Colony South Hotel Newsletter

[RJNorton]

Many thanks to Laurie for sending this:

"Each week, Colony South Hotel, where we hold the Surratt conferences and some other banquets and luncheons, sends out an appropriate newsletter. I just received this and thought it would be fun to share with the forum - especially the German tale of tinsel's birth (reminiscent of the story attached to the spiderweb decoration in the parlor at Surratt House this Christmas, which we shared a few weeks ago). There are some great cookie recipes also, straight from the Betty Crocker kitchens for those of you who still have last-minute baking to do."

http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/...bacd2d536a

[Gene C]

thanks.....I picked out a few cookie recipes for us to try this weekend. I'll share with you how good the were.
We'll see if Gene can get them right. If not, I'll get to eat most of them

Fido

[Anita]

Roger, thanks for this holiday treat. Loved the tinsel story. When I grew up tinsel strands were made of lead and needed to be placed on the tree one strand at a time or they would clump together . Decorating with tinsel was quite a task and an art. Then lead tinsel was banned and replaced with flyaway plastic stands. Now I don't think it's used very often. Flocking has become popular. I prefer the old fashioned tinsel. I'll tell my house spiders to get to work. If my eagle-eyed grandchildren point out cobwebs, I'll tell them the spiders are practicing their decorating skills!

Happy holidays!

[RJNorton]

Thanks, Anita, and thanks, Laurie. We no longer use tinsel in decorating our tree. Back in the 1980s our cat ate a bunch of the tinsel at night when we were sleeping. He got very, very sick. Since then we have not used it. This year we have a beautiful Fraser fir from Coloma, Wisconsin. And, as always, we have a kitty, so no tinsel.

[L Verge]

My daughter still uses tinsel, as did I when I did a tree. This sounds childish, but I love to squint my eyes and see the tree and lights shimmering through the tinsel.

I actually have an original package of tinsel from Germany in its paper sleeve with a drawing on the front of a girl (ca. 1880) placing tinsel on a table-top tree. My daughter inherited family ornaments dating from 1874 (my grandmother's first tree), late-1800s, 1914 (my mother's first tree), 20th century vintages, and 1943 (my first tree). The latter, of course, is glass with paper cap for hanging since WWII usurped metal.

Roger, every cat I've owned (except one) ate the tinsel from the tree. They usually threw it back up within a few minutes and never got sick. I had one, however, that the tinsel would pass right through her digestive system and emerge intact. Lots of times, however, it was up to me to pull out the remaining piece that would dangle behind her. There's a Christmas yucky for you!

[Gene C]

This reminds me of a Christmas movie scene, only it wasn't tinsel the cat was chewing on - Fido

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJW3Jpqjx5s

[Eva Elisabeth]

Roger, thanks for this holiday treat. Loved the tinsel story. When I grew up tinsel strands were made of lead and needed to be placed on the tree one strand at a time or they would clump together . Decorating with tinsel was quite a task and an art. Then lead tinsel was banned and replaced with flyaway plastic stands. Now I don't think it's used very often. Flocking has become popular. I prefer the old fashioned tinsel. I'll tell my house spiders to get to work. If my eagle-eyed grandchildren point out cobwebs, I'll tell them the spiders are practicing their decorating skills!

Happy holidays!

Anita, (tin foil) tinsel is still quite commonly used over here (while I have never seen flocking on a private tree)! And re-used, takes ages to get it off the tree in a reusable condition...

The tinsel tale it is nice and very Xmas-y. Actually I've never heard it before, nor of Kris Kringel (whose first name we would spell "Chris" btw.), and I would suspect it was created in the US - is at least not of German origin. (Googling in German doesn't bring it up either.)

Who is Kris Kringel? The one for whom children put shoes out to get them filled is St. Nikolaus, and this happens in the night prior to Dec. 6, St. Nikolaus' Day. But Tantchen (="auntie", "Tante" is the simple aunt) wouldn't have put up and decorated the tree before early Xmas Eve, December 24.

The strongest hint to me that this tale might be of US origin is the corn however that Tantchen fed her chickens. Tinsel was invented in Nürnberg in 1878 (to imitate icicles), but corn was practically unknown in Germany as didn't grow until in the early 1960s a corn hybrid was bred that endured the cold climate. Nevertheless, a nice story (and I'd really like to learn who Kris Kringel is)!

[L Verge]

Roger, thanks for this holiday treat. Loved the tinsel story. When I grew up tinsel strands were made of lead and needed to be placed on the tree one strand at a time or they would clump together . Decorating with tinsel was quite a task and an art. Then lead tinsel was banned and replaced with flyaway plastic stands. Now I don't think it's used very often. Flocking has become popular. I prefer the old fashioned tinsel. I'll tell my house spiders to get to work. If my eagle-eyed grandchildren point out cobwebs, I'll tell them the spiders are practicing their decorating skills!

Happy holidays!

Anita, (tin foil) tinsel is still quite commonly used over here (while I have never seen flocking on a private tree)! And re-used, takes ages to get it off the tree in a reusable condition...

The tinsel tale it is nice and very Xmas-y. Actually I've never heard it before, nor of Kris Kringel (whose first name we would spell "Chris" btw.), and I would suspect it was created in the US - is at least not of German origin. (Googling in German doesn't bring it up either.)

Who is Kris Kringel? The one for whom children put shoes out to get them filled is St. Nikolaus, and this happens in the night prior to Dec. 6, St. Nikolaus' Day. But Tantchen (="auntie", "Tante" is the simple aunt) wouldn't have put up and decorated the tree before early Xmas Eve, December 24.

The strongest hint to me that this tale might be of US origin is the corn however that Tantchen fed her chickens. Tinsel was invented in Nürnberg in 1878 (to imitate icicles), but corn was practically unknown in Germany as didn't grow until in the early 1960s a corn hybrid was bred that endured the cold climate. Nevertheless, a nice story (and I'd really like to learn who Kris Kringel is)!

Eva - see if this helps http://english.stackexchange.com/questio...is-kringle OR this https://www.reference.com/holidays-celeb...e37d25ac8#

Also found this brief mention of the Christmas spider tale that credits a number of European nations as having this traditional story

"Legend of the Christmas Spider
Tale
The Legend of the Christmas Spider is an Eastern European folk tale which explains the origin of tinsel on Christmas trees. Wikipedia
Countries: Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia