Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Seasonal 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 Cindi.      
This week the prompt is:

Share a tradition you have at this time of year; when, why or how it became a tradition; and how it makes you feel.


There are plenty of traditions here, such as the holiday menu, the watching of the movie A Christmas Story at least twice, and that the dogs will repeatedly be under foot and then banished to a room or to outside, only to have us relent a few minutes later and let them come back to be underfoot again.

The most recent tradition is "the tree."

Years ago, when they had a bigger home and kids still in it, Grandma and Grandpa would get a very tall tree and trim it up big time.  A few years ago, they stopped because it became too much for them.

About 4 years ago, Uncle P and Miss Eva (yes, they are married now, but i've always called her that and it's not going to change) gave Grandma a small, live tree for Christmas.  It was painted white, not flocked, and somehow, for some reason, it just dried out but did not shed the needles and didn't fall apart.

Grandma kept the ornaments on it and moved it out to the sun porch (or three season room, or whatever it would be in other parts of the country).  It simply sat for the whole year that first year, still decorated.

The next year, it was hauled out to be used again.  It's been used every year since.

Somehow the painting it white instead of flocking it has preserved that tree in a way we did not expect.  As Grandma has made more ornaments over the years, she has added two other small trees, little fir trees in pots, and all of them live on the sun porch except at Christmas, when they are pulled into the main living room to do their decorative and festive best.

It's a fun, new tradition, to leave the ornaments on small trees that are simply kept set aside the rest of the year.  It makes everything easier on Grandma and Grandpa, and we are all amused by the little Christmas tree that just lasts and lasts.


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To all who celebrate, a blessed and beautiful Merry Christmas to you!!!


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Today is:

A'phabet Day -- a/k/a No "L" Day!  yes, go ahead and groan

Carol Day -- internet generated, listed as different dates, but this is the last day this year you should have to listen to Christmas songs, so enjoy

Children's Day -- Cameroon; Chad; Central African Republic; Congo; Congo DR; Equatorial Guinea; Gabon; Uruguay

Christmas Day/Feast of the Nativity -- Christian/Orthodox Christian

Constitution Day -- Taiwan

Dia de la Familia -- Uruguay

Dies Natalis Invicti Solis -- Ancient Roman Calendar (birthday of the invincible sun god)

Ennead Feast in the Houses of Ra, Horus, and Osiris -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Family Day -- Angola; Mozambique; Uruguay

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)

Malkh-Festival -- Nakh peoples of Chechenya and Ingushetia (a sun god festival)

National Pumpkin Pie Day

Quaid-e-Azam's Day -- Pakistan (birth anniversary of "Great Leader," the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah)

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Day -- introduced by Montgomery Ward Department Store this day in 1939

Sarsodaw Pwe -- Myanmar (Writers' Day/Literati Day, especially celebrated by the press, and includes The National Literary Award Presentation Ceremony as well as public lectures, essay contests, and story-telling events)

St. Anastasia of Sirmium's Day (Patron of martyrs, weavers, and widows)


Anniversaries Today:

Hirohito becomes Emperor of Japan, 1926
Washington crosses the Delaware, 1776


Birthdays Today

Dido, 1971
Rickey Henderson, 1958
Shane MacGowan, 1957
Annie Lennox, 1954
Karl Rove, 1950
Ron Foos, 1949
Sissy Spacek, 1949
Barbara Mandrell, 1948
Larry Csonka, 1946
Jimmy Buffett, 1946
Gary Sandy, 1945
Hanna Schygulla, 1943
Carlos Castaneda, 1925
Rod Serling, 1924
Anwar Sadat, 1918
Quentin Crisp, 1908
Cab Calloway, 1907
Humphrey Bogart, 1899
Cal Farley, 1895
Robert Ripley, 1893
Dame Rebecca West, 1892
Conrad Hilton, 1887
Evangeline Cory Booth, 1865
Clara Barton, 1821
Isaac Newton, 1642
Traditional Birthday of Mithras
Traditional Birthday of Sol


Debuting/Premiering Today:

The Sword in the Stone(Disney animated film), 1963
"The Steve Allen Show"(TV), 1950
"Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcasts", 1931
"Why Marry?"(Play, first to win a Pulitzer for Drama), 1917 
"Symphony Fantastique: Épisode de la vie d'un Artiste ... en cinq parties"(Berlioz Symphony), 1830


Today in History:

The first Christmas, according to calendar maker Dionysus Exiguus, 1
The earliest possible date that Christmas was celebrated on the 25th, 337
The first definite date that Christmas was celebrated on the 25th, 352
Coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome, 800
William I, Conqueror, crowned king of England, 1066
Boudouin I of Boulogne crowned king of Jerusalem, 1100
Count Roger II of Sicily is crowned the first King of Sicily, 1130
St Francis of Assisi assembles the first Nativity scene, in Greccio, Italy, 1223
The city of Natal, Brazil is founded., 1599
Gov William Bradford of Plymouth forbids game playing on Christmas, 1621
The Massachusetts General Court ordered a fine of five shillings for "observing any such day as Christmas", 1651
The first performance of "Silent Night" takes place in the church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorf, Austria, 1818
Louisiana & Arkansas are the first US states to observe Christmas as holiday, 1831
Despite bitter opposition, Pres Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all persons involved in Southern rebellion (a/k/a the Civil War, or, tongue planted firmly in cheek, that recent unpleasantness between the States), 1868
The legendary/unofficial "Christmas Truce" takes place between the British & Germans, 1914
Emperor Taisho of Japan dies; his son, Prince Hirohito succeeds him as Emperor Showa, 1926
Montgomery Ward introduces Rudolph the 9th reindeer, 1939
The first in Europe artificial, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was initiated within Soviet nuclear reactor F-1, 1946
The Stone of Scone, traditional coronation stone of British monarchs, is taken from Westminster Abbey by Scottish nationalist students, 1950
Richard Starkey gets his first drum set for Christmas, 1957
Apollo 8 performs the very first successful Trans Earth Injection (TEI) maneouver, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth from Lunar orbit, 1968
Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Northern Territory Australia, 1974
Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with President of Egypt, Anwar Sadat, 1977
The first successful trial run of the system which would become the World Wide Web, 1990
Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as president of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day), 1991
Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which would later successfully land on Saturn's moon Titan, 2004
The South Pole records its warmest temperature at -12.3 degrees Celsius at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, 2011

17 comments:

  1. Love your very Christmassy wordless Wednesday.
    I hope your day is definitely blessed and beautiful.

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  2. I love your new tree tradition. Don't have a clue what to write myself, we don't do traditions, not even the same things every year.

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  3. Merry Christmas! That is a great idea with the tiny trees that are there all year. It might be something for our Gramma to try out.

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  4. That is SO something my dad would have done! I love it.

    Merriest of Christmases to you, my friend!

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  5. Love the tradition. Love that tree that stays decorated year around. Lovely.

    • ★ Merry ★* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
    •。★ Christmas ★。* 。
    ° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
    ˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~\。˚ ˚ ˛
    ˚ ˛ •˛• ˚| 田田 |門| ˚
    * Joy to all! ♫•*¨* Peace on Earth ♪♫•*¨*

    Thank you for joining the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop.

    Have a fabulous Wordless Wednesday, my friend. ♥

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  6. Nice to have a Christmas tree the whole year round. Have a blessed Christmas!

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  7. Lovely post and pics :-)
    Happy Christmas and best wishes from London :-)

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  8. I love the tree tradition! Wonderful! Merry Christmas!!

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  9. That is really a cool tradition. Merry Christmas from all of us!!!

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  10. What a beautiful Christmas tradition and photos! Merry Christmas!

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  12. I love the little trees!

    But, Aruuuggggghhh! Reading your calendar that says carols should abruptly end on Christmas day. Why is the season so rushed? Advent comes before Christmas. We get so caught up in holiday preparations, that we forget to experience the anticipation of Christ's coming. Most totally omit Advent songs. Then, while it is still the Christmas Season until Jan 6th, people rush to put Christmas behind them. Who has time for Epiphany when there's Mardi Gras, Valentine's day, and Easter to rush to. Can't we celebrate the nativity at least until the visitation of the Magi?

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    Replies
    1. Exactly! This is one of the new traditions, and i do not like it. To me, we should only sing Advent songs until Christmas Eve, then celebrate the whole 12 days and do gifts on King's Day/Epiphany. But as much as i want to, i can't turn the tide.

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  13. Nice photos and cute story about the white tree :) Merry Christmas! XO

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  14. What a lovely tree tradition. So many family traditions are similar between one family and another but your grandparents' tree tradition is fun because it's unique.

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  15. Belated merry Christmas. Love the information you are giving us and isn't your Christmas tree story wonderful? Thanks so much for sharing!

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  16. Well that little white tree sounds like a lovely idea, not only fun to look at when Christmas is at the other end of the calendar, but also environmentally friendly!I prefer not to see those "real" trees tossed out for the garbage.I hope your Christmas Day was wonderful!

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