Ripley's Believe It or Not by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for December 25, 2023

When was the last time that CHICKEN drumstick was that big

KFC is so popular in Japan at Christmas, people have had to order ahead of time.

There used to be a tradition among city dwelling Jewish people to eat at a Chinese restaurant on Christmas, Chinese restaurants were the only ones that opened on Christmas.

That Welsh tradition didn’t originate with The Godfather did it?

The “tradition” of doing KFC had not reached the Fukuoka prefecture of Kyushu Japan by the Christmas of ‘79. Shakey’s Pizza was open but KFC was closed.

Merry Christmas.

I take it rhyme battles aren’t words that rhyme with battle

Yule tide is a pagan holiday, Christmas was taken from Saturnalia (Romans) and the Yuletide winter solstice from Scandinavia

Thanks to the movie “A Christmas Story”, we started having Chinese food on Christmas Eve. We must not be alone as the place we get our carry-out was packed.

That “tradition” in Japan was started by a franchisee who was looking for a way to boost sales. And did he ever. But we are having Okonomiyaki for breakfast. Hiroshima style.

Nothing says “Christmas” like a decorated horse skull. We forgot to put our’s out this year…

Eating KFC on Christmas could be a thing here in the U.S. too if they would cut the price down. They are super expensive around here.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

…and it was "A Christmas Story’ that started that short-lived tradition of Chinese Food on Christmas…..

I wonder why we never got a christmas themed “Epic Rap Battles of History” video featuring the Lwyd horse. It could be awesome, put him up against Krampus, or maybe a 3 way battle with them and Santa

Yes, I’ve known all about the Bay Massachusetts holiday letdown since I first learned of it as a young lady long ago – egad! It was also announced in the Archie Comics series!

“Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” — Attributed to H. L. Mencken.

The reason they banned Christmas was that they regarded it as a Catholic holiday. That is why Gen. Washington attacked Trenton on Dec. 26th, 1776. He knew the German Hessian soldiers hired by the British were mostly Catholic and would be hung over from celebrating Christmas on the 25th, which his own soldiers did not have to worry about because almost no Protestants in the Colonies at that time celebrated Christmas. Christmas celebrations among Protestants in the US did not start becoming common until the 1840’s and 1850’s.

The Puritans also canonized the Grinch and forever after celebrated him on December 25th. BION! ;-P

I was in the army, serving as an electronic tech instructor at Fort Devens, Massachusetts.

I met a local girl, Carol, (Lawrence, Massachusetts) in January of 1970, and, in February, I asked her to marry me.

I mustered out of the army at Fort Devens in May of 1970.

Our marriage was set for September, so after getting out of the army, she and I went to California (where my family lived and I grew up) so she could meet my family before we got married.

She was only 19 (I was 27) and really loved the Tonight show with Johnny Carson. My family lived near Burbank, and she wanted to visit Beautiful Downtown Burbank, as Johnny Carson was always calling it.

So, that Sunday afternoon, I took her to visit Beautiful Downtown Burbank. I could tell that she was a little disappointed because Beautiful Downtown Burbank turned out to be just another downtown.

But, we were having a good time strolling down the main street window shopping. It was Sunday afternoon and nothing ws open for business.

We were looking into a butcher store type store from at the meats and such, when this elderly gentleman stepped up next to us to look in the window.

He made a comment about some of the meat on display and we got to talking about things in general.

He was a husky guy and not too tall. He had a white goatee and white hair and wore an ice cream suit with aa string black tie.

He was extremely intelligent and knew a lot about cooking. He also guessed where we were from Carol from Lawrence, MA, and I, he chuckled, from the Burbank area.

We invited him to dinner at my mother’s house, but he begged off saying he had something to do later that day.

So, my wife and I go home, have dinner (over which we describe whaat happened in Burbank), and then watch TV.

Well, my Mom loved the Tonight Show too, sos we watched that. Part way into the show, Johnny says that the next guest is an amazing guy who was creating a restaurant empire using a special, secret recipe for cooking chicken that made it delicious.

Johnny said that his name was Colonel Sanders, and out from behind the Tonight Show curtains walked the guy we had met and talked to in Burbank. Carol and I yelled to each other and had to explain what had happened.

My Mom then said that a she wished he had come to dinner so that she could have gotten his recipe.

The Mari Lwyd (pronounced as “Lloyd”) tradition out of Wales

Is eerie and mysterious. Now here’s what it entails:

A horse’s skull upon a pole is ribboned, reined, and belled.

A sheet of white conceals the one by whom the pole is held.

This “mare” will walk with folk who mostly wear archaic garb

And sing around the village. If they come into your yard,

Prepare yourself for battle—not with vi’lence but with verse,

Exchanging rhyming insults to outwit it (could be worse),

And afterward, you’d better let the party come inside

And offer it your spirits (drink, not souls; you needn’t hide).

We haven’t traced the origin of this peculiar wassail,

But might I say, the Mari Lwyd’s a pretty awesome fossil.

—me

After the 35th chorus of t he MR.ED Theme song, the neighbors called the police

What was the colonel saying?