Welcome to the Kitschmas Advent Calendar 2015 !!! T - 24 Days ... and Counting !!!

     Happy Holidays and welcome to the 2015 edition of the K.A.C. - what's that, you say? Too soon? Nonsense! If anything, we've scaled it back in recent times - we used to start before Thanksgiving, but in keeping with traditional Advent calendars, it felt appropriate to do our countdown through the month of December. 

     If you've been with us in past years, you know what to expect ... if not, well ... hmm, I'm actually not sure any words are going to help! The K.A.C. started a number of years ago as a friendly holiday-themed competition between my work-study students and I to see who could come up with the most outrageous photo. Over time, as my students graduated and moved on, it has evolved into this annual Internet celebration of the strange, the odd and the bizarre little-known aspects of Christmas from around the world.  

     Case in point: this vintage Christmas card that shows one frog murdering another one for his money (and pants, so it would seem) with the (stabbed in the-)heart-felt phrase of, "A Merry Christmas to you". Who WOULDN'T feel more merry after that?  

      While we may not be starting before today, social media has jumped the gun of holiday idiocy this year and has made our job a WHOLE lot easier ... and it's all about food and drink. The madness started in November with the annual Starbucks 'Christmas' cup. In past years, they have decorated their cups with appropriate scenes (compare the 2014 cup at right with the plain red design of the 2015 cup at left). Instead of being taken as a simple, low-key design with the primary colors of the season (red and green), the current cups have spawned a TON of Internet hate, with the company being accused of "hating Jesus" and more ... all because of a plain red cup design. You can't make this stuff up - after awhile, it almost writes itself. More details can be found here:

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/tempest-in-a-coffee-cup-illuminates-power-of-starbucks-brand/

     

      Not to be outdone, the latest Internet blowup that has people frothing at the mouth is the Reese's Holiday Tree candy. What's wrong with it? When you pull it out of the package, it doesn't LOOK like a tree! One of the message boards I was reading actually had someone complain that "it looks like a turd" (right before he or she put it in their mouth, chewed it up and swallowed it, complaining all the way, I'm sure). My theory on all this? People have just gone completely crazy and want something, ANYTHING, to complain about. Seriously, if this is what you are spending your hard-earned time bitching about, you need to REALLY take a long, hard look at your life and re-think your priorities.

     

      Seasonal food disasters are nothing new here at the K.A.C. - we're pretty used to this kind of thing. Looking back over past entries, we've covered holiday Cake Wrecks, like this blobby Santa Caketastrophe at right (for his full story, see my blog entry of December 8th, 2011) and the All-Time Winner of poorly designed Christmas Chocolate (and the winner of our Outrageous Photo for 2013) is this London confectionary Santa below that was ... umm, QUITE revealing when unwrapped! For HIS full story, check out my blog entry from December 23rd, 2013. 

     So, that should give you a taste (sorry) of what to expect for the next 24 days. I've been scouring the Web and working on this site since October and have come up with another year's worth of the strange, the bizarre and the unusual, all about the season. There will also be the usual assortment of whimsical entries and even some educational items exploring the truth behind holiday traditions, including our next entry, all about a Christmas X-File! Join us for more through the month ... see you tomorrow!