Good King Wenceslas

I was trying to do a post every day until Christmas but travels and other things have kept me a little bit busy and I have only just now had a chance to do another post.  I'm sharing another Christmas favorite of mine! I love the song Good King Wenceslas and I'm surprised at how many people haven't heard it.

Good King Wenceslas looked 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

Thou and I will see him dine

When we bear him thither."

Page and monarch forth they went

Forth they went together

Through the rude wind's wild lament

And the bitter weather

"Sire, the night is darker now

And the wind blows stronger

Fails my heart, I know not how,

I can go no longer."

"Mark my footsteps, my good 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

Gift Wrapping Mishaps

Have you ever wrapped up the wrong gift? Or have you wrapped up a gift forgotten what it was or who it was for? Today's blog is about two such gift wrapping mishaps.

We started Christmas shopping pretty early this year.  So, my husband and I agreed that we would store all of our Christmas presents in the spare bedroom together so we wouldn't lose track of anyone's present.  When it came time to wrap them.  I took them all out in the living room, wrapped them up, and put a post-it note on the outside of what it was.  I couldn't remember who some of the presents were for, but I knew my husband would be able to tell me when he got home. 


So, after I wrapped up all of the gifts, I asked him who they were for.  One such gift was a navigation system.  I asked him, "Who is the GPS for?"  "Me." Since it was already wrapped I wrote, "To: Lee From: Lee" on it.  I'm not sure why it was with all of the other gifts.  But he just now had to unwrap it so that we could make our way up to North Carolina with an updated GPS.


Another story goes back about 12 years to when I was in high school.  I went over to my friend's house to exchange Christmas gifts.  Her family had not labeled all of their presents.  So she picked up a box and handed it to me.  We simultaneously unwrapped each of our gifts.  The box was a clothing box and I was excited about what I might find inside.  Until I uncovered an...

I thought to myself...hmmm..."I'm not sure why she got me an oven mitt, but oh well.  My mom said you should always be thankful."  After opening her present, she looked up to see me staring at my oven mitt.  "Thank you," I said as enthusiastically as I could manage.  "Oh my goodness!! That is the wrong gift," she replied.  Yes, a shirt that was meant for me got mixed up with an oven mitt that I think was for her aunt. I'm not a very good faker, but I tried my hardest to be thankful for that oven mitt at first!

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

Have you ever wondered how bells became associated with Christmas? There's "Carol of the Bells" "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" "Jingle Bells" etc.  But what exactly do bells have to do with Christmas? How did we end up associating the two?

Starting sometime when I was in middle school, a friend of my father's who is a Greek Orthodox Christian told him that they practiced handing out two jingle bells attached to a safety pin.  This was to serve as a reminder of the bells that were on the donkey's neck as Mary and Joseph made the journey to Bethlehem.  I liked this tradition and I started practicing it up until I graduated.

However, in doing some more digging to find out what exactly bells have to do with Christmas, I discovered they are linked back to the early Catholic church.  Christmas was the only time when mass was allowed to be held at midnight.  So on the stroke of midnight, a mass would be held and the bells would ring out to notify the people.  Then a tradition picked up from there of the church people bringing their own bells and ringing them on the stroke of midnight after the church bell rang.

Another way in which bells became connected to Christmas was with caroling.  Often carolers would play handbells in addition to singing as they were a light and easy "instrument" to bring along.  For certain songs, they would sometimes just play the bells without singing.  

Just in case anyone else was curious like I was, there is a little history lesson for us all!

Christmas Excitement

In my blog about a robot or what I perceived to be one, I explained that my mother is creative.  There is a another story along the same lines.  I do not recall if this happened the same year as the other story or if it was a year before or after.  Either way, both stories were from Christmases close together.


My mother was exceedingly happy about gifts that she had gotten for both my sister and me.  She explained that we were getting the same thing, but that they looked a little different.  What she was most excited about was that this was something she had growing up and she just LOVED it! 


I, again, asked if the gift was colorful.  She said, "Yes, it is very colorful." Clearly, again, this had to be a good thing.  I'm not sure why I decided that colorful meant exciting; however, that was just how I thought.


There isn't as much build-up to this story (sorry) other than the fact that she was really excited about it.  I thought I was getting some cool sort of toy again.  Of course, it wasn't.  Instead, it was a robe....I won't lie.  I was pretty let down.  Granted, I did end up using it for a while.  And, yes, it was colorful.  She sent me some pictures so I can give proof this time.  You know you are jealous of that hair.  


I may have been SLIGHTLY more excited about my American Girl doll than that robe. ;) 

Here Comes Santa Claus

Gordon Lee met Santa Claus today and had a blast! That's an authentic beard. :)

Rudolph

Today has been a busy day and I'm tired.  So, there isn't much to this blog.  I just figured I'd share something I learned on the History channel.  I'm not sure of the credibility of this story, but apparently Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is a Christian analogy.  The idea is that this reindeer who was criticized and excluded ended up being the leader and "went down in history." You can be the judge.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Had a very shiny nose,
And if you ever saw it,
You would even say it glows.
All of the other reindeer
Used to laugh and call him names;
They never let poor Rudolph
Join in any reindeer games.

Then one foggy Christmas Eve,
Santa came to say,
Rudolph with your nose so bright,
Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?

Then how the reindeer loved him
As they shouted out with glee,
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,
You'll go down in history.

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen,
Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen.,
But do you recall?
The most famous reindeer of all?

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Had a very shiny nose,
And if you ever saw it,
You would even say it glows.
All of the other reindeer
Used to laugh and call him names;
They never let poor Rudolph
Join in any reindeer games.

Then one foggy Christmas Eve,
Santa came to say,
Rudolph with your nose so bright,
Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?

Then how the reindeer loved him
As they shouted out with glee,
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,
You'll go down in history.

Bourbon Balls Take 2

I tried the bourbon ball recipe making the changes to it that I mentioned in the bourbon ball blog, and they turned out really good this time! Not only did I refrigerate the mixture before rolling into balls in the confectioners sugar, but I also added 4 cups of crushed pecans. 


This made the whole mixture more malleable, and the sugar adhered to it much better.  Last time, the bourbon balls ended up turning into something more like bourbon pancakes in the refrigerator.  This time, they have remained in the shape of the ball.  They haven't finished their 3 day vacation in the fridge, but I tasted one just to see how they were and they were MUCH better than last time.

Here's my updated recipe (of course keeping most of the first one)

24 ounces crushed vanilla wafers in a powdery consistency.  I used the food processor this time; it was much easier!

1 and 1/2 cups of honey

4 heaping tablespoons of Hershey's powdered cocoa

4 cups crushed pecans

Mix all ingredients together.  Refrigerate mixture for about 1 hour.  Roll refrigerated mixture into balls in confectioners sugar.  

I can't wait to share these with my family...that is if we can be disciplined enough to to eat them all first. :)

about 1/3 cup of bourbon