My father also used one of those with a thick brush and a stone crock with a bar of soap in it for lather. Also used single blade razors... I draw the line there. I need my four blades for comfort.

Thanks. This being number two means I actually know what I'm in for this time around. It's amazing I let my wife talk me into it.

Nice...I am of polish descent and never heard of them.....very nice to look at. :)

Nice to know.....thanks for the clarification. :)

Wow. They are very versatile. I mean: They look totally different from one another. Everyone can find/make one they like. That's a cool decoration. :-)

As a kid/teenager I used thick wool to finger crotchet long woolen bands. And every year, I would string thin paper decorations (snowflakes, stars, bells, angels and such; which I also did myself I believe) on them and then hang those bands in my room - partly taped to the ceiling and strung from furniture to furniture (high ones like closets). It was colorful. (The decorations had to be light because the thicker wool, was already a little heavy. Otherwise it would have all just fallen down.)

Yes, a brush and crock (and soap) set (don't remember if a razor was part of it). Thank you. (Not one of those creams in a bottle or something.)
(I'm glad my dad uses "normal razors". *shudder*)

Challenge accepted!

*GR proceeds to nail and glue decorations to the walls*

:D :D :D

Thank you, PaterAlf and skimmie, for what looks set to be a new tradition forming right here!
*dofs hat, and hopes it'll show up soon*
I'll be in for the giveaway, as I love surprise gifts, but I don't lack in anything, so I'll also be perfectly happy just being here to share and read stories.

The thing that's probably most distinctive about Christmas in the Netherlands is that it follows less than three weeks after the celebration of Sinterklaas, which is (or at least historically has been) by far the bigger gift giving event here (it's also celebrated a bit in surrounding countries, but nothing on the scale seen here). The celebration of Sinterklaas comes complete with its own decorations and traditions and red-hatted white-bearded guy (who's a major origin source for Santa Claus). Still, commercialism isn't going to let a trifling thing like that stand in the way of making a healthy profit, and so the very next day after Sinterklaas has disappeared, all shops transform overnight, putting away one set of decorations for the next. It used to be that the selling of Christmas trees would also start then, but I've seen them out since last week already.

A Christmas "gift giving" tradition which might be relatively unknown outside the Netherlands (at least, I don't think I've heard of it being practised widely in other places) if that of the "kerstpakket" (christmas package), which is a single large carton box with a fancy print on the outside to make it look like being contained in wrapping paper, which will be stuffed to the brim with more-or-less exotic / premium types of long-lasting food (specialty jam, spreads, figs, wine, crackers, tea, cookies), and one or two non-food items like wine glasses or candles. Pretty much every single large company in the Netherlands gets these for every single one of their employees, and so in the last week before Christmas, you'll see boat loads of people carrying these boxes flowing into the commuter trains at the end of their work days. I think the peak of this tradition was maybe 15-20 years ago, with it becoming noticeably less extravagant since then, and some companies moving over to giving vouchers or charitable donations in the names of their employees in order to reduce waste, but it's still common enough to be remarkable. I have happy childhood memories of helping unpack these boxes when my father brought them home each year, and when as a teenager I worked at the local supermarket, I got to bring home my very own box to rival his.

Don't blame me for all those holes/glue stains. :-D
Just so you know: I never left any. I used Tesa strips or whatever they were (still are?) called, not actual glue and never any nails. My parents probably wouldn't have appreciated it, had I put holes into the furniture (or the walls -at least random like that-).
Of course, not leaving traces meant: I didn't remember how I put it all up the year before. I don't think the bands ever hang the same way. There also was a year where I just couldn't get it right. It looked bad. I got over it and (thankfully) it never happened again.

I was mostly joking and making a play oin a meme about challenges to show "where there is a will, there's a way". :)

I sometimes use those suction cup hooks, which also leave no marks....they also have adhesive backed hooks that also don't leave marks as well.

Every year I have similar problems.....mostly with trying to put it all up without knocking other things over(if furniture is in the way and I need to climb over it to hang up stuff) and swearing up a storm if I fall. :D

Many specialty companies here sell those packages, with meats/cheeses/a few candies/some jams & jellies/etc in them for people to give out, though it is not tradition here like in your homeland. I used to love them when my family would get one and we'd each pick out the items we wanted....fun times. :)

Thank you to everyone who participated so far. It's great that once again so many people share their stories and enjoy this thread!

Oh my god, that's really crazy. I once jumped into a lake when it was 0 degree outside and I nearly froze myself to death (it was a bet with some other kids from school). Can't imagine to do it when it's even 30 degrees colder. Do people train that (e.g. by swimming in the lake every day at every weather) or do you only do it on Christmas?

The fan blades are there to rotate the levels with the figurines inside of the pyramid. The hot air from the candles goes up and sets the whole thing in motion. That way it can run for hours without electricity.

That's hilarious! One of the best Christmas decorations I've ever seen. I think I will try to convince my family that we should have pickles on our Christmas tree as well.

Congratulations! That sounds like an awesome Christmas gift. ;) Your story really made Santa laugh. He left something in your stocking. :)

Ingenious......and nice to look at to boot. Thanks for the clarification as well. :) (I really like the black and white aesthetic/look/feel of it.....very retro and hip and cool....and the singer ain't no slouch, either :D)

That's really nice of you, PaterAlf and skimmie. Please consider me in for the giveaway. Here's a story that came about because of an accident.

In my family, we have a tradition of putting a star on top of our Christmas tree. We have a ceramic star that was in my mom's family for about 60 years that we used to put on top of our Christmas tree, that is, up until 3 years ago. When we were getting our ornaments out that year, that star was at the top of a box and for whatever reason, we didn't put it inside the box. As you can guess, it fell and broke when we reached for that top box. Naturally, my mom was pretty sad, it was with her when she was a kid after all, but we tried to fix it with super glue, although now it had a visible crack in it. She decided we shouldn't put it up on the tree now becuase she was afraid it would just break again, so we put it on our mantle instead. The next year, we thought it was a little plain to just have a star on the mantle, so we bought some things to put around it; A nativity scene, an angel, stuff like that. That kind of started a new tradition where we would decorate our mantle as well as the tree we got, not with lights, but with other things we started to value over the years. We have a pinata on top of that mantle now as well even, that was kind of a funny present we got for my mom's birthday earlier in the year, but she liked it so much we kept it without breaking it open.

I'm in for the GA! The greatest Xmas gift I ever received? A gold ring from an orphan child. Here's how it happened.

Walking home on Xmas Eve, through the crowded main shopping street, I heard a sobbing coming from an alleyway. Curious, I entered the alleyway and found a boy, maybe 9 years old, lying on the ground, beaten, bruised and in tears, with a broken ankle. I asked him what happened.

He was an orphan. His father died before he was born, but bequeathed him a gold ring in his will. His mother raised him, but she died of a terminal disease two years ago. Before she passed, she gave him a second, matching gold ring. Since then, he had been living in an orphanage. Every day, he would go and visit his parents' graves, wearing the only things that connected him to their memories: the two gold rings.

Today, a group of thugs had grabbed the boy, pulled him into this alleyway and beat him up, before stealing one of the rings and running away. I was shocked and appalled. In broad daylight, and with thousands of shoppers within earshot? "Why didn't you shout for help?" I asked. "I did", he replied. "But nobody heard me". I asked him to repeat how he shouted for help. The just-above-a-whisper cry of "Help!" that followed made it clear: nobody nearby would hear a voice this soft.

So I ripped the second gold ring off his finger and ran away. A true story.

Santa doesn't believe you and puts you on the naughty list. But he has to admit that your avatar perfectly matches your story. ;)

Best comment ever.

Just remembered another story from the archive.

My friend's mother had made kourabiedes for Christmas one time (seems like a lifetime ago). Kourabiedes are a type of sweet pastry with butter and fine sugar sprinkled on top (see attached picture). They left the house for a while, leaving the kourabiedes to cool down. When they got back, the kourabiedes were all naked. The sugar had disappeared.

Then they saw their dog sprinting around the house like he was possessed... He'd licked every single one of them, like the gluttonous pup that he was.

It doesn't sound like much, but it always made me laugh when I'd hear the story.