My dad convinced me when I was a kid to leave a glass of scotch out for Santa instead of milk because "he gets that everywhere, maybe he'd enjoy a change". It took me years to figure out 😅
My dad insisted that chocolate chip cookies with nuts and cherries were Santa’s favorite, so we had to make them every Christmas even though at the time neither my sister nor myself liked nuts or cherries. 😁
I like to picture Tolkien sitting in a chair, watching his grandchildren wacthing THE FLINTSTONES and sees Fred Flintsone, of the ostensibly prehistoric Bedrock, putting up a Christmas tree and dressing as Santa, and absolutely having a coniption.
Well, it is implied in the show Stone Age cowboys fought Palaeo-Indians, so perhaps there was a Stone Age Jesus? (No pun on Stone Age Venus, but since Saturnalia and the solstice festival to Dionysos preceded Christmas, perhaps they would have done that if there was no censorship.)
"Don't forget old Father Christmas, when you light your tree. I suppose you will be hanging up your stocking just once more: I hope so for I have still a few little things for you. After this I shall have to say “goodbye”, more or less: I mean, I shall not forget you." Tolkien, Letters
Hogfather has become as important of a yearly Christmas read for me as A Christmas Carol. I’m impressed that you managed to make a cohesive video out of that mess of lore. Have a Merry Christmas and a happy Hogswatch.
This video rivals your earlier vampire one. Top notch content, an intricate exploration of the tale of Santa Claus. You really have a way of sifting through myths and legends, then distilling the essence of what makes these stories so powerful. Bravo Jess!
Wow, I need to watch Klaus now. Also Merry Christmas everybody, especially to those who are extremely stressed, or dealing with loneliness or worried about the Yule Lads leaving them dairy-less this winter.
I've got to agree with you on the whole shelf elf business. Way too commercially creepy for me. Hope you're getting just the right amount of snow up there... You know the reindeer can't land the sleigh without out! And I hope you have a wonderful Christmas, and that Santa brings you everything you could possibly ask for.
For the past 10 years, it has been my personal tradition that when asked what I want for Christmas I will respond with “hookers, cocaine and world peace…but I’ll be happy with any two out of three”. After watching this video, I guess I’m a bit of a Saint Nick purist. Also I concur, Elf on a Shelf must go. Then again, ever since I was a little kid, I found all dolls creepy and they give me the feeling that they’re something sinister. Also I love that you dropped the gentle, whimsical reading voice to put out that ‘nope’ public service announcement.
38:00 A Terry Pratchett video would be the best Xmas present ever. To me personally (don't kill me), he's still the greatest fantasy author ever given, yes, his ability to "lovingly lambaste", as you put it, while at the same time taking the entire sum of the human experience and then dropping it on a flat world on the backs of four elephants which, themselves, travel the cosmos on the shell of a giant turtle swimming through the universe. Well, "greatest" is subjective, but he's certainly my favorite, ahead of everyone else. GNU.
So far the one that I liked best was The Amazing Maurice, and given how I've read a fair amount of Discworld by this point it seriously bothers me that it's just been that one. I greatly respect and admire Pratchett as a person and as a creative mind, but for some reason his writing style hasn't quite worked for me personally. I love the Hogfather miniseries as well as Good Omens (ignoring the fact that Gaiman is a predator, which led to me selling his stuff to a used book store) but actually reading his work has mostly not done it for me and it bugs me that I can't quite pinpoint/articulate why that is. I greatly enjoyed his essay collection, A Slip of The Keyboard, and was initially drawn to Discworld for a reason, so clearly the man was full of worthwhile ideas. I'm a weirdo who cites The Dark Tower as my favorite fantasy book series, and if you're at all interested in learning something about it then Dan Sinykin said the following in his book ‘Big Fiction: How Conglomeration Changed the Publishing Industry and American Literature’ (big spoilers for later books in the series btw): If Misery demystifies authorship, forgoing the aura of the romantic genius for the quotidian reality of work, then King’s Dark Tower series challenges the idea of the individual author itself. It is a quest narrative, a loose novelization of Robert Browning’s poem “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”. Roland Deschain must find the Dark Tower. Across the first few novels, Roland gathers his companions who form a company or, in the series’ Tolkienesque language, a ka-tet. They come to learn that they are characters created by Stephen King who they must protect from the evil Crimson King if they want to complete their quest. The Crimson King is affiliated with a massive conglomerate whose goal “to be everywhere, own everything, and basically control the universe.” Roland’s ka-tet, in response, forms the Tet Corporation to ensure that King finishes the series. The series becomes a contest between a tyrannical conglomerate and a corporation oriented toward the greater good. The Tet Corporation is aligned with genre fiction. Its headquarters in the series is the same building in New York that in real life houses Dell Press, publisher of several genre writers who inspired King. The ka-tet saves King, who saves Roland, who arrives at the Dark Tower and defeats the Crimson King. Allan interprets The Dark Tower as allowing King to reimagine his work as an author: rather than a brand producing financial capital for his conglomerate publisher, he can see himself “as a member of a larger, communal organization that produces something other than the empty brand”; he can define himself “in relationship not only to his own novels, but also within a longer lineage of literary production”; he can be himself “entrusted with a larger institutional project.” I want to push Allan’s insights further. Something more radical is at work in the series. Allan notes that the Tet Corporation makes literal King’s “indebtedness to other writers and filmmakers, and even to his own work.” Indeed, King is understood as a member of the ka-tet and his work is subsumed by the collective labor of the Tet Corporation. King is recognizing how many people contribute to any work of literature. Even as his name remains on the cover, a necessary brand, he goes beyond his rejection of the romantic author in Misery to reject individual authorship itself. He romanticizes authorship by associating it with a postwar corporation set against an evil conglomerate, illustrating the conglomerate authorship of the conglomerate era. He enacted his resistance to conglomeration by publishing the series with an independent fantasy and science fiction publisher, Donald Grant. King grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, when the United States was enjoying one of the greatest periods in the history of capitalism, and the large corporation was the organizing structure at its heart. 3M, General Motors, U. S. Steel: they provided good, stable jobs and encouraged a filial sensibility. People spent their lives working for one company. When the postwar boom transitioned into the long downturn in the 1970s, management practices transitioned, too, from loyalty and stability toward flexibility under the aegis of shareholder value. Conglomerates swallowed corporations. King’s oeuvre from the 1970s through the final volume of The Dark Tower in 2004 expresses, in part, a nostalgia for the fair economic winds and paternalistic corporatism of the postwar boom, when, in his fantasy, a writer was not eclipsed by his brand but instead was a worker among workers, with a certain solidarity. Of course, such nostalgia was less useful for - because the boom years were less hospitable to - white women and people of color.
@@DEVILTAZ35 Did you get the number of the donkey cart? I remember getting distracted from the game and hearing behind me "Tap tap tap... Helloo0oo, anybody there?" and looking back seeing Rincewind with his nose pressed against the 'window' of the computer screen.
While Father Christmas' presence in Narnia in LWW was unexplained, the Magician's Nephew offers a plausible reason why Christmas might have been celebrated in Narnia - King Frank and Queen Helen came from London, c. 1900, and would undoubtedly have been familiar with the concept of Christmas. If they and their children and subjects celebrated the mid-winter festival (at least in the less explicitly Christian aspects), there would have been a Narnian Christmas, and a space for Father Christmas to fill, just like the many other creatures out of myth and folklore we encounter in Narnia. Of course, the Doylist explanation is simply that Christmas is, and has been, a major part of English life, so, naturally, it's part of the great stew of varied concepts that got ladled into Lewis' work.
Fun fact, in Greece, the equivalent of Santa Claus isn't Saint Nicholas but Saint Basil the Great (both Greeks from Asia Minor). He is known for his great humanitarian work while he lived and our traditional chistmas songs are about how he is bringing gifts from Caesarea (modern day central Turkey). Funnily though, in Greece we didn't decorate trees during Christmas, but miniature boats, which was done to praise Saint Nicholas who is the Saint protector of sailors. This tradition has faded away in the mainland nowadays, but in the islands it's still followed.
@@rikhuravidansker No, no, that's Basil II Porphyrogenitos. Saint Basil, also known as Basil of Caesarea lived almost 600 years before the emperor with the same name.
The Finnish version is "Joulupukki" (literally "Yule buck"), which originates from Kekripukki. Kekri was the main feast of the year, celebrated after harvest over 1000 years. The bucks dressed in an upside-down furcoat, birchbark mask and horns and circled in houses asking for food and drink. When people started celebrating Christmas instead of Kekri, the buck became Joulupukki and started bringing presents too. But he still visits us in person on Christmas eve, although now he looks like in Coca Cola ad.
I said it last week: my favorite Santa will always be “a nonconformist and a rebel!” I was a child during some turbulent times in the US and it wasn’t a bad thing to make some of our heroes be anti-establishment if the authorities were pushing things that weren’t right. I loved that Santa, or Kris Kringle, was the type of guy that believed someone could change their ways and become a better person and, simple as his story is, the Winter Warlock is just the best reformed villain EVER, in my opinion. I also loved Klaus, as you mentioned. Any of those stories that involve an imperfect or flawed character who does some wonderfully kind acts will rank high among my favorites.
My parents are from Pennsylvania coal country. Every family had an electric train around the tree. My mother and I build an Xmas village on a 4' x 8' plywood panel. We would decorate it with houses and people and every building was lit from beneath. Those Xmases were some of my best memories from a childhood that did not engender a want of remembering.
Thanks, your video really got me into the Christmas spirit today. Particularly how you ended it, talking about how Santa reflects who we are and what we value. I also think there's an interesting angle about how Santa is a manifestation of the Magician archetype, which builds on another comment I saw here about how Santa seems to relate to characters like Gandalf and Merlin.
Aslan goes by another name in our world. In Narnia, Aslan is King of Beasts, Son of the Emperor Over the Sea, and King above all High Kings. I leave it to you to discover His name in our world. Very good work on this episode.
@@Jess_of_the_Shire Talking about Christmas, I would think Father Christmastide came about because the reaction to church corruption (i.e. including the bawdiness of Christmastide), and thus St. Nicholas emerged as Father Christmas around C.E. 1600 to bring back Christianity, but was co-opted by the traditional English bawdiness dating back to paganism.
Thank you for the timely reminder about the bags of coins for Christmas - I'd forgotten to get them this year, and no-one else had any either. It wouldn't have spoiled the day, of course, but it's a fun little tradition, scattering them around and then finding them the next morning.
I’m going to share a couple of fun traditions in my family. One is we have these little handmade yarn ornaments that open. We call them kiss monsters. Every day while our kids are away, the kiss monsters come and deliver a Hershey’s kiss into the little ornament until Christmas Day. It’s a little bit like elf on the shelf, but much easier for us as parents! The other tradition is inspired by Tolkien’s Christmas letters. Several years ago my husband came across Tolkien’s Christmas letters in a secondhand shop and when our daughter was old enough, he began reading it to her leading up to Christmas. We encouraged her to write her own letter to Santa and my husband responded with some of the same myths from Tolkien’s letters. One year, a very mischievous elf and the North Poler Bear “borrowed” Santa’s sleigh and rescued a trinket that my daughter had lost.
Very good video, Jess. I'm glad you stick to what we know and can know for Santa's origins Seriously, I'm always reluctant to watch videos or read articles about Santa, because many of them will include the "Santa is Odin" nonsense, and I've had it with that.
A Santa story that I’m particularly fond of is the comic book series Klaus by Grant Morrison and Dan Mora, which is a re-imagining of Santa Claus as a wild shaman of the winter in the 16th century. Basically it’s got Santa and Krampus as a superhero and supervillain respectively, and it is awesome! So awesome in fact that its popularity led to us getting more issues beyond the original 7 that made up what was supposed to be just a miniseries (Atop The Fourth Wall did a fun review of those first 7 issues last year if you’re at all interested). PS Overly Sarcastic Productions have 5 really fun videos that I would highly recommend watching titled ‘Holiday Tales: Christmas’, ‘Modern Classics Summarized: A Christmas Carol’, ‘TOP 12 FICTIONAL PSEUDO-CHRISTMASES’, ‘Detail Diatribe: Christmas Movie Showdown!’ and ‘History-Makers: Saint Nicholas to Santa Claus’.
I am from Finland. I have not heard of 'Old Man Winter'. We have _Joulupukki_ which literally means 'Christmas [Male] Goat'. He is not a goat, though, but a human-like being.
When my grandsons were little, I started the tradition of The Kindness Elves. They look like the elf in the shelf but bring little gifts or things to make for others or silly tricks. Much better than elves who spy on you!
Great video, Jess! Since I was a history major in college with a particular focus on medieval history, I knew most of this, but the way you synthesized it into a story was very enjoyable! Also, I love Terry Pratchett's Hogfather book. When I first read it, the part about "a mere ball of flaming gas would have illuminated the world" reminded me of Ramandu, in the third Narnia story the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, telling Eustace, "Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is, but only what it is made of."
You could check: Sint-Nikolaas in Belgium and the Netherlands. It has the roots you described but when a different route still on december 6th like your image. It's a 'different' take on all of this.
After all of the videos about Tolkien's letters, I did buy the collection this year. I read it while waiting on my car's regular maintenance to be finished. It was a lovely way to spend the time!
One of my favourite Santa films is Santa Claus: The Movie, starring Dudley Moore, mainly due to the fact that it was made by the same people who made 1978's Superman, and it features an Origin story, such like a Comic book does.
One of the traditions my dad’s side of the family had was cutting down a cedar tree instead of the traditional balsam fir or spruce. The shape of a cedar tree is not as pronounced as a traditional tree but definitely smells unlike any other Christmas trees lol Also being part Swedish it was traditional for us to open gifts at midnight instead of the morning. That was cool.
My folks and I still address gifts to each other as coming from Santa and his elves. Little stocking gifts are from the elves and the elf’s name is usually a hint of what the gift is, while the bigger present is just from Santa.
Here in Hungary, we have both Mikulas and Christmas. Mikulas or Father Winter is on 6 December and originates from St Nicholas, it's a smaller holiday where kids must polish their boots and they are filled with sweets if they'be been good, or a simbolic bouquet of twigs from Krampus, supposedly to be spanked with. Then at Christmas, it's Baby Jesus who brings the presents, that is a bigger family/religious holiday. We celebrate with closest family with a Christmas dinner and opening presents on Christmas Eve, then see other relatives on Christmas Day and/or Boxing Day. I've lived in the Netherlands for a while, and I've learnt they celebrate Sinterklaas (Santa Claus) on 6 December, and for them, that's the big family Christmas equivalent.
Adding some to the tomte myth, in the olden days you said each farm had their own farmtomte and you had to please him all year around. Christmas just happened to during the coldest time of the year so it was extra important to keep him happy since having a happy tomte would help your farm thrive, but an angry one might kill you best milk cow. Moving on to modern days tomtar still fill a similar gnomes but Santa is the Tomte. The words definitive form "tomten" is also a good example of the Swedish hard to learn pitch accent, since depending on which syllable focus on it can mean Santa or the land lot.
In my family we have a sort of Christmas tradition of eating our mince pies with Stilton Cheese in them, sounds odd but tastes delicious. And of course a Stilton laden mince pie would be left out for Santa along with carrots for the reindeer and a Christmas drink.
beautiful video as always! im always impressed by the way you link together pop culture and modern stories to some really unknown myths and how they tie together. My family has a tradition of my dad always saying he's not gonna make his famous Polish potato egg salad until my sister and I threaten to make it and he takes over to make sure it comes out perfect, my mom making enchiladas and tearing up chicken with us while watching Golden Girls Christmas episodes and my brother in law and I somehow always making the same side dish 🧡 Merry Christmas Jess!
Julemanden! (Danish version) [literally means 'the Christmas guy'] Grey clothes, red hat. Short stature, brings gifts. He uses Nisse (tiny elves) to make the presents and also tidy up your house.
Merry Christmas Jess. Your videos are kind, positive, well researched and prepared and entertaining and I really think you have a great channel. Good luck for 2025!
I finally had a chance to watch. Excellent video as usual. These seem to be getting better and more elaborate, which is a good thing. One thing that kind of took me out though was that around 37:50, she mentions that Elf and other such comedies were filmed in the "latter half of the 19th century." I had to go back to make sure I'd heard that correctly. Sorry Jess, the 1990's were in the 20th century. That's a small quibble though.
In school before Christmas break we would always get a baggie of “reindeer food” (oatmeal and glitter, so Rudolph’s nose would reflect off it and the reindeer could find your house).
My parents would sneak into our rooms while we were asleep Christmas Eve to give us our stockings. That way we'd have something to play with Christmas Morning and not wake them until a more reasonable hour to open presents.
Once again, you made my day ❤ I mean, it's cold and wet and dark outside and I won't describe what my nose and lungs produce at the moment, but I feel reaally cosy now 🌲
This video was actually great to watch after seeing the movie "Red One", it gives background to a lot of the characters in that movie (Gryla, Krampus, St. Nikolas of Myra)
In some regions of Italy Santa (Babbo Natale, "father Christmas") puts gifts under the tree, not in stockings. Stockings are filled with toys and sweets by "la Befana" January 6. She is an old lady travelling on a flying broom from house to house to give candies to good children and coal to the bad ones. Some northern regions don't have Babbo Natale but they celebrate Saint Lucy the 13 of December. She too brings gifts to children by going house to house with her donkey
The gifts under the tree is a worldwide (at least "western world") tradition. I'm not 100% sure but I think it is one of those European pagan traditions repacked in the USA and then re-exported here. Befana and Presepe seem to be more Italian, although I have not really researched their origin.
Father Christmas in Narnia is clearly to serve as a John the Baptist type character to prepare the children for the coming of Aslan. He fits that archetype.
I wish I saw this video last night as I would have made a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows and settled down to listen to your telling. As it is being early Sunday morning here in Australia I think I will settle on just a coffee instead. Funnily enough the only Santa Claus I have seen this year is an AI advert for Coca Cola which was comically appropriate I am sure you would agree.
Back in 2004 for Christmas my mom bought the LOTR extended version trilogy on good old DVD. For years afterward we’d marathon the trilogy every Christmas
Jess! Thank you for all the wonderful content & your lovely self! Wishing you & your loved ones: only goodness this Holiday Season & throughout the New Year! We Love You❤ ❤❤
I no longer celebrate Christmas, although when I was growing up in the 70's it was a big part of my life. In that tiny little town Santa came in every Christmas Eve on a fire truck, and sat in the fire hall so kids could tell him their Christmas wishes. At the time my Grandfather was fire chief for the local volunteer fire department, and one of the other firefighters would play Santa. High school girls would play elves, and when you were done you'd get a paper lunch bag half full of peanuts, an orange, and five or six chocolate bonbons. Most of the families in town would be there, the adults drinking coffee and visiting. The line of children would go around the firehouse and out into the street. It was a celebration for the whole town, population of about 1000, as well as all the local farms. Starting in the 80's and accelerating through the 90's the town started to fill up with rich people, mostly moving in from California and looking for a "Small town lifestyle." Today the population is closer to 20,000 and all the rich immigrants decided that tradition interfered with their Christmas Eve plans. Since they now controlled the town them moved it to the first Thursday in December. It's not the same. It's sad when a small town dies.
@@Jess_of_the_Shire Speaking of fantasy holidays, Ginny Di recently put out a video called 'This quick & easy worldbuilding move brings your setting to life' that you might appreciate.
NotJeff here. I never quite understood the idea of Santa leaving a lump of coal for bad kids. The poor always struggled to stay warm in the winter, and a nice lump of coal that would heat their home for hours or days? That would be wonderful! Happy Christmas to you, Jess and all the hobbits!
My father threatened to put a lump of coal in our Christmas stockings if we were bad (later 1940’s, early 1950’s). I thought it would be nice to get one: I had not seen any, as our house was heated with natural gas.
Try a video on Sankta Lucia! The other saint who's still celebrated in a largely secular world. But mostly in Sweden. Which is odd, considering she was Italian. Another bit of a mythic mixup. Or a case of the saint being reinvented to meet the needs of the people: light in the midst of a cold, dark winter. In this case very cold and dark. Anyway, another great dive into cultural history, and of the most important sort: the kind that really touches hearts. But...whatever happened to the Nativity Story? A few movies and church displays. And lawn ornaments. That's the tradition that really needs reviving. I do what I can. (Hint...) Merry Christmas, Jess!
"The kinder version of the Hogfather is said to have originated in the legend of a local king who, one Winter's night, happened to be passing, or so he said, the home of three young women and heard them sobbing because they had no food to celebrate the mid-Winter feast. He took pity on them and threw a packet of sausages through the window - badly concussing one of them, but there's no point in spoiling a good legend." ~ The Discworld Companion 38:57
The Santa origin story I grew up with was Rankin-Bass’ Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Santa was a human raised by elf toymakers who went up against a literal N*zi (there were no overt symbols, but he was mean, German, and the design of his sidekick’s armor looked suspicious). Some might say that the idea of Santa as a rebel fighting the ultra-right is more timely than ever now.
Others might say that the idea of Santa fighting against a post-Christian totalitarian government is more timely than ever, but that talk has changed to a sigh of relief after Nov 5. =)
I remember people talking about the Jesús Child only when i was a very little kid. As i grew older and moved to the city he was replaced by Santa. The fella couldn't compete
every Christmas Eve my family watches the 1951 movie A Christmas Carol with Alistair Sim and we have a drinking game where we drink every time there's a line that my dad, who grew up watching the movie, uses in day-to-day conversations
The song “Santa Clause is coming to town” reminds me of the movie western High Noon where the chief villain is coming to town to kill our hero, and will arrive on the noon train. Change of topic. About 1 1/3 years ago you did a video about having a LOTR marathon. We had one last dec 31, since everyone was off work. This year we will have a disk world marathon
I haven’t celebrated Xmas for years now as I lost my Dad on Boxing Day so it just isn’t a good time. Both my parents and grandparents are all gone anyway.
I'm not so sure if this is entirely accurate a belief, but I do think Gandalf (as well as the other Wizards like Radagast potentially) were slightly based on St. Nick. Think about it, they're old, usually jolly, bearded men who give gracious gifts (fireworks in Gandalf's case) and often like to do visits from time to time, usually when there're times of happiness and joyousness. The reason I hesitate to see this view of mine as entirely valid is that Gandalf is moreso akin to the legendary character of Merlin who served King Arthur, as Gandalf served Aragorn when he became King Elessar of Arnor and Gondor.
My dad convinced me when I was a kid to leave a glass of scotch out for Santa instead of milk because "he gets that everywhere, maybe he'd enjoy a change". It took me years to figure out 😅
I left sherry and mince pies. Always worked!
We used to leave out a Pint of Guiness
Power move
@@Jess_of_the_Shire Indeed
My dad insisted that chocolate chip cookies with nuts and cherries were Santa’s favorite, so we had to make them every Christmas even though at the time neither my sister nor myself liked nuts or cherries. 😁
I leave cigarettes, shoes, and a Twinkie in the ductwork for John McClane.
Bless you kind sir😎
Yippie Kie Yea😂😂😂
I like to picture Tolkien sitting in a chair, watching his grandchildren wacthing THE FLINTSTONES and sees Fred Flintsone, of the ostensibly prehistoric Bedrock, putting up a Christmas tree and dressing as Santa, and absolutely having a coniption.
Well, it is implied in the show Stone Age cowboys fought Palaeo-Indians, so perhaps there was a Stone Age Jesus? (No pun on Stone Age Venus, but since Saturnalia and the solstice festival to Dionysos preceded Christmas, perhaps they would have done that if there was no censorship.)
Well, if comic book writer Mark Russell sees your comment there will be.
"Don't forget old Father Christmas, when you light your tree. I suppose you will be hanging up your stocking just once more: I hope so for I have still a few little things for you. After this I shall have to say “goodbye”, more or less: I mean, I shall not forget you."
Tolkien, Letters
Hogfather has become as important of a yearly Christmas read for me as A Christmas Carol. I’m impressed that you managed to make a cohesive video out of that mess of lore. Have a Merry Christmas and a happy Hogswatch.
Hogfather and A Christmas Carol are excellent choices!
@@Jess_of_the_Shire Hopefully I'll have time to rewatch the Hogfather miniseries this year.
The polar bear 🐻❄️ in J.R.R. Tolkien's story is my favorite part of this video. I hadn't heard of him until today.
This video rivals your earlier vampire one. Top notch content, an intricate exploration of the tale of Santa Claus. You really have a way of sifting through myths and legends, then distilling the essence of what makes these stories so powerful. Bravo Jess!
Wow, I need to watch Klaus now. Also Merry Christmas everybody, especially to those who are extremely stressed, or dealing with loneliness or worried about the Yule Lads leaving them dairy-less this winter.
12:49 Who wouldn't want a giant ass cat that they could unleash upon their enemies 🙃?!?
Warms my heart to know you love Klaus as much as I do! “But I do know: once every year, I get to see my friend.” 😭❤️
I've got to agree with you on the whole shelf elf business. Way too commercially creepy for me. Hope you're getting just the right amount of snow up there... You know the reindeer can't land the sleigh without out! And I hope you have a wonderful Christmas, and that Santa brings you everything you could possibly ask for.
For the past 10 years, it has been my personal tradition that when asked what I want for Christmas I will respond with “hookers, cocaine and world peace…but I’ll be happy with any two out of three”. After watching this video, I guess I’m a bit of a Saint Nick purist.
Also I concur, Elf on a Shelf must go. Then again, ever since I was a little kid, I found all dolls creepy and they give me the feeling that they’re something sinister. Also I love that you dropped the gentle, whimsical reading voice to put out that ‘nope’ public service announcement.
+1 for covering Terry Pratchett!
38:00 A Terry Pratchett video would be the best Xmas present ever. To me personally (don't kill me), he's still the greatest fantasy author ever given, yes, his ability to "lovingly lambaste", as you put it, while at the same time taking the entire sum of the human experience and then dropping it on a flat world on the backs of four elephants which, themselves, travel the cosmos on the shell of a giant turtle swimming through the universe. Well, "greatest" is subjective, but he's certainly my favorite, ahead of everyone else. GNU.
So far the one that I liked best was The Amazing Maurice, and given how I've read a fair amount of Discworld by this point it seriously bothers me that it's just been that one. I greatly respect and admire Pratchett as a person and as a creative mind, but for some reason his writing style hasn't quite worked for me personally. I love the Hogfather miniseries as well as Good Omens (ignoring the fact that Gaiman is a predator, which led to me selling his stuff to a used book store) but actually reading his work has mostly not done it for me and it bugs me that I can't quite pinpoint/articulate why that is. I greatly enjoyed his essay collection, A Slip of The Keyboard, and was initially drawn to Discworld for a reason, so clearly the man was full of worthwhile ideas. I'm a weirdo who cites The Dark Tower as my favorite fantasy book series, and if you're at all interested in learning something about it then Dan Sinykin said the following in his book ‘Big Fiction: How Conglomeration Changed the Publishing Industry and American Literature’ (big spoilers for later books in the series btw):
If Misery demystifies authorship, forgoing the aura of the romantic genius for the quotidian reality of work, then King’s Dark Tower series challenges the idea of the individual author itself. It is a quest narrative, a loose novelization of Robert Browning’s poem “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”. Roland Deschain must find the Dark Tower. Across the first few novels, Roland gathers his companions who form a company or, in the series’ Tolkienesque language, a ka-tet. They come to learn that they are characters created by Stephen King who they must protect from the evil Crimson King if they want to complete their quest. The Crimson King is affiliated with a massive conglomerate whose goal “to be everywhere, own everything, and basically control the universe.” Roland’s ka-tet, in response, forms the Tet Corporation to ensure that King finishes the series. The series becomes a contest between a tyrannical conglomerate and a corporation oriented toward the greater good. The Tet Corporation is aligned with genre fiction. Its headquarters in the series is the same building in New York that in real life houses Dell Press, publisher of several genre writers who inspired King. The ka-tet saves King, who saves Roland, who arrives at the Dark Tower and defeats the Crimson King.
Allan interprets The Dark Tower as allowing King to reimagine his work as an author: rather than a brand producing financial capital for his conglomerate publisher, he can see himself “as a member of a larger, communal organization that produces something other than the empty brand”; he can define himself “in relationship not only to his own novels, but also within a longer lineage of literary production”; he can be himself “entrusted with a larger institutional project.” I want to push Allan’s insights further. Something more radical is at work in the series. Allan notes that the Tet Corporation makes literal King’s “indebtedness to other writers and filmmakers, and even to his own work.” Indeed, King is understood as a member of the ka-tet and his work is subsumed by the collective labor of the Tet Corporation. King is recognizing how many people contribute to any work of literature. Even as his name remains on the cover, a necessary brand, he goes beyond his rejection of the romantic author in Misery to reject individual authorship itself. He romanticizes authorship by associating it with a postwar corporation set against an evil conglomerate, illustrating the conglomerate authorship of the conglomerate era. He enacted his resistance to conglomeration by publishing the series with an independent fantasy and science fiction publisher, Donald Grant.
King grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, when the United States was enjoying one of the greatest periods in the history of capitalism, and the large corporation was the organizing structure at its heart. 3M, General Motors, U. S. Steel: they provided good, stable jobs and encouraged a filial sensibility. People spent their lives working for one company. When the postwar boom transitioned into the long downturn in the 1970s, management practices transitioned, too, from loyalty and stability toward flexibility under the aegis of shareholder value. Conglomerates swallowed corporations. King’s oeuvre from the 1970s through the final volume of The Dark Tower in 2004 expresses, in part, a nostalgia for the fair economic winds and paternalistic corporatism of the postwar boom, when, in his fantasy, a writer was not eclipsed by his brand but instead was a worker among workers, with a certain solidarity. Of course, such nostalgia was less useful for - because the boom years were less hospitable to - white women and people of color.
Discworld wasn’t it? I played the PC game years ago but have never read the books.
The PC game has a cd version fully voiced. Eric Idle voices Rincewind.
@@DEVILTAZ35 Did you get the number of the donkey cart?
I remember getting distracted from the game and hearing behind me "Tap tap tap... Helloo0oo, anybody there?" and looking back seeing Rincewind with his nose pressed against the 'window' of the computer screen.
Sir Terry Pratchett is the best!
While Father Christmas' presence in Narnia in LWW was unexplained, the Magician's Nephew offers a plausible reason why Christmas might have been celebrated in Narnia - King Frank and Queen Helen came from London, c. 1900, and would undoubtedly have been familiar with the concept of Christmas. If they and their children and subjects celebrated the mid-winter festival (at least in the less explicitly Christian aspects), there would have been a Narnian Christmas, and a space for Father Christmas to fill, just like the many other creatures out of myth and folklore we encounter in Narnia.
Of course, the Doylist explanation is simply that Christmas is, and has been, a major part of English life, so, naturally, it's part of the great stew of varied concepts that got ladled into Lewis' work.
St. Nicholas works for Jesus, and Aslan is Jesus.
Fun fact, in Greece, the equivalent of Santa Claus isn't Saint Nicholas but Saint Basil the Great (both Greeks from Asia Minor). He is known for his great humanitarian work while he lived and our traditional chistmas songs are about how he is bringing gifts from Caesarea (modern day central Turkey).
Funnily though, in Greece we didn't decorate trees during Christmas, but miniature boats, which was done to praise Saint Nicholas who is the Saint protector of sailors. This tradition has faded away in the mainland nowadays, but in the islands it's still followed.
As in Emperor Basil the Great?
@@rikhuravidansker
No, no, that's Basil II Porphyrogenitos.
Saint Basil, also known as Basil of Caesarea lived almost 600 years before the emperor with the same name.
@@Seedmember Sorry, I wasn't sure.
@@rikhuravidansker
Don't worry, there is nothing to be sorry about. It's not like it's a common subject if you aren't a native.
The Finnish version is "Joulupukki" (literally "Yule buck"), which originates from Kekripukki. Kekri was the main feast of the year, celebrated after harvest over 1000 years. The bucks dressed in an upside-down furcoat, birchbark mask and horns and circled in houses asking for food and drink. When people started celebrating Christmas instead of Kekri, the buck became Joulupukki and started bringing presents too. But he still visits us in person on Christmas eve, although now he looks like in Coca Cola ad.
I said it last week: my favorite Santa will always be “a nonconformist and a rebel!” I was a child during some turbulent times in the US and it wasn’t a bad thing to make some of our heroes be anti-establishment if the authorities were pushing things that weren’t right. I loved that Santa, or Kris Kringle, was the type of guy that believed someone could change their ways and become a better person and, simple as his story is, the Winter Warlock is just the best reformed villain EVER, in my opinion. I also loved Klaus, as you mentioned. Any of those stories that involve an imperfect or flawed character who does some wonderfully kind acts will rank high among my favorites.
Merry Christmas, Jess.
My parents are from Pennsylvania coal country. Every family had an electric train around the tree. My mother and I build an Xmas village on a 4' x 8' plywood panel. We would decorate it with houses and people and every building was lit from beneath. Those Xmases were some of my best memories from a childhood that did not engender a want of remembering.
Thanks, your video really got me into the Christmas spirit today. Particularly how you ended it, talking about how Santa reflects who we are and what we value. I also think there's an interesting angle about how Santa is a manifestation of the Magician archetype, which builds on another comment I saw here about how Santa seems to relate to characters like Gandalf and Merlin.
Aslan goes by another name in our world. In Narnia, Aslan is King of Beasts, Son of the Emperor Over the Sea, and King above all High Kings. I leave it to you to discover His name in our world. Very good work on this episode.
It always brightens up my day to see a new video from you!!
Same!
You're so sweet!
@@Jess_of_the_Shire Talking about Christmas, I would think Father Christmastide came about because the reaction to church corruption (i.e. including the bawdiness of Christmastide), and thus St. Nicholas emerged as Father Christmas around C.E. 1600 to bring back Christianity, but was co-opted by the traditional English bawdiness dating back to paganism.
Thank you for the timely reminder about the bags of coins for Christmas - I'd forgotten to get them this year, and no-one else had any either. It wouldn't have spoiled the day, of course, but it's a fun little tradition, scattering them around and then finding them the next morning.
29:04 Sabaton have a wonderful song about it called 'Christmas Truce' that's just so uplifting to listen to!
They make some of the best war memorials ever.
@@jimluebke3869 100%
Thank you for the recommendation of Klaus. I never had even heard of it and my wife and I watched it and enjoyed it very much.
I’m going to share a couple of fun traditions in my family. One is we have these little handmade yarn ornaments that open. We call them kiss monsters. Every day while our kids are away, the kiss monsters come and deliver a Hershey’s kiss into the little ornament until Christmas Day. It’s a little bit like elf on the shelf, but much easier for us as parents! The other tradition is inspired by Tolkien’s Christmas letters. Several years ago my husband came across Tolkien’s Christmas letters in a secondhand shop and when our daughter was old enough, he began reading it to her leading up to Christmas. We encouraged her to write her own letter to Santa and my husband responded with some of the same myths from Tolkien’s letters. One year, a very mischievous elf and the North Poler Bear “borrowed” Santa’s sleigh and rescued a trinket that my daughter had lost.
My family likes to watch the extended editions on christmas.
Please talk more about Anne Rice's vampire stories and the television adaptation. 😭 Now I'll watch this video.
Very good video, Jess. I'm glad you stick to what we know and can know for Santa's origins
Seriously, I'm always reluctant to watch videos or read articles about Santa, because many of them will include the "Santa is Odin" nonsense, and I've had it with that.
You always look beautiful but your hair in curls is absolutely gorgeous. Thanks for the great content I love watching your videos
A Santa story that I’m particularly fond of is the comic book series Klaus by Grant Morrison and Dan Mora, which is a re-imagining of Santa Claus as a wild shaman of the winter in the 16th century. Basically it’s got Santa and Krampus as a superhero and supervillain respectively, and it is awesome! So awesome in fact that its popularity led to us getting more issues beyond the original 7 that made up what was supposed to be just a miniseries (Atop The Fourth Wall did a fun review of those first 7 issues last year if you’re at all interested). PS Overly Sarcastic Productions have 5 really fun videos that I would highly recommend watching titled ‘Holiday Tales: Christmas’, ‘Modern Classics Summarized: A Christmas Carol’, ‘TOP 12 FICTIONAL PSEUDO-CHRISTMASES’, ‘Detail Diatribe: Christmas Movie Showdown!’ and ‘History-Makers: Saint Nicholas to Santa Claus’.
Yea, the movie Red One completely butchered that dynamic...😂
@SirBoggins Red One was just going for big dumb fun and succeeded in my opinion, so we really shouldn't analyze it too deeply.
Klaus sounds like it's really cool. I'm going to check it out. :)
@@ValerieSolanas420 I hope you enjoy it! Dan Mora's artwork is absolutely phenomenal.
@ValerieSolanas420 There's a movie called Klaus, and it's animated!! Highly recommended!!
I am from Finland. I have not heard of 'Old Man Winter'. We have _Joulupukki_ which literally means 'Christmas [Male] Goat'. He is not a goat, though, but a human-like being.
Joulu is Yule, Yule means feast, Joulopukki means Feast buck.
When my grandsons were little, I started the tradition of The Kindness Elves. They look like the elf in the shelf but bring little gifts or things to make for others or silly tricks. Much better than elves who spy on you!
Great video, Jess! Since I was a history major in college with a particular focus on medieval history, I knew most of this, but the way you synthesized it into a story was very enjoyable! Also, I love Terry Pratchett's Hogfather book. When I first read it, the part about "a mere ball of flaming gas would have illuminated the world" reminded me of Ramandu, in the third Narnia story the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, telling Eustace, "Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is, but only what it is made of."
Only Christmas tradition I have is to watch "Hogfather" on DVD. I am very glad you mentioned it. Merry Christmas and Happy Hogs Watch!
We need to have a movie about the "real" St. Nick. Sounds like a gritty action flick. It would be awesome.
I love these deep dives and your way of storytelling. Have a wonderful Christmas!
You could check: Sint-Nikolaas in Belgium and the Netherlands. It has the roots you described but when a different route still on december 6th like your image. It's a 'different' take on all of this.
After all of the videos about Tolkien's letters, I did buy the collection this year. I read it while waiting on my car's regular maintenance to be finished. It was a lovely way to spend the time!
One of my favourite Santa films is Santa Claus: The Movie, starring Dudley Moore, mainly due to the fact that it was made by the same people who made 1978's Superman, and it features an Origin story, such like a Comic book does.
James Fenimore Cooper also mentions Santa Claus in his 1823 novel The Pioneers. The novel is set in upstate New York in 1793.
I have a Weta Workshops Legolas on my bookshelf, does that count as an Elf on a Shelf? 😂 Merry Christmas everyone! 🧑🎄
One of the traditions my dad’s side of the family had was cutting down a cedar tree instead of the traditional balsam fir or spruce. The shape of a cedar tree is not as pronounced as a traditional tree but definitely smells unlike any other Christmas trees lol Also being part Swedish it was traditional for us to open gifts at midnight instead of the morning. That was cool.
My folks and I still address gifts to each other as coming from Santa and his elves. Little stocking gifts are from the elves and the elf’s name is usually a hint of what the gift is, while the bigger present is just from Santa.
Here in Hungary, we have both Mikulas and Christmas. Mikulas or Father Winter is on 6 December and originates from St Nicholas, it's a smaller holiday where kids must polish their boots and they are filled with sweets if they'be been good, or a simbolic bouquet of twigs from Krampus, supposedly to be spanked with. Then at Christmas, it's Baby Jesus who brings the presents, that is a bigger family/religious holiday. We celebrate with closest family with a Christmas dinner and opening presents on Christmas Eve, then see other relatives on Christmas Day and/or Boxing Day.
I've lived in the Netherlands for a while, and I've learnt they celebrate Sinterklaas (Santa Claus) on 6 December, and for them, that's the big family Christmas equivalent.
Adding some to the tomte myth, in the olden days you said each farm had their own farmtomte and you had to please him all year around. Christmas just happened to during the coldest time of the year so it was extra important to keep him happy since having a happy tomte would help your farm thrive, but an angry one might kill you best milk cow.
Moving on to modern days tomtar still fill a similar gnomes but Santa is the Tomte.
The words definitive form "tomten" is also a good example of the Swedish hard to learn pitch accent, since depending on which syllable focus on it can mean Santa or the land lot.
In my family we have a sort of Christmas tradition of eating our mince pies with Stilton Cheese in them, sounds odd but tastes delicious. And of course a Stilton laden mince pie would be left out for Santa along with carrots for the reindeer and a Christmas drink.
beautiful video as always! im always impressed by the way you link together pop culture and modern stories to some really unknown myths and how they tie together. My family has a tradition of my dad always saying he's not gonna make his famous Polish potato egg salad until my sister and I threaten to make it and he takes over to make sure it comes out perfect, my mom making enchiladas and tearing up chicken with us while watching Golden Girls Christmas episodes and my brother in law and I somehow always making the same side dish 🧡 Merry Christmas Jess!
Sounds like a stellar Christmas Tradition!
Great video, Jess! You shared a great deal I didn't know, as usual. Have a very Happy Christmas and a bright New Year.
Julemanden! (Danish version) [literally means 'the Christmas guy'] Grey clothes, red hat. Short stature, brings gifts. He uses Nisse (tiny elves) to make the presents and also tidy up your house.
No, it does not literally mean The chrismas guy, Jul means feast, so "feast man" is the literal translation.
Merry Christmas Jess. Your videos are kind, positive, well researched and prepared and entertaining and I really think you have a great channel.
Good luck for 2025!
I finally had a chance to watch. Excellent video as usual. These seem to be getting better and more elaborate, which is a good thing. One thing that kind of took me out though was that around 37:50, she mentions that Elf and other such comedies were filmed in the "latter half of the 19th century." I had to go back to make sure I'd heard that correctly. Sorry Jess, the 1990's were in the 20th century. That's a small quibble though.
Love the video, Jess, you are on my nice list and yes, Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus!
In school before Christmas break we would always get a baggie of “reindeer food” (oatmeal and glitter, so Rudolph’s nose would reflect off it and the reindeer could find your house).
I might remember that.
Wonderful video! Merry Christmas!
My parents would sneak into our rooms while we were asleep Christmas Eve to give us our stockings. That way we'd have something to play with Christmas Morning and not wake them until a more reasonable hour to open presents.
Once again, you made my day ❤ I mean, it's cold and wet and dark outside and I won't describe what my nose and lungs produce at the moment, but I feel reaally cosy now 🌲
31:26 "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus" -- I found out about this book; and also about Rankin Bass's 70s Claymation rendition of this book...
This video was actually great to watch after seeing the movie "Red One", it gives background to a lot of the characters in that movie (Gryla, Krampus, St. Nikolas of Myra)
Its alright you make me feel safe. You're a blessing to me currently. i mean it ☺️
In some regions of Italy Santa (Babbo Natale, "father Christmas") puts gifts under the tree, not in stockings. Stockings are filled with toys and sweets by "la Befana" January 6. She is an old lady travelling on a flying broom from house to house to give candies to good children and coal to the bad ones.
Some northern regions don't have Babbo Natale but they celebrate Saint Lucy the 13 of December. She too brings gifts to children by going house to house with her donkey
The gifts under the tree is a worldwide (at least "western world") tradition. I'm not 100% sure but I think it is one of those European pagan traditions repacked in the USA and then re-exported here.
Befana and Presepe seem to be more Italian, although I have not really researched their origin.
Speaking of regional traditions, Saint Nicholas is ABSOLUTELY worshipped in Bari. And yes, that San Nicola IS the one from Myra, Santa Claus
Merry Christmas Jess 🎅🎄
Father Christmas in Narnia is clearly to serve as a John the Baptist type character to prepare the children for the coming of Aslan. He fits that archetype.
I wish I saw this video last night as I would have made a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows and settled down to listen to your telling.
As it is being early Sunday morning here in Australia I think I will settle on just a coffee instead.
Funnily enough the only Santa Claus I have seen this year is an AI advert for Coca Cola which was comically appropriate I am sure you would agree.
Back in 2004 for Christmas my mom bought the LOTR extended version trilogy on good old DVD. For years afterward we’d marathon the trilogy every Christmas
I have that pack too 😁
Klaus is absolutely incredible
Thank you! Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas 🙂
Jess! Thank you for all the wonderful content & your lovely self! Wishing you & your loved ones: only goodness this Holiday Season & throughout the New Year! We Love You❤ ❤❤
I no longer celebrate Christmas, although when I was growing up in the 70's it was a big part of my life. In that tiny little town Santa came in every Christmas Eve on a fire truck, and sat in the fire hall so kids could tell him their Christmas wishes. At the time my Grandfather was fire chief for the local volunteer fire department, and one of the other firefighters would play Santa. High school girls would play elves, and when you were done you'd get a paper lunch bag half full of peanuts, an orange, and five or six chocolate bonbons. Most of the families in town would be there, the adults drinking coffee and visiting. The line of children would go around the firehouse and out into the street. It was a celebration for the whole town, population of about 1000, as well as all the local farms.
Starting in the 80's and accelerating through the 90's the town started to fill up with rich people, mostly moving in from California and looking for a "Small town lifestyle." Today the population is closer to 20,000 and all the rich immigrants decided that tradition interfered with their Christmas Eve plans. Since they now controlled the town them moved it to the first Thursday in December. It's not the same. It's sad when a small town dies.
I was shocked that you left out the Tolkien reference for Santa Claus, Father Christmas!
Clearly I should have watched the whole video😮
Thank you so much for this video- I’ve put the Hogfather on my to-read list!
Enjoy the read! It's a blast!
@@Jess_of_the_Shire Speaking of fantasy holidays, Ginny Di recently put out a video called 'This quick & easy worldbuilding move brings your setting to life' that you might appreciate.
🎄🎁🎅 Merry Christmas!!
NotJeff here. I never quite understood the idea of Santa leaving a lump of coal for bad kids. The poor always struggled to stay warm in the winter, and a nice lump of coal that would heat their home for hours or days? That would be wonderful! Happy Christmas to you, Jess and all the hobbits!
My father threatened to put a lump of coal in our Christmas stockings if we were bad (later 1940’s, early 1950’s). I thought it would be nice to get one: I had not seen any, as our house was heated with natural gas.
Great Old Ones are coming to town.
When they do, it will be...
_A Very Scary Solstice_
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and we hope to see many more of your videos in the coming year!
I love all the kids screaming "Santa!" not realizing they're literally screaming "Saint!"
Buy them a book
And a female one at that- e.g., Santa Clara (f), San Diego (m)
@@danalden1112 There's a bunch of them, yeah.
You mean satan. Santa is the God of capitalism, a.k.a satan himself
@@danalden1112 Depends on whether it's a Romance language or a Teutonic one.
Try a video on Sankta Lucia! The other saint who's still celebrated in a largely secular world. But mostly in Sweden. Which is odd, considering she was Italian. Another bit of a mythic mixup. Or a case of the saint being reinvented to meet the needs of the people: light in the midst of a cold, dark winter. In this case very cold and dark. Anyway, another great dive into cultural history, and of the most important sort: the kind that really touches hearts. But...whatever happened to the Nativity Story? A few movies and church displays. And lawn ornaments. That's the tradition that really needs reviving. I do what I can. (Hint...) Merry Christmas, Jess!
Merry Christmas and a happy New Year @Jess'of_the_Shire and to all yours and fellow travelers in Fairylands near or far... 🎉🎉🎉
i love klaus, its one of my favorite christmas movies now. watched it the other day
"The kinder version of the Hogfather is said to have originated in the legend of a local king who, one Winter's night, happened to be passing, or so he said, the home of three young women and heard them sobbing because they had no food to celebrate the mid-Winter feast. He took pity on them and threw a packet of sausages through the window - badly concussing one of them, but there's no point in spoiling a good legend." ~ The Discworld Companion 38:57
Well done! Love Klaus!
thanks for letting me know about some of the newer movies, like Klaus. btw, I was a mall Santa.
Wonderful job on the video! I always appreciate your insights ❤
This is really a nice exposition. Thank you.
Merry Christmas, Jess & Dylan & the rats! :)
The Santa origin story I grew up with was Rankin-Bass’ Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Santa was a human raised by elf toymakers who went up against a literal N*zi (there were no overt symbols, but he was mean, German, and the design of his sidekick’s armor looked suspicious). Some might say that the idea of Santa as a rebel fighting the ultra-right is more timely than ever now.
Others might say that the idea of Santa fighting against a post-Christian totalitarian government is more timely than ever, but that talk has changed to a sigh of relief after Nov 5. =)
I remember people talking about the Jesús Child only when i was a very little kid. As i grew older and moved to the city he was replaced by Santa.
The fella couldn't compete
every Christmas Eve my family watches the 1951 movie A Christmas Carol with Alistair Sim and we have a drinking game where we drink every time there's a line that my dad, who grew up watching the movie, uses in day-to-day conversations
0:15 Drake?
I can't believe you've done this
@RedSpade37 it was too easy and I am so weak
masterfully done sir 👌
There is an old Christmas movie I really liked as a young teen, The Lemon Drop Kid. It uses Santa in such a funny way.
Merry Christmas!
The song “Santa Clause is coming to town” reminds me of the movie western High Noon where the chief villain is coming to town to kill our hero, and will arrive on the noon train.
Change of topic. About 1 1/3 years ago you did a video about having a LOTR marathon. We had one last dec 31, since everyone was off work. This year we will have a disk world marathon
Excellent. And thanks for the works cited
I haven’t celebrated Xmas for years now as I lost my Dad on Boxing Day so it just isn’t a good time. Both my parents and grandparents are all gone anyway.
Merry Christmas u wonderful woman!!!
I'm not so sure if this is entirely accurate a belief, but I do think Gandalf (as well as the other Wizards like Radagast potentially) were slightly based on St. Nick. Think about it, they're old, usually jolly, bearded men who give gracious gifts (fireworks in Gandalf's case) and often like to do visits from time to time, usually when there're times of happiness and joyousness. The reason I hesitate to see this view of mine as entirely valid is that Gandalf is moreso akin to the legendary character of Merlin who served King Arthur, as Gandalf served Aragorn when he became King Elessar of Arnor and Gondor.
Santa The Red!
@sebastianevangelista4921 🎄🍻
Since Tolkien's stories are constructed out of the whole soup of Western storytelling, I don't doubt that a bit of Saint Nick could have crept in!
@@Jess_of_the_Shire Nice!
Karhu approves of the topic.
Love that Winona Ryder started TH-cam channel.
One of your best vids yet