Happy Holiday!
Welcome to this Multi-Cultural Winter Holiday Treasure of Stories, images, music and videos! The dates after each link show the year they were added to this page ~ at least one new one each year ~ it's become a Holiday Tradition, itself! May you enjoy many visits here throughout your holiday season! Wonderful 2011 update to this story - also true! - scroll down, please.
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Such a small thing! Such a big happiness! ~
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My church added this "After Mass" prayer for the Christmas Season.
With us at war, it is a good one.
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~ George Winston "December" - "Carol of the Bells"Click to play or stop the songArtwork
Angels ! This is the start of a new array here, just in time for Christmas 2008 Items are available for sale, but some are just for Holiday Spirit ~ sketches, ideas, and more to come! If Christmas is for children, I begin with one of my son, and end with one of my Daughter, with their wings on! Do find me to talk about any of them, with your own comments and ideas. ~ elle
" Hopper "
This year, however, we had a problem: construction of new homes, begun that summer, just across the street, was going quietly and beautifully and our real estate value expected to improve from the neighborhood upgrade; if only the clearing of the field hadn't created many homeless field mice, the project would have been flawless. We were happy and loving people, but our aging, faithful spaniel could not take a cat in the house just then, so, suddenly being "overrun by the little critters" created a lot of work, and as much laughter as frustration ... and it was a mighty challenge for a bit ... they were everywhere ! My Libra father did not even like a mousetrap, but here we were, forced to learn, at his instruction, how to properly bait one, and set it effectively and "disinfect like crazy" before and after success with it, since such animals can carry serious disease. My Mother, aghast, recruiting my Sister and I to sweep and scrub, to clean after the odd-smelling leavings found everywhere ... including the drawer that held our eating utensils ! Seated at the table, the acoustic ceiling above us echoed a "tick-a-ta-tick-a-tuh-tick-tick-tick" , as the mice ran across ... stopping dinner and dinner conversation and discouraging appetite for continuation of the normally jolly time. After bedtime, the quiet in the house created more of the same, as our marauders scampered about the attic, and spaces between floors and walls, and basement. The traps were set in earnest when the harmless nibbling cut the wire on one of the burners of our kitchen range, causing dangerous sparks, blown fuse and dysfunctioning range burner; and one night at dinner, we teamed up, again, as a survival group, when a glance at the scritchity noise overhead was met by the glance returned from one of the mice, whose industry had bored a hole right through the munchy acoustic tile ... we looked at one another with big eyes, unable to swallow our food, but always social, we remembered, "Well, how do you do ?!" , to this unexpected guest... More traps, and success, and one more demonstration from our Father: acoustic tile patch repair 101. The New England summer had peaked, and many rodents hibernate, so, thanks to our responsible activism, and the season, we experienced relief ... "wow! no more mice!" ... and we did not realize how much bedlam the mice caused, till the relief and fatigue we shared afterward made it very clear ... my goodness! For a family-bonding experience, we would have been happy to "skip it", though the chase had often made us a laughing team, in this tv-sitcom misadventure. Time passed, as did Summer, and Autumn, and the uproar in our home calmed and then shifted into Winter Holiday preparations. It had been some time since our ' Battle of River Street Field Mice '. But now, we were the "scurry-ers", with so much to do! Cooking, at least, was again safe and hygienic, without the mice, and decorations and shopping and choir and Christmas-caroling group and the sacred re-enactment of the birth of Jesus, and midnight mass, and Santa, restoring all the warm and generous feelings, perhaps, dented by the in-house assault of a few months before. Relaxing with television after another busy Holiday Preparation day, my brother, wide-eyed, silently tugged at the sleeve next to him, and so on, till he had our attention ... he pointed to the very center of the livingroom carpet, just behind the TV area: Aaaaaa... mouse ! ... sitting up and politely alert, as though he had been invited to join our circle! He was theater, in his cheery innocence; solitary, self-contained and thoughtfully sharing the television program, he kept to his spot, as though it truly was his spot. We simply stared in disbelief, and determined not to lose our Christmas Spirit, warily welcomed him to the circle and enjoyed the Television Program with our unexpected and unlikely guest. Sometime during the show, he must have left, since he was gone when we next glanced in his direction. Off and on, but ongoing, throughout that holiday, the mouse reappeared ... and an imaginary, smiling, rapport developed among us, and our "Secret Sharer" of-another-sort, as he carefully took the same spot on the carpet, and seemed to fit right in. After the first few visits, my Brother named him "Oscar" - he was quite the "ham" - and after all the "mouse-in-the-house" troubles, this Christmas Mouse brought warmth and smiles and a secret among us, since most of our neighbors would not understand this "about-face" rapport with a rodent. Our Father sent us to our Compton's Encyclopedia and the library helped: Like Cricket on the Hearth, Christmas Mouse stories are very old in literature, since it is normal for them to scurry into a warm spot from the strong, cold, weather. In days before good household disinfecting cleaners, they probably caused a health problems, and worse, and sometimes still can and do. I know we boiled the place, stem to stern, at home, till the mice stopped invading. And yet, Oscar's visit was a "different story, altogether"! And my Father, being always the Libra philosopher, captured our eyes and attention with that look that says, ' there is an important life lesson to be learned here.' "And now," he said, we have a "Christmas Mouse" story of our own. Silent, but, in happy warm agreement, my Mother smiled: don't touch him, but, ok, for now ... the extra disinfecting from him this winter will probably save us from colds, too ! Sometime thru that holiday, Oscar ended his visits, but more than forty years later, the memory is still a delight! I hope you think so , too! May we celebrate the special winter holiday renewal of the fundamental spirit of Hospitality throughout the Season, especially for unexpected and unusual Guests ! ~ elle image credit: Animation Factory Author's Note:I like to share stories of "Life Before the Age of Aquarius", both to enrich the understanding of our grownup children, and to praise our parents.... our life force did not come from nowhere... it came from them... from their achievements and their frustrations... we are, to the best of our own limited ability, their justification... and this is the time of year to bring it all up and feed ourselves through cold months and difficult moments... on the love, the courage and the fun and the beauty of their gifts to us! My own Mother was double-orphaned, but with a lucky genome, and property, and lots of siblings... through the years, as different from one another they may have become, they would bond to learn, to work, and make and share a loving home and be loving parents, because of the parents they barely knew... I just want to praise them! After having parented, and reached midlife, I am so impressed with them, all they did and felt and shared and gifted to us... All of them were greatly influenced by their spouses' family values, and so it is simple logic that I write here, since my Father's people were hometown Irish-American, loved work, arts, and family loyalties, and sometimes, America, most of all! Thank you ! In the Fities and early sixties, The Magi were Mother, Father and God! All year long we celebrate our diversity in work and play, but at the Winter Holidays, we honor our ethnicity specially. So much of the beauty of my holiday memories shines from the special "lost art" feeling from the childhood ethnic observances. So I hope to share these stories well. My children find it helps their understanding of their elders, and since it is so foreign to them, they seem to be truly interested! My generation did the corporate relocations, and so had little awareness of their roots except for visits with a few of them, and too few of them. Grown, they celebrate their previously-hidden soul - the many, many relatives astound and delight them, and I suspect that it helps them maintain balance in their futuristic psyches. This page, then, is a bit more than a simple sharing of the luminous things at the Winter Holidays, but I hope my visitors enjoy at least that much !
The True Meaning of Christmas
~ and Some of its Symbols. The True Meaning of Christmas? Sometimes such questions are not really a question, but an opportunity. A chance, once more, for all mankind to think about it for a minute, and share their insights - to celebrate the diversity of understanding, and its source in a unity of Truth. To Christians, for whom Christmas is named, The True Meaning of Christmas is very simply, the Celebration of the Birth of Christ - "Christ's Mass" is the source of the word. However, most of its symbols were there long before. The Christian religion is said to be eclectic - that is, evolved from that which came before. The goal was outreach to existing beliefs - using old symbols to help explain new concepts worked. In time, legend, lore and thought enhanced the value of the symbols, and gave richer meaning. That symbols relate to us and grow with us, reassures us that it is a good thing. And that is why cultures and belief systems that seeming have little in common share similar symbols - they grew from one another, sourcing in the same source of life and aiming there, as well. Winter Holiday? It's about light and warmth and the life things in the months when nature challenges, with cold, dark, and minimum growing things to eat. It's about life ! The Winter Holidays began as gatherings of folk to share life-saving observances. Things that were found to vastly improve the winter months. And soon man realized that if these gatherings were made attractive, desirable and even fun, their lessons were more likely to be learned. People would come to hear things they should hear; to learn the way of it all; to practice the ways and well! And so is sourced so much of ritual and tradition. Someone tried it and it worked! One of the reasons elders howl as traditions change or are dropped is because the observaces were taken up by people because they serve a LIFE purpose - and in a very subtle way. If we drop old traditions we may forget the survival message in them - survival of the spirit, as well as of the body and culture. The rest of the symbols we associate with the Winter Holidays are varied - I have listed a few of them here, and placed links to pages with more complete data, and you may enjoy finding more on your own - share them with me if you like! The Christmas emphasis on Fellowship and Brotherhood and Community we show in many gatherings and special closeness in the family circle - this, too, is about giving a good vitamin pill to the part of us that experiences life as a power and motive and goal, all at once. The weather may discourage it all, but with this little bit of encouragment, called 'holiday jollity' as they say in one old song, we win over it easily! On the life level, it reminds us to group up and help one another should the bad day befall us. With so much fun in these observances, it tells us that the outcome of a bad day, confronted as a group, is quite likely to be very good, too. We relish it. It's about LIFE! We like symbols of things at this time of year, too! They speak in all languages, and without a word. And end with this message, now and always! "Peace On Earth ~ Goodwill Toward Man ! " Here are a few notes concerning other Winter Holiday Symbols - if you email me with more, I will add them here: "Scrooge" takes the idea further: it is not merely important to participate in the grand ideas of the Winter Holidays - To disdain the message is a danger. And the book was written at another time in our history when it was feared that folk might forget and later, suffer bitter regret. Our children are our bid on immortality. We know we cannot live forever, but through our children, it feels better - life will go on. So, it is only logical that some extra to enthuse the children should be practiced at this time of year. Only logical that we should honor Saint Nicholas, or Santa Claus, so specially and his message of delighting the Children, as a reward for good behavior. Only logical that we wish to fill their minds and hearts with delight that often wins over even the illnesses of the cold winter days. And only logical, the emphasis on the "Holiday Bustle" and the importance of toys and other items to keep us busy and happy, especially in indoor activities, till Spring. We bring the fir tree and other fragrant evergreens indoors for fun, these days, and they still smell wonderful! But in olden times, housekeeping was not easy to do - and sanitation even worse. The boughs brought indoors were not an option, but the only thing for some folks to improve conditions indoors, with everthing shut up for the warmth till Spring. and when we see this great light we are reminded of He who displaces the darkness. The neat thing about even the simplest interpretation of the candle is that is Man-Made. The candle says that light wins and we can make light and so we have power to do something about the dark, the cold, the difficult issues. Not only do we benefit from light, we can generate it! Or maybe one so elegantly simple that it breathes the miracle of love as one simple statement. Delight! Believers see Santa as a God symbol - and a fine one he is! Jesus, the Ultimate Gift to Mankind! We also commemorate the Gifts from the Magi, the wise men, who bowed before the holy babe and presented Him with gold, frankincense, and myrrh. We should give gifts in the same spirit as the wise men." WE are profoundly reminded that all life is a gift. That each of us is, in turn a gift to life, and that in work and play, we exchange a bit of life as a gift to one another, and not just germs! - in our interactions we inspire one another and empower one another. Like a social gift in a box with ribbons or simply given, we take it home with us, and make good use of it, to enhance with beauty on a shelf or wall, or put to work in some way that helps, or we might save it or pass it on, as a gift, in turn, to another. The Angel is a very powerful symbol. One we need in days so dark. Just as we learn all good things, in hope that we will be given the right insights to do our work, and our lives as we should, we still depend on the right insight to reach us at the moment it is needed. And this is the angel within us - the Angel who brings us the word and the inspiration, and the insight that wins the day. A symbol of all that is specially good in many spiritual ways. As the ox and lamb, as the Angels, Shepherds and Magi, We bow down and worship Him, Jesus, our Lord, our God."
MEMORIES OF A SPECIAL CHRISTMAS STAR
Written in 2002, this little true story recalls earlier days:
Christmas at our childhood home, in the 50's and 60's was luminous ! In good times or bad, always filled with love and energy, church and community, and special family experience. Mother's eleven siblings, Father's seven...family visits took all twelve days! Our parents were young, bright, beautiful and creative, and each year, we got busy, happily sharing everything that pleased, to make Christmas special. I especially loved outings to the family homestead, the "Little Whitehouse" for some of Grandpa's Running Pine for garlands, but the running pine was placed on the endangered list, that far back, and so we stopped the 'Currier & Ives'- type expeditions. We missed the event: such fun, to gather up the long vines, entwine them, till they created the evergreen fullness in a garland, and hang them over the mantles and anywhere else that felt grand to find some on Christmas morning! Fortunately fun begats fun! We were soon diverted with equal delight, to Developing the Art of The Purchase of the Perfect Christmas Tree and cultivating the mystified devotion to its decoration, care and feeding. Electric light shows on the outside of the home were an innovation, in those days, and thrilled us, as they do now! With the house outlined in lights and two lighted candlesticks of molded plastic, by the front door, Winter lost its power to freeze, entirely! And that is a thing to say: our New England winters could be discouraging, at times, with cold, ice, snow and storms. But not with our parents! Holiday-glowing, until we knew we should and could do something special - and so "The Star"! Commemorating The Star of Bethlehem, this would be a special star...if we could do it right, only the Original Star of Bethlehem could be better! And so began the talk and planning sessions at the kitchen table and sketches and plans for the project, so that our Star might dazzle and yet be strong enough to endure, outdoors, through wind and cold. With all of us contributing, and encouraged to contribute, our ideas and wishes and thoughts, planning was soon followed by some shopping for supplies, and then some serious evenings' work. The entire family, and a very special "Angel", a devoted friend of many gifts, gathered in the kitchen to assist and kibitz, as the work began...singing the holiday songs in three languages throughout! I think the only thing I hated from those days, was the cold glare from that flourescent kitchen ceiling fixture, but dark comes early in the winter, and I remember tuning out the insult of such light, and my Father giving me "the look" that said, sympathetically : "I know it's awful, but they'll get there with it, and we can rise above it, for this, easily!" He was, of course, right! And so, "to it"! In Connecticut's cold and windy winters, this Star would do just fine with a sturdy wood backbone, so Angel and our Father went to work at that! We might help measure and mark the wood, with the funny, flat pencil. Then a faceted, three-dimensional skeleton for the contours of the star, created with Wooden lath and dowelling, and supports for endurance at every angle, and weak space. Then Mother entered, and we three children, with boxes of aluminum foil, unrolling and crimping sheets of the shiny stuff, to create "billions and billions" of facets in them, when partly smoothed out. Such fun to wiggle the faceted sheets, this way and that, and pick up their sparkly fun! There were not yet many things that did so. We were in no hurry to be done! Such fun to mash the foil into balls, but not too hard, now! A perfect task for children our age! The crimped, smoothed foil was then stapled to the frame to fill out the contours created by the skeleton. We jumped back and forth, between hushed devotion to the task, and just plain old-fashioned glee! Our star was already looking amazing! Finally, the bulbless strings of lights were fashioned along each edge, height, width and depth of each point, and, varying the colors each year, a four-inch, heavy-duty outdoor bulb was fastened in each socket. The mood getting serious now.... Then, with us keeping watch for safety and steady footing, Angel and our Father climbed to the porch roof, via the upstairs hall window, fastening our Star to the top front of our home, with "guy wires" of a sort, so that even the strongest winds would not disturb it. Then back indoors through the window, our Father making sure we gathered around him attentively. He would demonstrate the safe and strong method for creating the electrical connections. Our parents had a way of making things seem effortless in their youth, but it was a lot of work, and the concepts brave for the times. It would be our job to light the star each sundown and extinguish it in the morning, so the extra instruction with the wiring was important.  But now the moment... big eyes! no noise! no breathing! ... the 'power-on' , as the rest of us flew to the front yard .... ...3,2,1..... TaaaaDaaaa!!!!!!!
Fiat Lux!!!!! Let there be Light!!!!
Completed, the star was more than three feet high, not including its supports, and thirty feet up on our rooftop and lit, it dazzled the entire neighborhood! Word spread, even then, about neat lightshows, and People came from miles around to see the spectacle, and, of course we were gleeful over both the star and the excitement it created at Wintertime! A real Christmas Star!
And each year, for many years after, the Star was brought out from careful storage, the foil refreshed as needed, variations in the color scheme of the lightbulbs worked out and, one year, we even gave it the amazing new snowspray stuff! We loved it, and never lost interest in it, even when we were no longer "little ones" and mostly into things that were "cool"... We loved it so much none of us will remember how and when it disappeared from our lives! And remembering our Very Special Christmas Star still creates the glow that comes from within, and the desire to share its message of warmth and light in cold, dark places, just as far and as well as it will go! Author's note: year's later, I wondered if the Foil covered Star was precognitive... a precursor.....soon after the Star disappeared, my Father's hands were fashioning the gold foil that wrapped the Lunar Landing Module...crinkled foil on a much fancier star!...neat coincidence, no? Happy Holiday! Whoever you are, wherever you are, you surely do have a special light to share, as well...especially when you think otherwise! May it glow for you, forever!
If you enjoyed the story, please tell me! Elle Fagan esfagan@ellefagan.com |
Simplicity of design genius, the front of the tubes fed a fan that blew the warm air into the room, NOT up the chimney. The wood burned normally, heating the metal tube grate and creating the same lovely fire. With our existing glass and brass screen, fully closed, there was zero heat loss, without sacrificing the fine Hearth experience in any way.
There really is a Killarney
And its message still rings true!
I hope to get there one day, But, for now, the song'll do!
Special thanks to Bing Crosby, whose American
recording of the song, above, was "Top40" in the '40's! Photo above is of the Killarney Park Hotel in "actual" Killarney, near Dublin and its airport. find it online and visit...lovely! I do hope to get there! And if things Irish charm you, you may enjoy Irish & Other Celt at this site. Christmas in Killarney is an Irish Christmas song written by John Redmond, James Cavanaugh and Frank Weldon, copyright 1950. This song has been performed by many artists, most notably Bing Crosby on his album "White Christmas". Song: "Christmas in Killarney" sung by Bing Crosby, at YouTube ! |
Christmas In Killarney
The holly green! The ivy green! The prettiest picture you've ever seen! It's Christmas in Killarney, With all o' the folk from home! It's nice, ya' know, To kiss yer' beau While cuddlin' under the mistletoe! And Santa Claus You know, of course Is one o' the boys from home! The door is always open! The neighbors pay a call! And Father John, before he's gone, Will bless the house 'n' all! How grand it feels! To kick yer' heels, 'N' dance to the tune of the Jigs 'n' Reels ! I'm tellin' you no blarney! The like' you've nivver known! It's Christmas in Killarney! With all o' the folk from home! |
 By RUSS BYNUM, Associated Press Writer SAVANNAH, Ga. - Dashing in the sun, through oaks and Spanish moss. Sleigh riding's no fun, when there's no snow to cross. Could "Jingle Bells" really be a song of the South? It's not hard to see why balmy Savannah has a tough time selling the Christmas carol as a native creation. Or why the claim makes folks in Medford, Mass. _ hometown of the song's composer _ cry humbug. This much is known: James Pierpont was the organist at Savannah's Unitarian Universalist Church in 1857 when he copyrighted the song "One Horse Open Sleigh," a title later changed to "Jingle Bells." One of the most popular American Christmas songs, "Jingle Bells" made Pierpont a pre-Civil War one-hit wonder. But did he write it here as a piece of homesick, holiday nostalgia? Or did he compose it years before in Medford, not seeing the tune as a moneymaker until he drifted south? "No one really knows where he was when he wrote it _ that's the rub," said Constance Turner, Pierpont's great-granddaughter in Coronado, Calif. "Evidently, James was quite the free-spirit and he published some bad songs and one, at least, we know of that's a very good song." Medford, just outside Boston, claimed the carol without challenge until 1969, when Milton Rahn, a Savannah Unitarian, announced he had linked the song's composer to Georgia. Rahn was listening to his daughter play "Jingle Bells" on the piano when he glanced at the sheet music and noticed the composer's name: J. Pierpont. He had earlier found letters John Pierpont Jr., the church's pastor from 1852 to 1858, had written home to Medford saying his brother, James, had come to Savannah as an organist and music teacher. Further research found the composer had married in Savannah in 1857 weeks before he copyrighted "Jingle Bells." "I saw this as something to help us get publicity for the church," Rahn said. Pierpont, who lived from 1822 to 1893, was said to be a wanderer who ran away to sea at 14 and later went to California during the Gold Rush. During the Civil War, he joined a Confederate cavalry regiment in Savannah, bucking his family's staunch abolitionist views. Though Pierpont came from an aristocratic family _ his nephew was the financier John Pierpont (J.P.) Morgan _ he never made much money himself. His other songs included several touting the Confederate cause, with titles such as "We Conquer Or Die" and "Strike For The South." But none struck a chord like "Jingle Bells." After Savannah erected a "Jingle Bells" marker across from the church in 1985, then-Mayor John Rousakis declared the tune a Savannah song. To folks in Medford, that made Rousakis and Rahn a pair of grinches out to steal their Christmas history. A series of not-so-jolly exchanges followed. "In the words of Shakespeare, it is our intention to keep our `honor from corruption,'" Medford Mayor Michael McGlynn wrote in a 1989 letter to Rousakis. "We unequivocally state that `Jingle Bells' was composed ... in the Town of Medford during the year 1850!" Rousakis fired back with an equally strong, unyielding letter. "James L. Pierpont is still here with us," Rousakis wrote, noting the composer's Savannah burial. "I am sure (Pierpont) will join us in spirit when we finally and formally proclaim Savannah, Georgia, as the birthplace of `Jingle Bells.'" According to Medford, Pierpont was inspired by the winter sleigh races down snow-filled Salem Street in Medford and wrote the song at the Simpson Tavern, a boarding house with the only piano in town. Ace Collins, author of the 2001 book "Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas," says he found more proof of Medford being the rightful birthplace while researching his chapter on "Jingle Bells." Collins said he found a New England newspaper from the early 1840s that mentioned "One Horse Open Sleigh" debuting in Medford at a Thanksgiving church service. The song proved so popular, he said, Pierpont gave a repeat performance at Christmas. When it comes to which city deserves bragging rights, Collins gets diplomatic. Pierpont may have written his song in Medford, he says, but Savannah made him realize its universal appeal. "Savannah was the key," Collins said. "If it can play in Savannah, where snow was a novelty, it can play anywhere." On the Net: Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. 
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"The Night Before Christmas
Please enjoy the Classic Fun! You may also enjoy clicking here, to learn about its author, Clement Clark Moore. If you find the story has begun without you...click "Stop" and take the little book to the startpage, using the "Previous" or "Next" buttons ! If the storybook disappears, the page has "timed-out".Just Press Refresh/Reload to continue! ... :-)
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