ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS

 

Well, I got a sweater for Christmas

I guess I’m just a sort of dreamer

But I got a sweater for Christmas

I wanted a moaner or a screamer

THE HONEST SANTA FAIRY

 A sorry old drunk is walking

Down the street one morning

Together with Santa Claus

The tooth fairy and of course

Honest John the Solicitor

When suddenly on their tour

At the very same moment

They spot on the pavement

Someone’s discarded wallet 

So, who was it who got it?

The old drunk obviously

Because all of the other three

Only exist in mythology

THE HANGING OF GREENS - MISTLETOE

 The hanging of greens, such as Holly, Ivy and Mistletoe is a British winter tradition with origins far before the Christian era.

Greenery was used to lift people’s spirits during the long winter and remind them that spring was not far away.

For hundreds of years before the birth of Christ the ancient Druids used mistletoe to celebrate the winter solstice.

The Druids gathered the parasitic evergreen plant and used it to decorate their homes.

They had an affinity with nature and believed the plant to have special healing powers for a variety of ills from female infertility to poison ingestion.

The Scandinavians thought of mistletoe as a plant of peace and harmony and associated it with their goddess of love, Frigga which is why the Norse folk believe the custom of kissing under the mistletoe is believed to have derived from this belief.

The druids regarded the mistletoe as sacred and they made certain that it never touched the ground and it was dedicated to the Goddess of Love which is the Druid explanation of kissing under it.

Originally, when a boy kissed a girl, he plucked a berry from the cluster and presented it to her. When there were no more berries, there were no more kisses.

The custom of kissing under the mistletoe originally was a belief that the evergreen plant increases your sexual power or promotes fertility.

In a small number of places in the world its potency was so highly regarded that it could improve the productivity of the soil, it could make cattle more fertile and curer impotence in men and any girl who had not been kissed under the mistletoe would be barren.

The Druids believed mistletoe's magic extended far beyond fertility and they thought it could cure almost any disease and was therefore known as 'all healer'.

A Sprigs fixed above your doorway would protect from lightning and ward of evil from your home.

As the plant was a parasite and grey on other trees it had no roots and so it was believed that it grew from heaven.

Even the gathering of the mistletoe is steeped in ritual.

A Druid priest using a sacred sickle had to cut the mistletoe from an oak tree

On the sixth day of the new moon when he had done so a virgin girl had to catch the falling plant before it touched the ground.

If it touched the ground it was spoiled.

The early Christian church banned the use of mistletoe in Christmas celebrations because of its pagan origins and they favored the use of Holly as an appropriate substitute for the Christmas greenery conveniently forgetting pagan origins of Holly.

Nowadays mistletoe is used merely as an excuse for taking liberties at the office Christmas party.

 

 

THE SPIRIT OF SCROOGE

 

Every year as a token of their gratitude the people of Norway present Britain with a 70 foot Christmas tree which stands in Trafalgar square.
However the tree has not always been received in the same spirit as it was given at times the discord has soured the season of goodwill.
In 1960 Westminster City Council wanted to charge the Norwegians for the electricity used to light the tree but thankfully Parliament intervened.
While In 1980 the very same council tried to stop the tradition altogether by refusing to accept the tree in an attempt to save the £5,000 cost.
Good sense again prevailed and now the costs are met by the Greater London Authority.
Other bureaucrats have tried to interfere and spoil Christmas this time from Brussels and they complained about the breaking of import restrictions.
The tree has also over the years suffered physical damage, on a number of occasions from high winds and on one occasion it was attacked with a chain saw by anti-war protestors.
In 1987 protesters actually chained themselves to the tree although I don't know what their cause was.

 

THE ROOM WAS FULL OF CHRISTMAS

The room was full of Christmas, 

Steeped in the essence of the season,

Fragranced with Apple and Cinnamon,

And decorated in festive livery

Fresh cut garlands of evergreens,

Tinsel, candles and coloured lights

And on the peaceful Holy night

With the velvet drapes pulled shut

Against the bitter cold of winter

A perfect couple held each other

In the soft warm glow of firelight

And the cozy room was full of love

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – THE WAR ON CHRISTMAS (2018)

 

“The War On Christmas” is a very funny Christmas Comedy about the Winters family who are totally crazy for Christmas, except that is for the 16-year-old daughter, Nikki (Juliette Angelo) because, her family's over-the-top Christmas celebrations have made her life a total misery.

At Performing Arts summer camp, she meets Tanner (Javier Bolanos) who is her perfect antidote to the Christmas craziness that is year-round at home, unfortunately at the end of camp they went their separate ways to opposite sides of the country.

It wasn’t the end for them though as they were in constant contact and facetimed regularly but when her long-distance boyfriend decides to visit for the holidays, she's determined to spare him her family's Christmas obsession.

So, the only solution is to create a fake family, so she hires actors to play her parents and stages a fake Christmas dinner in the empty house next door with hilarious results.

 

FAVOURITE CHRISTMAS CAROL # 41 SANS DAY CAROL

 

Sans Day Carol

English (Cornish) traditional Music and lyrics authorship unknown

 

Now the holly bears a berry as white as the milk,
And Mary bore Jesus, all wrapped up in silk:

And Mary bore Jesus our Saviour for to be,
And the first tree in the greenwood, it was the holly.
Holly! Holly!
And the first tree in the greenwood, it was the holly!

Now the holly bears a berry as green as the grass,
And Mary bore Jesus, who died on the cross:

Now the holly bears a berry as black as the coal,
And Mary bore Jesus, who died for us all:

Now the holly bears a berry, as blood is it red,
Then trust we our Saviour, who rose from the dead: