great fur coat, and the little dwarf stood before him and he stamped his foot and cried,
[46]
“I never hung up my stocking at all,
I never believed old Santa would call.”
The little dwarf ran out into his barn and got a great armful of hay. It was all he could do to carry such an armful. He fed Santa’s reindeer. ”

“ Then, with poles and "prys," they would work upon the cracking mass until it floated clear and went whirling down the rapid current.
"Ahoy, boys!" called Jule, who was seemingly their leader. "Up yender's a big cake that only wants a shove! Come on! Let's set 'er a-going!"
No sooner said than done. Away went the noisy fellows to the projecting point of ice. A few smart jumps sent it creaking and groaning, as though still unwilling to quit its snug winter bed. One more jump, and the boys all ran with a shout beyond the place where the ice was cracking off—all save Jule. ”

“ New Year's Day is of comparatively little importance; the Christmas trees are usually relighted for the enjoyment of the poorer children and gifts are made to the needy. The Yule festivities are prolonged for two weeks in many places, during which the people visit from home to home and enjoy many social pleasures. The devout attend church services each day, abandon all [97] work so far as possible, and on January thirteenth generally finish up the joyous season with a ball. ”

“ Grandma Neal never would finish waiting on the customers and come back to tell the rest of the story about the Camels and the Star; for no sooner did one person go out than another one came in. He knew by the tinkling of the bell over the front door, every time it opened or shut.
The door between the shop and sitting-room being closed, Will'm could not hear much that was said, but several times he caught the word "Christmas," and once somebody said "Santa Claus," in such a loud happy-sounding voice that he slipped down from the chair and ran across the room to open the door a crack. ”

“ On Christmas Eve at early nightfall, when the colored candles are ablaze over the entire tree, and the great red ball of light shines from its topmost branches, the children are admitted to the room amidst a babel of shouts and screams of delight, which are increased upon the arrival of a veritable Santa Claus bestrewn with wool-snow and laden with baskets of gifts. On the huge sled are one or more baskets according to the number of bundles to be distributed in the family. ”

“ The Protestant covers the Christmas tree with lighted candles and builds a glowing fire on the hearth. The innate love of light and warmth—the inheritance from the sun-worshipers of ages past—is always dominant in humanity at Yule-tide festivals. ”

“ It is a prime article of faith with the Danes to this day that for any one to go out of a friend’s house, or of anybody’s house, in the Christmas season without partaking of its cheer, is to “bear away their Yule,” which no one must do on any account. Every house was a bakery from the middle of December until Christmas Eve, and oh! the quantities of cakes we ate, and such cakes! We were sixteen normally, in our home, and Mother mixed the dough for her cakes in a veritable horse-trough kept for that exclusive purpose. ”