Christmas Thoughts

[Midnighter]

I've been working my way through a local Christmas quiz, and have found myself stuck on a few of the questions. All the answers relate to Christmas in some way.

1. Ringing in "It's a Wonderful Life"? (5,5)

I know there's the line in the film 'every time a bell rings an angel gets its wings'. So I presume it relates to bells in some way.

2. Not a good day for a wild canine. (6,3)

3. Five Eastern stars chime. When? (9,3)

4. Spiritual beings riding horses (6)

There are a couple that have already been asked on here, but I'm still not sure about my, or others, answers:

1. She shares her name with Christmas Day? (7)

I've suggested Nollaig, the Irish word for Christmas and also used as a name. Others have suggested Madonna, Natalie and Noeleen. Any other suggestions?

2. The crowned tree like a friend? (5)

I've seen Holly suggested, and suggested aspen myself. Aspen kind of works wordplay wise: like a friend = as pen, but not sure of any Christmas link with the aspen tree.

3. Winter cocktail? (1,8)

All I can think of is 'a snowball'. The only thing making me wonder about this as the answer is that the answer to the following question is also snowball.

[mallyh]

4 angels on horseback

[mallyh]

3 Christmas eve anagram stars chime ......v = 5..... e = eastern

[elliemay1]

1 angel bells?

[emeritus]

2 Boxing Day ?

[Tilly2]

2 Boxing Day (fox hunting)

[emeritus]

4 Has 6 Letters Mally

[mallyh]

what is the question you have snowball to as 3 looks like a snowball .

[emeritus]

1 Angel Wings ?

[mallyh]

4 angels is my answer just saying they are on a horse x

[emeritus]

4 Ghosts ?

[Midnighter]

Mally: The other question I have snowball for is:

Orwell's pig.

[elliemay1]

If the quiz is an Irish publication I would go with Nollaig. Noelene is another possible spelling of Noeleen.

[Midnighter]

I think Natalia, the Latin name Natalie is derived from, could be the answer to that one. I just did a bit of Googling and found the following on Wiki:

'Natalia is a female given name with the original Late Latin meaning of "Christmas Day" (cf. Latin natale domini). It is currently used in this form in Italian, Romanian, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, Russian, Ukrainian, and Polish.'

[Midnighter]

I thought the 'crowned tree' part of 2 referred to The Holly and the Ivy, but couldn't get the 'like a friend' bit, and then I found this from a poem by Emily Bronte...

Love is like the wild rose-briar,
Friendship like the holly-tree—
The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms
But which will bloom most constantly?