Merry Christmas, Santa!

Yuletide Lads

If you have trouble believing in that one Santa Claus, be thankful you don’t live in Iceland.

Their Christmas tradition has 13 Santa Claus or what they call “Yuletide Lads” who either leave presents

or pull pranks on children during the 26 day holiday season as a reward or punishment for their behavior.

For instance, one of the lads Grýla who is actually a horrifying old woman kidnaps children on Christmas Day if they have been naughty.

Though technically that’s really more of a present for the parents, HO HO HO!

Fake Christmas trees, anyone?

Now if you’re one of those who frown upon the use of artificial Christmas trees

They’ve actually existed for much longer than you think

Apparently thee oldest fake trees date back to 1886 in London and were made out of green raffia, you know the twine that’s more commonly used to make grass hula skirts.

Other varieties were made in the latter part of the 19th century in Germany

and used tabletop feathers from geese that were dyed pine-green.

Then… the Addis Brush Company used their toilet brush weaving machinery to create pine-like branches for their fake Christmas trees.

They proved very popular because they were less flammable, they were able to hold heavier decorations

and could make your toilet bowl sparkling clean as well.

Wait! You might wanna think twice before you kiss under the mistletoe

If you’re hoping to steal a kiss from underneath the Mistletoe this Christmas, wait till you hear this!

Apparently this quasi-parasitic plant has a “symbiotic relationship” with a bird called the mistle thrush.

The bird eats the berries, digests the seeds and then leaves droppings which eventually grow into new mistletoe plants.

Which explains why the Germanic word for “mistletoe” literally means “dung on a twig.”