Tag: Christmas

Christmas–2025

+++Merry Christmas+++

Today is the big day when families get together and celebrate in their way the time of the year….it will be filled gifts, food, joy and lots of napping.

I shall be busy once again with meal prep from cooking the ham and mac and cheese while my daughter will be in charge of the sides like corn, peas, bean casserole and sweet potatoes….Sue’s son will be in charge of the dessert and of course yours truly will bring the wine to the meal.

I thought that I would give my readers some FYI about Christmas superstitions….

Whether it’s kissing under the mistletoe or first-footing after midnight at New Year, the holiday season comes with more than its fair share of superstitions and good-luck traditions.

Aside from all the ones we still know and follow today, though, the history books are full of all kinds of bizarre festive quirks and folklore, all intended to ensure a happy Christmas or long-lasting good luck into the year ahead. Five of the most peculiar and longest-forgotten of these are explored here.

  1. The Yule Goat
  2. Apple Wassailing
  3. Christmas Underwear
  4. Christmas Morning’s Dew
  5. Good Luck Pies

Look closely enough at a Christmas tree in parts of Scandinavia, and you might see a small straw effigy of a goat, tied up in red ribbons, hanging from one of its frontmost branches. Wander the streets of a nearby town, meanwhile, and you might see a larger one outside a local business—or, in parts of Sweden at least, an enormous one in the town square.

This is the julbock, or “Yule goat”—a traditional decoration, often said to bring good luck and bounty in the year ahead. The origins of the julbock are thought to date back to pre-Christian times.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/holidays/christmas/christmas-superstitions-probably-never-knew

We all have some traditions we try to uphold but there also some superstitions that some observe….

I hope everyone got the things they had on there list and that your day with family, friends, food and football was safe one…..

I hope the rest of your day is filled with joy…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The First Christmas Tree

I know it is a joyous time and the last thing most people want to think about is politics…..so I will refrain from my ranting and offer a little FYI and some history….

Most of us have that traditional tree with the colorful gifts and the lights and memories of Christmas past hanging from its limbs….but did you ever wonder where this tradition began?

I can help….

Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s consort, is usually credited with having introduced the Christmas tree into England in 1840. However, the honour of establishing this tradition in the United Kingdom rightfully belongs to ‘good Queen Charlotte’, the German wife of George III, who set up the first known English tree at Queen’s Lodge, Windsor, in December, 1800.

Legend has it that Queen Charlotte’s compatriot, Martin Luther, the religious reformer, invented the Christmas tree. One winter’s night in 1536, so the story goes, Luther was walking through a pine forest near his home in Wittenberg when he suddenly looked up and saw thousands of stars glinting jewel-like among the branches of the trees. This wondrous sight inspired him to set up a candle-lit fir tree in his house that Christmas to remind his children of the starry heavens from whence their Saviour came.

Certainly by 1605 decorated Christmas trees had made their appearance in Southern Germany. For in that year an anonymous writer recorded how at Yuletide the inhabitants of Strasburg ‘set up fir trees in the parlours … and hang thereon roses cut out of many-coloured paper, apples, wafers, gold-foil, sweets, etc.’

In other parts of Germany box trees or yews were brought indoors at Christmas instead of firs. And in the duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, where Queen Charlotte grew up, it was the custom to deck out a single yew branch.

The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) visited Mecklenburg-Strelitz in December, 1798, and was much struck by the yew-branch ceremony that he witnessed there, the following account of which he wrote in a letter to his wife dated April 23rd, 1799:

‘On the evening before Christmas Day, one of the parlours is lighted up by the children, into which the parents must not go; a great yew bough is fastened on the table at a little distance from the wall, a multitude of little tapers are fixed in the bough … and coloured paper etc. hangs and flutters from the twigs. Under this bough the children lay out the presents they mean for their parents, still concealing in their pockets what they intend for each other. Then the parents are introduced, and each presents his little gift; they then bring out the remainder one by one from their pockets, and present them with kisses and embraces’.

https://www.historytoday.com/archive/history-matters/first-christmas-tree

Now when someone casually brings up the tree you can impress them with this knowledge.

This will be my only offering today for I have a ton of chores to do before the cooking and the revelry begins….

I hope everyone has a wonderful day and remember to be responsible if you are out celebrating the season…..and as always…..Be Well and Be Safe….

Merry Christmas to all and thank you.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

A Black Friday Warning

Just another FYI from your friend at IST…..

I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable T’giving…..

Thanksgiving is done and now we move onto the Christmas portion of the season and it begins traditionally with the Black Friday sales and ensuing madness.

Kids have made it known what they want and not it is up the Santa’s little helpers go out and find the requested things.

A warning has been aired…..if you are thinking about one of the AI enhanced toys….then think again….

They’re cute, even cuddly, and promise learning and companionship—but artificial intelligence toys are not safe for kids, according to children’s and consumer advocacy groups urging parents not to buy them during the holiday season.

  • These toys, marketed to kids as young as 2, are generally powered by AI models that have already been shown to harm children and teenagers, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, according to an advisory published Thursday by the children’s advocacy group Fairplay and signed by more than 150 organizations and individual experts such as child psychiatrists and educators, the AP reports.
  • “The serious harms that AI chatbots have inflicted on children are well-documented, including fostering obsessive use, having explicit sexual conversations, and encouraging unsafe behaviors, violence against others, and self-harm,” Fairplay said.
  • AI toys, made by companies including Curio Interactive and Keyi Technologies, are often marketed as educational, but Fairplay says they can displace important creative and learning activities. They promise friendship but disrupt children’s relationships and resilience, the group said.
  • “What’s different about young children is that their brains are being wired for the first time and developmentally it is natural for them to be trustful,” said Rachel Franz, director of Fairplay’s Young Children Thrive Offline Program.
  • Fairplay has been warning about AI toys for years. They just weren’t as advanced as they are today. A decade ago, during an emerging fad of internet-connected toys and AI speech recognition, the group helped lead a backlash against Mattel’s talking Hello Barbie doll that it said was recording and analyzing children’s conversations.

The Grinch Is Alive And Living In Florida.

How many times in the last decade have you heard about the Dems and their attempts to kill Christmas?

Well if you live in Florida  there is a new culprit…..

Tis the season … to hold your horses. The AP reports military families who live in a community of homes near Florida’s Tyndall Air Force Base and put up Christmas decorations already were told they jumped the gun by their landlords. The Guardian reports a “tersely-worded memo” sent last week by private housing contractor Balfour Beatty Communities stated a drive around the neighborhood made clear that several homes had put up holiday displays too early, in violation of community guidelines. Holiday decor is only allowed within 30 days of the holiday itself, per those guidelines, and Christmas lights specifically can only be displayed from the week after Thanksgiving through the third week of January—provided they’re only turned on from 6pm to 11pm.

The directive, which came in an email titled “One holiday at a time,” drew mixed reactions after it was posted to an unofficial Air Force Facebook page. Some residents said people should be able to find joy where they can, while others said Thanksgiving deserves its own month. Tyndall public affairs chief Capt. Justin Davidson-Beebe confirmed the memo’s authenticity but clarified it did not come from the military. “Since community standards are set by the privatized housing management company at some installations, standards may vary from base to base,” he noted.

Who’s killing Christmas now?

Maybe Donny should get involved after all he needs all the help he can get with his approval rating.

Personally I am not a big decorator for any holiday….but people that are thrilled about the upcoming Christmas season should be allowed to celebrate.

Maybe Hogsbreath being the uber-religious dirt wad should get involved with this attempt to kill the Christian part of Christmas……or is he too worried about the men in the military and their bodies?

Just asking.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Christmas Day–2024

I would like to wish everyone visiting a very Merry Christmas.

Today we get together with family and friends and celebrate the day peace, love and joy….As usual I will try to cook for 8 people….Baked Ham, Sweet potatoes, Green beans, Mac and cheese, corn and blackberry cobbler for dessert.

The Jolly Fat Man has made his appearance and I hope everyone was good and got their heart’s desire in return.

The goodies are under the tree and the presents have been opened….or should I say gifts have been opened?

That brings up a question….are presents and gifts the same thing but different?

It’s that time again when we’re busy buying, wrapping, and giving them. Sometimes we call them “gifts,” sometimes “presents.” Is there a difference?

The words come to us from different language families. Gift comes from the old Germanic root for “to give.” It referred to an act of giving, and then, to the thing being given. In Old English it meant “the dowry given to a bride’s parents.” Present comes from the French for “to present.” A present is the thing being presented or bestowed. Both words were in use for the idea of something undergoing a transfer of possession without expectation of payment from the 13th century onward.

The words gift and present are well-matched synonyms that mean essentially the same thing, but even well-matched synonyms have their own connotations and distinctive patterns of use. Gift applies to a wider range of situations. Gifts can be talents: You can have the gift of gab, or a musical gift. Gifts can be intangibles: There is the gift of understanding or the gift of a quiet day. We generally don’t use present to describe things like that. Presents are more concrete or a bit more, well, present. If your whole family gave donations to your college fund for your birthday would you say “I got a lot of presents”? It doesn’t exactly sound wrong, but since you never hold these donations in your hand, gifts seems to fit better.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/89961/whats-difference-between-gift-and-present

Now all those goodies left by the jolly fat man in the red suit….

Some people refer to Santa as St. Nick….but I do not understand why…..St. Nick is far from the Jolly Fat Man we know and love.

It is hard to imagine the cheery, plump version of Santa Claus emerged from Saint Nicholas, the 4th century Bishop of Myra who, as a nursing infant, fasted on holy days and whose bones were stolen after his death.

Instead of a “right jolly old elf,” St. Nicholas is the patron saint of everything from brewers to pawnbrokers to murderers. Here are eight often terrifying legends associated with the saint that seem more like a script from Dexter or Game of Thrones.

St. Nicholas, best known as the patron saint of children, is credited with a myriad of miracles that validate this claim. The earliest attributed miracle is that he somehow miraculously saved a baby during his bishop consecration ceremony at the cathedral.

According to the story, the baby’s mother absentmindedly left her child in the bathing tub, which was warming over the fire. After hearing the church bells ring out, the mother rushed out without a second thought for her tiny infant—she didn’t remember her baby until she returned home and saw the smoke-filled room. But instead of finding a charred or drowned baby, she peered over to find her little one contentedly smiling; all the credit for the kid’s survival went to the new Bishop Nicholas.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/st-nicholas-legends

That is my gift to my readers on this day….knowledge.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day and enjoy time with family and friends….eat, drink and be safe.

Once again Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo

Merry Christmas–2023

It is that time again….the fat guy in the red suit to visit all the girls and boys…..to bring joy and smiles to the world.

I want to take this opportunity to wish all my loyal readers and occasional visitor a very Merry Christmas….

I hope your shopping experience was not traumatic and your hunt for those perfect gifts were successful.

Since I will not be posting any news stuff how about I give you a little history to carry the day?

Do have a tree?  Do you know the origin of using a tree?

Good thing I am here to help….

Long before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people in the winter. Just as people today decorate their homes during the festive season with pine, spruce, and fir trees, many ancient peoples hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows. In many countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness.

In the Northern hemisphere, the shortest day and longest night of the year falls on December 21 or December 22 and is called the winter solstice. Many ancient people believed that the sun was a god and that winter came every year because the sun god had become sick and weak. They celebrated the solstice because it meant that at last the sun god would begin to get well. Evergreen boughs reminded them of all the green plants that would grow again when the sun god was strong and summer would return.

The ancient Egyptians worshipped a god called Ra, who had the head of a hawk and wore the sun as a blazing disk in his crown. At the solstice, when Ra began to recover from his illness, the Egyptians filled their homes with green palms and papyrus reeds, which symbolized for them the triumph of life over death.

Early Romans marked the solstice with a feast called Saturnalia in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture. The Romans knew that the solstice meant that soon, farms and orchards would be green and fruitful. To mark the occasion, they decorated their homes and temples with evergreen boughs.

In Northern Europe the Druids, the priests of the ancient Celts, also decorated their temples with evergreen boughs as a symbol of everlasting life. The Vikings in Scandinavia honored the evergreen mistletoe for its role in the death of the Balder, a god of light.

Learn more…..

https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas-trees

And now you know.

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and I am off to do some cooking for the family meal…..to include ham with my special glaze, corn pudding, my special mac and cheese (my granddaughter’s favorite) and sweet potato pie….

I hope everyone has a wonderful day and you got all the stuff you desire.

Fun, Food and family….if that is what you seek on this day then please be careful and drive with caution.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD DAY!

Tomorrow is another day and I shall return full of opinionated stuff.

Peace Out my friends.

chuq

Christmas–2022

Today is the big day…..presents and a large meal….time to relax and enjoy good company and fine food.

I would like to wish my readers both regular and occasional a great day and thank you so much for the time you spend on IST that is the best gift of all for me.

merry christmas 2022' Sticker | Spreadshirt

This will be my only post for the day for I will be doing most of the cooking for the family….never fear I shall return tomorrow with my usual rantings and ravings.

I love you guys….

Merry Christmas 2022 Logo PNG Vector (EPS) Free Download

Be Well….Be Safe….

“lego ergo scribo”

Christmas 2021

Today we celebrate Christmas day……my day will be filled with cooking….we will have ham, sweet potatoes, mac and cheese, corn, yeast rolls and a nice red blend wine with apple pie for dessert….so my day is full and this will be my only post of the day.

Merry christmas and happy new year 2021 greeting card Premium Vector

I hope everyone has a joyous day filled with love, food and family…..

Thanx everyone for a good year and I am looking forward to a better year to come.

Be Well…..Be Safe….

“lego ergo scribo”

The Christmas Truce of 1914

During the first year of the Great War on Christmas Day 1914 both sides of the trenches called an impromptu truce from the fighting.

Have you heard of this historic event?

No?

Let me educate you about this Tuce….

The Christmas Truce occurred on and around Christmas Day 1914, when the sounds of rifles firing and shells exploding faded in a number of places along the Western Front during World War I in favor of holiday celebrations. During the unofficial ceasefire, soldiers on both sides of the conflict emerged from the trenches and shared gestures of goodwill.

Starting on Christmas Eve, many German and British troops fighting in World War I sang Christmas carols to each other across the lines, and at certain points the Allied soldiers even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.

At the first light of dawn on Christmas Day, some German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied lines across no-man’s-land, calling out “Merry Christmas” in their enemies’ native tongues. At first, the Allied soldiers feared it was a trick, but seeing the Germans unarmed they climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the enemy soldiers. The men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings and sang carols and songs. Some Germans lit Christmas trees around their trenches, and there was even a documented case of soldiers from opposing sides playing a good-natured game of soccer. 

https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/christmas-truce-of-1914

I bring this up because the question has been asked…what did the world learn from this action?

The answer is….not much.

I say thins by looking back since those days….

After the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989 and the death of the Soviet Union was confirmed two years later when Boris Yeltsin courageously stood down the Red Army tanks in front of Moscow’s White House, a dark era in human history came to an end.

The world had descended into a 77-Year War, incepting with the mobilization of the armies of old Europe in August 1914. If you want to count bodies, 150 million were killed by all the depredations that germinated in the Great War, its foolish aftermath at Versailles, and the march of history into World War II and the Cold War that followed inexorably thereupon.

Upwards of 8% of the human race was wiped out during that span. The toll encompassed the madness of trench warfare during 1914-1918; the murderous regimes of Soviet and Nazi totalitarianism that rose from the ashes of the Great War and Versailles; and then the carnage of WWII and all the lesser (unnecessary) wars and invasions of the Cold War including Korea and Vietnam.

The Christmas Truce of 1914 – Why There Is Still No Peace On Earth

Truly sad that since that war humanity was only learned to make big, better and more lethality.

We could have learned so much from those brave individuals…..but instead we learned just how much profit there was in modern warfare.

Truly sad.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Christmas–2020

220+ Merry #christmas and Happy New Year Quotes 2020 Wishes and Images Free Download … | Merry christmas images, Merry christmas quotes, Merry christmas wishes text

Today is my only post for once again I will be spending time with my family…..My job is to cook the ham and the mac and cheese…..all else will be for my daughter and son-in-law.

Merry Christmas And Happy New Year 2020 Wishes Images Greetings And Quotes | Merry christmas quotes, Merry christmas wishes, Merry christmas and happy new year

It has been a helluva year…..I just hope that my readers can have a great safe day with family and friends….enjoy the food, fun and family.

Try not eat eat too much!

Be Well and Be Safe……

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good day.

Peace out my friends.

Support AntiWar.com by Buying a Christmas Card (On the Banks)

In closing I leave you with my favorite Christmas song…..

Peace out my friends.