December 13

In many households, it's a Christmas eve tradition to leave out some treats for Santa Claus -- often a plate of cookies and a glass of milk, or perhaps some hot chocolate.

The disappearance of said treats in the middle of the night is clear and irrefutable evidence to many a wide-eyed child that Santa has indeed paid a visit to their home and left presents under the tree.

In the case of author Katherine Barber, the Editor-In-Chief of the Canadian Oxford Dictionary -- who is perhaps better known as "Canada's Word Lady" from her interviews on CBC Radio 1 -- the treats were definitely in the vein of "Christmas Cheer", as related in this excerpt from the entry on the origin of the word chocolate:

Chocolate

If St Nick is lucky, he may find a steaming mug of hot chocolate with miniature marshmallows waiting for him. (Actually, when I was a child, my father assured me that what Santa really liked was beer, and sure enough the beer that was left out was always drained to the last drop.) ...

Six Words You Never Knew Had Something to Do With Pigs :
And Other Fascinating Facts About the Language From Canada's Word Lady
Katherine Barber
Toronto : Oxford University Press, 2006.

So that's why Old St Nick was so jolly...

Comments

[Carol]

Or, at our house, scotch and homemade shortbread (made by my Dad). I now wonder whether the tipple was his or his father's idea - there would have been a fight for the cookies.

The coincidence never occurred to me that Santa Claus had the same abhorrence of milk as my father.