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Show Two young boys tell Santa their wishes for Christmas. The man behind the beard Christmas is a world wide holiday, celebrated by many religions and cultures. While most religions that celebrate Christmas, do so for very similar simi-lar reasons there are many differences among cultures. Most these differences seem to be centered around one man, a jolly ol' soul that goes by many different aliases. Most cultures agree that SamDringsfoys and 'streets ' for good childrenbut for bad children there are some differences. differ-ences. For children, iu ilolland Sinter Klaas does not use his sleigh pulled by reindeer, instead in-stead he arrives on a boat with his helper Black Peter. Black Peter keeps a record of all the children and whether they have been good or bad. If they have been bad, Black Peter chases them around with a stick. In Germany, the name of the helper is Krampus and he carries car-ries a birch to punish the bad children. The most common gift of choice for Santa Claus to those children that have found themselves on the naughty list is a lump of coal. Cultures still have found that they do not agree on the best dinner to celebrate Christmas. Christ-mas. Many use the ham or turkey tur-key method, but in Greenland there are two far less appealing delicacies. The first treat for Greenlander's is called Mattak, which is a strip of whale skin connected to a piece of blubber. Mattak is too tough to chew so it is never swallowed, only treated like a coconut-tasting piece" of gum. The second" delicacy deli-cacy is known as kaviak, which is a piece of raw flesh from an Aul (an Arctic Bird)) wrapped in seal skin. The flesh is then buried in the ground for many months until it has reached a prime stage of decomposition. Another point of disagreement disagree-ment is the matter of celebration. celebra-tion. Most like to celebrate surrounded sur-rounded by family and friends. Yet, in Australia the celebration celebra-tion is more national. Each individual in-dividual community celebrates by having a candlelight carol singing ceremony, in the largest larg-est gathering place available. The most grand of happenings is inside a large dome where more than 100,000 attend to sing and listen to carols. Gift giving is not a point of debate; however, it is one of interest. in-terest. In Nova Scotia, Canada the people send their largest and best fir tree to people of Boston. The tree is given to the people of Boston for their help during the Halifax Explosion. Sweden gives a similar tree to the U.K. The Czech Republic includes in-cludes their animals in the gift receiving, both pets and farm., animals.- Despite the differences, Christmas is a special time for many. What makes this time of year so special, is not only cultural traditions, but also individual family traditions. It is time that differences can be put aside and a spirit of love embraced. For some it is a time to celebrate, for some it is something altogether different. Yet, whatever Christmas might mean to an individual, the spirit behind the bearded Santa Claus and Christmas, the spirit of giving giv-ing can be appreciated by all. Ideas to inspire gifts for tough ones By Elizabeth Goode Express Writer Giving Christmas presents is so much fun - the excitement of finding just the right thing, wrapping it with love, and anticipating an-ticipating the person opening the gift - all these add to the spirit of the season. But what about difficult gifts: for the person who "has everything," or someone you don't know very well, or the individual who provides a service ser-vice for you? These are the ones that can boggle the mind and at the last minute the giver finds herself going out and grabbing something - anything - from the rack of unusual items, just to get it done. Let's mull over some ideas for a while. Maybe one of them will lead you down the path to the perfect solution. For people we know, there are certain things we must know about them or we wouldn't be selecting a gift. What kind of music do they like? Thousands of CDs are available, and you may have an idea about which ones they have. If you don't, the idea can still be a good one; provide pro-vide a gift sales slip with it that will allow them to exchange it. Gift slips do not state the dollar amount, so you don't have to feel like you left the price tag on. Following the musical line, there may be accessories in the electronic center that would be possibilities; a large variety of headphones, jacks, etc. are available. Consider the individual's hobby or avocation. Perhaps the individual is a sports fan - what team or sport is the favorite? fa-vorite? Pursue the possibilities for tickets, memorabilia, banners, ban-ners, bumper stickers, or even a flag. Maybe the guy is enthusiastic enthusias-tic about a particular brand of truck or automobile, or tractor. Perhaps a model from a certain year would be a collector for him. Accessories can be found in various styles, ranging from mud flaps to license plate frames to fragrant air fresheners. Calendars are available on dozens of subjects. Daily desk calendars can bring a laugh or provoke a thought for the day, all year long. Perhaps the individual is proud of his or her yard or garden. gar-den. Ideas to start with are: a garden bench; special stepping stones; a large urn or planting plant-ing pot (Bloom Master items are remarkable and unique to this area), a set of small herb pots, seeds, and small tools to use with them; special garden gar-den gloves or clogs; a kneeling bench or kneeling pads; a gardening gar-dening journal; or potted bulbs ready to be forced for winter enjoyment. en-joyment. A visit to the garden nursery will yield more ideas. Another line of thought di- See Gift Ideas on C3 Vernal Express Wednesday, December 20, 2006 709 West Main Street-V :d, Utah ft 435-789-EXrr (3k8) ...... ' iV-' ' a ft ft';fir (1 -: ": . I ) ? .ft many Tlime'O 1 . - J I'll v 4 ' -4 I Exit Realty Professionals 'Merry CtiwisfMAS J7r .! I Your Hometown Stations 920HVEL nailS TRIK SPORTS I t n |