My local library in Colorado has trees decorated with book themes this month. There are over a hundred of them. Here are a few.
Charlotte’s Web
(Above) The Great Gatsby, James Bond, Manga, Queen’s Gambit, World Records
(Above) Mexican Gothic, Dinosaurs, Ready Player One, Jan Brett, Charlie Brown
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ASTROLOGY SERVICES:
Aside from the religious imagery that surrounds us at Christmas, Santa Claus makes a regular appearance. The red-clad fellow travels through the sky on a sleigh pulled by reindeer delivering gifts to all the good boys and girls. Most of our American Santa depictions are drawn from two sources, Clement Moore’s “Twas the Night Before Christmas” (1823) and Cocoa Cola advertisements. Most of us recognize that part of the tale but what if there’s a bit more to ponder?
The connections are not all together solid, but they are tantalizing. So let’s indulge in a season of indulgences. Stories usually have long histories and when you start uncovering a trail, often one thing leads to another. Keep that jolly elf in mind.
Throughout the Northern Hemisphere, a pretty, red and white flecked hallucinogenic mushroom (Amanita muscaria) grows under trees. In these cold places, including Siberia, Shamans and reindeer have long consumed the mushrooms. Could it be that the origins of flying reindeer have their roots in drug-induced hallucinations? Donald Pfister, a fungi biologist at Harvard believes it’s possible. And what about Santa donning the red suit with white trim—possibly linked to the coloring of the mushroom? Even the appearance of the cute fungi on Christmas ornaments now raises an eyebrow.
A faraway culture filled with healers and spirits, long dark nights, and vast open skies. Stories must have been told and retold around the warmth of fire. What survived? Did some remnant find its way to tickle the imagination of Clement Moore? Who knows? But now when you see a Christmas ornament inspired from the northern climes and a little red mushroom with white dots is tucked there too, see if you don’t just smile. Because wonder goes a long way to connect us to Christmas and to the past.
Read more here:
https://www.livescience.com/25731-magic-mushrooms-santa-claus.html
https://www.npr.org/2010/12/24/132260025/did-shrooms-send-santa-and-his-reindeer-flying
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Filed under Christmas
photo:ForestWander
My son asked whether I thought Christmas was a religious or secular holiday. I knew where my atheist son was going with this. I cut him off saying I thought it could be anything you wanted it to be. And I do stand by that. I fully recognize that many celebrate Christmas as the birth of a savior. Most of them quietly worship in their churches, but others are a bit more vocal like a neighbor who posted a sign about putting the Christ back in Christmas (the sign courtesy of the Knights of Columbus). I grew up with the more secular version of Christmas focused on goodwill and gift-giving.
One of the big differences between being in Belgium and being back in the US, is that the US really does get into its holidays, religious or secular. If you didn’t have a calendar to point out the holidays in Brussels, you would never know there was a holiday since there were no overt external signs of any. But here, I walk the dog around the neighborhood every day and I see the Christmas decorations. More decorations on my street than in the entire city of Brussels. I love it! Individuals dedicate time, effort, and money to do this. And I love it! Trivial? Waste of time? Effort? Money? Maybe…
The last few days I’ve been paying attention to the kind of decorations that predominate. How do my neighbors view this holiday- religious or secular? Do the decorations tell a story? I probably pass sixty or more houses on my daily circuit and only three have overt religious items (2 nativities and 1 cross). The rest are predominantly lights, garlands, wreaths, reindeer, snowmen, and assorted popular blow-up characters. And Disney characters and flying pigs aside (yes, someone has one and there is a dragon too!), I do wonder if all this decorating has much to do with the Christmas story at all.
Perhaps, it’s all about the time of year. A time when nature hides, dies back, goes dormant. When we as humans are denied visual stimulation through color and form. In the starkness and stillness that is winter, we are called inside to quiet. And that call can be frightening, unsettling. And yet, it calls from the unconscious. To counter this we become busy and decorate the things around us as comfort to get us through the dark, cold winter. We bring trees and stars inside. The macrocosm calling to the microcosm, stop hiding, be still, wake.
Filed under Christmas
MURDER UNDER THE TREE by Susan Bernhardt
The Synopsis:
While Kay attends a Christmas tea at Hawthorne Hills Retirement Home, a beloved caretaker dies from an allergic reaction to peanuts. When the official coroner’s report rules the cause of death to be accidental, a small group of residents suspect foul play and call upon Kay to investigate.
Kay uncovers sinister plots of fraud, revenge, and corruption at the Home. During this season of peace on earth, good will to men, additional murders occur. Despite multiple attempts on her life, and with the support once again of her best friends, Elizabeth and Deirdre, Kay continues her quest for bringing justice for the victims. Kay’s first Christmas in Sudbury Falls is an unforgettable one, with equal amounts of celebration and danger. Tis the season to be sleuthing!
My Take:
This is a fun read for this time of year. Three best friends endeavor to help each other during the excitement of the holidays. Kay brings the brains and the logical thinking, not to mention experience in solving murders. Deirdre is the New Age mystic (and my favorite character, of course) busy setting up her own business and Elizabeth; well you’ll just have to meet Elizabeth. The three often meet at a local pastry shop and the desserts they order will have you drooling. Twists and turns mount, secrets are exposed. Can you guess who the killer is? I couldn’t. Don’t miss it!
Today’s Sale: Only $3.95!
Filed under Books
Photo: Xavier Ryan, 2014
We are one week out from Christmas now. The cards are out and most of the shopping is done. I still have cookies to bake and a Christmas Eve meal to plan. There is an on-going battle to keep Maggie and Millie (my 9 month old kittens) out of the tree. I’m losing. Being drenched by a water bottle or having a can of coins shaken at them fazes them little. They are junkyard-tough, little kitties
I wondered if in the run up to Christmas, there was anything I could offer that would be useful. Upon reflection, I have come across something that might be. My life with its ups and downs, pales to those who are dealing with serious illnesses. Recently, I watched a movie called Alive Inside. It deals with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. Music therapy has been found to be very successful at reaching those who have become withdrawn especially as memory seems to fade. Music stimulates more parts of the brain than anything else and it can bring back connections thought long gone. The problem is that not many people know about it and most nursing facilities don’t offer it. The best kind of music for this purpose is something from an individual’s past, something that makes an emotional connection, something from childhood or early adult years.
So during the holidays, if you are visiting someone with dementia, especially those who are withdrawn, please consider bringing the gift of music into their lives. Forgo the cookies, candy, flowers, or hand-knitted scarves. Take an iPod, CD player, etc. and offer the gift of music to those who are in need of connection.
Here’s the movie trailer. You can watch the full movie on Netflix.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWn4JB2YLU
For more information: www.MusicandMemory.org
Filed under brain science, healing, health
The Christmas tree is up and as I peruse ornaments collected over decades, I’m struck by how many of them are animals. There are cats and dogs, rabbits and squirrels, hedgehogs and birds (a humming bird, blue jay, goose, partridge), and cows and horses. At the back door, I struggle with getting sunflower seeds and nuts out for my squirrels. Three inches of snow have to be cleared before I can lay down six piles of seed to accommodate the squirrels. After our dog died, we started feeding birds off our deck but soon found the squirrels to be more entertaining. The birds still come to the feeder and the overflow trickles down to feed a family of field mice who will come onto the deck once the squirrels have had their fill. I won’t see the bunny today because the storm is intensifying but I take comfort that I’ll see him tomorrow once the snow melts off. He was here earlier though; because I see his tracks crisscross the yard. The ornaments on the Christmas tree and the activity in the backyard scream BEATRIX POTTER. I live in a world she knew.
Helen Beatrix Potter was born in 1866 in London. She is best remembered for her children’s stories featuring animals. As children, she and her brother spent many happy family vacations in Scotland and the English Lake District. Undoubtedly, the freedom to explore and interact with nature as a child grounded Beatrix in the natural world and fostered her connection to the land and its creatures. She and her brother made pets of wildlife including rabbits, a hedgehog, mice, and bats. Beatrix’s talents in drawing and painting emerged in childhood and were encouraged by her parents. In her teens, she wandered the Lake District sketching and immersing herself in nature. She took a keen interest in archeology, geology, entomology, and mycology. By the late 1890s, she had become adept at scientific illustration concentrating on watercolors of local fungi. She even had a paper on fungi reproduction presented at the Royal Botanic Gardens (women were not allowed to attend).
It wasn’t until her mid- 30s that Beatrix took a set of picture letters she had written to children and turned them into her first book. She had The Tale of Peter Rabbit printed in 1901. Publishers turned down the opportunity to publish the book failing to see its merit (think Harry Potter in the Edwardian Age, JK Rowling was also turned down by multiple publishers). Along came Frederick Warner who published The Tale of Peter Rabbit with color illustrations the following year. Beatrix’s book was highly successful and so were the two (The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin and The Tailor of Gloucester) that came soon after. From then on, Beatrix published two or three books a year. Later her interests in farming and preserving the Lake District became foremost in her life, but she is still remembered fondly for the animal characters and stories she created.
www.beatrixpottersociety.org.uk
Miss Potter (2006), the movie with Renee Zellweger & Ewan McGregor
Filed under animals, Book Review, Books
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