A good Christmas story is never out of season.
So despite a thermometer that seemed stuck on 30-plus, when the following tale was told to us by the Spiderlady, one of the vendors at the Chemainus Giant Street Market July 4, we think Santa and the Christmas Spiders will add a bit of extra glitter to your Christmas, now that December is here – imagine Christmas in Australia, if you will:
A long time ago in Germany, a mother was busily cleaning for Christmas. The spiders fled upstairs to the attic to escape the broom. When the house became quiet, they slowly crept downstairs for a peek.
“Oh! What a beautiful tree,” they said.
In their excitement they scurried up the trunk, and along each branch. They were filled with joy as they climbed amongst the glittering beauty. But alas, by the time they were through scrambling up and down the tree was completely shrouded in dusty, grey spider webs.
Santa came along with gifts for the children and was surprised to find their tree covered in webs. He smiled to see how happy the spiders were, even though he knew the family would be heartbroken when they saw the state of their tree.
So he turned the spiders’ webs into strands of silver and gold. The tree sparkled and shimmered even more brilliantly than before and everyone – right down to the eensiet weensiest spider – had a very happy Christmas Day.
That is why we adorn our trees with tinsel every Christmas.
Adapted from a story told by Ann Smith, of Nanaimo, also known as the Spiderlady at craft fairs and markets in the region. You can find out more about Ann at members.shaw.ca/spiderlady.
