The Letter T
The word is Tangerine
The Christmas Orange
Did you ALWAYS have an orange in the toe of your Christmas stocking - chances are it was a TANGERINE,
Or were you naughty and received instead a lump of coal, which I understand was de riguer for children who didn't believe that Santa kept a Record Book of Behaviour and so made no effort to be good little boys and girls.
(I saw this Book of Record, once, long ago, when I was very small and
was present when Santa visited the Woodward's store in Edmonton and brought it with him!!! - very impressive.......)
The Tangerine, the Mandarin and the Clementine are all cousins and equally welcome at the Christmas table. The Clementine is seedless, and the Tangerine is a little more delicate than the Mandarin, but you know it makes no difference when you peel away the nubbly orange skin, divide the sweet sections, pop them into your mouth, and feel once again that thankfulness that Christmas has come, complete with Tangerines and Christmas jellies and hard candies in the Christmas sock, and look! - no coal!
One of our Advent activities used to involve the preparation for the drying of Tangerines by making patterns with cloves, and covering the whole surface with the spice, rolling it in cinnamon and leaving it to dry, all the while emanating a lovely spicey scent throughout the house.
(What else were you going to do with six excited Christmas innoculated children before the time of that modern elf who I understand now comes and sits on shelves and oversees what's going on in the younger set).
Early for Christmas greetings but enjoy the run-up to the Christmas season, remembering that Advent is a time of preparation, both physically and spiritually.
And delight in the Tangerine!
For more Ts visit here with thanks to Roger and Denise who make this meme viable, and to all their Terrific Helpers.
8 comments:
Santa STILL puts an orange in our stockings. It's a TRADITION of my wife's family.
ROG, ABCW
Instead of Santa Claus we celebrate Saint Nicholas on December,5th, and our children used to put their shoes in front of the fireplace, which we don't have now anymore in this time of the central heating. My children thought it better to put their shoes in front of the frontdoor under the letterbox.I love your tradition of putting a tangerine in the x-mas stocking!
Tangerines, mandarins and clementines are all delicious.
Have a lovely week.
Wil, ABCW Team
What a lovely post and I love tangerines,
We always had one put in our Christmas stockings along with other treats such as a large juicy orange a red crunchy apple and a chocolate bar.
Our presents were put in a big sack at the end of the bed...Golden memories...we still do the same for our children and their children. such a lovely time ia Christmas I just love it !
Best Wishes,
Di.
ABCW team.
Very interesting. My family never did this and I don't know much about it, but I've been seeing a lot about it this year.
Tangerines always remind me of childhood Christmases. They always used to appeared with brazil nuts in the stockings here. Maybe the easy pealing tangerine was to keep you going while struggling with the brazils in the nutcracker:-)
Haven't had a tangerine in a long while. Those Brazil nuts were a PAIN to open.
I did hear about a lump of coal, would be a welcome gift in a poor house.
Yup -- A tangerine fits into that stocking toe a lot better. I loved getting Christmas stockings when I was little -- almost as much as I loved filling them for our own kids!! The best part of the visit from Santa -- all the way from the "orange" in the toe to the candy cane at the top.
We're back in Florida and I'm catching up with my favorite bloggers ... and getting inspired! . Nothing new at my place yet...I'll start blogging next week! (I hope).
Post a Comment