I congratulated myself on surviving my first American Thanksgiving, and not making too big a pig of myself either. And there I was thinking that the next big celebration to come is Christmas.
No one - not my room mates; not the newspapers; not even Hallmark Cards - thought to inform me about the 5 December visit of St Nicholas!
I always thought that St Nicholas and Father Christmas were the same person. But to the Americans, they are clearly not. Oh there are some similarities, though. Both visitors are nocturnal and, to my knowledge, fat old farts with beards.
But where Father Christmas specialises in depositing gifts under trees resplendent with twinky lights and candy canes, the sole mission of St Nicholas is to visit households in the dead of night and leave leftover Halloween candy in the stockings that have been hung by the chimney with care.
Oh okay now that I write that, I understand the next line of that rhyme...in the hope that St Nicholas soon will be there. But am I correct friends, in recalling that the rhyme is called Twas the Night Before Christmas? Do you think that's because Twas the 5th of December sounded crap? Because it does, you can admit it. I won't tell anyone.
Anyway, St Nicholas did leave me some candy in my stocking - so much so that it collapsed from its perch on the mantlepiece and instead was resting on the coffee table.
I do love St Nicholas. I just hope that Father Christmas was watching, and can see the high standard that has been set for him.
2 comments:
I thought they were the same too.
More importantly though, who the hell would actually have candy left over after Halloween?! I would have eaten all mine...and yours.
Excellent point Jemma - what is candy if not to be consumed post haste.
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