Christmas stuff

THE TINSEL WIDOW
The Christian legend of the origins of tinsel concerns a poor widow who was left alone to care for her large family.
It was the first Christmas since the death of her husband and she was determined to make Christmas as special as she could possibly could for her children.
The poor widow worked every hour god sent her washing, cleaning and baking for the town’s people.
She went to the nearby forest and cut a Christmas tree for the house but it was a struggle for them to survive on her meager income and they could afford no decorations for it.
Instead she and her children made decorations for the tree they made snowflakes from scraps of paper and garlands from strips of old cloth and for baubles they used pine cones.
Working together they trimmed it as beautifully as they could with what little they had.
Spiders invaded the tree as they slept and as they crawled from branch to branch they left their shimmering webs behind them.
A watching angel knowing the family would be devastated by what the spiders had done transformed the webs into shimmering strands of silver.
When they awoke next morning they could not believe there eyes and they did indeed have a very special Christmas.

CHRISTMAS GIFTS

People have different perceptions as to the custom of The exchanging of Christmas presents some say it can be traced back to an ancient Roman custom of gift-giving which was practiced at the festival of Saturnalia.
It would certainly appear easy to make the transition from making an offering to a pagan deity to giving a gift.
Others believe that when the custom was Christianized the reason for gift-giving was attributed to represent the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh that the Magi brought from the East when they sought out the newborn Jesus Christ.
But the most popular belief by far is that the custom is derived from the greatest gift-giver of all St Nicholas.

THE TINSEL ANGELS

One Christmas legend tells that as a child Jesus Christ was decorating a tree helped by a chorus of angels.
One of the angels got their hair caught on the branches of the tree as they where leaving and it instantly transformed into fine strands of silver tinsel.

IRISH SUPERSTITION

A Christmas superstition In Ireland holds that the gates of Heaven open at midnight on Christmas Eve and all those who die on Christmas Day will go straight to Heaven.

THE HANGING OF GREENS - HOLLY

The hanging of greens, such as Holly, Ivy and Mistletoe is a British winter tradition with origins far before the Christian era.
Greenery was used to lift people’s spirits during the long winter and remind them that spring was not far away.
Although holly is the only traditional decorative green which remains of the once famous duo of Holly and Ivy both have an ancient association with the winter festivities.
The Romans used holly during their Solstice celebration, known as Saturnalia and it had a close association with the God Dionysus.
Holly boughs were given as gifts during Saturnalia as it was believed to protect against lightening strikes and ward off evil spirits.
The Druids also held holly in very high esteem as a plant of death and regeneration.
The ancient custom was to decorate the doorway with intertwined garlands of holly and ivy which represented unity between the dual halves of divinity the Holly with its red berries representing the color of life and life’s blood was the Goddess and female while Ivy was the eternal representation of consort to the goddess and there fore was masculine in nature.
The Tradition stands that the first in the household whether male or female to bring Holly into the house would rule the roost for the coming year.
When Christianity spread across Europe, holly became synonymous with the word "holy."
It invoked great symbolism, its prickly leaves represented the crown of thorns worn by Jesus and the bright red berries represent the drops of blood He shed on the cross.
Legend tells that the berries of the holly plant were once yellow in color but were stained red by the blood of Christ.
Holly as with all the evergreen’s holly symbolizes eternal life.

BORN ON CHRISTMAS DAY # 1

Princess Alexandra was born on Christmas day 1936 at 3, Belgrave Square in London.Conrad Hilton the founder of the hotel chain was born 1887
Dorothy Wordsworth the English prose writer and younger sister of poet William Wordsworth was born in 1771 in Cockermouth Cumbria.
Sir Isaac Newton the renowned scientist was born near Grantham in Lincolnshire, on December 25, 1642
And Humphrey Deforest Bogart was born on Christmas day in 1899 in New York.

THE HANGING OF GREENS - GARLANDS

The hanging of greens, such as Holly, Ivy and Mistletoe is a British winter tradition with origins far before the Christian era.
Greenery was used to lift people’s spirits during the long winter and remind them that spring was not far away.
The original Garlands were made by intertwining Holly and Ivy into thick vines of greenery and used in the ancient custom to decorate doorways.
The Holly and Ivy represented the unity between the dual halves of divinity the Holly was the Goddess and was feminine while the Ivy was the eternal consort to the goddess and there fore was masculine in nature.
The modern Garlands are very colorful but they are artificial and have no other purpose than to look nice.

SILVER TINSEL
It was in Germany that tinsel was first invented and it was made from real silver.
A crude machine was used to shred the silver into thin strips which were then twisted onto a central wire.
This was indeed a luxury product although and obviously only available to the privileged classes.
However the silver tinsel did not last for ever as Silver would tarnish and lose its shine in time.
Despite its lack of longevity however it remained in use by those who could afford it until a cheaper artificial alternative was invented.
BELLS

On Christmas morning since medieval times Church bells are rung on Christmas morning to announce to the world the birth of Jesus Christ.
A legend has it that the bells were rung for an hour before midnight on the first Christmas Eve to warm the forces of darkness of the imminent arrival of the Saviour and at the stroke of midnight the pitch of the bells changed into a joyous peal.
The sounding of the bells had another purpose namely to announce the death of the Devil which would come to pass upon by the coming of Jesus Christ.
This is why the church bell is also known as 'the Old Lad's Passing bell', 'Old Lad' being a euphemism for Satan.
The pealing bells also chase away evil spirits which easy repelled by any joyous sound.
The bells also have more frivolous uses than announcing the Saviour on Christmas morning.
The bells are often used as Christmas tree decorations and also they adorn Christmas cards.
Traditionally Wassailers would use bells to announce their presence by ringing them and Father Christmas has jingling bells accompanying the progress of his sleigh.

THE BOARS HEAD

Serving a roasted boar's head was for many years associated with Christmas feasting in England.
It probably harks back to the Norse custom of sacrificing a boar at Yuletide in honor of the Norse god Freyr.
A more amusing telling of the story relates to a student at Oxford's Queen’s College who was attacked one Christmas Day by a wild boar.
As the Boar charged the poor student was armed with nothing more lethal than a copy of Aristotle, so with all his strength he thrust the book down the boar's throat killing it in its tracks.
The student however wanted his book back so he cut off the animal's head which he took back to the college where it was served for Christmas dinner amidst much pomp and ceremony.

CAROL SINGING

The custom of singing carols at Christmas is of English origin which began in the middle ages.
In the beginning the singing of Christmas carols was known as 'wassailing'.
But this soon changed and the singers became known as carolers when groups of serenaders called "waits" would travel around from house to house singing ancient carols and spreading the holiday spirit.
The word "carol" means "song of joy."
The reason Christmas carols became so popular was that the angels sang when they appeared to the shepherds at Bethlehem to announce the birth of Jesus Christ's.
The original meaning of a carol is quite different to what we imagine it to be today for a carol was once a secular dance which was performed at any time of the year.
People danced around in a circle holding hands and singing songs.
The dance reminded onlookers of a coronet so they called it a 'carol'. The name was transferred later on from the dance to the song itself. Carols
By the 16th century carols were sung only at Christmas time and at one time only Bishops and clergy were permitted to sing carols in church.
But carols became too popular amongst the public to be confined to church and were soon sung in the streets.
A true Carol tells the story in song of the birth of Christ and is sung during period leading up to Christmas.

CHRISTMAS DATE
It was in the 4th century when The Catholic Church decided to celebrate Christmas on December 25th.
The idea behind it was a simple enough one in that they wanted to eclipse the festivities of a rival pagan religion that threatened Christianity's existence.
At that time of the year The Romans celebrated the birthday of their sun god, Mithras.
Church leaders decided that in order to compete with the pagan’s they needed a festival of there own at the same time so they chose to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
And it worked.

THE HANGING OF GREENS - WREATHS

The hanging of greens, such as Holly, Ivy and Mistletoe is a British winter tradition with origins far before the Christian era.
Greenery was used to lift people’s spirits during the long winter and remind them that spring was not far away.
The holly wreath with its red berries and other decorations dates back to the 17th century.
The roundness of the Wreath and the sharpness of its pointed Holly leaves symbolized Christ's crown-of-thorns and its Red berries the drops of Christ's blood.
The wreath was intertwined with red ribbons to express the festive spirit and the evergreen leaves stood for everlasting life and promised faithfulness to the Lord.
The Wreath which is traditionally displayed on the front door of a home during the weeks of Advent and the Christmas season once was a multiple role.
Harking back to its pagan origins the wreath was believed to protect a home from evil spirits and during the Middle Ages the red Holly berries were thought to keep witches at bay.
A wreath on the door at Christmas signified a home that celebrated the birth of Christ.

SILENT NIGHT

On the morning of Christmas Eve in 1818, an Austrian priest called Joseph Mohr, was told that the church organ was broken and would not be repaired in time for the Christmas Eve service.
He was so saddened at the prospect of Christmas without music that he decided he would try to write a carol that could be sung by the choir and be accompanied by guitar music.
So Joseph sat down and wrote three stanzas and later that night the people in the little Austrian Church in Oberndorff sang "Stille Nacht" for the first time.

DEVON SUPERSTITION

If, on Christmas Eve, in the county of Devon, a girl knocks on the henhouse door and a rooster crows, she will be married within the year.

ARTIFICIAL TREES
As so many Christmas innovations artificial trees originated in Germany towards the end of the 1800’s.
The trees were formed from Metal wire and covered with feathers Goose, Turkey, Ostrich or Swan and the feathers would be died green to imitate pine needles.
Then In the 1930's, the Addis Brush Company in America created the first artificial-brush trees.
They used the same machinery as that used to make their toilet brushes.
It was in 1950 that The Addis 'Silver Pine' tree was patented.

The tree was designed to have a revolving light source under it which would shine through colored gels casting different shades of light as it revolved beneath the tree.
Not a million miles away from the fiber optic trees we have today.

WASSAIL

Wassail, which was much liked by the English, accompanied hearty Christmas meals.
The word 'wassail' dates back to the pre-Christian times and practices and is derived from the Anglo Saxon phrase waes hael which meant "be thou well" or "good health.
Originally, wassail was a beverage made of mulled ale, curdled cream, roasted apples, nuts, eggs, and spices and it was served for the purpose of enhancing the general merriment of the season.
A toast was traditionally offered with a drink at regular intervals and normally with little or no reason.
It was important that after well wishers had shared in the spirit of the toast and taken a sip that they top up the bowl.
The wassail bowl had to remain full from Christmas Eve to Twelfth Night
And much care was taken to ensure that it did in order to ensure the continuity of good cheer throughout this festive season.
The wassail bowl would be carried from room to room often accompanied by the singing of festive songs which is perhaps why the early practise of carol singing was referred to as 'wassailing’.
Part of the Wassailing ritual was more concerned in seeing nature renew itself in the spring and the belief in its ability to magically bestow fertility on one and all.

THE HANGING OF GREENS – IVY

The hanging of greens, such as holly, ivy and Mistletoe is a British winter tradition with origins far before the Christian era.
Greenery was used to lift people’s spirits during the long winter and remind them that spring was not far away.
Ivy, the accepted symbol of friendship, like Holly and Mistletoe, has since pagan times been used as a decoration at festivals.
The ancient custom was to decorate the doorway with intertwined garlands of Holly and Ivy which represented unity between the dual halves of divinity the Holly was the Goddess and female while Ivy was the eternal representation of consort to the goddess and there fore was masculine in nature.
In pagan religions Ivy had been a symbol of eternal life while the Christians believe it stands for the new promise of eternal life.
The Romans used Ivy as part of celebrations related to the god Bacchus, whose worshippers were thought to have worn Ivy crowns.
We rarely decorate our houses with ivy anymore at Christmas but many homes have potted ivy plants in the home all year round.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER
- THE BISHOPS WIFE
The 1947 film “The Bishop's Wife” Tells the tale of An Episcopal Bishop, Henry Brougham played by David Niven, who has been working for months on the plans for a new cathedral paid for by a selfish and stubborn widow Mrs. Hamilton, Gladys Cooper.
As a result he begins to lose sight of his wife, Julia, Loretta Young and family and of why he joined the church in the first place.
So Dudley, an angel, Cary Grant, is sent to help him.
Dudley help’s everyone he meets, but not always in the way they would have chosen.
None the less everyone liked Dudley except Henry.
As Christmas approaches Henry begins to believe that Dudley is there to replace him, at work, and in his family’s affections.
A gem of a movie.

THE CANDY CANE
The humble candy cane has been around for nearly four hundred years.
It was during the seventeenth century when European Christians began the use of Christmas trees as part of their Christmas celebrations and they began making special edible decorations for their trees.
The first of these decorations were cookies and sugar-sticks.
It was very soon after the all-white candy canes were given out to children after a nativity service that sweet makers both professional and amateur began making the straight hard white sugar-sticks.
The custom of clergymen handing out candy canes after Christmas services spread throughout Europe and then later to America.
There is an historical reference that a choirmaster at cologne cathedral bent a candy stick into the shape of a shepherds crook as early as 1670.
The canes remained all white and straight but sometimes the confectioners would add sugar-roses to embellish the canes.
It was at the start of the 20th century that the canes acquired their familiar red stripes.
Great religious significance has been bestowed upon the humble candy cane for example the white indicates the purity of our lord, the three stripes represent the holy trinity the red is for the blood of Christ and the crook on its top is for the shepherds.
The hardness of the candy represents the church's foundation on solid rock and the peppermint flavor the use of hyssop, an herb referred to in the Old Testament.
And last but by no means least if you turn the cane upside down you have a letter “j” which, yes you’ve guessed it is for Jesus.
There is no historical evidence to support these claims, quite the contrary, but they are lovely thoughts.
Around the same time as the stripe arrived so did the flavorings, Peppermint and wintergreen and they have remained unchanged ever since.
During the 1950’s a catholic priest called Gregory Keller is credited with invented a machine which automated candy cane production.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER
- CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT
The 1945 film “Christmas in Connecticut” tells the amusing story of a magazine writer, played by Barbara Stanwyck, famous for being an expert cook and homemaker who has to entertain a war hero (Dennis Morgan) and her employer (Sydney Greenstreet) at her Connecticut home.
The only snag being that she can only write about homemaking and as for cooking she can’t even boil water.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER
- IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE

No Christmas would be complete with watching Frank Capra’s 1946 classic “It’s A Wonderful Life”.
It was not a success at the box office at the time but it is now one of the most popular and heartwarming films ever made.
A typical performance by the ever dependable James Stewart is supported by the beautiful Donna Reed and playing the grasping villain of the piece Lionel Barrymore.
The film is a slightly dark almost bittersweet tale of a savings and loan manager, and a bit an Earnest do-gooder George Bailey (James Stewart) who struggles against a greedy banker and his own self-doubting nature in a small town.
After suffering a financial catastrophe he see suicide as a possible solution to his predicament only to be rescued by a whimsical, endearing, trainee-angel named Clarence (Henry Travers).
Bailey after years of feeling trapped in a small town finally recognizes his life as wonderful and truly rich.
It’s definitely not the kind of film that would be made today as nobody writes happy endings anymore.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER
- MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET
There have been two versions of Miracle on 34th Street and both are well worth watching.
The 1947 version starred Maureen O'Hara and John Payne with Edmund Gwenn as Kris Kringle while in 1994 there parts were played by Elizabeth Perkins, Dylan McDermott and Richard Attenborough.
It’s the story of a child brought up by her mother not to believe in Santa Claus however the mother unknowingly employs Kris Kringle to be Santa Claus at Macy’s department store.
Eventually he has to go to trial to prove he is the real Santa.
Apart from being hugely enjoyable films they both have in common the fact that the child stole the show in each case.
Natalie Wood in the original and Mara Wilson in the remake, both were a delight.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER
- WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

The 1995 film 'While You Were Sleeping' is the story of a lonely young woman, Lucy Eleanor Moderatz (Sandra Bullock) who lives alone in an apartment in Chicago, with only her cat.
She works in the token booth at a subway station and fanaticizes about being rescued from her lot by a handsome stranger, Peter, who comes to her booth.
Then on Christmas day her world is turned upside down when the handsome stranger is mugged and pushed onto the tracks and she saves his life.
After a mix up at the hospital Lucy is introduced to Peter’s eccentric family as his fiancée.
This begins an amusing chain of events, during which Lucy finds the friendship and sense of belonging to a family which had been missing from her life and as a result she can’t bring herself to tell the family the truth.
Then she falls in love with Peter’s brother Jack (Bill Pullman).
It’s a truly heart warming love story not to be missed.

POINSETTIA THE FLOWER OF THE HOLY NIGHT

The Poinsettia is named after the USA's first ambassador to Mexico, Joel Robert Poinsett, who served from 1825-1829.
He saw and was greatly taken with the colorful indigenous plant which was the Mexican Christmas flower.
The Aztecs called Poinsettias "Cuetlaxochitle." And between the 14th and 16th centuries the sap was used to control fevers and the red leaves were used to make dye.
Montezuma, the last of the Aztec kings was particularly fond of Poinsettias and had them brought especially to what is now Mexico City because the shrub could not be grown at high altitude.
Poinsett took some specimen plants with him on one of his trips back to America in 1828 and they flourished.
Despite an outstanding career as a United States Congressman and an ambassador he will always be remembered for introducing the Poinsettia into the United States.
the Mexicans believed the plants were symbolic of the Star of Bethlehem because of the star shapes created by the bright red leaves Thus the Poinsettia became associated with the Christmas season.
The Mexicans call the poinsettia "Flower of the Holy Night".