CRAIG CONLEY (Prof. Oddfellow) is recognized by Encarta as “America’s most creative and diligent scholar of letters, words and punctuation.” He has been called a “language fanatic” by Page Six gossip columnist Cindy Adams, a “cult hero” by Publisher’s Weekly, a “monk for the modern age” by George Parker, and “a true Renaissance man of the modern era, diving headfirst into comprehensive, open-minded study of realms obscured or merely obscure” by Clint Marsh. An eccentric scholar, Conley’s ideas are often decades ahead of their time. He invented the concept of the “virtual pet” in 1980, fifteen years before the debut of the popular “Tamagotchi” in Japan. His virtual pet, actually a rare flower, still thrives and has reached an incomprehensible size. Conley’s website is OneLetterWords.com.
An illustration from an 1888 issue of Frank Leslie's Pleasant Hours magazine. The caption reads: "'Ring on!' he exclaimed, as the bells from many a church-dome rang out their merriest Christmas chime."
An illustration from The Bachelor's Christmas by Robert Grant (1895). The caption reads: "The wreaths of holly were the nearest semblance to faces, and they seemed almost to grin at him."
In came the Christmas goat, from Svenska Minnen och Bilder by Nils Petrus Ödman (1899). This will also be of interest:The Collected Lost Meanings of Christmas.
Who dances the frozen yule away? Why, it's the hearthstone goblins, of course! They teach the wind to sing and usher back the spring. They teach the gulls to scream and dance the ages into dream. From Cosmopolitan Magazine, 1893. This will also be of interest:The Collected Lost Meanings of Christmas.
It's a nearly-forgotten fact that too much mistletoe can actually prevent kisses. Our proof appears in The Quiver, 1892. This will also be of interest:The Collected Lost Meanings of Christmas.
Here's a precursor to the classic The Lion in Winter, in which Eleanor of Aquitaine says, on Christmas day, "Of course he has a knife; he always has a knife; we all have knives! It's 1183 and we're barbarians!" This will also be of interest:The Collected Lost Meanings of Christmas.