Tracking Next Christmas With the Best Tools At Hand

Our baby sister, many years ago, fashioned a tradition in our family where, when the Christmas tree was put up, "the youngest child [whoever she might happen to be] puts the first ornament on the Christmas tree, and then everyone stands around the tree and shouts (in unison): "Thirteen!" - which was short-hand for "Thirteen Days until Christmas!" (although this could be modified to 12, ten, four, one, or 14 - but we had a special strategy for getting Christmas trees extra-cheap 13 days before Russian Orthodox Christmas, which is January 7, so 13 was often enough the precise count-down...)

We liked this practice of shouting the number of days until Christmas, in unison, at the Chrstmas Tree, and so over the years, being twisted as we are, we would modify and expand it - for example, shouting "Zero!" at the Christmas Tree on Christmas Day, or maybe "364" on the second day of Christmas, etc.

In our own home, we have a more conventional tracking method - a 36-inch wooden Santa who stands next to the tree and displays, with wooden rotatable blocks with integers on each face, the number of days until Christmas. Ian was especially diligent, this past Christmas season, in re-setting the number of days 'till Christmas on mini-Santa's display - always the night before the actual day corresponding to the count-down, out of sheer anticipation. For example, two nights before Christmas, Santa would be re-configured to announce a mere one day until Christmas.

Well, the first day of Christmas has come and gone, but Santa is no less dutiful in announcing the number of days until the *next* first day of Christmas arrives - except that his display is limited to two digits, and in mid-January, we're obviously back in the three-digits column, so Santa is announcing that Christmas is in 98 days. I took note of it, asked Ian why Christmas is scheduled for 98 days from today, and he explained:

"Because it's wrong, and that's the highest it can go to - 98."

(January 15, 2011)