First Shelved, now Stalled...how Rud!

A Supporting Cast, Casting a Glow: Yes indeed, all the Yuletide fan favorites come out once again to greet us. Now, just under a week to go before the extravaganza that has been the focus of retailers, shoppers, ever since they put away the Halloween scene (well, a few turkeys in between were seen around here, on front lawns, even a few on roof tops following high winds of November), the tension, excitement has been building within and without, here and all about (all about the globe, that is, with an increasing number of nations and cultures jumping on the bandwagon, follow the band in the Santa Claus parade), celebrations around the world of this thing we around here call Christmas (which one author of the "What you thought you knew about..." reminds most of us of how naive and uninformed we are, the ones who have celebrating Christmas all along)...The supporting cast has also been assembling, with the elf being the first to show around December 1st, eventually arriving in millions of homes (a brief history of the HUGE popularity of this little Santa helper can be found in the December 5th post)...and then the perennial appearance, whether through natural or artificial means, comes Frosty (as well as his family tree, see December 12th)...but who can forget about the one Santa counts on, more reliable and accurate than any GPS, the one that was initially dissed, then dismissed, and finally sweet bliss...

A Natural Pairing (?) So, the elf, which had been helping Santa all along, became a source of extravagant entrepreneurialism, and eventually became a cottage industry, thanks in no small part to the dynamic duo of Carol Aebersold and her daughter, Chanda Bell. A temporary shortage of which caused a brief shelving of Christmas. And now, at least for me a byproduct of a convo I had with a cherub prepping for the arrival of Santa and his sleigh, the erstwhile underappreciated Rudolph, has been officially paired with the "Elf on the Shelf", the dimensions of which are just starting to be understood the world over -- better make room, it's one thing to have this diminutive dude (and dudette, as there are now as many elves with traditionally female sounding names since equality has finally reached the North Pole) lounging around on the shelf, and then moving with stealth by night, and a different thing entirely to have to now accommodate a reindeer (or two, if yours is one of those houses with both a boy and girl elf, who would demand equal company), to have this four legged, Christmas Caribou hoofing it not only in your front door but onto a shelf -- now you're talking a holiday of great dimensions...weighing in at 60-300 kg (132-660 lbs. here), 160-200 cm long (5.3-6.6 feet), plus the tail (add another 14-20 cm, or 6-8"), standing 80-150 cm (2.6-4.9 ft.) tall at the shoulder, let alone two standing shoulder to shoulder, and all of a sudden our friend Rudolph might pose as an imposing figure, one which would cause a stir in any home, at least some minor home renovations, a challenge even for "The Property Brothers"! And, just in case you think you might get off easy, that there may be a shortage of Rudy's to invade each "home for the holidays𝅘𝅥𝅰" from across the pond and places that "We may traverse afar...𝅘𝅥𝅮" comes:

A Little Help for, from Our Friends: From our friends, the Brits, the government of which is calling for one of the toughest bans in the world on the import of hunting trophies, including not only the "Big Five" (lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants, and buffaloes), but extending to another 1,000 species which are considered near-threatened or worse -- such as African buffalo, zebra, and....REINDEER! But now that the threat of a diminished herd has been heard and quelled, several unanswered questions remain, at least 'nag' at me, regarding the arrival and temporary reining resident, not the least of which include:

Just how big and how strong does such a supporting shelf for this supporting cast have to be?

If Rudy wants to go out and stroll, are you also required to build a stall and, if so, who's gonna' clean...?

Will there be a 'run' on carrots, which could in turn threaten one of my favorites any time, carrot cake?!

How does one keep Rudy's nose from spontaneously glowing, so as to not expose the elf, now sharing the shelf?

So many unanswered questions, the results of good intentions when unleashed, can lead to holiday havoc!

No time for any more stalling, enough Rudolph reverie; the supporting cast is now fully assembled, and the sleigh is about to get loaded up...time to rein it all in...