It’s the day of New Year’s Eve and I’m wondering who will be seeing this post today? So I decided to go wild and crazy!

This image is of a glass pup, known as a schnapshund, is an 18th-century novelty drinking vessel….with a sense of humor. Pouring a drink from this pooch’s rear end would surely get a few laughs.

The quirky form originated in Germany and trotted to America with immigrants like Caspar Wistar, who arrived in 1717 and later founded the Wistarburg Glassworks in New Jersey. While the company was known for producing serious scientific equipment for Benjamin Franklin, it clearly knew how to have a little fun too.

(Thanks to the Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine for this bit.)

Hund is the German word for dog. Think dachshund:

Grandma Google, with help from AI, told this story far better than I could. Read on: Puritans banned and discouraged Christmas celebrations, viewing them as unscriptural, pagan, and a source of social disorder. They believed the holiday was an excuse for excessive behavior like feasting, drinking, and revelry, which distracted from religious discipline and threatened the social order. In 1659, the Massachusetts Bay Colony outlawed the holiday, and those who observed it could be fined five shillings.

• Unscriptural and pagan origins: Puritans argued the Bible never commanded the celebration of Christ’s birth and that the date of December 25th was chosen to co-opt pagan festivals.
• Social disorder and “excesses”: They were strongly against the carousing, gambling, and public revelry that often accompanied Christmas, believing these activities allowed people to “do what they lust” and caused public scandal. Traditions like “wassailing,” where the poor would demand food and drink from the wealthy, were particularly offensive as they disrupted social hierarchy.
• Pagan origins: The Puritans saw the holiday’s roots in paganism and felt that its modern celebrations dishonored Jesus Christ.
• Legal ban: The Massachusetts Bay Colony passed a law in 1659 banning Christmas, fining anyone who observed it. Governor Bradford even declared December 25th a workday.
• Lingering effects: Even after the ban was repealed in 1681, the cultural aversion persisted in New England for decades, and the day was not made a federal holiday until 1870. 

One of the most recognizable symbols of the holiday season is the Christmas tree. They can be seen in homes, public spaces and many prominent locations everywhere during December. 

Did you know that most Christmas trees that we buy from those corner lots are raised on tree farms? Christmas trees are an agricultural product with roughly a million acres dedicated to tree farming. The top tree producing states are Oregon, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Washington. 

Did you know that approximately 25-30 million real Christmas trees are sold in the U.S. every year? 

Did you realize it can take as long as 15 years to grow a typical tree?

Did you know that the Germans are credited with bringing the first Christmas trees into the home and decorating them in the spirit of Christmas. The first recorded reference dates back to the 16th century.

Did you guess that the most common Christmas tree species are balsam fir, Douglas fir, Fraser fir, noble fir, Scotch pine, Virginia pine and white pine. (Why some capitalized and some not??) 

Why not be different this year and have a Charlie Brown Christmas tree? You could find a little scraggy pine most anywhere and “rescue” it from oblivion. It’s one of my favorites!