cookies and milk all over the world? i'd say that's an american phenomenon. over here (GER) for example children get their presents on the evening of 24th, not on the morning of 25th. interested where the Kris Kringle the clip says originated from germany comes from? It's "Christkind": before christmas was heavily americanized during the last few years presents where delivered by Christkind, an angel-like figure. the modern image of Santa Claus - named "Nikolaus" - i.e. a white-bearded man dressed in red usually only appeared for celebration of Dec. 6th, a day much more similar to the US version of christmas: children put their boots (compare: christmas stockings) out front on the evening of Dec 5th to find them filled with gingerbread, oranges and some small presents on the morning of Dec 6th. so what has happened the last few years? "Nikolaus" (with which the holiday of Dec 6th shares its name with) became "Weihnachtsmann" (translates to Christmas-man) and the younger kids believe he is responsible for their presents on Dec 24th. so basically in Germany you have two stories folks believed in when they were kids, depending on how old they are. but neither of them involves cookies and milk :-)

and on a personal note: it's a shame really that especially media propagates the US version of christmas. as a German parent nowadays it's hard to pass on the christmas version of your own childhood and that of your parents. if you raise kids and want to give them a story to believe in for a few years you are constantly competing with the "other" version of christmas, at least confusing kids in what is "real". it really saddens me that i cannot relive many of the traditions of my own childhood with my kids (hint: Christkind's method of present delivery differs from that of Weihnachtsmann's). but i guess that's what ever-changing culture does to you :-)

Happy Holidays fellow sifters, whatever version you want to believe in :-)

Yeah, what will the multi-Ethnic Kris Kringle do??......Not a goddamn thing different than any other plant......Can guarantee it will speed the demise of what what all thoughtful and hopeful desire for a future worth having, who want real change and cast votes for the mannequin mouth-puppet....