DIED ON CHRISTMAS DAY # 1

W.C. Fields (William Claude Dukenfield) died December 25, 1946 aged 66 in Pasadena.

Paul Bourget the French novelist and critic died 1935.
The comic film star Charles Spencer Chaplin died at his home in Switzerland in 1977 aged 88.

And in 1995 entertainer Dean Martin died at his Beverly Hills home at the age of 78.

KRSNA SLAVA

 

The Orthodox Christian families in Serbia and Montenegro all have their own patron saint.

Each family then celebrates the Saints feast day with a unique Serbian Orthodox religious tradition in the form of Thanksgiving.

This is done on the anniversary of when their ancestors were baptized because when Serbians accepted Christianity whole families, villages or tribes where baptized at the same time.

The same saint is passed down through the generations.

Sveti Nikola or St. Nicholas is the patron saint for more than half of all the Serbian families and as a result many people celebrate on the 6^th of December, either with their own family or as a guest elsewhere.

This is the Krsna Slava.

Krsna Slava is not just feasting, singing, and festival, but more importantly it’s a time of spiritual renewal and rededication to the Orthodox faith and church.

The Slava is also a family reunion usually held in the home of the family's oldest living member to commemorate the patron saint.

An Icon of the family's patron saint is on display and a candle, for Christ the Light of the World is lit.
A boiled wheat dish, representing Christ's death and resurrection is served with Slava bread decorated with cross and seal, for Jesus Christ the Bread of Life.
Red wine, for the blood of Christ's washing away sin.
A priest blesses the home and all within and all offer the prayer of Thanksgiving before the icon.

Serbian Orthodox observes Krsna Slava wherever they are live, not just in Serbia.

It is a very important day for the Serbian Orthodox church.

LEAST FAVORITE REINDEER

The Dinosaurs least favorite reindeer

Of all the ones they’ve met,

Isn’t that show off Red Nosed Rudolf

The one they hate is Comet

FAVOURITE CHRISTMAS SONG # 2

 

Despite the general awfulness of the Christmas song there are however always exceptions to the rule and I have a short list of personal favorites.

Without exception all my choices not only include the song but the best performer of that song and so in no particular order here is my second selection.

 

“The Christmas Song” written by Torme and Wells and sung by Nat King Cole

 

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire

Jack Frost nipping at your nose

Yuletide carols being sung by a choir

And folks dressed up like Eskimos

Everybody knows a turkey and some

Mistletoe helps to make the season bright

Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow

Will find it hard to sleep tonight

They know that Santa’s on his way

He's loaded lots of toys and goodies

On his sleigh

And every mother's

Child is gonna spy to see if

Reindeer really know how to fly

And so, I'm offering this

Simple phrase to kids from

One to ninety-two

Altho' it's been said many times

Many ways

“Merry Christmas to you”

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – NOELLE (2018)

 

Father Jonathan Keene (David Wall) is a cold, embittered Catholic Priest who arrives in a tiny Cape Cod fishing village the week before Christmas.

His reason for being there was simple, to do what he has become uncommonly successful at, shutting down parishes with diminishing congregations.

However, things don’t go to plan when he becomes entangled in the lives of various eccentric village characters, including their beautiful librarian (Kerry Wall), and the naïve and childlike priest (Sean Patrick Brennan) he is displacing.

And things take an unexpected turn after the magical experience at the legendary Christmas Party Mrs. Worthington (Jean Bates) throws every year, where everyone is welcome, and anything is possible.

Ultimately Father Keene learns the power of forgiveness and redemption.

SANTA’S SOJOURN

 

Since the 1950s Santa Claus has, once the Christmas rush is over of course, happily sojourned at Napapiiri, near Rovaniemi in the Arctic Circle.

While there he has always been more than happy to meet children and the young at heart.

His visits to Napapiiri had become such a regular occurrence that in 1985 he established his own Santa Claus Office there.

He is available almost every day of the year to hear the children’s requests and to talk to children who have arrived from around the world.

A Village is now well established, and it is now the location of Santa's main Post Office, which receives Christmas letters from children in every corner of the world.

TORTUOUS TUNE

 

Christmas has inevitably become the time of year when every man and his dog decides to release a Christmas song.

Most of which would be instantly forgettable if it were not for the operators of supermarkets, department stores, shopping centers and hotels.

The insidious recordings of the Christmas wannaby’s are on a spooled tape which is played discriminately on shop floors, concourses, hotel lobbies and elevators inflicting customers and staff alike with the tortuous tones from October onwards.