Polar Bears at ABC Carpet & Home

"In all Scandinavian countries it is common to give the birds a Christmas tree,

but let's ask the Honorable W.W. Thomas, Jr., formerly minister to Sweden,

to tell us about it. "One winter day at Yuletide I had been skating on a pretty lake,

Daljen, three miles from Gothenburg. One my way home I noticed that at every

farmer's house was erected, in the middle of the dooryard, a pole, to the top of which

was bound a large sheaf of grain. 'What is that?' I asked my companion. 'Oh, that is

for the birds, the little wild birds. They must have Christmas, too, you know.' There

is not a peasant in all Sweden who will sit down with his children for Christmas until

he has first raised aloft a Christmas dinner for the little birds that live in the snow."

-- from 1001 Christmas Facts and Fancies by Alfred Carl Hottes

'Little Jesus, sweetly sleep, do not stir;

We will lend a coat of fur,

We will rock you, rock you, rock you,

We will rock you, rock you, rock you:

See the fur to keep you warm,

Snugly round your tiny form.

Mary's little baby, sleep, sweetly sleep,

Sleep in comfort, slumber deep;

We will rock you, rock you, rock you,

We will rock you, rock you, rock you:

We will serve you all we can,

Darling, darling little man.'

Translation of the Czech carol Hajej, nynjej

from The Oxford Book of Carols, 1928

  Days 'til Christmas