Christmas Stuff

PANTOMIME # 2

Pantomime is a traditional Christmas and New Year entertainment unique and peculiar to the British theatre.
Pantomime origins can be traced back to the 16th and 17th century Italian improvised comic drama called the Commedia Dell'arte.
Punch and Judy, Harlequinade and the French tradition of mime also have there origins in the commedia Dell’arte.
With its roots deep in the harlequin tradition of the 18th century combined with the music hall burlesque of the 19th forged what we know today as pantomime where an actress always plays the part of principal boy and an actor always plays the dame.
The Pantomimes used traditional fairy tales like Mother Goose Puss in Boots, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Red Riding Hood in which they wove into the story political satire, parodies of popular figures and slapstick thus providing something for everyone.
The great thing about Panto is that it is the one part of British culture which refuses to embrace Political Correctness, thank god.
By the end of every Panto virtue is rewarded, love conquers all, good defeats evil and everyone lives happily ever after.

IT HAPPENED ONE CHRISTMAS

Sometimes when you least expect it life can really slap you in the face and then it kicks you when your on the ground.
The slap came when Jackie Melville was taken ill in January last year and needed surgery.
Her husband Bob had a steady job and they even had limited medical insurance and although they had to pay the difference Bob knew he could cover it by putting in some overtime.
Then came the first kick, in February with two thousand dollars in medical bills unpaid, Bob lost his job.
In April Another kick, with the medical bills still unpaid and Bob unemployed and Jackie unable to work for several months because of the surgery and with mounting bills and no money for rent they lost the house.
Bob, Jackie, 9 year old son Sam and seven year old twins Ben and Josh moved into a mobile home in a trailer park.
Over The following seven months the Melville’s worked hard to rebuild there lives.
In June Bob found another job and although not as well paid as the one he lost it seemed to be more secure and In July Jackie fully recovered was able to return to work herself.
The boys did their bit as well by washing cars, cleaning windows and doing odd jobs on the park.
By December they had managed to pay off their debts and even had a bit left over for Christmas.
They were doing so well that in another six months they would be able to move back into a house.
Then on the 20th December life kicked them again.
During the night the electric heater in the mobile home burst into flames and rapidly spread.
The alarm was raised by Clinton Avery, a shift worker and one of the other residents of the park who was returning home when he saw the burning trailer.
Thankfully everyone was rescued safely but the Melville’s lost everything all that remained after fireman Billy Daly had doused the fire were a few scraps of melted toys half-burned books and scorched and tattered clothing.
They had lost everything to fire, smoke and water, including all the childrens clothes and the Christmas presents.
How cruel for a family who had worked so hard to get back on there feet to be dealt such a blow.
This would be bad enough at anytime but just before Christmas compounded the cruelty.
But it is under the very circumstances experienced by the Melville’s that brings the best out in people.
That night the family were boarded in various homes on the park and the next day they had a visit from a man called Howard Daly.
Howard was the brother Billy Daly, one of the firemen, and he gave Bob and Jackie the key to a mobile home on the park belonging to him which he wasn’t using and he said that they were welcome to stay as long as it took to get back on their feet.
The Melville’s were overcome with Howard’s generosity but that was only the beginning in the space of a day-and-a-half, friends, family and strangers helped the family get back on track.
The pharmacist at the drugstore refused to accept Jackie’s money for the twin’s asthma medication.
In fact nobody would accept any money and people just kept on donating goods.
One man, he wouldn’t give his name, pulled up at the trailer park in his pick up, unloaded some bunk beds and he said "I had these at home, and I heard you needed them more than me," got back in his truck and left.
Pat Phillips who was a teacher at the local School, and knew the family drove Jackie from place to place to collect medications, clothes, dishes and such like.
Come christmas day the boys had some toys including a race track, a football and a baseball glove.
Due to The generosity of friends and strangers alike the Melville’s were able to enjoy their christmas and look forward to hopeful new year just five days after they thought their Christmas dreams had burned away.
This story goes to prove without any shadow of doubt that the Christmas spirit truly dwells within the hearts of mankind.

PANTOMIME # 1

Many of the Pantomime plots we see today were based on traditional folk tales such as Puss in Boots, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Red Riding Hood.
These stories were collected and retold by the French writer Charles Perrault and they were published in 1697 in a book called 'Mother Goose's Fairy Tales'.

CHRISTMAS IN SPACE

On December 21, 1068 Apollo 8 was launched with Frank Borman as the commander, James A. Lovell, the command module pilot and William A. Anders the lunar module pilot.
After establishing Earth orbit Apollo 8 was set on a trajectory toward the moon.
On Christmas Eve Apollo 8 began orbiting the moon during the lunar orbits Broadcasts were made back to earth and Christmas greeting were exchanged.
After completing ten lunar orbits they left the moon being and headed back towards earth.
They returned safely to Earth on 27th December 1968.

CHRISTMAS WRAP

When I was a kid and it came time for the “oldies” to open their presents I was always amazed by the fuss they would make about the wrapping paper.
They would first admire it then they would caress it tenderly and then they would gingerly begin to unwrap the gift.
Once unwrapped they would first set aside the gift while they carefully folded the wrapping paper so it could be used again the following year then they would examine the gift.
This ritual would be repeated with each subsequent present and would be performed by all.
I can only think that this was as a result of having been through the hard times.
The depression of the thirties, the shortages of the war years and the austerity of the fifties.
My mum would go through the whole ritual and would carefully tuck her pile of wrapping paper, Bows and ribbons away in the sideboard draw “Ready for next year”.
Come the next year and the fabulous treasures which had been so thoughtfully secreted away were no where to be seen only new wrapping paper, Bows and ribbons.
So I think to myself sanity has been restored this year it will be about the presents not what they were wrapped in.
But no, on christmas day it’s the same thing all over again.

REUSE OR NOT REUSE

The world is split into two distinct groups those who reuse the wrapping paper and those who don’t.
My mum was a recycler so was my grandma as for myself I am a shredder, which means I rip the paper to shreds.
It’s a technique I learned when I was six years old and I still do it now I’m forty eight.

MEET THE KIDS

Meet the kids was a TV program in the 1960’s broadcast live from a Children’s hospital on Christmas morning.
It was hosted by well known comedian Lesley Crowther who went from bed to handing out presents and chatting to the sick children.
He would also do lighthearted interviews with various members of staff but the show was principally about the children.
The whole show lasted little more than half an hour and it would normally end with a choir of nurses singing carols arround the Christmas tree.
It was Heart warming stuff but probably deemed to be to twee for sophisticated 21st century audiences.

NOEL'S CHRISTMAS PRESENTS

Noel's Christmas Presents was hosted by Noel Edmonds and ended in 1999 after eleven years.
The basic premise of the shows was Noel rewarding special people with special Christmas presents tailored to the individual.
The people qualified by either overcoming or dealing with great adversity in there own lives or those who gave up there own time and dedicated themselves to the needs of others.
The presents were many and varied from flying a spitfire to a visit to Santa.
It was broadcast on christmas day after the Queen’s speech and was guaranteed to bring a tear to the eye and a lump to the throat to all but the hard hearted.

A MOTHER’S GRATITUDE

It was Christmas Eve almost twenty years ago when paramedics Harry Tyler and Yvonne Hughes had to resuscitate a six month old baby boy who’d stopped breathing at its home in Chertsey.
It was touch and go for a while but all ended happily and Every Christmas since the day the baby's mother has delivered Sweets and Chocolates to the Ambulance station where the two paramedics worked.
These gestures of gratitude are not uncommon though it is unusual for them to continue for 20 years.

TAKE CARE

A recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggested that “decking the halls” at Christmas can be dangerous. The report stated that an estimated 17,465 people were treated in American hospital E.R’s between 2000 and 2003 for falls related to putting up Christmas decorations.

HEART FELT THANKS

About ten years ago an Ambulance responded to a call in a restaurant in Warwickshire after a 56 year old man was reported to have suffered a heart attack.
When the paramedic arrived they assumed the man was a customer and quickly set to work and revived the man and took him to the hospital.
When the man duly recovered it transpired that he was not a customer at the restaurant but the owner and to show his gratitude he invited a group of thirty hospital and ambulance staff to his restaurant for a grand meal.

THE GOOD LIFE - SILLY, BUT IT'S FUN

For those who are visiting from another planet the Good Life, Written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey was about a man who on reaching his fortieth birthday decides to give up the rat race and become self sufficient.
The man having the mid life crisis is Tom Good played by Richard Briers who with the help and support of his long suffering wife Barbara, Felicity Kendal turns his detached Surbiton home into an urban farm.
This doesn't go down too well with their good friends and neighbours, Jerry Leadbetter played by Paul Eddington and his snooty wife Margot, Penelope Keith.
The Christmas episode, Silly, But It's Fun, first broadcast 26th December 1977 is in my opinion the funniest Christmas sitcom ever made.
Most Christmas sitcoms highlight the most negative aspects of the day creating a kind of nightmarish microcosm of family life at Christmas.
The good life was the story of contrasts with the Good’s making the best of the resources they had while the Leadbetter’s just bought the best of everything and lots of it.
It “ Silly, But It's Fun” Margo ordered christmas to be delivered from Harrods on Christmas eve but refused delivery when the tree was six inches shorter than the one she had ordered.
As she rejected the tree she also rejected everything else including Jerry’s gin under the impression that Harrods would redeliver Christmas including a tree of the requisite height for her later that day.
She was sadly mistaken and on Christmas day she had to phone arround canceling all their Christmas engagements under the pretext that Jerry has Chicken pox.
Jerry was unperturbed at having political chicken pox but horrified when he discovered that there was no more gin.
Enter the Goods who save the day by inviting the Leadbetter’s to there house for the day and a good time was had by all.
They all got plastered on pea pod burgundy and played silly games.
The moral of the tale being that you can’t buy Christmas you have to make it yourself.

CINNAMON

Cinnamon is a popular spice used in many Christmas favorites but it isn’t just a simple flavoring spice.
Cinnamon comes from the bark of a small Southeast Asian evergreen tree and
It is one of the oldest remedies in traditional Chinese medicine, prescribed for a number of complaints such as diarrhea, chills, influenza and intestinal worms.

AN ARDENNES CHRISTMAS

The next time you’re whining on about what a crap christmas you had because your mother in law over did it on the sherry and told everyone what she really thinks about you or when your wife’s uncle Stan spent christmas afternoon asleep on the sofa breaking wind with monotonous regularity.
Or your brothers new girlfriend who kept hitting on your wife or your Gran who said “just a small dinner for me I don’t have much of an appetite” then spent the afternoon eating all the chocolate Brazils.
If this strikes a cord think again and Spare a thought for the half a million or so men of the allied forces and six hundred thousand Germans who spent christmas 1944 outside in the snow in the Ardennes forest during the battle of the bulge.
Men like My father sheltering in foxholes scratched out of the frozen earth with no hot food or drink.
Unable to light fires for fear of giving their position away and regularly coming under enemy fire or being shelled
Then once you’ve hewn out a decent sized foxhole and settled down into it out of the icy wind an order comes down the line to move out and you move a hundred yards or less and dig another hole.
Go and tell your petty gripe's to them and see if you get any sympathy.

SANTA SHOWS THE WAY

Several years ago in a small town in Pennsylvania a paramedic responded to help a motorist who had suffered a heart attack.
When he arrived on scene he noticed a man in a Santa suit directing traffic around the area of the incident.
He later discovered it was a firefighter who had been playing Santa at a children's party and came upon the accident on his way home.

CHRISTMAS IS PAINLESS

There is a perception that more suicides occur at Christmas time than at any other time of the year.
However recent studies seem to indicate that the opposite is true.
It would seem the gathering of friends and relatives at Christmas combined with the greater availability of community resources for those in need, may serve to protect people vulnerable to suicide

JULENISSE - JOLLY BRINGER OF GIFTS

In the Christmas tradition of the Scandinavian countries are a variety of Christmas gnomes responsible for the gift giving and one of them is called Julenisse.And the Children in Scandinavia wait for a little bearded gnome called Julenisse to put presents under the Christmas tree in the night.
The children must leave a bowl of porridge out for this jolly bringer of gifts with a sack on his back who rides a sleigh drawn by a reindeer.
If the children forget to put out the porridge he plays tricks on them.

SCANDINAVIAN YULETIDE

The Scandinavian’s are among many who claim to the Yule log tradition as their own.
Because of dark cold winters traditions concerned with warmth and light abounded.
Yuletide which means "the turning of the sun" was celebrated at the winter solstice and has long been a time of extreme importance to the Scandinavians.
Originally the Yule log was a whole tree carefully selected and with great ceremony was brought into the house.
One end was placed in the hearth and the rest of the tree stuck out into the room and was slowly fed into the fire timed to perfection to last the entire Yuletide season.

A PEACEFUL NIGHT

One interesting and long held Scandinavian Christmas tradition was the belief that it was considered dangerous to sleep alone on Christmas Eve.
As a result the extended family and the servants would sleep together on a freshly prepared bed of straw.

CHRISTMAS COMMON VILLAGE

Christmas Common is a village situated near Watlington in Oxfordshire.
The Christmas common woods are owned jointly by the National Trust and the Forestry Commission.
Combining Woodland and chalk grassland the area offers excellent views of the surrounding countryside such as Watlington Hill and the woods of Lower Dean and Shotridge also Fire Wood, Queen Wood, Watlington Park, College Wood, Pyrton Hill, Howe Wood and Greenfield Copse.

CHRISTMAS PIE
Christmas Pie is not as the name might suggest a Christmas delicacy but is in fact an entertainment originating from the tradition of the mummers play’s and is performed in the church.
It has evolved over many years and now includes poetry and prose, religious readings, short sketches and seasonal music to become very much like the Christingle services.

CHRISTMAS ISLAND

Located some 2600km north-west of Perth, Western Australia Christmas Island is a mere dot in the Indian Ocean.
Its closest neighbor is Java; 360km away However Christmas Island is an Australian Territory.
Christmas Island was for centuries protected by its isolation and rugged coasts.
The island was first included on British and Dutch navigational charts from the early seventeenth century but it was the Captain of the East India Ship Company vessel the Royal Mary, William Mynors, who named the island after he arrived on Christmas Day 1643.
It was phosphate mining which first brought prosperity to the island in 1891 which continued right up until the Japanese occupied the island during the Second World War.
Then After World War II Christmas Island came under the jurisdiction of the new Colony of Singapore until in 1957 when the Australian government acquired Christmas Island from the Singapore Government for a compensation of 2.9 million pounds.
The island was a Crown colony until its transfer to Australia was finalized on 1st October 1958.
In 1980, a National Park was declared in the Egeria Point area. The National Park now covers over 65% of the island.
Although phosphate mining continues in a small way and the authorities have flirted with gambling as an attraction the islands main source of prosperity now is tourism.
Christmas Island is a natural paradise with its national park containing species of flora & fauna found nowhere else in the world.
The vivid Red Crab for example inhabiting the forest floor and the Myriads of tropical fish swimming in the coastal waters or further out the spinner dolphins or the majestic whale shark.
Now in the 21st century The Island has been chosen as a suitable site for a space satellite launching station the decision will be made shortly.

CHRISTMAS HILL

Christmas Hill is situated in the Silverton Hills of Oregon where you will find the Christmas Hill tree farm which perhaps naturally specializes in the production of conifers grown commercially for the Christmas tree market.

CHRISTMAS HILL PARK

Christmas Hill Park is near Gilroy, California and boasts a large amphitheatre and an extensive network of paved and dirt trails for bikes and walkers alike.

CHRISTMAS FLAN

1lb Pork sausage meat
1 pk Sage and onion stuffing
4oz Grated Swiss cheese
4oz Grated Cheddar
1 pk Ready made pastry (enough for two 9"pie dishes)
6 Eggs
1/2 Chopped onion
1 Chopped red/green pepper
Mix sausage meat and stuffing then cook.
When the sausage meat has cooled crumble it and add both cheeses.
Divide the mixture into the pre-prepared pie dishes.
Lightly beat the eggs then add the onion and peppers and pour onto the top of the meat filling.
Bake for one hour in a preheated oven at 200°.
(Check the pie is done by inserting a knife into the center and if it comes out clean it’s done)
Stand for five minutes before serving.

THE HAMLET OF CHRISTMAS PIE

Christmas Pie is a small hamlet between the villages of Normandy and Wanborough in Surrey.
Quite how the hamlet of Christmas Pie, got its name has been a puzzle for many generations.
17th century maps show a Christmas Farm and in an article in an addition of the Surrey Advertiser it stated there was once a Pie Farm.
Another story tells of a farmer whose name was Christmas, which was a fairly common name in West Surrey at the time.
The story tells that the man, who had a large family and no prospects of feeding them through the festive season went into the wood and trapped rabbits and other small game which his wife cooked into a pie and thus the name was coined.
If that tale is too far fetched for you another theory is that it takes its name from the popular Christmas pie church festivities.
The only flaw in this theory being that as Christmas Pie is a hamlet it has no church and never has done.
As there is documentary evidence of a Christmas farm and a Pie farm I think the most likely origin of the name is that at some point after the 17th century the two farms merged for what ever reason and became Christmas pie farm which in time became Christmas Pie.

PATHÉ NEWS AT CHRISTMAS

Charles Pathé was a French photographer and in 1909 He was the first to present newsreels as a regular attraction at a theater in Paris the following year in 1910 he introduced the newsreel to the United States.
He was born on Christmas day 1863 in Paris and died on Christmas day 1957 in Monte Carlo.

THE SWAN LAKE CHRISTMAS HILL NATURE SANCTUARY

The Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary is located in the District of Saanich, near the city of Victoria, Canada.
It is an oasis of natural beauty Surrounded by the urban sprawl of Victoria and Swan Lake is only minutes from the downtown area.
The Nature Sanctuary consists of two distinct areas with Swan Lake and its surrounding marshy lowlands which provides good habitat for many birds and small animals such as muskrat, river otter and mink and the rocky, oak-forested highlands of Christmas Hill with its majestic view from the hilltop and the meadows blooming with a sea of wildflowers in the springtime.
The lake was formed when the last glacier receded 12,000 years ago but Swan Lake’s current status is due to much more recent events just a few decades ago.
Up until the 1970’s the area was a dumping ground for a mixture of raw sewage, farm waste and chemicals from a local winery.
But due to the clean up which began in the 70's the area is a rich habitat for a variety of wildlife.