A Concise History of The Annual Christmas Stolp.

As I've just posted the first couple of Annual Christmas Stolp posts, perhaps some 'stolping' history is in order.

stolp /'stolp/ vb. colloq. to travel by foot amongst company from home to a 7-Eleven to purchase a Slurpee.

As a teenager there was always plenty to do in Templestowe, as long as you liked walking to the local 7-Eleven to get a Slurpee, which, fortunately, we did. The word 'stolp' was first used by Cobbies in 1990 to describe people walking around his school who looked funny. We all liked the word and began to use it ourselves. Gradually it came to mean walking in general, and seeing as most times when we walked, we walked to 7-Eleven, the specific destination was soon added to the definition.

Them ol' days were simple days. When someone called up and said, "Stolp?", you knew what they were asking. It was handy to have "Do you want to go up the street and get a Slurpee and possibly a donut if they're fresh today and then maybe play some basketball at Templestowe Primary School and if you say yes, I'll call the others and then meet you at the bottom of my hill in, say, ten minutes?" compressed into one word. A phone call could be that simple: Hello? Stolp? Yep. Click.

The photo below is from an early stolp in 1993. The earnest expressions do seem somewhat ridiculous, especially as we're posing in front of a hopscotch, but there you go.


The date of the first Christmas Stolp has been lost in the mists of time, but one year 'stolp' and 'Christmas' were put together, and the Annual Christmas Stolp was born. The idea was that before the madness of Christmas Day really set in, we'd all take the time to get together, wish each other a Merry Christmas, and go up the street for a Slurpee. The first Annual Christmas Stolp we photographed was in the year of our Lord 1996 (below).


The Annual Christmas Stolp 1997.


The Annual Christmas Stolp (featuring Bart’s biceps) 1998.


1999 brought an obstacle that threatened to tear the still young tradition apart. JJ went to live in America, so, for the first time, one of the five was going to be missing. A plan was formed, however, whereby he would stolp to the 7-Eleven in Sparks, Nevada (where he was going to be) at the same time that we'd be going to ours in Templestowe. We'd take a photo of him up with us, and he'd call one of us on a mobile, so he'd be there in image and voice, not just in spirit. The timing needed to be just right, and it was. Just as we set the camera up for the photo, JJ rang through, and the Christmas Stolp was saved.



The Annual Christmas Stolp (featuring possibly JJ’s lowest depth in hairstyles) 2000.


The Annual Christmas Stolp 2001.


2002 was Ladies’ Day at The Stolp! A trifecta of Ks: Kirst, Kate and Kerry (the KKK) came along for their first Christmas Day Slurpee.


2003 saw Ahab & Naomi head off to Sweden over Christmas, where, to paraphrase Samuel Taylor Coleridge, there’s ‘ice, ice, everywhere, nor any Slurpee to drink’. So Ahab came with us in the usual fashion, (as did his parents for their first Stolp), and was also there in spirit.


By 2003 there was only one who’d been present in person for every Christmas Stolp, year in, year out: me. Hooray. I didn't win anything though. Not even a sunhat or a pair of orthonadontic sandals. Maybe next year. See here for 2004 and here for 2005.

See here for 'A Concise History of the Annual Christmas Slurpee Toss'.