David Quidnunc on 2 Nov 2003  •  Link

Ah, the Mysterious Mr. Christmas...

A schoolfellow of Our Sam at St. Paul's School. Unfortunately, records of this Christmas fellow were destroyed in a certain fire that Has Not Taken Place before September 1666. Oh, how very convenient ...

He MAY be from a family in the gentry of south or southeast Essex County, as "the diary suggests." (sez L&M Companion "Christmas, Mr. _____" entry)

Or he MAY be the son of tailor Thomas Christmas, admitted as a freeman of the Merchant Tailor's Company the same year as Pepy's father. (Same source, which seems to doubt it.)

Or JUST MAYBE this anti-Puritan may be a resident of the North Pole, a Jolly Old Elf whose stomach moves like a bowl full of jelly ...

For further exploits of this "Mr. Christmas" see investigative reporter Clement Moore's reporting at ...

http://www.blackdog.net/holiday/c…

Sam P on 3 Nov 2003  •  Link

Good link! Love the blue snowflakes!

Todd Bernhardt on 5 Nov 2003  •  Link

David, I'm glad you're back. :^)