Bathroom Book of Christmas Trivia: Stories, Weird Facts, and Folklore Behind Holiday Traditions from Around the World.

Description

224 pages
Contains Illustrations
$14.95
ISBN 978-1-897278-14-7
DDC 394.2663

Author

Publisher

Year

2006

Contributor

Reviewed by Janet Arnett

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

 

Review

Like tinsel on a Christmas tree, exclamation marks drip from this text, punctuating the mediocre writing style and the trivial nature of the content.

 

Christmas food, decorations, customs, and traditions from around the world are dusted off one more time to make up the lackluster content. Of course there’s Santa stats, handwringing over the content of sugar plums and the origin of Boxing Day, the history of the carol “Silent Night,” and the never-fresh account of how to make use of mistletoe. Predictably, elves, Advent calendars, stockings, Mrs. Claus, mincemeat, candles, bells, gingerbread, kettle campaigns, carols, Dickens, one-horse open sleighs, and all similar old ornaments put in an appearance. Here’s your chance to wallow once again in the interpretation of the “Twelve Days of Christmas,” review where the tale of a red-nosed reindeer came from, brush up on the details of your Scrooge story, and remember 34th Street.

 

Yes, Virginia, there will always be Christmas trivia.

Citation

Wojna, Lisa., “Bathroom Book of Christmas Trivia: Stories, Weird Facts, and Folklore Behind Holiday Traditions from Around the World.,” Canadian Book Review Annual Online, accessed October 5, 2024, https://cbra.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/26694.