History of Santa's Eight Tiny Reindeer

Reindeer made good animals to have become a part of this legend, since they lived in very cold northern climates and were therefore unfamiliar to most people in the world. Reindeer can grow up to 6 feet long and about 3 feet high with wide hoofs that spread, allowing them to walk on snow by spreading their weight over a larger area. Their antlers and short legs give them a distinct look. Reindeer have been domesticated and have been used for centuries to pull loads on sleds in snowy regions.
Ordinary and flying reindeer are common symbols associated with Christmas because of the association with Santa Claus. This legend of eight flying reindeer most likely originated and was made popular by the poem "Twas the Night Before Christmas" by Clement Clarke Moore.
The poem was first published in early 1823 as listed below.

Elves are known to be tiny, dwarf-like creatures, either male or female, with pointed ears. They are youthful but immortal and have magical powers that can control what you see and experience. Their abodes are said to be underground, in forests, or in springs and wells, but no one really knows about it because they keep their location a secret! It is also believed that on the 6th of January the elves light up their torches and come down from their secret village in the mountain to play in a hidden field to celebrate the last day of Christmas. But do you know who these elves are? Are they real creatures or just a myth? What is the story behind their origin? What is the secret behind them?Elves have a fascinating history that is associated with Germanic paganism. Elves are originally seen to be the creation of Germanic paganism who thought them to be the creatures of light who lived in the heavens. Elves have been depicted as male or female, tiny or dwarf-like, youthful and immortal with magical powers. Later they were often referred to as living underground, in forests, springs and wells. Elves generally were magical beings who could control what people see as well as experience. Elves and fairies are also highly associated with the mushroom "Amanita Muscaria", also referred to as "magic mushrooms" not only in art but in Psychedelic experiences. Centuries ago, in the pagan times, Scandinavian people believed that elves are house gnomes who guarded their homes against evil. If you were good, the elves were good to you, but if you were bad, the mischievous elves would play tricks on you. Although these gnomes mostly were benevolent, they could quickly turn nasty when not properly treated, so it is told. Some of the tricks they enjoyed playing were giving you nightmares by sitting on your head while you were dreaming, tangling your hair as you slept, making your milk turn sour, and stealing your sausages. Folks believed that if they left a bowl of porridge on the doorstep at night, the elves would be happy and not subject them to their ornery antics. Throughout the centuries, they were either loved or loathed. Some people even believed them to be trolls and cannibals. The perception of gnomes largely depended on whether a person was naughty, or nice.By the mid-1800's the true purpose of the elves was revealed by the Scandinavians. Elves - already a tradition associated with story telling and magic, assumed a new significance in the mid-1800's and their true intention began to be held as nothing else but to help Father Christmas (Santa Claus). This was the handiwork of the popular Scandinavian writers of the day. At this time, elaborate Christmas festivals regained popularity and Scandinavian story writers such as Thile, Toplius, Rydberg sketched the elves' true role in modern life: fairies that are somewhat mischievous, but the true friends and helpers of Father Christmas. It is during this period when the elves began to be referred to as the "Christmas elves", or simply "elves", and not "house gnomes" anymore. Artists such as Hansen and Nystrm completed the picture of elves for us. It is now began to be held that the elves help Santa design and make the wonderful toys and gifts he brings to children. They were said to have other duties as well. Some elves take care of Santa's reindeer and keep his sleigh in good condition, ready to fly through the skies on Christmas Eve. Others help Santa keep his naughty and nice list in order, and some elves guard the secret location of Santa's village. Elves make sudden appearances in the days before Christmas, to keep an eye on each children and see which of them are behaving well and obeying their parents. They are believed to be Santa's secret agents and report their findings back to him. Children who are unkind and misbehave have their names added to the naughty list and may wake up Christmas morning to find their filled with lumps of coal or bundles of twigs!The elves could be helpful now. Their mischievousness, however, was still evident in the variety of stories told about them. Tales suggested that how you were treated by the elves depended on whether the person was thought to be naughty or nice! Particularly in America, the diminutive, green with pointy ears type are depicted as Santa's helpers making toys in his workshop at the North Pole.At one stage it was thought that the elves live in Father Christmas' (Santa's) village in North Pole. However, in 1925 it was discovered that there are no reindeer in the North Pole but there are lots in Lapland, Finland. Since reindeers draw the sleigh of Santa Claus, he must be living in an area, where there are large number of these animals available. Since then, it is believed that there is a secret village with a secret passage, somewhere in Lapland, where Santa, his wife and his team of elves live. Nobody has actually seen their village because the passage to it is a secret that is known only to Father Christmas and the elves. But people believe that it is somewhere on the Korvatunturi mountain in the Savukoski county of Lapland, Finland, which is on the Finnish-Russian border.Some people that Santa employs six elves, while others think that he has nine elf assistants. Others think that there are as many as 13 elves living with Santa to help him. Elves are the children of Gryla and Leppaludi and are very clever. They help Santa to design toys and process requests of children that are sent to them through snail mail or emails. The popular Western names of the Christmas elves helping Santa Claus are:1. Alabaster Snowball (Administrator of the Naughty & Nice list).2. Bushy Evergreen (Inventor of the magic toy-making machine).3. Pepper Minstix (Guardian of the secret of where Father Christmas's village is located).4. Shinny Upatree (The oldest friend of Santa and the cofounder of the secret village in Lapland).5. Sugarplum Mary (Head of the Sweat Treats, she is also known as Mary Christmas. She is an assistant to Mrs Claus and helps her in the kitchen).6. Wunorse Openslae (Designer of Father Christmas's sleigh and responsible for its maintenance. He also looks after the reindeers and it is believed that his reindeers reach speeds faster than Christmas tree lights).The ancient folklores of Iceland mention elves by the names of Askasleikir, Bjugnakraekir, Faldafeykir, Gattathefur, Giljagaur, Gluggagaegir, Ketkrokur, Kertasnikir, Pottasleikir, Skyrjarmur, Stekkjarstaur, Stufur and Thvorusleikir. Other names of Santa's elves that can be found are Baggalutur, Bjalmans barnid, Bjalminn sjalfur, Bitahaengir, Frodusleikir, Laekjaraegir, Raudur, Redda, Sledda, Steingrimur, Syrjusleikir, Tifill and Tutur. According to some legends and post-Christian folklore especially in Europe, elves are mischievous pranksters who make special appearances during the lead up to Christmas. For example "Albtraum" is a German word for nightmare which also means "elf dream". Earlier the word meant "elf pressure" as it was believed that nightmares are a result of an elf sitting on the dreamer's head! Elves also were believed to braid people's hair while sleeping, make milk sour and run off with sausages. People of Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway believed that a bowl of porridge left out would prevent elves from playing tricks on people especially during the festive season! Today, elves associated with Christmas are symbols to remind children to be good and not naughty!

Is There a Santa Claus?

From the Editorial Page of The New York Sun,written by Francis P. Church, September 21, 1897We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:
"Dear Editor--I am 8 years old."Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus."Papa says, 'If you see it in The Sun, it's so.'"Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O'Hanlon115 West Ninety-fifth Street
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the scepticism of a sceptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no child-like faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

"Jolly Old Elf"

In 1809 Washington Irving introduced the first American depiction of Santa Claus in Knickerbocker's History of New York. Irving's Santa is of Dutch origin, with baggy breeches, broad brimmed hat, magical long pipe and a habit of laying his finger alongside his nose and winking.
Much of modern-day Santa Claus lore, including the reindeer-drawn sleigh, originated in America. Dr. Clement Clarke Moore composed, The Night Before Christmas, in 1822, to read to his children on Christmas Eve. The poem might have remained privately in the Moore family if a friend had not mailed a copy of it to a newspaper and it quickly became part of the Santa legend.
It was in America that Santa put on weight. The rosy-cheeked, roly-poly Santa is credited to the influential nineteenth-century cartoonist, Thomas Nast. From 1863 until 1886, Nast created a series of Christmas drawings for Harper's Weekly. These drawings, executed over twenty years, exhibit a gradual evolution in Santa from the pudgy, diminutive, elf-like creature of Dr. Moore's immortal poem to the bearded, potbellied, life-size bell ringer familiar on street corners across America today. Nast's cartoons also showed the world how Santa spent his entire year constructing toys, checking on children's behavior, and reading their requests for special gifts. His images were incorporated into the Santa lore.
These legends from around the world give us the Santa Claus of today.

Legend of the Candy Cane

A candy maker in Indiana wanted to make a candy that would be a witness, so he made the Christmas Candy Cane. He incorporated several symbols for the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ.
He began with a stick of pure white, hard candy. White to symbolize the Virgin Birth and the sinless nature of Jesus, and hard to symbolize the Solid Rock, the foundation of the church, and firmness of the promises of God.
The candy maker made the candy in the form of a "J" to represent the precious name of Jesus, who came to earth as our Savior. It also represents the staff of the "Good Shepherd" with which He reaches down into the ditches of the world to lift out the fallen lambs who, like all sheep, have gone astray.
Thinking that the candy was somewhat plain, the candy maker stained it with red stripes. He used the tree small stripes to show the stripes of the scourging Jesus received by which we are healed. The large red stripe was for the blood shed by Jesus on the Cross so that we could have the promise of eternal life, if only we put our faith and trust in Him.
Unfortunately, the candy became known as a Candy Cane - a meaningless decoration seen at Christmas time. But the meaning is still there for those who "have eyes to see and ears to hear".

One Amazing little Pig :)

I just love what God's little creatures can do to enrich our lives.. here is a fun video showing what this little animal can really do ;) Enjoy!!!!

And who said little Piggies are not smart... I have always found them to be very intelligent :) Look at little Arnold Ziffler on Green Acres TV show. Now that was a smart little piggy.

Yes I have this secret love for little piggies.. but they stink so bad. Which is too bad for them ... because I would own a couple if not for the smell. I always wanted one of those little Pygmy pigs.. until I found out they stink too . But I do enjoy seeing stories about smart cute little piggies.

We had pigs when I was growing up as a Child on my Grandfathers farm. It was fun to go out and watch them play. Yes they really do play. I did discover one thing about piggies.. they may smell bad but they tend to have manners about them. Which is a good thing... I can remember those little wet noses nudging your hand for food.... snort snort.. sniff sniff.

I Am In Awe.............

Ok ok as you all know I am a theif... I steal cool things off the inter-net or where ever to share with my readers... Well this item is no exception:

I just had to share this following item with all of my readers!!!

If you have not been to JodyBob's Quilts Blog... please pop over there you will have a awe inspiring time there. Jody makes some of the most fantastic Quilts that I have ever seen.

Here is a Wall Hanging Quilt that she has made for her sister-in-law for Christmas. The sister-in-law raises Koi in the Huston Area....

I have to tell you I have seen a lot of Beautiful Quilts..... but this quilt has blown me away. I love the colors, the ripply water effect... the fish :) Wow, Double wow!!!!! I hope to be able to quilt half as good some day. Great Job Jody!!!!!

Merry Christmas Lights

The wife was on my case to get the Christmas lights up for a couple of weeks. They're up now, and for some reason she won't talk to me?

Hey My Sweet Bloggie Friends :) It's break time :)

I have been hard at work for the last couple of hours moving things around in the new Studio/Sewing Room... I never realized how much junk one could gather in their junk room... Now that I am cleaning it out and making it my studio for the Gracie and my sewing... I have discovered its going to be a year long job figuring out what to do with everything up there..

My first idea is to trash it all!!!! but alas.. there is so much good stuff up there.. like all those sewing boxes I purchased with all those wonderful vintage buttons in them. Hey I have an Idea I should post them on here and see if any of you would purchase them. I have tons of other wonderful things too. Like Buttons, lace, floss, patterns, did I say buttons?????? Yes I have tons of those.. they fill up two of those huge metal trash cans. I need to get them sold :) I can't seem to get them sold on Etsy or Ebay.. (they are great craft buttons, old, vintage, re-claimed) so why not try selling a few bunches of those things here :)

Next is to finish getting the shelves up so I can display all of my vintage toy sewing machines. They are all still packed up in plastic tubs. Which are stacked up there too. I am going to take the day bed down and put it in the basement.. no one ever comes to visit. I have a dresser that needs to go down to my bedroom. I never had anyone to help move it. My brother said he would help when ever I called. Yeah for Brothers!!!!!

I still have tons of fabric to put up on my shelving units too. I have discovered I still have Christmas decorations out from last year hidden up there under all the rubble. Ugh!!!!! Oh well it takes time to fix something that took years to make. It would be different if I could just clean everything out of the room... but there is no where to put it while I do that. So I am moving re-arranging as I go along. I hate to work like that.

But I can see progress. It's just not fast enough for my taste.

But my neck and back give out quick and I have to take breaks often. (Darn Car Wreck Anyway!!!) But if I keep prodding along... I will get it done eventually :) I can truthfully say its over half way done now :) I will have to post a couple of photos I have taken along the way. This is just one side of the room.. there is a whole other side where the Grace will go.

There is going to be another set of shelves just like these on the other side of the room. There is also another table like these where my two Singer Feather Lights are going... plus I have another Baby Lock to put up there. I like to keep one machine with white thread, one with black thread.. then my usual machine that I like to sew on. The Singers sew through almost anything :) As you can see my thread racks are still empty and there is fabric strung out everywhere. The items up under the tables need to go to the basement yet. That is where I am going to store my extras .. like lace, patterns, wool fabric, felt, floss, buttons, cross stitch stuff, thread, sewing machines, and anything that is sewing related that is not up on the shelf or in a drawer. I would like to point out that I am going to make table skirts for the sewing machine tables and matching curtains for the windows.. but I know that will have to come in time.. I just have to get everything up there and in some sort of order. I know making the table skirts and curtains will make a big change in how it looks also.. Yes I have a ton of sewing stuff... I have had a sewing material stash for years... almost 30 years I bet. One thing for sure I can tell you I love it up there .. .I really like going up there to sew... it seems like a different world up there. It's away from the rest of the house and all the other stuff that goes on in daily life. My get away place :)

Ok now that I have showed you my dirty sewing room... and still not completely organized... please don't hold it against me!!! I am working as fast as I can .....LOL

Ok back to work my break is over...(Dang that Marcel is such a slave driver) She is only allowing me a 15-20 min break. Darn girl anyway :)

**** Whoosh... my booties were not in the Photo :)****

I forgot to add this little photo.. see those black wire rack things.. I have to put some more of those together to match the height and width of these already up....After I finish getting them together... I can finish putting up my fabrics. Then they will look organize too :)Yes there are some unfinished quilt tops in that first wire box at the top of the photo.. I hope to solve that problem in the future :) Now that Grace is living with me :)Yes I still have quite a bit to do but I will eventually get there :)

I just love these Christmas Light videos :)