What Krampus Means To Me

Krampus is pretty easy to understand, he's the flip side of Santa Claus. He punishes the children who are bad.  In Austria and a few other places  he comes along in the first week of December to get the kids in line.  I guess he does this so there's still time for them to have Santa late.  Krampus to me is something different.

We haven't been real faithful about it, but occasionally some of us will have a Krampus party. We don't recognize any date on the calendar and in fact this year we've decided to have it AFTER Xmas.  For us, Krampus is a time to remember those who haven't had great Xmases. We get together, share some sweets and a nice fire  (we also add booze a little later in the night).  The fire is the fun part.  We either burn a Santa Claus or an Xmas tree.  You might find the last part off-putting, but some people find it very therapeutic.  If you've been on the bad side of Xmas or two, you'd understand the need to vent a little bit. When you really get down to it, we're celebrating the best parts of the season, food, fun and fellowship.

There is one fun thing about Krampus I'd like to add in the future.  The "alcohol fueled whip fights" sound like some awesome jackassery.  We may have to do some of that this year.