20 Days - A Fire for Papa Noel

In St. James Parish (which is French for Parish), Louisiana

and several of the other river parishes in Louisiana,

they have a nice Christmas tradition of building

big pyramids of wood on the levees in the days leading up to the Big Day.

Levees are great big piles of dirt on the side of the river
(Mississippi River)
that were constructed to hold back the river
so that you have a dry spot to build a fire.

On the night of Christmas, the locals

set the pyramids afire to show Papa Noel -

AKA

Santa,

Mr Claus,

The Man with all the toys,

Saint Nicolas,

That right jolly old elf

Old JellyBelly 

you get the idea.

Anyhow, they build them all up and down the levee

and  then just after dark

they light up the fires

to show him the way to their homes.

Probably so he won't get eaten (et-up?) by an alligator

while wandering around in the dark.

In other places, they use other forms of lumination to show

Old Saint Nick the way home.

I kind'a like the stick fires

Cause it's hard to toast a marshmallow on a lightbulb.

and I bet Papa Noel would like

a toasted marshmallow to eat after he finishes his gumbo.