Merry Gentlemen

Today I embarked the prickly process of distributing my priceless seasonal ornaments around the house. Alas, the elf figurines from my Santa's Workshop got mixed up with the Dickens Christmas Village collectibles, creating an undesirable "Lord of the Old Curiosity Shop" type effect. Still, it's better than parading an army of those vicious-looking Nutcracker soldiers around the fireplace with their weird cylinder-shaped heads and evil grins - or even kiln-dried effigies of Santa Claus for that matter. Too modern for me. In our house we follow the ancient Yuletide Norse tradition of watching the late December skies for signs of Odin riding his eight-legged horse across the stars, sack of bread slung over his great shoulders, dropping loaves of bread on unsuspecting Vikings. Then we string glittery tinsel and twinky lights around the branches of Yggdrasil and go to bed.