Gordon Pape and Deborah Kerbel
I don't usually like trivia books in question-and-answer format, Christmas or not, but I make exceptions occasionally. This little volume is packed with not only questions, but dozens of interesting facts in text about the hundreds of Christmas songs written over the years. It is divided into chapters like "The Earliest Carols," "English Carols," all the way down to chapters about media songs and Christmas songs written for children. Each chapter contains an introduction and then a few pages of narrative bookending the trivia questions. A great little book for those interested in the origins of the songs that crowd the airwaves in December.
The authors also have a "Quizmas" trivia volume.
16 November 2008
13 November 2008
12 November 2008
It Wasn't Always Merry
Puritan influence in New England died hard: "Christmas in New England before 1860"
11 November 2008
Holy Lightbulbs!
James said he saw Christmas lights tonight on his way home, a few blocks away from Smyrna City Hall!
Martinmas Day
St. Martin's Day marked the first day of Advent in the past. Back then Advent, like Lent, was a fasting time. Now it is seen as a period of reflection and preparation for the coming of the Christ Child, and today fasting is done only on Christmas Eve and involves eating light meals and fish rather than abstaining from all food."One very cold day, near the city gate of Amiens, France, Martin of Tours saw a beggar who was freezing. He took his sword and cut his cloak in two, giving one half to the beggar. The next night, he dreamed he had given his cloak to Jesus.
Here are some good sites about St. Martin/Martinmas:
Feast of St.Martin (Martinmas)
Liturgical Year: Martinmas Traditions
St. Martin's Day: The Magic of Eleven
Eating a Goose on St. Martin's Day
The Celebration of St. Martin
Interesting that St. Nicholas, like St. Martin, rides a white horse!
We're having turkey tonight, not goose, but it's close! :-)
CHRISTMAS BOOKS REVIEW: The Life Book of Christmas
This is actually in three volumes, published in 1963. It originally came in a slipcover and probably looked quite grand. I bought my copy off eBay and it has become quite battered in the intervening 45 years (of course, I've become quite battered in the intervening 45 years myself! LOL).
The first volume is The Glory of Christmas, which illustrates the story of Jesus from the prophecies of the Old Testament to the original spread of Christianity. These volumes are mostly illustrated, and this one has some magnificent reproductions of medieval and Renaissance art. There is narrative, and some small stories and poetry in each section as well. The second volume, The Pageantry of Christmas, is illustrated with paintings, tapestries, woodcuts, drawings, and finally photos that trace the history of the Christmas celebration from the early Christians to ethnic customs brought to American from other countries. Touched on are St. Nicholas and the conversion of Christmas from a drunken feast to a family-oriented holiday.
The third volume, The Merriment of Christmas, brings the volumes to modern times. There are recipes, of course, as well as some Christmas crafts, a Christmas play, suggestions of old-fashioned games, and some literary selections, including Christopher Morley's "The Tree That Didn't Get Trimmed" and a humorous selection by Robert Benchley about Christmas feasts in the 1880s.
A nice collection for your Christmas library, but nothing essential.
The first volume is The Glory of Christmas, which illustrates the story of Jesus from the prophecies of the Old Testament to the original spread of Christianity. These volumes are mostly illustrated, and this one has some magnificent reproductions of medieval and Renaissance art. There is narrative, and some small stories and poetry in each section as well. The second volume, The Pageantry of Christmas, is illustrated with paintings, tapestries, woodcuts, drawings, and finally photos that trace the history of the Christmas celebration from the early Christians to ethnic customs brought to American from other countries. Touched on are St. Nicholas and the conversion of Christmas from a drunken feast to a family-oriented holiday.
The third volume, The Merriment of Christmas, brings the volumes to modern times. There are recipes, of course, as well as some Christmas crafts, a Christmas play, suggestions of old-fashioned games, and some literary selections, including Christopher Morley's "The Tree That Didn't Get Trimmed" and a humorous selection by Robert Benchley about Christmas feasts in the 1880s.
A nice collection for your Christmas library, but nothing essential.
10 November 2008
A Classic Christmas: The Ed Sullivan Show
I found this used in an FYE today and played it when I got home. It is a compilation of both black & white and color Christmas performances from The Ed Sullivan Show. The performers include The Supremes, Bing Crosby, Johnny Mathis, Señor Wences, George Carlin, the Cowsills, and more.
The bad thing about this DVD is that to squeeze it into 46 minutes, several of the performances, like David Seville and the Chipmunks and Rich Little doing A Christmas Carol, are edited. On the other hand, what there is is delightful. There's a compilation of "Jingle Bells" made of cuts of different performers, including Paul Anka and Shari Lewis with Lamb Chop and Charley Horse. There is about one or two minutes of footage of New York City in 1960. The great Mahalia Jackson sings "Sweet Little Jesus Boy." A German children's choir perform. There are two performances by Jim Henson's original Muppets: once with reindeer characters and a second sequence with Arthur Godfrey.
And Topo Gigio closes the show by a'kissin' Eddie good-a night. :-)
Don't pay too much--but this is a great 1960s nostalgia item.
The bad thing about this DVD is that to squeeze it into 46 minutes, several of the performances, like David Seville and the Chipmunks and Rich Little doing A Christmas Carol, are edited. On the other hand, what there is is delightful. There's a compilation of "Jingle Bells" made of cuts of different performers, including Paul Anka and Shari Lewis with Lamb Chop and Charley Horse. There is about one or two minutes of footage of New York City in 1960. The great Mahalia Jackson sings "Sweet Little Jesus Boy." A German children's choir perform. There are two performances by Jim Henson's original Muppets: once with reindeer characters and a second sequence with Arthur Godfrey.
And Topo Gigio closes the show by a'kissin' Eddie good-a night. :-)
Don't pay too much--but this is a great 1960s nostalgia item.
05 November 2008
31 October 2008
29 October 2008
25 October 2008
16 October 2008
Operation Ceppo, The Homestretch
Everything is now painted except the "snow" on the bottom level. I am detailing this a bit with—believe it or not—Elmer's glue. With the "nose" of the glue bottle, I draw an outline of a shape that is supposed to look like a snowdrift or just something covered with snow, then fill it in with the glue. Then I let it dry. Then I put another layer on certain areas, and a third layer on a couple of them. I realized that since I am using paint instead of the previous cotton, the area will look flat. The glue "drifts" and piles are there to give it a little contour. Once I have them the way I want them, and they are dry, I will put a coat of white paint on them and then scatter that with various kinds of glitter. I have some white glitter from JoAnn that almost looks like flocking (great for snow!), a fine white glitter, and one small tube of white glitter that is in hexagon shape. (These are from the little six to four tube glitter sets JoAnn has in its dollar bins.) I don't want to waste the hexagon shape; it's a good highlight. I also just found that one of the collections has a glitter that looks like clear beads...may use a dribble of that, too.
15 October 2008
Operation Ceppo
I had to bring something downstairs to the "holiday closet" during lunchtime today and looked up to see the box with our "ceppo." You might call this an "Italian Christmas tree." Most ceppos are pyramid shaped, but this is an alternate style. A traditional ceppo usually has a Nativity scene on the largest level, and other levels contain food gifts and other little Christmas keepsakes, with candles on each level on each of the four corners.
This was the only Christmas decoration I put up the year my mom died.
We always put it in the den in the old house; the tree was upstairs in the living room, a room we seldom used unless we needed a book (the library was located there), had company, or at Christmas. The miniature tree on top was our tree downstairs in the den, where Bandit and later Pigwidgeon lived and where we spent all our time.
All the decorations on the ceppo were packed in a cardboard box with the ceppo, which I had built several—maybe it's more like "many" since I'm pretty sure it's at least twelve years ago!—years ago from two circular plaques 8 inches in diameter, one 6 inch diameter circular plaque, and a 1 inch diameter dowel cut into three pieces, after seeing a drawing of one in the book Celebrate the Wonder. I finished it right before Christmas, so never got a chance to paint it before it was time to decorate. You can tell in the photo that it is still "au natural."
And every year, instead of keeping it out to paint, I bundled it away immediately because it had to go to the very back of the top shelf of the little closet we used for the Christmas decorations if everything was to fit.
Seeing the box down in the new, larger closet, unencumbered and not containing anything but some silver tinsel rope and the little nativity figurines, made me think once more about painting it.
I decided to paint the bottom shelf white since the figures there are for a snow scene with St. Nicholas. The "snow" I had previously was made of cotton balls; I want to paint the lower level and then treat it with the three types of white glitter I have to simulate snow. The second level will be painted a sand color since that is where the little nativity set, a Hallmark miniature set which I bought one year at Thalls Pharmacy in Cranston, will go. I am thinking of getting some little trees or bushes to go in the rear to make it look more realistic. Since in the past two years I have put the ceppo on the china cabinet, where you can't see the top level, I could just paint that level white also, but should I find another place for it, I would love to put the angel and the star up there, as it used to be when I originally built it (before I had the miniatures tree on top). So I would want it blue for the sky.
My original thought was to paint the edges of the "rounds" and the vertical dowels in silver, to match the silver snowflakes I had around the top edge of the bottom level. Then I found a bottle of "Metallic Blue Pearl" from a previous project in my paint stash. I decided to use that for the top level and it is so lovely I want to use it for the edges and the verticals as well. The silver snowflakes will go perfectly with the silvery blue paint. I'll need to buy another bottle first, I think, as well as the sand-colored paint. So that's what this week's Michael's coupons will go for.
It will be odd to have it painted; it's been "natural" for so long! :-)
[Later: Well, cool! I may have enough of the blue after all...I'm crossing fingers. For the second level I painted the area that will be in the back a sage green I had, then dry-brushed a little brown and yellow on it so it would look like winter grass. At the front where the stable will be I mixed up "beachcomber beige" and "real brown" from my small set of Apple Barrel gloss paint set and made a sandy area, which I sprinkled with a little bronze glitter and a little gold glitter...not enough to make it glitzy, but just to give it a little shimmer where the Christ Child will be. (90 percent of it will be under the stable structure anyway!) Then I gave a first coat to the edge with the blue. It looks like I have enough for a second coat, which is all it may need.
Then all I need to do is put another coat of white on the bottom level and sprinkle it with the different white glitters.]
This was the only Christmas decoration I put up the year my mom died.
We always put it in the den in the old house; the tree was upstairs in the living room, a room we seldom used unless we needed a book (the library was located there), had company, or at Christmas. The miniature tree on top was our tree downstairs in the den, where Bandit and later Pigwidgeon lived and where we spent all our time.
All the decorations on the ceppo were packed in a cardboard box with the ceppo, which I had built several—maybe it's more like "many" since I'm pretty sure it's at least twelve years ago!—years ago from two circular plaques 8 inches in diameter, one 6 inch diameter circular plaque, and a 1 inch diameter dowel cut into three pieces, after seeing a drawing of one in the book Celebrate the Wonder. I finished it right before Christmas, so never got a chance to paint it before it was time to decorate. You can tell in the photo that it is still "au natural."
And every year, instead of keeping it out to paint, I bundled it away immediately because it had to go to the very back of the top shelf of the little closet we used for the Christmas decorations if everything was to fit.
Seeing the box down in the new, larger closet, unencumbered and not containing anything but some silver tinsel rope and the little nativity figurines, made me think once more about painting it.
I decided to paint the bottom shelf white since the figures there are for a snow scene with St. Nicholas. The "snow" I had previously was made of cotton balls; I want to paint the lower level and then treat it with the three types of white glitter I have to simulate snow. The second level will be painted a sand color since that is where the little nativity set, a Hallmark miniature set which I bought one year at Thalls Pharmacy in Cranston, will go. I am thinking of getting some little trees or bushes to go in the rear to make it look more realistic. Since in the past two years I have put the ceppo on the china cabinet, where you can't see the top level, I could just paint that level white also, but should I find another place for it, I would love to put the angel and the star up there, as it used to be when I originally built it (before I had the miniatures tree on top). So I would want it blue for the sky.
My original thought was to paint the edges of the "rounds" and the vertical dowels in silver, to match the silver snowflakes I had around the top edge of the bottom level. Then I found a bottle of "Metallic Blue Pearl" from a previous project in my paint stash. I decided to use that for the top level and it is so lovely I want to use it for the edges and the verticals as well. The silver snowflakes will go perfectly with the silvery blue paint. I'll need to buy another bottle first, I think, as well as the sand-colored paint. So that's what this week's Michael's coupons will go for.
It will be odd to have it painted; it's been "natural" for so long! :-)
[Later: Well, cool! I may have enough of the blue after all...I'm crossing fingers. For the second level I painted the area that will be in the back a sage green I had, then dry-brushed a little brown and yellow on it so it would look like winter grass. At the front where the stable will be I mixed up "beachcomber beige" and "real brown" from my small set of Apple Barrel gloss paint set and made a sandy area, which I sprinkled with a little bronze glitter and a little gold glitter...not enough to make it glitzy, but just to give it a little shimmer where the Christ Child will be. (90 percent of it will be under the stable structure anyway!) Then I gave a first coat to the edge with the blue. It looks like I have enough for a second coat, which is all it may need.
Then all I need to do is put another coat of white on the bottom level and sprinkle it with the different white glitters.]
08 October 2008
"The Leaves at Play"
Come and watch the merry little leaves at play:
Jolly times they're having this October day.
Down they gently flutter like the flakes of snow;
Chasing one another, flying to and fro.
Don't tell me they're only driven by the wind;
I am sure they 're doing just as they've a mind.
See those two go racing swiftly down the street!
Red 's ahead, now yellow, which think you will beat?
Over in that corner there's a dancing-class,
See them wildly waltzing o'er the withered grass.
They have lively music, led by Mr. Breeze,
Listen to his whistling up there in the trees.
Some have gone in swimming down in yonder nook,
See that host of bathers diving in the brook.
There a crowd has gathered in an eager talk,
Now they're widely scattered all along the walk.
So they gayly frolic through the sunny hours, .
Careless of the winter with its icy showers;
But the cold is coming, and the snow-drifts deep,
When, their playtime over, quietly they'll sleep.
. . . . . . D.C. Hasbrouck, St. Nicholas, October 1881
Jolly times they're having this October day.
Down they gently flutter like the flakes of snow;
Chasing one another, flying to and fro.
Don't tell me they're only driven by the wind;
I am sure they 're doing just as they've a mind.
See those two go racing swiftly down the street!
Red 's ahead, now yellow, which think you will beat?
Over in that corner there's a dancing-class,
See them wildly waltzing o'er the withered grass.
They have lively music, led by Mr. Breeze,
Listen to his whistling up there in the trees.
Some have gone in swimming down in yonder nook,
See that host of bathers diving in the brook.
There a crowd has gathered in an eager talk,
Now they're widely scattered all along the walk.
So they gayly frolic through the sunny hours, .
Careless of the winter with its icy showers;
But the cold is coming, and the snow-drifts deep,
When, their playtime over, quietly they'll sleep.
. . . . . . D.C. Hasbrouck, St. Nicholas, October 1881
05 October 2008
"Autumn"
Thou comest, Autumn, heralded by the rain,
With banners, by great gales incessant fanned,
Brighter than brightest silks of Samarcand,
And stately oxen harnessed to thy wain!
Thou standest, like imperial Charlemagne,
Upon thy bridge of gold; thy royal hand
Outstretched with benedictions o'er the land,
Blessing the farms through all thy vast domain!
Thy shield is the red harvest moon, suspended
So long beneath the heaven's o'er-hanging eaves;
Thy steps are by the farmer's prayers attended;
Like flames upon an altar shine the sheaves;
And, following thee, in thy ovation splendid,
Thine almoner, the wind, scatters the golden leaves!
. . . . Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
With banners, by great gales incessant fanned,
Brighter than brightest silks of Samarcand,
And stately oxen harnessed to thy wain!
Thou standest, like imperial Charlemagne,
Upon thy bridge of gold; thy royal hand
Outstretched with benedictions o'er the land,
Blessing the farms through all thy vast domain!
Thy shield is the red harvest moon, suspended
So long beneath the heaven's o'er-hanging eaves;
Thy steps are by the farmer's prayers attended;
Like flames upon an altar shine the sheaves;
And, following thee, in thy ovation splendid,
Thine almoner, the wind, scatters the golden leaves!
. . . . Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
03 October 2008
2008 Marietta Pilgrimage Home Tour
Woot! The homes being toured this year are on Whitlock Avenue. This used to be the "ritzy" area and the homes are all big Victorian/Queen Anne types with wraparound porches, chandeliers, and "all the trimmings," as they'd say in The Right Stuff. The Christmas decorations should be quite nice.
This year's tour is December 6-8. Tickets can be purchased at the Marietta Historical Society office at Marietta Square (it's not on the square; it's across from the train tracks, opposite the little engine and tender).
(Ah! And the Mistletoe Market is in two weeks at the Cobb County Civic Center. Why they hold the darn thing in October is a mystery, but...there it is...)
This year's tour is December 6-8. Tickets can be purchased at the Marietta Historical Society office at Marietta Square (it's not on the square; it's across from the train tracks, opposite the little engine and tender).
(Ah! And the Mistletoe Market is in two weeks at the Cobb County Civic Center. Why they hold the darn thing in October is a mystery, but...there it is...)
01 October 2008
A Site That Keeps Getting Better and Better
The Antique Christmas Lights Site
George Nelson adds more to this site every time I check on it. There's now a section on angel chimes, vintage advertising, reminisces by people who remember Christmas trees with candles and the arrival of the early lighting outfits, and more. You could literally spend days reading on this site.
George Nelson adds more to this site every time I check on it. There's now a section on angel chimes, vintage advertising, reminisces by people who remember Christmas trees with candles and the arrival of the early lighting outfits, and more. You could literally spend days reading on this site.
17 September 2008
1920s Chic
Anyone remember Dennison? They were a paper company out of Massachusetts which was bought out by Avery awhile back. The main thing I remember Dennison for was stickers ("gummed seals" as they called them back then); they had all kinds. I bought some of their dog stickers just to get the collies. :-) In the 1910s and 1920s, however, they were also famous for selling all kinds of crepe paper (not just streamers) for use in holiday decorating and even for making temporary costumes for parties and playlets that children could put on. They would come out with yearly booklets, the "Bogie Book" at Hallowe'en and the Christmas Book, to give you ideas for decorating using their paper products. These booklets are rare today because folks just tossed them out after the holiday and now they sell for $$$ on e-Bay.
Well, some kind soul scanned one of the Christmas books from 1922 and it is linked at Google books:
Dennison Christmas Book
Really neat look back at was considered "trendy" back then in decorating for the holidays; also interesting to see party game suggestions—and 1920s price list as well!
Well, some kind soul scanned one of the Christmas books from 1922 and it is linked at Google books:
Dennison Christmas Book
Really neat look back at was considered "trendy" back then in decorating for the holidays; also interesting to see party game suggestions—and 1920s price list as well!
09 September 2008
God Rest Me Merry
If you walk by my cubicle today you will find me playing Christmas music. Why? Well, because I just bought the three-CD set and didn't want to wait to listen to it? :-) This is the O'Neill brothers music, piano instrumentals, which I bought at the Yellow Daisy Festival on Sunday. Already finished playing their "Autumn" album.
Besides, it's end of fiscal year and I need something to cheer me up!
Besides, it's end of fiscal year and I need something to cheer me up!
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