The Twelve Days of Christmas is the festive Christian season, beginning on Christmas Day (25 December) that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, as the Son of God. This period is also known as Christmastide.
The traditions of the Twelve Days of Christmas have been largely forgotten in the United States.
That's what Wikipedia tells me. Here's a link with more information.
When I hear "Twelve Days of Christmas", I am thinking of the popular song, and when I am thinking of the popular song, I am thinking of one of my favorite Disney Christmas stories ever.
I have always been a big fan of the old Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck Christmas stories. One year - in 1988 to be precise - my little brother had a special gift for me. He cut out Christmas stories from my Mickey Mouse magazines and put them in a folder. While part of me is still cringing thinking of it, the other part is happy each year to pull that folder out for Christmas. It's one of my very personal traditions. The story I referred to above, however, is not in that folder.
That means you'll have to excuse me for a few hours while I'll be going through my (not so small) collection of Donald Duck comics.
Here's something for you to watch until I'm back.
I'm back!
Okay, so here's how the story goes.
After a refreshing bath in his money to prepare him for the horrors of buying Christmas gifts Scrooge McDuck makes his list ... a golf ball for Donald, one marble each for Huey, Dewey, and Louie, a bobby pin for Daisy and a snap button for his sister.
Being aware of Scrooge's stinginess Donald has a plan. He gets a hypnotizer and puts in a picture of himself. Unfortunately the nephews accidentally exchange that picture for the picture of the dog that bit Donald at the dog show and that happens to be the dog of Scrooge's neighbor. So when Donald hypnotizes Scrooge, he convinces him to give generously not to himself, but the dog.
Scrooge decides that such a noble creature deserves a special gift, and when he happens to come across the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" on a Christmas card, he is determined.
Donald watches Scrooge's preparations and is shocked thinking that he will be gifted 12 drummers drumming, 11 pipers piping, 10 lords-a-leaping, 9 ladies dancing, 8 maids-a-milking, 7 swans-a-swimming, 6 geese-a-laying, 5 gold rings, 4 calling birds, 3 French hens, 2 turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree. Lots of mouths to feed, that!
To minimize the list of hungry mouths he makes his nephews dress up as the 3 French hens while he takes over the role of the partridge. When he tries to sabotage the parade, he gets tied up to his tree.
Imagine his shock when the whole parade doesn't go his house, but that of Scrooge's neighbor who is so happy about the joy her dog is having that she signs over ten oil wells to Scrooge!
Donald himself hardly escapes the pan while Scrooge comes back to his senses and tries to figure out what happened. When he can't work it out, he goes back to his list ... one golf ball for Donald, one marble each for Huey, Dewey, and Louie ......
My father's birthday is Twelfth Night. When I was little, we would go to a courtesy aunt's home that night. My brother and I would receive gifts, then help take down their tree. We moved away for a couple of years, and when we came back, the tradition was not resumed. Thanks for bringing back the memory.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad it brought back some memories for you.
DeleteThe Twelve Days are not something I was familiar with myself until the last years.
Poor Donald!
ReplyDeleteIt's what I love about Donald. He has something worked out and in a very human way he falls on his nose because he's trying too much.
DeleteIt feels very real to me at times.