Monday, January 1, 2024

2023 Yuletide Spirit Reading Challenge and Readathon - Wrap-Up


Happy New Year! I hope you enjoyed your holiday reading. I managed to read two Christmas books. Plus, I finished a couple others I was reading.

The winner of the charity donation giveaway was Marla, who was first to post a review in our linky (in menu above). Her chosen charity was The Trevor Project.

How did you do on the reading challenge/readathon? Share your wrap up link in the linky below. It's the same linky as the sign-up so just add "wrap-up" when you enter your name, like so "Michelle@truebookaddict-Wrap-up" (you don't have to put a blog name, you can just put your name).

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Always in spirit...



Monday, December 25, 2023

A Festive Yuletide - Merry Christmas...Blessed Yule



Good King Wenceslas
BY JOHN MASON NEALE

Good King Wenceslas look’d out,
On the Feast of Stephen;
When the snow lay round about,
Deep, and crisp, and even:
Brightly shone the moon that night,
Though the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight,
Gath’ring winter fuel.

“Hither page and stand by me,
If thou know’st it, telling,
Yonder peasant, who is he?
Where and what his dwelling?”
“Sire, he lives a good league hence.
Underneath the mountain;
Right against the forest fence,
By Saint Agnes’ fountain.”

“Bring me flesh,and bring me wine,
Bring me pine-logs hither:
Thouand I will see him dine,
When we bear them thither.”
Page and monarch forth they went,
Forth they went together;
Through the rudewind’s wild lament,
And the bitter weather.

“Sire, the night is darker now,
And the wind blows stronger;
Fails my heart, I know now how,
I can go no longer.”
“Mark my footsteps, good my page;
Tread thou in them boldly;
Thou shalt find the winter’s rage
Freeze thy blood less coldly.”

In his master’s steps he trod,
Where the snow lay dinted;
Heat was in the very sod
Which the Saint had printed.
Therefore, Christian men, be sure,
Wealth or rank possessing,
Ye who now will bless the poor,
Shall yourselves find blessing.


Christmas Trees
BY ROBERT FROST

(A Christmas Circular Letter)

The city had withdrawn into itself
And left at last the country to the country;
When between whirls of snow not come to lie
And whirls of foliage not yet laid, there drove
A stranger to our yard, who looked the city,
Yet did in country fashion in that there
He sat and waited till he drew us out
A-buttoning coats to ask him who he was.
He proved to be the city come again
To look for something it had left behind
And could not do without and keep its Christmas.
He asked if I would sell my Christmas trees;
My woods—the young fir balsams like a place
Where houses all are churches and have spires.
I hadn’t thought of them as Christmas Trees.
I doubt if I was tempted for a moment
To sell them off their feet to go in cars
And leave the slope behind the house all bare,
Where the sun shines now no warmer than the moon.
I’d hate to have them know it if I was.
Yet more I’d hate to hold my trees except
As others hold theirs or refuse for them,
Beyond the time of profitable growth,
The trial by market everything must come to.
I dallied so much with the thought of selling.
Then whether from mistaken courtesy
And fear of seeming short of speech, or whether
From hope of hearing good of what was mine, I said,
“There aren’t enough to be worth while.”
“I could soon tell how many they would cut,
You let me look them over.”

“You could look.
But don’t expect I’m going to let you have them.”
Pasture they spring in, some in clumps too close
That lop each other of boughs, but not a few
Quite solitary and having equal boughs
All round and round. The latter he nodded “Yes” to,
Or paused to say beneath some lovelier one,
With a buyer’s moderation, “That would do.”
I thought so too, but wasn’t there to say so.
We climbed the pasture on the south, crossed over,
And came down on the north. He said, “A thousand.”

“A thousand Christmas trees!—at what apiece?”

He felt some need of softening that to me:
“A thousand trees would come to thirty dollars.”

Then I was certain I had never meant
To let him have them. Never show surprise!
But thirty dollars seemed so small beside
The extent of pasture I should strip, three cents
(For that was all they figured out apiece),
Three cents so small beside the dollar friends
I should be writing to within the hour
Would pay in cities for good trees like those,
Regular vestry-trees whole Sunday Schools
Could hang enough on to pick off enough.
A thousand Christmas trees I didn’t know I had!
Worth three cents more to give away than sell,
As may be shown by a simple calculation.
Too bad I couldn’t lay one in a letter.
I can’t help wishing I could send you one,
In wishing you herewith a Merry Christmas.


Always in spirit...



Sunday, December 24, 2023

A Festive Yuletide - A Visit from St. Nicholas



A Visit from St. Nicholas by Clement Clarke Moore

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ’kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St. Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a pedler just opening his pack.
His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle,
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."


Clement Clarke Moore was born on July 15, 1779, in New York City. He received a BA from Columbia College in 1798 and an MA in 1801. Moore was the author of Poems (Barlett & Welford, 1844), which included the poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” Popularly known as “The Night before Christmas,” this iconic children’s poem was first published anonymously in the Troy Sentinel in 1823. Moore also published several academic works, including A Compendious Lexicon of the Hebrew Language (Collins & Perkins, 1809). He taught at the General Theological Seminary in New York City from 1821 to 1850. He died on July 10, 1863, in Newport, Rhode Island.

Always in spirit...





Saturday, December 23, 2023

A Festive Yuletide - Medieval Christmas and Happy Festivus


How Christmas Was Celebrated in the Middle Ages

12 days of eating, drinking, and all things involved with making merry. Required a lot of holiday stamina. I wonder if we could keep up?

The end of these activities came with Twelfth Night and the crowning of the "King of Misrule."

Feasting

So what did they eat? This largely depended on social standing. Most people had pigs so they would slaughter, salt, and smoke for Christmas bacon and hams. Lords were required to serve their tenants a special feast which included pasties, sausages and black pudding, four courses of fish, fowl and roast meats, and finally dessert of custards, tarts, nuts and sweetmeats. Of course, the feasts of royalty were much more elaborate, and consisted of more exotic offerings, along with casks of wine.

Mummers and the Feast of Fools

Dress up games and role-playing were vastly popular. Mummers liked to dress up in animal masks, or dress as women, and would go around singing festive songs and telling jokes. In the middle of the 12-day party was the Feast of Fools, held on January 1, in which priests, deacons and other church officials were given a brief license to be silly. 


Bean Cake

On January 5, Twelfth Night was celebrated. Plays were often put on, and the centerpiece of the event was bean cake, a rich fruit-filled cake in which a tiny dried bean was hidden. The person who received the slice with the bean would be "King" for the night.

Predicting the Future

Also significant during the twelve days was predicting the future. For instance, a sunny and clear day on Christmas day was a sign that spring would be warm and mild, which meant successful crops and good health overall. On the other hand, strong winds on Christmas day usually meant a bad year for the rich and powerful. 

Source and further information at history.com


"Happy Festivus" is the traditional greeting of Festivus, a holiday featured in the Season 9 episode of Seinfeld named "The Strike", which first aired on December 18, 1997. Since then, many people have been inspired by this zany, offbeat Seinfeld holiday and now celebrate Festivus as any other holiday.

Sitcoms often combine holidays and family discord. However, one only has to look to our own families to find a little humor. This holiday reminds us how easily we take things too seriously at times. Politics, traditions, grudges and more lead us down unintended paths. Sometimes those paths turn out to be quite the hilarious turn of events. Well, hopefully, they're more hilarious than not. At least while watching through the magnifying glass of the Seinfeld episode safely from our homes, we see a bit of our selves and those we hold dear.

Festivus traditions derived from the television episode and the original creator have been combined over the years.
  • Adorn an aluminum Festivus pole to be displayed in the home. In the O'Keefe household, there was no pole. Instead, a clock was placed in a bag and nailed to the wall.
  • Serve a traditional dinner in the evening.
  • During dinner, allow the Airing of Grievances. Each person takes turns describing how the others have disappointed him or her over the past year.
  • Feats of Strength follows dinner and involves wrestling the head of the household. Note: The holiday is not complete unless the head of the household is pinned. Failure to pin the head of the household could result in perpetual Festivus.
  • Festivus Miracle - a frequent if unimpressive miracle. You may count carrying all the groceries into the house for dinner without tripping or dropping one of the bags as a Festivus Miracle.
While watching the Seinfeld episode, count the number of miracles. Pick up an aluminum pole. Decorate it. Let the Airing of Grievances begin and celebrate. Use #Festivus to post on social media.

FESTIVUS HISTORY

Daniel O'Keefe, Reader's Digest editor and author, created the holiday in response to family tension. One of its central practices is the "airing of grievances." He first celebrated the day in February of 1966. But later, the day was recognized as it is now, on December 23 in honor of O'Keefe's first date with his future wife. O'Keefe's son wrote the Seinfeld episode featuring the celebration.



What I always say today...Merry Christmas Eve Eve!
 



Always in spirit...

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