It's that special time of year again, and some us will be taking a break to celebrate, so I wanted to take this opportunity to wish all of you and yours a Merry Christmas. May the Spirit of the season be with you. Happy Birthday, Jesus. Please feel free to share your thoughts about Christmas, what it means to you, how you'll be celebrating, etc.,....
thank you, it's a few days yet for us, but hope you have a merry Christmas and a happy new year as well
Merry Christmas to you, DRI, and to all a good morning. Here's a Christmas & Holiday tradition in our house, and I'll be brewing a pot of this when I get home this evening: Glühwein. I believe this translates to Glow Wine, and from what I've read the origins of mulled wine go back to the Romans in the 2nd Century AD. The oldest documented Glühwein tankard is attributed to Count John IV of Katzenelnbogen, a German nobleman who was the first grower of Riesling grapes. His gold plated lockable silver tankard is dated to c. 1420. There are may regional and personal varieties, but our recipe is based loosely on the German version: - In a gallon pot I mix 1 quart red wine and 1 quart cranberry juice. (If I'm not mixing spiced rum into the Glühwein I go roughly 2/3 wine to 1/3 cranberry juice, to taste) Note - You don't need an expensive red wine to make a good Glühwein. While I usually go with a Burgundy, this year I experimented with an inexpensive California Pinot Noir - a wine I've been told not to use - and it came out great. The most important thing to do is to pick a wine you like. - Into this I add a couple of slices of orange and a couple of slices of lemon (I squeeze the juice out of the slices before dropping them into the pot) - To this we load up a mulling spice ball full of spices - Williams & Sonoma makes a very nice mulling spice blend: https://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/mulling-spice/ - Then I drop in a stick or two of cinnamon and 8-10 cloves - Finally, I add a splash of Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum to give it a little more flavor and kick. I've seen everything from Brandy, Port to Grand Marnier added to Glühwein. - Mull for at least a half hour and then reduce to low to keep warm I drink this hot, so I serve it in a mug, and it's best enjoyed next to the Christmas tree and a roaring fire. Yum!
In Hoc Anno Domini by Vermont Royster When Saul of Tarsus set out on his journey to Damascus the whole of the known world lay in bondage. There was one state, and it was Rome. There was one master for it all, and he was Tiberius Caesar. Everywhere there was civil order, for the arm of the Roman law was long. Everywhere there was stability, in government and in society, for the centurions saw that it was so. But everywhere there was something else, too. There was oppression—for those who were not the friends of Tiberius Caesar. There was the tax gatherer to take the grain from the fields and the flax from the spindle to feed the legions or to fill the hungry treasury from which divine Caesar gave largess to the people. There was the impressor to find recruits for the circuses. There were executioners to quiet those whom the Emperor proscribed. What was a man for but to serve Caesar? There was the persecution of men who dared think differently, who heard strange voices or read strange manuscripts. There was enslavement of men whose tribes came not from Rome, disdain for those who did not have the familiar visage. And most of all, there was everywhere a contempt for human life. What, to the strong, was one man more or less in a crowded world? Then, of a sudden, there was a light in the world, and a man from Galilee saying, Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s. And the voice from Galilee, which would defy Caesar, offered a new Kingdom in which each man could walk upright and bow to none but his God. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. And he sent this gospel of the Kingdom of Man into the uttermost ends of the earth. So the light came into the world and the men who lived in darkness were afraid, and they tried to lower a curtain so that man would still believe salvation lay with the leaders. But it came to pass for a while in divers places that the truth did set man free, although the men of darkness were offended and they tried to put out the light. The voice said, Haste ye. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you, for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. Along the road to Damascus the light shone brightly. But afterward Paul of Tarsus, too, was sore afraid. He feared that other Caesars, other prophets, might one day persuade men that man was nothing save a servant unto them, that men might yield up their birthright from God for pottage and walk no more in freedom. Then might it come to pass that darkness would settle again over the lands and there would be a burning of books and men would think only of what they should eat and what they should wear, and would give heed only to new Caesars and to false prophets. Then might it come to pass that men would not look upward to see even a winter’s star in the East, and once more, there would be no light at all in the darkness. And so Paul, the apostle of the Son of Man, spoke to his brethren, the Galatians, the words he would have us remember afterward in each of the years of his Lord: Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
I showed your recipe to Mr.b . I think we may all be “glowing” on Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas to you and yours Talon and all our friends on PF.
Another little Christmas tradition of mine. Every year I play this song when I start hanging the lights on the tree...
When Christmas was cancelled: a lesson from history November 13, 2020 Christmas is cancelled In 1647, parliament had won the civil war in England, Scotland and Ireland and King Charles was held in captivity at Hampton Court. The Church of England had been abolished and replaced by a Presbyterian system. Oliver Cromwell, the original Grinch who stole Christmas The protestant reformation had restructured churches across the British Isles, and holy days, Christmas included, were abolished. The usual festivities during the 12 days of Christmas (December 25 to January 5) were deemed unacceptable. Shops had to stay open throughout Christmastide, including Christmas Day. Displays of Christmas decorations – holly, ivy and other evergreens – were banned. Other traditions, such as feasting and the celebratory consumption of alcohol, consumed in large quantities then as now, were likewise restricted. Christmas Day, however, didn’t pass quietly. People across England, Scotland and Ireland flouted the rules. In Norwich, the mayor had already been presented with a petition calling for a celebration of a traditional Christmas. He could not allow this publicly, but ignored illegal celebrations across the city. In Canterbury, the usual Christmas football game was played and festive holly bushes were stood outside house doors. Over the 12 days of Christmas, the partying spread across all of Kent and armed force had to be used to break up the fun. Christmas Day was celebrated in the very heart of Westminster and the churchwardens of St Margaret’s church (which is part of Westminster Abbey) were arrested for failing to stop the party. The London streets were decked with holly and ivy and the shops were closed. The mayor of London was verbally assaulted as he tried to rip down the Christmas decorations with the help of the city’s own battle-hardened veteran regiments. Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk also celebrated Christmas rowdily. Young men armed with spiked clubs patrolled the streets persuading the shopkeepers to stay shut. Taking up arms and breaking the rules weren’t just about experiencing the fun of the season. Fighting against the prohibition of Christmas was a political act. Things had changed and the Christmas rebellion was as much a protest against the “new normal” as it was against the banning of fun. People were fed up with a range of restrictions and financial difficulties that came with the Presbyterian system and the fallout of the civil war.... https://theconversation.com/when-christmas-was-cancelled-a-lesson-from-history-149310 Sounds eerily familiar, but here, Deep in the Woods, we'll be celebrating Christmas as we always have. And now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to cut the red cedar Yule logs for tomorrow night's festivities....
From the "Revolutions" podcast by Mike Duncan. 1.14a- Supplemental The War on Christmas After the Puritans came to power they tried to abolish Christmas. Seriously. https://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/c/c/8/cc...40285298&hwt=b5c2023cb83195b2881b7d1913958a70
Thank you, Lindis - I hope you've been enjoying Advent. Are you doing anything special on Christmas? By the way, I bought my wife a couple more Christmas-blooming camellias this week. They're called "Christmas Candy" camellias and the flower buds are getting ready to pop open any moment: They're not that beautiful red you get with the Yuletide camellias, but it's a pretty hybrid that my wife wanted for our garden.
