Christmas Stories, History and Traditions.

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The Christmas Story
Famous Nativity Paintings
Christmas Greeting
Christmas Bells
A Kidnapped Santa Claus
Is there really a Santa Claus?
The History of Santa Claus
History of the Christmas Tree
Mistletoe
Winter Festivals & Traditions
Fruitcake
PoinsettiasChristmas Lights
Christmas Stockings
Christmas Gifting
The song: 12 Days of Christmas
The Nativity Scene - Creche
The Three Wise Men or Kings
The Gift of the Magi
Countdown to Christmas Calendar
Name The Real Christmas Trees (online quiz)
The Candy Cane Christmas Symbol
Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
Origins of Santa's Reindeer
Advent
Christmas Carols and Caroling
Christmas Cards
Holly
Christmas Tree and Ornaments

2nd Floor Bathroom Progress

Put on your rose colored glasses and use your imagination to look at the progress so far. He has been working on it almost every day between other projects--the business, storm window for the stained glass, craft projects for gifts, frame for my painting, and shelves for my candles and soaps--but we're not sure it will be ready by Christmas. That's okay.

Things to do today

Every Thanksgiving, Me and He go out of town to have the Big Dinner at his mom's house. And every year, I make a small Thanksgiving meal at home a few days before. This way we can enjoy our own left-overs, etc. The following is my plan for our Thanksgiving.

• Things to do today:
  
  Clean the kitchen and get the turkey ready to put into the oven to bake and then get interrupted by “Him,” asking me to run to Home Depot to get some screws.
  
  Go to HD, look for the screws, look for someone to help me find the screws, finally find the screws without help. Go home with the screws and finish getting the turkey ready for the oven, and then remember it is Monday and I can get a haircut for ½ price before noon. Put the turkey back in the fridge and go to the salon I’ve been using for a couple of years—call it superb trimmings—wait a long time to get a fairly bad haircut. No, to get a really bad haircut.
  
  Stop on the way home to get gas in the car because the gauge is on empty and the little red gas tank light is getting brighter and brighter. Watch the charges go up on the pump but notice there is no gas going into the car. Get the feeling you are in a surreal dream when you pull the nozzle out and see that it is completely dry, there is no gas coming out, but you have been charged $2.46 cents for some air. Call attendant.
  
  Go back home and put the turkey rub on the turkey, put it in the oven, and then go to the store to get stuffing, etc., for the rest of the meal. Notice an organic pumpkin soy frozen pie and decide to try it. Forget to buy chicken broth.
  
  Go back home where “He” wants me to leaf-blow the shin-deep leaves in the back yard—leaves too deep to easily find the doggy-doo for cleanup.
  
  Spend 1-1/2 hours blowing leaves, stir up the leaf mold (allergic to mold so wear a respirator/mask but the mold will get me anyway). Find the doggy-doo after I step in it.
  
  Start coughing with a croup.
  
  When the turkey is done, put the pie in the oven and start prepping the stuffing. Notice I forgot to buy chicken broth, so use some of the drippings from the turkey to moisten stuffing—not waiting to let drippings cool enough to scoop off the fat.
  
  By now it will be too late to run back to the store for anything. There is no time to prep the veggie medley because “He” is hungry. So, reach for the frozen peas and put them in the microwave to thaw and heat while whipping up some gravy (using the turkey drippings that haven’t cooled enough to scoop off the fat).
  Serve dinner, eat, cleanup and start first load in the dishwasher, serve some organic pumpkin soy pie, throw out the awful pie, relax, and watch some TV. The rest will wait until tomorrow.

The foregoing were the actual events of the day.

Thanksgiving Wish

May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey be plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!

Annonymous

They're Creepy and They're Goofy

A Short History of Halloween
A Holiday from History's Darker Days

by Rhetta Akamatsu

Published Oct 24, 2007

Nearly 2000 years ago, a people known as the Celts occupied the land that now includes Ireland, Scotland, and much of the rest of the UK, plus part of northern France. To celebrate the end of the harvest and to prepare for the dark, cold, difficult winters, the Druids, Celtic spiritual leaders, held a celebration, known as Samhain. This marked the beginning of the New Year, about November 1st by our calendar. During this celebration, it was believed that the spirits of the dead would return to prophesy about the coming year, giving necessary warnings and information without which the Celts could not hope to survive. While animal sacrifice may or may not have been part of the Samhain celebration, the priests did wear the skins and head of animals as they told the future, and this is one of the origins of our tradition of wearing costumes at Halloween.The ghosts would also sometimes cause mischief and play cruel tricks, so to appease them, the Druids would collect food from peasants as an offering for the spirits. This is possibly one source of the tradition of trick or treating.As Christianity became the dominant religion in Europe, the old Celtic festivities became a problem. Some time in the 1800's, when Boniface IV was the Pope, he declared a new holiday, hoping to replace Samhain and other pagan harvest festivals with All Saints Day on November 1st. Somewhat later, the Church added another holiday, All Souls Day, to honor the souls of the dead. All Saints Day was also known as All Hallows Day, and it's eve, October 31, became known as Hallow's eve, or Halloween. All Souls Day also had a tradition which probably contributed to the "trick or treat" tradition. On November 2, it was customary for Christians to go door to door asking for "soul cakes," more like bread than what we think of as cake, with currants in it. In return for the soul cakes, the visitor would promise to pray for the souls of the dead from that household, who were believed to be waiting between heaven and earth. Prayers would speed them on their journey to heaven.

When the Romans came into power, many of their customs were absorbed by the Celts. Among these was the worship of the goddess of the harvest, Pomona. Apples were her sacred fruit, and bobbing for apples is probably a remnant of some ritual of her worship.Jack-o-Lanterns originated in Ireland, where there are no native pumpkins. They were originally hollowed out potatoes or turnips lit by candles, and they got their name from a famous trickster named Jack who is featured in many Irish folktales. When Jack died, neither God nor the Devil would take him, and so he was forced to wander the earth, looking for somewhere he could rest, with only a stub of a candle in a rotten turnip for light and warmth. In America, pumpkins were sturdier and obviously better suited for carving, so they took the place of potatoes and turnips in our Halloween tradition.So, remember as you enjoy your Halloween frivolities with family and friends, you are tapping into traditions that are older than Christianity, from a wilder, colder, darker time in human history.

Where have I been? It hasn't been fun.

Some of you are asking why I haven't posted for a while. I've still been too busy, but it hasn't been fun.

I was in California helping my elderly mother whose health has deteriorated. I was cooking, cleaning, running errands, and taking her to multiple doctor's appointments. The visiting nurse was coming. A nutritionist was coming. And, a social worker was scheduled to talk to her about options regarding assisted living, moving in with one of her kids--something.

She has a husband who is 4 years older, but his health is failing too. He is a stubborn man and very difficult to deal with.

So that is where I've been.

I've Been Busy

It has been more than a month since I've posted. And, for those of you who keep checking for new news, I've been here, but I haven't been here. What do I mean? I've been here, at home, around town, here; but not here, not at the blog, not up to the usual tasks. What have I been doing? I've been volunteering.



For the past few years I've volunteered to work at the neighborhood's Historical Shaw Art Fair http://www.shawartfair.com/ . This year I managed to volunteer to be the Volunteer Coordinator. My job was to recruit up to 300 volunteers to work on the days of the fair, October 6th and 7th, as well as pre-event and post-event activities. I can't think of anything to say to make all this sound humorous. Maybe I'll laugh about it later.

The planning starts every January for the Art Fair held every first weekend in October. A committee of ten or so people meet every month to plan and report the progression toward this event. As we get closer to Fair date, the work steps up and I become less and less available to my life as I knew it. In July, it is summertime, hot, humid and miserable. I don't feel like cooking, cleaning or smiling. Got to start actively calling for volunteers: newsletters, posters, phone calls. Got to get them into the data base and days at the office become more frequent, then longer. Mistakes must be corrected, shifts must be switched, and begging and convincing must be done. Ditto for August. Ditto for September, except the begging gets to be more desperate.

Finally, the weekend came--and then was gone. My head was down most of the time, looking at lists, checking boards, directing volunteers, handing out t-shirts, problem-solving. Collecting money, handing out programs, greeting fair goers. Blah, blah... All this with our table and tent directly behind the bandstand that boasted some good, but very loud bands. (The volunteer table will be moved next year.) "He" even pitched in, working for three days to help set up, then as admissions chair for two days--that's the person who gets to ride around in a golf cart from admissions gate to admissions gate and pick up the cash from time-to-time then taking it to the "bank." On the second day, the cart broke down then He was afoot all day, walking, I would guess, at least ten miles back and forth and around the fairgrounds. All this with good humor. I was impressed.

I took my camera to take some pictures, but only had time to take a couple at the very beginning. I'll try to get some from friends and post them for you. Anyway, there is no rest for the weary wicked, as I'm now off to the West Coast for a week or so. That will be the next post.

If we want a better world to live in, it starts with you and me and our communities.