Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Merry Christmas... and here is the last for this Advent blog.  Z is for Zurline    Zurline  is the ruler of the Wood Nymphs. She and her subjects live in the Forest of  Burzee . Queen Zurline first appeared in  the  children's story classic, " The Life and  Adventures of Santa Claus" , first published in 1902 by L. Frank Baum and then later in the graphic novels and an animated version.  In this story,  Queen  Zurline was a member  of the  Council of the Immortals  which bestowed  immortality on  Santa Claus. . So, it is appropriate that  Zurline  completes the A-Z of Christmas celebrities as she and her colleagues were responsible for Santa Claus continuing to visit children on Christmas eve in the 21st century.... or at least, I think I have interpreted that correctly.  The story  begins with baby Santa Claus being found in the Forest of Burzee. As he gets older, he learns about the world inhabited by humans, and when he becomes an adult, he can no long

As we come close to the end of the alphabet, and only a day from Christmas, it is also becoming obvious that the research for this year's Advent blog has uncovered some unusual, and dare I say, weird Christmas celebrities.  Y is for Yani (the Kitten Angel )  Y is also for Yamal Iri.   Let's tackle the heavenly Yani first.  Yani is a kitten angel who narrates "The True Story of Critter Angels"  and  explains the reasons for the existence of animal angels.  Perhaps cat lovers will relate to this? While Yani has a rather tentative link to Christmas, she is an angel whose existence is based on spreading love and peace in the world in the truest spirit of Christmas. While this book sounds very sweet and comforting, Yani could be classified as being a little too sentimental and at times, even schmaltzy, but never without the capacity to bring joy!  i f you’ve ever loved an animal, this book for adults and children alike will touch your heart. And if you’ve ever ex

X might be for Xmas, but it took some searching to find today's  celebrity lurking in the 1990s.   X is for Xena - Warrior Princess.  This may seem a strange selection for a Christmas celebrity list, but there are many Xena fans for whom Christmas would not be complete without a viewing of  a Xena: Warrior Princess episode, "A Solstice Carol."  I think I am justifying Xena's inclusion here because she is one of those fictional characters who change from evil  to good. The TV series focuses on Xena's quest to redeem herself for her dark past by using her formidable fighting skills to help people. Xena, with her partner Gabrielle, challenge ruthless warlords and their armies in an ancient mythological world. So, it is seemingly impossible for Xena to appear in a Christmas scene, but it happens.  In one day   Xena met Santa Claus, Jesus,  and  Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey, but  not without criticism.T he Christmas episode  of Xena is undeniably

So close to Christmas and it's getting harder to find Christmas celebrities but today here's  a wily W character.  W is for Wilma . Yes I am Wilma but I am NOT today's Christmas celebrity.  Wilma the weasel  is the one of the main characters  in  T he Flight Before Christmas , a 2008 animated movie    and its sequel   Little Brother Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure . The Flight Before Christmas centres around the problem of Niko, a small reindeer afraid of flying, and in search of his unknown father who is one of Santa's Flying Forces (that is, one of the eight main reindeer who pull Santa's sleigh)  Wilma is a street wise fearless singing weasel, who Niki and his surrogate squirrel father, Julius befriend while saving Santa from a wolf pack attack .   Long story short, the climax involves  Niko, Wilma and Julius killing the wolf leader, the Flying  Squad saving themselves in order to save Christmas, Niko learning how to fly and learning that Pranc

Because  there are only 25 days in Advent and there are 26 letters in the alphabet, today we have a  daily double - U and V U is for Ulla    Ulla  is a Finnish name , made popular by the Swedish secretary in the stage play, "The Producers" , but today I have two different Christmas celebrities who are named  " Ulla" .   Little Ulla is the  fictional heroine of an interactive Christmas Stage Show specially created for little ones, with puppets, music, and yodelling!  It’s a busy little time for Little Ulla the Post Goat!  It’s Christmas time and she has lots of cards to deliver around the village.  Every day she makes people happy by delivering cards from friends and loved ones. But poor old Mr Hans the clockmaker never gets any Christmas cards!  Needless to say, Little Ulla makes sure that Mr Hans is not neglected this Christmas.   The discovery of this rather odd Scottish operetta and its caprine heroine does not diminish the brilliance of  my art

A little Finnish surprise for you today.....  T is for tonttu  A tonttu ( or tomte in Swedish)  is a mythological creature from  Scandinavian folklore  today typically associated with the  winter solstice  and the  Christmas  season. It is generally described as being no taller than three feet, having a long white beard, and wearing a conical or knit cap in red or some other bright colour. They often have an appearance somewhat similar to that of a  garden gnome . [1 ] from Wikipedia.  In the past, i n Finnish households  there were guardian spirits known as elves (tonttu) Each type of building had its own sort of elf.- household elves, sauna elves, stable elves, storehouse elves, barn elves and mill elves. When treated with respect, they brought good fortune, but if they took offence, there was no predicting the consequences. All commonly were active after nightfall,but individual tonttu were often notorious for their eccentricities.  from   The B ook of Finnish elves (Suom

No prizes for guessing that today's S celebrities include the jolly man himself,  but wait, there's more...    S is for Santa Claus  and Suzy Snowflake  What do these two have in common - nothing much except a  tentative Christmas link, a reference to the same era, and  I think they look good  in a snowy scene together.  I am sure I do not need to add  much to the profile of Santa Claus  because many of you are most likely experts on the subject. However,  in Australia, I often see images of Santa in beach board shorts or even wearing a bush hat with hanging corks to keep away the summer flies and I wonder how it came about that red flannel and white fur are still the preferred attire for Santa.    Did you know that red and white became a tradition after Santa appeared in a Coca Cola advertisement in 1931?  Coca Cola Company deny that they "invented" Santa Claus as we know him - plump, jolly, friendly and definitely lovably human. In the past Santa Clau

R is for Rudolph and Robbie You know Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer... You know Dasher, and Dancer, and Prancer, and Vixen, Comet, and Cupid, and Donner and Blitzen But do you recall The most famous reindeer of all Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer had a very shiny nose and if you ever saw it you would even say it glows. All of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names They never let poor Rudolph play in any reindeer games. Then one foggy Christmas eve Santa came to say: "Rudolph with your nose so bright, won't you guide my sleigh tonight?" Then all the reindeer loved him as they shouted out with glee, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, you'll go down in history!  I probably don't need to remind you that Rudolph is a fictional reindeer with  a glowing red nose, Rudolph popularly known as " Santa's ninth reindeer ". When depicted, he is the lead reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh on  Christmas Eve . The luminosity of his nose is so grea

It is not easy finding a Christmas celebrity whose name starts with Q ... so today I am featuring three!  Q is for "Queen of Christmas", Quentin Blake and "Queen" the band.  https://www.amazon.com  1. Fol lowing on from Pollyanna yesterday, I  decided to feature another  fictional literary heroine,  the self-appointed Queen of Christmas, of the Ann Estelle stories by Mary Engelbreit. The Queen of Christmas  has been working on "The List" since just after Christmas last year. After all, if she forgets  anything , "that would make Christmas not quite as wonderful as it should be." So, although she has a marvellous time ice-skating with Grandma, perhaps a sparkly red skating outfit would make it better. And going sledding with her father on his old wooden sled is great, but still, it might be nice to have a brand-new plastic one. In my illustration, the Queen of Christmas has a couple of things sorted - a "Special Dad " p

P is for Pollyanna  Yes - today the Christmas celebrity is that beloved happy girl from Eleanor H Porter's classic children's book. Now I know you are all wondering if there were any Pollyanna Christmas stories?   No there weren't any specific Christmas stories, but I just want to remind you of the reason for Pollyanna's being was making others happy and seeing the good in everything. In the original stories and all the sequels, Pollyanna was renowned for her optimistic  "Glad Game" where you were challenged to find the positive in any situation.  I remember that I admired Pollyanna for being "glad" about whatever gift she was given. When she received crutches in a gift exchange, instead of a doll, and she learnt that she should be glad about the gift, because she did not need them! I also remember that  although I thought Pollyanna was very virtuous, I hoped desperately that I was never given crutches when I didn't need them!   Now to the

Curiouser and curiouser. ..strange name, strange story! Olentzero - watercolour, pencil & pen sketch - Wilma Simmons O is for Olentzero ...   I admit I had not heard of this well loved but strange Christmas character before researching for this blog This big fellow is well loved at least by Basques -  Who?  Where? The Basques are indigenous to and mostly live in an area traditionally known as Basque country, a region which is located around the west of the Pyrenees on the coast of Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north -central Spain and south western France.    But who is Olentzero?   There are  quite a few versions of his story and how he is related to Christmas, but I like this one....   Olentzero is a humble man with a heart filled with love. As a new born he was left alone in the woods where a fairy adopted him, gave him the name Olentzero and raised him. He turned into a strong man and worked as a charcoal maker. He was hard-working and gifted with his han

It was just too difficult to decide on the Christmas celebrity for today's letter N , so I settled on two - one most people know, and another less connected.  St Nicholas and Nestor - watercolour, pencil  and ink sketch  - Wilma Simmons  N is for St Nicholas and Nestor.  Let's start with St. Nick.... Santa Claus is a fictional character based on multiple figures.  The person most closely connected with the Santa Claus legend is Saint Nicholas, a Greek Christian bishop who helped the poor and left presents for children. I suppose most people know about the story of how St. Nick saved three daughters whose poverty stricken family were being forced to sell them. As they slept, St Nick placed bags of money into their stockings hanging out to dry. Familiar with any Christmas practices we know?  We remember this saint , such a holy, good man. Be like him in charity, do all that you can. Many miracles Nicholas hastened to do, Helping people in need with gifts that

M is for Magi ..  While children here are waiting excitedly for Santa Claus to arrive on Christmas Eve with presents, some children will expect gifts from the Magi,   probably better known as the three wise men or the three kings.  The word 'magi'  (magus)  is an ancient word referring  to practitioners of  astrology, alchemy and other esoteric knowledge. The most current use of the word is applied to the men who according to the gospel of Matthew visited the baby Jesus soon after his birth. Most of the details  about the Magi are in an earlier post, featuring Caspar, one of the Magi. -  Christmas Countdown Characters #3 , so in this post, I will focus on the Hispanic tradition of "Dia de Reyes" (Day of the Kings)  which honours these Christmas icons.  Twelve days after Christmas, the Epiphany, is called Three Kings Day which is celebrated in  Latin America, Spain, and in Hispanic communities of the United States .Traditionally,  there are special church service