An Epiphany

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Christmas, in the US at least, is an odd mix of the Capitalist and the Puritanical. Merchandise goes up before Halloween, the shopping season really gets going the day after Thanksgiving.  And yet, on the 26th of December there are many discarded Christmas trees kicked to the curb (literally).  It’s as if we couldn’t, collectively, wait to get Christmas over with.  No more having fun. This is the antithesis of traditional Christmas celebrations which, in reality, didn’t end until today.  We miss the twelve days of Christmas when they could be a lot of fun and maybe even a little unruly.

I’m in the middle of taking the decorations down today (slowly because the house seems so empty when they’re tucked away again) so that seems like a perfect time to talk about the 12 Days of Christmas, right?  File this information away–it’ll come in handy in about 353 days. 😉

A lot of information can be found in The Winter Solstice: The Sacred Traditions of Christmas by John Matthews (it gets a little out there at times and there aren’t any footnotes, but he does have a list of sources at the end).

The Winter Solstice by John MatthewsDepending on how you look at it, the first day of Christmas is either December 25th or December 26th.  I choose the 25th for the start of the 12 days.  You can do what you want. And celebrate (or not) the way you want to too, of course. No partridges or pear trees necessary and there’s no evidence that the gold rings, leaping lords, milking maids, swimming swans, etc. have any significance other than as song lyrics.

For the 2nd-12th days there are many traditional activities. The 26th for instance, is Boxing Day in some countries…the days when servants got gifts. Then there might be wassailing or plays. Don’t forget Twelfth Night (Jan 5th) when the Lord of Misrule reigned.  It all sobers down for January 6 or Epiphany.  We hope you had a merry Christmas.  Try celebrating until January 6 next time.

Happy New Year

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FireworksIt’s not entirely brand-spanking new but 4 days old is hardly well-used. So, Happy 2012 to You. By this time you’ve surely seen our Winter 2011/2012 issue of Quarterly Speed Bump Magazine (if not, click on over here).  We hope you enjoy the content and want to let you know that we’re already starting work on the Spring issue.  We’re aiming for a release date of March 20 but the Editor has finally (we think) learned her lesson about announcing absolute deadlines.  Like Douglas Adams, she seems to enjoy the “whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”

We do hope you had a merry Christmas if you celebrated. You may have noticed that we never got to blog the 12 Days of Christmas after we hit the end of the advent calendar posts due to the website difficulties that apparently started on December 24.  The tech problems have been resolved but the the joy got sucked out of the 12-Day blogging idea.  We’ll have a grand 12 Days of Christmas wrap up on the last day of Christmas instead: January 6th. Come back for that.  And expect more blog updates a couple times a week between now and our next issue (you know, the one that will be out sometime around March 20th).

3 Days ’til Christmas: Happy Winter! / Magazine Will Be Up LATE (the 27th)

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Lassen Volcanic National Park

Welcome to winter. It’s the shortest day of the year. After today we’ll start seeing extra minutes of daylight. But, as my dad says (and probably his dad before him), “As the days begin to lengthen, the cold begins to strengthen.”

UPDATE: Regarding the magazine – It will be up late. Your Humble Editor has hit the wall. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the new issue will be up on Tuesday, December 27th. We hope you’ll enjoy it!

4 Days ’til Christmas: Did you Drop?/Longest Night of the Year

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After you shopped, that is? If you’re still in the midst of the madness, here’s a little lighthearted song to keep you going. The song is “Twelve Days to Christmas” from the musical “She Loves Me.”

It’s on YouTube (embedding doesn’t seem to work for me today).

And, for those of you who are starting to drag from lack of light (me!), tonight is the longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere! More light coming soon. Winter solstice people!

6 Days ’til Christmas: Caroling

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Have you ever gone Christmas caroling? I did it once so now I can say that I have. I like singing carols but not so much the act of going caroling. Do you have favorite songs? My taste goes more toward the tradtional.

As mentioned earlier, “The Holly and the Ivy” is a fave.

Then there’s “O Holy Night,”

“I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In,”

“Here We Come A-Wassailing,”

and the less traditional: “Winter Wonderland.”

Your faves?

7 Days ’til Christmas: Scents of the Season

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The whole house smells wonderful because of the Christmas tree, the baking and cooking that has been going on, and the citrus pomander balls I made for my office. Have you made one? It’s citrus season. Grab an orange, lemon, or lime; a sharp object like a skewer or knitting needle; and some whole cloves (they might be cheaper in bulk).

OrangesPoke starter holes in your fruit with the skewer and then push a clove into each hole. The closer together the cloves, the longer the pomander will last. If it dries properly, it might even last for years.

You can tie a ribbon around the whole thing and secure it with more cloves at the ribbon’s edge and then hang your pomander.  I took the lazy way out using lemons (they’re smaller) and parking them in little ramekins.

Lemon pomanderIn any case, the pomander scent is wonderful. Try it, you might think so too.

 

8 Days ’til Christmas: Ornament

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The Taste Tester and I got our tree after climbing up and down the mountain several times. And now it’s all lit up and decorated. Taking the ornaments out of the box brings back great memories.

New Orleans Christmas Ornaments

Of vacations taken.

Crocheted angel ornament

Of things my grandmother made.

Mushroom Christmas ornament

Of years spent with The Taste Tester and fun things we've done.

Beaded Christmas ornament

Of crafts my mother did.

 Do you have an ornament collection? Good memories tied up with the decorations? A tree-selecting tradition? Do tell.