K.A.C. 2025 - T - 01 Days ... [2021]

 

2021 - "Pssst! Hey, kid! Yeah, YOU, you in the middle! Didn't you read our article yesterday? You're supposed to be MASKED like these people, you dolt!"

     While Mr. Clueless steps away for a minute to go and get PROPERLY attired, we welcome you to our final entry of the year. We've covered a lot of ground and ALMOST got completely caught up, time-wise. We'll pick up where we left off next year on December 1st, 2026, with a look back at the years 2022 and beyond, to the present date. But for now, let's see what upending our very last stocking shows us.

     2021 had no one particular strange Christmas story to mention. Most people were still reeling from a year's worth of pandemic living and all the adjustments that came with it. So instead we'll use this time to fill in the gaps with the last flotsam and jetsam stories that didn't fit in elsewhere this year.

     - Item: Where The Real Rudolph Lives (with 800 of his besties): 

     https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/dec/06/reindeer-herding-holiday-sami-people-west-sweden 

     - Item: A rare look at one of the earliest known letters written to Santa from 1883 showcasing a sweet note from a little girl more concerned that her little brother has a good Christmas:

     https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/dec/02/six-year-old-girl-letter-to-santa-1883-christmas  

     - Item: 'Lofty the Snowman' - A Colossal 62 foot behemoth built in Northeast China for the season, complete with time-lapse photography of its construction: 

     https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/37687896/giant-snowman-built-11-days-cute-grin/  

     

     - Item: Take a look at Heather Cox Richardson's post today all about the history of NORAD's Santa Claus tracker. Worth reading for the closing quote alone: "For one night a year, the hard-edged world of international alliances, intelligence, radar, satellites, and fighter jets turns into a night for adults to create a magical world for children."

https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson 

 

  

     

     We end this year as we do each year by following the British tradition of the Christmas Ghost Story. Our tale is one we've been trying to add for YEARS and now it FINALLY gets to shine. This is your humble curator's (and his son's) favorite ghost story. Don't expect the dilapidated mansion or creaky stairs - you're heading to much darker waters via Algernon Blackwood's 1907 novella The Willows. A masterpiece of slow, creeping dread with extremely different ghosts. Presented in two links for your reading pleas ... ummm ...

     https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Willows_(Blackwood)/I 

     https://www.thisisdarkness.com/2018/11/18/algernon-blackwood-the-willows-1907-full-novella-text/
 

     And with that, we close the curtain and roll up the carpet of the K.A.C. for another year. Time for your Curator to wrap his scarf up a little tighter to stop the draft, make a cup of tea, get settled in on the couch and be dazzled by the lights of the Christmas tree, thinking rather wistfully of the ever weirder stories - the ones that got away. Blessed Yule, Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year to you all!