Ofelia and Microvaark wanted to make a cracker for the tree, so they found some materials, but they realised it might turn out a bit big, so they had to cut things down a bit.
Christmas Crackers started as a way to sell bon-bons, and the shape mimics the paper twist the sweet was wrapped in. The inventor Tom Smith added the ‘snap’ when he heard a log crackling on the fire. The jokes are always awful!
Bernard decided to do a check of the accounts before Christmas. Microvaark said not to count his money, as he wanted to make a withdrawal.
Chocolate coins are often given at Christmas, because St Nicholas gave money to poor children. They come in gold and silver foil, and all sorts of denominations – although they are always round, not shaped like a 50p!
Many people think robins started to be put on Christmas cards because the postmen who delivered cards wore red tunics. Gino wonders if he’d make a good postman.
But there is also a story that a robin helped to keep the Baby Jesus warm by tending the fire in the stable, and that a spark turned its breast red.
Vincent and Winston decided to get a Yule Log for our tree. They were very pleased to find a chocolate one!
The yule log was originally a big log brought in to burn for the whole Christmas period, but we like the chocolate version best – a chocolate swiss roll iced to look like a log, with perhaps a robin sitting on it. Much tastier than a lump of wood!
Hypnovaark wanted a star to put on our tree, so he went out to catch one.
In the story of the Nativity, the Wise Men follow a star to find the baby Jesus. Some people think that it might have been a comet. Stars are very popular as decorations on Christmas trees, being shiny.
For the first day of advent, we decided to put a bauble on our tree, so Ernest and I went foraging and found a boxful, and chose our favourite.
Christmas trees used to be decorated with fruit, but then some clever glass blowers in Germany started to make glass ornaments to hang on trees instead, which will keep from year to year – if you don’t drop them!
We were just getting a few bits of décor up for Christmas, when Winston rushed in and said he’d got something amazing at a sale – a crystal tree! So I told him to bring it in.
Well! It’s all in bits! We’ll have to work together to assemble it all.
So, we got to work, slotting all the pieces together. It got quite tall, and Ernest had to climb up it to put the last piece in place.
Well, it is pretty! And it’s got all these little cups to hold decorations. There are 25 of them, so we will bring a different thing each day until Christmas, and it will be our Advent Calendar!
