Skip to main content

Christmas Countdown Characters #10

Jingle Belle - watercolour, pencil and ink sketch - Wilma Simmons 
J is for Jingle Belle 
These Christmas celebrities are becoming more curious as the month progresses. Jingle Belle is a very modern creation of comic  book writer Paul Dini. Jingle Belle is the teenage daughter of Santa Claus. Jingle Belle has a a strangely elfin look, and is forever a teenager - well, Santa and Mrs Claus don't seem to age, do they?  The Jingle Belle comics were first published in 1999 and the stories mostly relate the antics of a rebel teenager and her contentious relationship with her famous father. 
There are constant complaints of a non existent social scene - just a few elves and Eskimos to hang out with and practically the only excitement she claims  is to sneak a joyride in the old man's sleigh.
In spite of all that teenage angst, there appears to be a "Christmas" side to Jingle Belle. Here is an extract from a story she tells about a time when her father, Santa was having a bad day and thought of quitting Christmas were entertained.  

"Look dad ( Santa Claus) ," I  (Jingle Belle) said, "You’re beating yourself up because you feel you can’t give any meaningful gifts. Things like comfort, reassurance, or the strength to face one more uncertain day. But you forget, those are gifts most people already have, and whether they realize it or not, they exchange them with each other every day. When they help each other, when they listen, or smile, or even just leave each other alone. I don’t think you can give anything more meaningful than that. I don’t think anyone can."
My hand strayed toward the pile of toys on the table. "As far as the big ticket items go, I think they’re pretty well set. Still, if you want to give something extra, I hear a little foolishness ain’t bad. God knows there are a lot of kids down there who’d like to see there’s still one adult who remembers how to laugh. I’m pretty sure most of them would welcome a visit from a not so irrelevant, not quite outdated holiday icon,"  ... . Santa call it quits? Not this year, No way.   (from http://www.jinglebelle.com/)  Jingle Belle?  Not such a difficult  teenager after all! 

Another  contender for the letter J  is Joulipukki a Finnish Santa Claus, literally translated Christmas Goat. and of course  at Christmas, J is always for Jesus.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Countdown to Christmas 20 - Fruitcake song!

There are many songs about fruit cakes  - not all of them referring to the Christmas cake we know and love.It is really surprising to learn via Google that there are 89 listed songs with references to Christmas cake or fruit cake - not all of them complimentary.   Probably one of the most famous folk songs about Christmas cake is Miss Fogarty's  Christmas Cake (a favourite sung by The Irish Rovers).  This first recorded comical Christmas song was written by C Frank Horn in 1883 in Pennsylania, as a variation of an Irish folk song, 'Miss Mulligan's Christmas Cake' . The chorus might give you the hint that Miss Fogarty's cake was not for the faint hearted or those who suffered from a weak stomach.    Chorus : There were plums and prunes and cherries, There were citrons and raisins and cinnamon, too There was nutmeg, cloves and berries And a crust that was nailed on with glue There were caraway seeds in abundance Such that work up

Christmas Countdown 15 : Christmas Tree #11 - Disposable

Plastic cups  https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/christmas-stem-ideas-kids/ Advent Blog : Day 11 - Disposable  We are all so much more conscious about ridding our landfills and oceans of plastic waste. For Christmas, here is a way to use up some of those disposable items which seem to multiply at holiday parties and celebrations, or perhaps you have just been saving them up for a creative use.... Who would have thought coffee pods would make such stylish Christmas trees ? ... Add caption If you don't have one of those machines, then perhaps you have coffee on the run - Starbucks or Nescafe ?  from  https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/369858188126737920/ Nescafe cups https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/72761350208620530/ The disposable cups don' t have to be brand names to work well as materials for Christmas trees. Taking an engineering approach to plastic cup trees seems to be the answer for a more ornate result.  from  https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks ....  The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and  message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or  my husband or from off cuts gifted to us  from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks.   Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt  or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as wrapping str