From your modeling buddies in the US and the Netherlands, here's a Christmas treat.
A few months ago, I (from the US) found a message from Diderick A. den Bakker (from the Netherlands( asking me to restore a Pellerin d'Epinal print, "Noel" (from France). Diderick has his own sites devoted to the paper model hobby. I encourage you to check it out! - Zeist Bouwplaten - Import, verkoop, ontwerp en productie van papieren schaalmodellen, maquettes en bouwplaten (cardmodels), Modelbouw, Rietveld cutoutmodels
https://www.flickr.com/photos/zeist_bouwplaten/a
After I spent a few weeks working on the image, I found that it was one of the most complicated automata I had ever built especially since the French instructions, after translation, told me nothing I had not already surmised. You can download the Noel file and build instructions from the Vintage toy section. I had mine printed @ Sam's Club for just a few dollars so that the print is 11 X 14. Once finished, the final automata size is 8 x 10 inches.
Some history. Pellerin has been in continuous business since the early 1800s. Some of their earliest images cover the Napoleonic Wars, though, by the time Pellerin peddled their wares, Napoleon was nothing by a glorious memory.
This print, "Noel," predates the turn of the 20th Century. It is old. However, Pellerin has never issued a catalog of their total range of prints with issue dates; it would be huge indeed! Of course, the copy you have here is a modern digital restoration from a scan. The image represents a blend of Christian and Pagan traditions. Of course, there is the Nativity in the mind of the sleeping child. BUT, that eerie, Star Wars Cantina Scene, elephant-looking creature is something altogether different. It is one of many variations on a theme called, "Krampus."
In in our "modern" times, Krampus has been marginalized into a celluloid screen monster that steals and maims children @ Christmas time. In history, Krampus is a tradition that spanned the Celtic culture from Eastern Europe to Ireland. When Rome fought the campaign against the Gauls, 58 years before the birth of Christ, Caesar....yes, Julius Caesar...fought tribes that were descendants of the Celtic tradition that had since devolved into the tribes that would become Germany, Poland, Netherlands, France, etc. There are several linguistic, social, and cultural traditions that are common among those diverse cultures.
One of those traditions was and remains, Krampus, not a Santa Claus type figure, but a "reverse" Santa concept. Recall the line in the Christmas song, "you better watch out, you better no cry, you better not pout, I'm telling you why." (Barry Manilow's lyrics...geesh!)
In the Celtic/Northern/Eastern European pre-Christian tradition, Krampus is the answer as to why you do not want to be a bad little boy or girl. Though not vicious, Krampus would see to it that you would not be rewarded during a time that had, throughout the ages, been a time of celebration and joy... yes, before the birth of Christ.
Think about it; nothing every really changes. In all the history of the human race, there are no new emotions, sins, pleasures. It's all been there...even the problem of how to make sure children grow up right.
If all else fails, threaten them. During my Depression-era Mother's childhood in NE Pennsylvania, nothing spelled Christmas doom more than a lump of coal in one's Christmas stocking.
What was your worst Christmas calamity?