Which country does Christmas the best?

[Tonitrus]

For Russia it should really be New Year, it's a lot closer to American Christmas than Russian Christmas is.  My vote goes for Russia as well:  they get more than a week of holidays around that time to marinate their livers.

Not to mention, they give their Santa a hot babe sidekick. 

[Malthus]

Bad enough that Krampus exists as a custom - but for what reason would anyone give a "Krampus card"? 

Same reason so many other Christmas traditions exist-- to scare the kids into being good.

Yeah, I get that's the reason behind Krampus. What I don't get is - why a postcard? One doesn't usually send young children postcards.

[Malthus]

For Russia it should really be New Year, it's a lot closer to American Christmas than Russian Christmas is.  My vote goes for Russia as well:  they get more than a week of holidays around that time to marinate their livers.

Not to mention, they give their Santa a hot babe sidekick. 

Tell me more.

[derspiess]

Bad enough that Krampus exists as a custom - but for what reason would anyone give a "Krampus card"? 

Same reason so many other Christmas traditions exist-- to scare the kids into being good.

Yeah, I get that's the reason behind Krampus. What I don't get is - why a postcard? One doesn't usually send young children postcards.

Well, then maybe it's for adults to get more laughs at their kids' expense

[Tonitrus]

For Russia it should really be New Year, it's a lot closer to American Christmas than Russian Christmas is.  My vote goes for Russia as well:  they get more than a week of holidays around that time to marinate their livers.

Not to mention, they give their Santa a hot babe sidekick. 

Tell me more.

[Sheilbh]

Yes, the decorations were lovely, but the people seemed miserable.

Well, they are German

[Malthus]

For Russia it should really be New Year, it's a lot closer to American Christmas than Russian Christmas is.  My vote goes for Russia as well:  they get more than a week of holidays around that time to marinate their livers.

Not to mention, they give their Santa a hot babe sidekick. 

Tell me more.

Youza.

Heh did an image search of "Snegurochka". You weren't joking. 

Russian Christmas just moved ahead of German ... I guess I'll take "hot snow babe" over "pedophile S&M demon" any day.   

[Syt]

The great thing about Vienna in Xmas time: lots of great christmas markets.

The bad thing about Vienna in Xmas time: lots of tourists from abroad and proles from the Austrian countryside clogging public transport and getting shitfaced at christmas markets.

Nothing you can't handle with punch and glühwein, though.

[Valmy]

I did some research about Austria during WWI and man were those people in Vienna committed to Christmas.  Despite practically slave hours in the armaments factories, massive casualties, privations to the point of starvation, social unrest, and all the other joys of being in the middle of a nation in its dying days...they would rally and do all the Christmas stuff every year.  I couldn't decide if it was admirable or pathetic but they were hard core making it look as if everything was as it always was, though their ersatz ways of making the traditional Christmas stuff sounded pretty vile.

So I just have to vote for them.  That was some commitment to Christmas cheer.

[Viking]

I take your paedophile S&M Demon and raise to a kiddie eating cat.



http://www.grapevine.is/Author/ReadArticle/the-christmas-cat

"We've got this database of monsters and creatures in our past. These stories are fascinating, it's a shame that they're not used more in modern culture," remarked comic artist Hugleikur Dagsson in an interview this summer. The Grapevine promptly drafted Dagsson to illustrate a series of articles on these monsters of yore. For this ninth instalment in the series Dagsson depicts one of Iceland's creepiest critters and the reason we sport cool new threads during the holidays; Jólakötturinn, the Christmas Cat.
    Jólakötturinn is a lovable, wholly unholy beast, a sort of proto-fashion police whose impeccable sense of style, in your face attitude and lack of respect for human life terrified Icelanders into stylistic submission in ways that today's anorexia-inducing Vogues and Cosmopolitans can only dream of. The ginormous cat's sole purpose in life is to eat children (and adults, some say) that do not get a new piece of clothing before Christmas. Yes, it devours financially disadvantaged children.This is the kind of message Icelanders like to send out in their folklore: if you do not have the money or means of acquiring new items of clothing before the festival of lights, you will be eaten by a gigantic cat. This is one of the reasons that Icelanders clock in more hours of overtime at their jobs than most European nations: to avoid the cat, we stayed up sewing or knitting in the olden days, and we stayed up graphic designing or stock-brokering in early 2008.
    Some versions of the Jólakötturinn story actually claim he did no such thing as eat kids, opting rather to steal all their food and holiday treats instead. While its a far cry better than chewing them to a bloody pulp and devouring their tasty flesh, its still real mean of him. Not much is known about Jólakötturinn's origins, in fact a famous poem about him ny Iceland's beloved bard Jóhannes úr Kötlum accurately proclaimed that "no one knows where he's from or where he goes".
    Although he is believed to have terrified Icelanders since the dark ages, written records detailing the murderous feline and its children-eating ways only go back to the nineteenth century. He is thought to be the house-cat of the evil troll Grýla (she also liked the taste of children – more on her in next issue), her troll husband Leppalúði and the non-trollish thirteen mischief-making Yule-lads in a cave somewhere up in the mountains. As far as we know, Jólakötturinn and his evil, biting teeth are still at large. Merry Christmas, everybody!

Basically any kid who doesn't behave well enough to get given presents is eaten by the christmas cat.

[HVC]

christmas cat? icelanders are just lazy if that's the best they got.

Aren't they thecountry where like 25% of the people believe in gnomes? you'd think they'd come up with something better

[syk]

Never heard of this Krampus before.

[jimmy olsen]

I saw Patrick Stewart play Scrooge in a play once. He was absolutely epic.

Voted Britain/Dickens

[Josquius]

Sweden has glog. And those lovely ginger thingies I can't remember the name of. Which is awesome.

[Syt]

Never heard of this Krampus before.

It's an Austrian thing. Yesterday was Krampus day, today is Nikolo.