Holiday Countdown 2021 - Fun, Songs and Quiz Edition
Ho Ho Ho
It’s December and you know what that means: the return of the Elf.
I’m leading a withdrawn life since I had to leave my beloved fairyland almost two years ago. I’m still stuck here at the North Pole with all my brothers and sisters, craft toys, withstand Santa’s moods and listen to Mariah Carey's song (you know which one) all year long. Now I remember very clearly, why I left this place years ago and started a new life with my friends in the Fairyland 
.
The main season of Santa’s business just started and despite my constant moaning, I love this time of the year. Really. Not Mariah, but almost anything else. And that’s why I’ll try to entertain you with another Holiday Countdown, sweeten the time until Christmas Eve and hope you’ll like it.
We’re all in need of some easiness and so this year’s calendar is about fun, Friday Fun to be precise. Let’s look back - everyday until Christmas Eve, there will be a new Friday Fun recap. Come back to this page every day, listen to songs, participate in the original Friday Fun and:
Win an Atlassian hoodie and a donation by Atlassian to a local food bank of your choice
This year we have something special for you - you can earn an awesome winter badge:
just by participating and even more: win an Atlassian Hoodie.
For the badge, you have to join the kudos programm - just click here.
For the hoodie and the donation, we'll play a little quiz game - everyday I will ask two questions - please send your name and your answers to this email adress - answers are accepted until the next day when the last days' solutions are published. On December 24, I will announce the winners, the two ones with the highest number of correct answers. If there are more than two with the same number, I'll have to draw two.
Please be fair and only use your brain - not google or any other search engine. Santa will notice that and you won’t get any presents this year!
Disclaimer: I will use your Email-Adress only for the purpose of this quiz. Everything will be deleted after December 24.
As every year, I have to remove older days from the main article.
Finally:
Song of the day is a song request by @nina_schmidt and is also my most favorite modern Christmas Song, it’s “Turn on the lights” by Jamie Cullum. I wish it would be half as popular as the Mariah song, but I’m working on it. 
This is the last day, it was a pleasure for me writing the calendar five years in a row and I hope you enjoyed reading it. Maybe there will be a sixth one next year - do you have any suggestions about the topic for me? Write it down in the comments! I really appreciate your feedback and suggestions.
A big shoutout goes to @Monique vdB and @Luke Hostetler for your support, thank you so much!
The Quiz
32 people sent their answers to me - I want to thank every single one of you for your participation!
A special thanks goes out to @Tessa Tuteleers for all your nice emails. I had a lot of fun with them - I hope you liked the elf's answers!
Thanks to @Svenja Lorenzen for participating so actively. Unfortunately, you were the only one who voted for a Christmas tree, so there’s no Christmas tree award 
Thanks to everyone who sent me their song requests and wrote comments here at the article or clicked on “like”. I really appreciate every single participation - you are my motivation for going on.
But now to the winners:
The Atlassian hoodie goes to @Vero Rivas . She answered 29 questions correctly.
Atlassian gives a 100 USD donation to a foodbank by @Andy Gladstone ’s choice - he answered 26 questions correctly. A big thank you to Atlassian, I think this is a great idea and I'm sure, Andy will find a good recipient for the donation.
Congratulations to the winners! The Community Team will soon get in touch with you!
It was a head to head race in the end. But again, thanks to everyone who participated, it was fun to read all your emails and comments!
The last answers:
Japanese people traditionally eat at KFC on Christmas Day and Christmas Eve.
Do you want to know why? Here's the story.
And the last answer: Sean Connery played James Bond seven times.
The End
So this is the end of the calendar. And now, all is left for me to say is:
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you. Have some wonderful days with your family and friends with good food, good board games and good conversation.
I wish you an amazing and healthy year 2022, let us all do our best to get rid of this disease and make this world a better place for all of us. Take care of yourself and your beloved ones!
See you in 2022!
Song of the day: Twenty One Pilots - Christmas Saves The Year
Just one day left - did you test the chain of lights? Last chance to buy some bulbs.
Let’s be thoughtful today - sometimes, Friday Fun questions and answers can be quite deep. @carrie_eandm asked on the last day of 2020 what you share with the next generation? It’s the perfect day for such a question - it’s a day for looking back and a day for thinking about the future. And in my opinion, it was one of the best Friday Fun topics we had last year - you should definitely have a look at this and write your own thoughts there. Thank you Carrie for this and thank you @Nic Brough -Adaptavist- , @Jimmy Seddon , @Daniel Ebers , @Dave Liao , @Albert Lane , @Gonchik Tsymzhitov , @Ivan Lima and @elizabeth_jones for your answers.
(photo created by senivpetro - 
Freepik | Graphic Resources for everyone)
We elves learn a lot from Mrs. Claus. She taught us to be kind to everyone (including ourselves), be grateful, love yourself and be yourself - don’t be afraid of other people’s judgments. Do things that bring you joy. Stay curious, build deep relationships with a few people. Be honest and optimistic. These are my ingredients for a joyful life. Sometimes you have to cease contact with friends or family for a while - I had to leave the North Pole to find my inner self - and returned as, well, as the proud elf I am today.
(photo created by wirestock - www.freepik.com)
Questions of the day (the last ones for this calendar):
- What do Japanese people traditionally eat on Christmas Day and Christmas Eve?
- Ramen?
- Sushi?
- KFC?
- Goose?
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How many films did Sean Connery play James Bond in?
Last days answers:
Santa would have to travel about six million miles per hour, as reported in “The Telegraph”.
Factoring in the number of children who celebrate Christmas around the world (around 700 million) and the total time Santa would have due to time-zone differences (31 hours). Dr. Katy Sheen, a physicist from Exeter University, determined that Santa would travel so fast that his reindeer would break the speed of sound.
(Background photo created by fanjianhua - www.freepik.com - If you look very closely, you can see him here, maybe)
Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it in the 16th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if wood was scarce.
Song of the day: Norah Jones - Christmas Calling
(Photo created by Free Stock Photos, PNGs, Templates & Mockups | rawpixel - Freepik | Graphic Resources for everyone)
In January 2021, @Fadoua asked for silly things: What is the most foolish thing you did recently?
Don’t be shy and follow @nina_schmidt , @Kristján Geir Mathiesen , @Taranjeet Singh , @Fabienne Gerhard and many more. They were brave and told us about their latest foolish thing, it’s really funny. Read about laughing fits, embarrassed sons, horror movies, delicious tiger balm, laughing penguins and more.
We want to read your story!
Another challenge: do you have silly holiday headgears? Please please post a photo - we want to see your most silly picture here, right now!
When I came back to the North Pole two years ago, the other elves thought I’m really ill because I wasn’t silly. You know, elves laugh and sing and do silly things all day long. I was the opposite of that, quite serious and not funny at all. I didn’t want to play, I didn’t want to sing. I had to relearn the ease and silliness of an elve’s life - and this is the best that happened to me. You should learn that too. Let’s get silly and funny and don’t take everything too seriously - let this be your New Year's resolution: more games, more fun, more unreasonable things and more silliness in your life!
Questions of the day:
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Santa delivers presents to all the children in the world - How fast would Santa's sleigh have to travel to do all this in one night? - The closest guess will receive the points.
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Which country started the tradition of putting up a Christmas tree?
Last days answers:
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The tallest Christmas tree of the world is in Dortmund, Germany. It is made out of 1,700 individual spruce trees stacked together within a frame and is 45 meters (148 feet) tall.
(Arnoldius, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons)
Do you like it? I mean, it is really big, but is it nice? I don't know...
The tallest fresh cut live tree is in Enid Oklahoma and is 140 foot tall. This tree has its own website:
Christmas Tree | The One | Enid - Snowboarding became a winter Olympic sport in the Games of Japan, 1998.
Song of the day: Ingrid Michaelson & Zooey Deschanel - "Merry Christmas, Happy New Year"
This video is so heartwarming, you have to watch it! Incredibly cute.
Today I have a second song of the day. Yesterday I talked about Mrs Santa. @Svenja Lorenzen sent me a link to another great song: Idina Menzel - A Hand For Mrs. Claus ft. Ariana Grande - I have to tell Mrs Santa about this song - I think she will like it! Thank you Svenja!
Let't talk about gardens and plants today. Do want to have a sneak peak into other people’s gardens and houses? Then look at @Daniel Ebers Friday Fun from July 2021. He asked for pictures of your garden or balcony and @nina_schmidt , @Jack Brickey , @Monique vdB , @Martin Bayer _MoroSystems_ s_r_o__ , @Tom Kakanowski and others opened their doors.
Well, I'm not so talented when it comes to plants:
We have no garden or plants here at the north pole. Flowers won’t have a long life with all the ice and snow. But… we have frost flowers everywhere. It’s so beautiful.
I love to watch them, their structure, their light. And if you are really experienced, you can create iced soap bubbles:
Some of my brothers and sisters create these frozen bubbles. It's soooo amazing. Here's a video.
Questions of today:
-
Where can you find the largest Christmas tree in the world?
(there are two answers, extra points if you know both of them) -
Snowboarding first became a Winter Olympic Sport in the Games of 1998 in which country?
Last days answers
By far, the most valuable spice in the world today is saffron. The dried stigmas of the saffron crocus plant can be purchased as saffron threads.
The famous traditional Italian cake eaten at Christmas is called Panettone.
Song of the day: Mrs Santa Claus by Nat King Cole
Last chance for your song request: Tell me and you might see it here tomorrow.
Cassie Mayes asked in May 2019 for your favorite specialty food in your city. Do you still have no idea what to cook on holidays? Do you know what haslets, papanasi, banitsa or granos are? No? Then you should definitely have a look at all the comments and get suggestions for your dinner.
Food is so important here at Santa’s house. It's so cold outside and you need something warm and healthy. But Santa can’t cook. I remember the day, when he tried to cook turkey with stuffing - it was so disgusting.
Thank god we have Mrs. Santa. She takes care of everything. And she cooks very well as you can see from Santa’s belly.
I rarely speak about Mrs Santa. She don’t want to be famous, she don’t want to hear her name in stories or songs - Mrs Santa is very humble. She liked that Nat King Cole song - but that’s almost everything.
She's doing most of the housework. Santa and she, they are very traditional when it comes to gender roles. But there's one thing, she hates: ironing. Santa and we elves have to do this on our own.
Once there was this musical movie: “Mrs Santa Claus”. Nobody asked the real Mrs Claus to play the role as herself in the movie. But I doubt, she would have done it, if they would have asked her.
When she saw this movie for the first (and last) time, she raged, then she sat in the kitchen and cried. “This is not me, what should all the people think” over and over again. She felt so ashamed. It took a lot of elve humour to make her laugh again. We burnt the movie in the chimney and never ever spoke again of this sorry effort since then. Well, the movie was not that bad in my opinion, but Angela Lansbury was definitely not our Mrs Claus, that’s for sure.
Mrs Santa takes care of us elves. We all are her children. Nobody knows where little elves really come from but she’s like a mother to us - and the heart and soul of our house. She teaches us the important things in life: charity, love, friendship, trust and cohesion but also languages, math, understanding humans and their sometimes strange behaviours, practical skills like repairing a sleigh or crafting toys. She aroused my interest for literature and writing - what would I be without her? Thank you for everything, Mrs Santa.
Some food questions today
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Which is the most expensive spice in the world by weight?
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What is the name of the traditional Italian cake eaten at Christmas?
Last days answers
In Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by four ghosts on Christmas Eve:
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Jacob Marley
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The Spirit of Christmas Past
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The Spirit of Christmas Present
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The Spirit of Christmas Future
Roald Dahl wrote the novel “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”
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Thomas Schlegel
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HanseMerkur
Hamburg, Germany
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