Which country does Christmas the best?

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

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

Pepparkakor, most likely.  I'll be making some of that soon.

[Caliga]

Well this thread turned out to contain some unexpected content.

[DontSayBanana]

The comparison of Christmas traditions made me think of this:

David Sedaris - Six to Eight Black Men (YouTube)

[garbon]

I need to get one of those.  Apparently I'm not going to be inheriting my parents' nativity set.  Problem is my 1-year old (who already things all the Christmas tree ornaments are her toys) would lose half the pieces.

I need to remember to get my nativity set out of the things I left stored in California.

[garbon]

Take a closer look at that plinth - WTF? 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MduCeL5WerM/ULhr763U6AI/AAAAAAAARn4/kjZNlXT20Gk/s1600/tumblr_mdu6m75NjZ1qgs0jno2_500.png

[Syt]

WTF?  Is there some special significance to a dude taking a dump at Jesus' birth?

Background:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caganer

I like the Catalan pre-meal saying quoted there: "menja bé, caga fort i no tinguis por a la mort!" (Eat well, shit strong, and don't fear death!) The Catalans also seem to have a xmas tree log for kids that shits candy for them. Those guys seem rather obsessed.

[The Larch]

WTF?  Is there some special significance to a dude taking a dump at Jesus' birth?

Background:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caganer

I like the Catalan pre-meal saying quoted there: "menja bé, caga fort i no tinguis por a la mort!" (Eat well, shit strong, and don't fear death!) The Catalans also seem to have a xmas tree log for kids that shits candy for them. Those guys seem rather obsessed.

Yup, the log is called Tió:



Kids are supposed to "feed" it during the buildup for Christmas and on Christmas day they have to beat him with sticks while singing a song to make him shit candy. Freud would have a field day with those traditions.

[Admiral Yi]

Might explain all the German tourists at Ibiza. 

[The Brain]

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

Pepparkakor, most likely.  I'll be making some of that soon.

[dps]

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

Voted Britain/Dickens

I might have voted that way, if I thought that Christmas in Britian, as portrayed by Dickens, actually closely resembled how Christmas is celebrated in modern Britian.

[derspiess]

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

Voted Britain/Dickens

I might have voted that way, if I thought that Christmas in Britian, as portrayed by Dickens, actually closely resembled how Christmas is celebrated in modern Britian.

I'm sure it is here: http://www.dickensworld.co.uk/

[derspiess]

WTF?  Is there some special significance to a dude taking a dump at Jesus' birth?

Background:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caganer

I like the Catalan pre-meal saying quoted there: "menja bé, caga fort i no tinguis por a la mort!" (Eat well, shit strong, and don't fear death!) The Catalans also seem to have a xmas tree log for kids that shits candy for them. Those guys seem rather obsessed.

Yup, the log is called Tió:



Kids are supposed to "feed" it during the buildup for Christmas and on Christmas day they have to beat him with sticks while singing a song to make him shit candy. Freud would have a field day with those traditions.

Awesome.  I think I'll just start with the Caganer and see how that works.  My wife had never heard of it (she barely knows what or where the hell Cataluña is).  Tommy thought it was hilarious.