Grandpa Couldn't Wait for Christmas (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday and Sandee at Comedy Plus.     

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Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and has become a moveable feast of word or picture or music prompts that encourages us to write stories, poems, or whatever strikes our fancy.    

This month, the prompts are being provided by River at Drifting Through Life.    

This week's words are:

1. hair

2. dissolve

3. concertina

4. candlesticks

5. ribbons

6. causeway

and/or:

1. wizard

2. bonfire

3. unload

4. beams

5. discarded

6. chocolate

bonus phrase (copied from a book River was reading):

"as much character as a cereal box"

Merlin stood up from his cramped position at the desk and ran his hands through his disheveled HAIR and beard.  Being a WIZARD, he thought to himself, isn't always all it's cracked up to be.

His bones protested the sudden movement, sounding to him like a CONCERTINA out of tune.  He had been reading over and correcting the scrolls his latest protege, a teen with AS MUCH CHARACTER AS A BOX of those same scrolls, had been copying.  He could tell just from what he'd read so far that at least a few of them would have to be DISCARDED and begun again.

The CANDLESTICKS by which he was reading had burned down to the RIBBONS he tied around them to remind him it was time to tend his potion that was over the BONFIRE outside.  He needed a lot more heat for that one than the BEAMS of the house could stand, so he headed out, being careful to keep to the CAUSEWAY of paving stones that lead closer to the forest.  No need to get his feet wet just because he had to have the fire nearer to the fuel source, after all.

That's what he had told his protege, at least.  It had made sure the young man was out of his way, too, but he kept that, and a lot of things, to himself.

The potion had started out as what he described to himself as a deep CHOCOLATE color (the secret he'd learned of what would someday be called in the New World "chocolate" was another thing he shared with no one), and was now a deep red.  He threw one last secret ingredient in, and watch it DISSOLVE instantly.

Nodding to himself with satisfaction, he told his protege to let the fire die down so it would cool enough by morning for them to UNLOAD it.

Meanwhile, he was going to go get himself a bite of supper and a good night's sleep.  Even a wizard, he would say, needs his beauty rest.

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Today is:

Awful Tie Day -- internet generated, go to the office and compare who got the worst tie as a gift

Blessing of the Wine -- Greiveldange, Luxembourg (winemakers parade to the church to have a barrel of wine blessed)

Boxing Day -- day on which boxes of goodies are given to the less fortunate or public servants, and sometimes servants and masters traded places for the day

Coffee Percolator Day -- patented by James Mason on this day in 1865

Day of Goodwill -- Namibia; South Africa

Day of Our Theotokos /  Synaxis of the Most Holy Mother of God -- Byzantine/Eastern Orthodox Christian

Family Day -- Namibia; Vanuatu

Holiday Magic Days -- Mystic Seaport, CT, US (reduced admission to fun, entertainment, crafts, and the lore of the sea; through Jan. 1)

Icelandic Traditional Calendar Month Morsugr "Fat Sucker" begins -- Iceland (refering to the daily fare becoming scant in deep winter and body fat is used up)

Independence and Unity Day -- Slovenia(1990)

J'Ouvert -- Saint Kitts and Nevis (carneval-style street party for Boxing Day)

Junkanoo (Junkanoo Jonkanoo, Jankunu, John Canoe or Johnkankus) -- Carribean Islands, also on New Years Day (A special music and dance, mime and symbol that is an early traditional dance form of African descent.)

Kwanzaa, Day 1, Umoja (Unity)

Mauro Hamza Day -- Houston, TX, US (United States Fencing Association Foil Director)

Mummer's Day -- Padstow, Cornwall

National Candy Cane Day

National Thank-you Note Day

National Whiner's Day™ -- a day to encourage people to be happy with what they have; the previous year's worst whiners are announced (you don't want to be one!)     

Proclamation Day -- South Australia (day South Australia was established as a Province in 1836 by royal Proclamation

Recyclable Packaging Day -- started by someone who wants to remind us to gather up the reusable bags, boxes, etc., left from the holiday, and recycle the rest

Second Day of Christmas

Sports Days -- Falkland Islands (through the 28th, with the Boxing Day race at Stanley being the most famous part of the celebration)

St. James the Just's Day -- Orthodox Christian

St. Stephen's Day (Patron of casket makers, deacons, horses, masons, stone masons; Patron of over 80 cities throughout Italy; Kessel, Germany; Metz, France; Owensboro, KY; Toulouse, France; against headaches)

    Public Holiday in Alsace, France; Andorra; Austria; Catalonia; Croatia; Czech Republic; Germany; Holy See; Hong Kong; Ireland; Italy; Liechtenstein; Luxembourg; Poland; San Marino; Slovakia; Spain (regional); Switzerland (regional)

    Celebrated as Father's Day -- Bulgaria

    Day of the Wren -- Ireland; Isle of Mann (costumed mayhem)

Tehuantepec Festivities -- Oaxaca, Mexico

Thanksgiving Day -- Solomon Islands

Zarathosht Diso (Death of Prophet Zarathushtra) - Zoroastrian

Anniversary Today:

Rodney Dangerfield weds Joan Child, 1993

Establishment of Shenandoah National Park, VA, US, 1935

Birthdays Today:

Chris Daughtry, 1979

Jared Leto, 1971

Lars Ulrich, 1963

David Sedaris, 1956

Ozzie Smith, 1954

Carlton Fisk, 1947

John Walsh, 1945

Phil Spector, 1940

Alan King, 1927

Steve Allen, 1921

Richard Widmark, 1914

Mao Tse-tung, 1893

Henry Miller, 1891

Charles Babbage, 1791

Laurent Clerc, 1785

Juan Lovera, 1778

Thomas Nelson, 1738

Thomas Gray, 1716

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Do re mi"(Musical), 1960

"The Glass Menagerie"(Play), 1944

"Of Thee I Sing"(Musical), 1931

Judy Garland, as Baby Frances, makes her stage debut at age 2 1/2, singing Jingle Bells on the vaudeville stage, 1924

"Tragic Overture"(Brahms' Op. 81), 1880

Today in History:

Columbus founds the first Spanish settlement in the New World by leaving behind 36 men in what is now Haiti, 1492

The final trial of Louis XVI of France begins, 1792

A theater fire in Richmond, Virginia kills the Governor of Virginia George William Smith and the president of the First National Bank of Virginia Abraham B. Venable, 1811

The Erie Canal opens, 1825

Gilbert and Sullivan collaborate for the first time, on their lost opera, Thespis. It does modestly well, but the two would not collaborate again for four years, 1871

King Mwanga of Uganda signs a contract with the East Africa Company, 1890

Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium, 1898

FM radio is patented, 1933

Time Magazine's Man of the Year is for the first time a non-human, the personal computer, 1982

The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the USSR, 1991

A 9.3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean, killing over 250,000 people, 2004

Brazil overtakes the United Kingdom as the world's sixth largest economy, 2011