DAVID ADAMS looks at the odder side of life…
But do you want it at your house? PICTURE: Ivars Krutainis/Unsplash
• Want to create a really authentic northern Christmas scene? A Siberian zoo is renting out animals including reindeer, foxes and huskies to people for their Christmas and New Year celebrations via it’s ‘Animals at Home’ service. The reindeer are reportedly in particularly high demand – not surprising given their role in pulling Santa’s (or as the Russians say, ‘Grandfather Frost’s) sleigh. The zoo, based in the city of Krasnoyarsk, says the animals are all specially prepared for the outings and come with zookeepers. Only the reindeer are available for home visits.
• Dressing up the cat in a Santa suit, making ornaments out of the dog’s pawprint and hiding Christmas presents for younger children are all cherished Christmas traditions in the US, a new poll has reportedly found. The OnePoll survey of 2,000 Americans, commissioned by department store Kohl’s, also reportedly found camping in the living room on Christmas Eve, sending holiday cards to people you don’t know, having Mario Kart competitions on Christmas morning and wearing silly Christmas-themed pajamas to be among activities people like to take part in at Christmas alongside more traditional activities like decorating a Christmas tree, setting up a nativity scene and displaying Christmas stockings.
• Italian bakers have unveiled the world’s largest panettone, a traditional sweet bread, for Christmas. Guinness World Records reportedly confirmed the 332 kilogram panettone, which took a team of six professional bakers more than 100 hours to create, was the world’s largest. Ingredients in the 1.5 metre tall treat, unveiled in Milan, include 25 kilograms of dark chocolate and a simlar amount of sugar. In other Christmas-related records set this year, André Ortolf set a new record for the fastest time to get dressed in a Santa suit when he did so in 30.94 seconds in September while Universal Studios Japan beat its own record for the most number of lights on an artificial Christmas tree in October, reaching 580,806 – 10,000 more than last year.
