Traditions again...

There's a bit of New Orleans tradition in Mr. Bingle. I don't know about other areas but being a kid in New Orleans meant seeing Mr. Bingle along with getting your picture taken with Santa Claus. He was created for department store, Maison Blanche, which is now Dillard's.

There's a bio and older sales fliers here. They used to do Breakfast with Bingle which basically was a sales tactic to get parents to shop at the Maison Blanche. Kids got a puppet show and a biscuit or muffin or something, and the parents got... holiday headaches maybe? I always associated Mr. Bingle with Mr. Bill. I mean they were from the same time, same town, they both had a white face, with blue eyes and a red nose... they could definitely pass for brothers.

Anyway, my kids won't or don't have any kind of tradition like that. Outside the family, that they participate in… Unless you count the Christmas parade, and coming from New Orleans, I have seen better. Well, I guess we'll just learn to live with it, though I now realize what a culture rich childhood I really had.

So to everybody out there, Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!