Ho, Ho, HO!
Holiday Programs come and go. And, some are better than others.
This is absolutely The Best I have ever seen. And its gotten even better since last year!!!
I
got an email similar
to this one a few days ago, and let me tell you, it was great to see
this program back again - and with a couple major upgrades!!!
Retailers live by a calendar, all of them. The very best sales of the year for different items are generally the same, though. Below are items you can buy at the very best prices of the year - both for stocking up the pantry and getting ahead on next Christmas.
I wanted to let everyone know that I haven't disappeared since I came back up to the Chicago area on the 13th.
Heather goes in Monday for her walking cast, so we are nearing the half-way point with that, and we just finished digging out of the 4th major snow since I arrived.
Fur-babies (horses, chickens and cat) are all well, and happy - having fun with the snow!
I will try to get back to a regular posting schedule again in a week or so after things calm down again, and we get the 1000 foot long (16 foot wide) drive dug out from the several inches of white stuff we are again expecting over the weekend -
Be sure to check all your favorite fabric and craft stores for the very last of the Christmas sales - it will be "slim pickings" - but if you find something you should be able to get it for near 10 cents to the dollar.
Many Blessings,
GrannySue
I wanted to let everybody know that the 8th Annul Self-Improvement Gifts giveaway is open for members now!!
I know how exciting this time of year is as you look forward to all the possibilities that 2014 holds for your life...
This is an opportunity for you to download hundreds of high quality business and self help gifts, products, courses, software, MP3s and more - ALL 100% FREE.
And for a limited time, you will be able to download all of them at Absolutely NO Charge!
These are gifts on meditation, manifesting abundance, brainwave entrainment, Law of Attraction, health and wellness, hypnosis, motivation, fitness, nutrition and MORE!
(I even have a little something posted from another site I run!! Its a free ebook called "The Golden Key to Success, and right now its on page 10...)
Some of the business building gifts include software, graphics, ebooks...
Wanted to give everybody a heads- up that Amazon has some excellent deals going on right now with their New Year New You promotion.
Books offered are some really great ones - some of which I already have in my own personal collection.
If you need some help motivating for or accomplishing those New Year's resolutions, check out their sale!
Just a little note to say that I hope you had a very Merry Christmas, and enjoyed lots of hugs, laughs and great food!
My wish for each of you is to enjoy love, peace, health and prosperity in the coming year - until you are just bursting at the seams with all the goodness flowing in your life!
I'll be back in a couple days to post on what sales to start watching for...
If you've been reading, you know I don't advise hitting the sales immediately after Christmas unless you are looking for something specific that might not be around a week or two from now -
Until next year, then
MERRY CHRISTMAS, Happy New Year and
Many Blessings,
GrannySue
Paper quilling is a form of art or craft born out of creating decorative designs using thin strips of curled paper. This age-old quilling craft has been practiced for centuries!
Quilling originated during the time when nuns used small edges trimmed from Bible pages to create a simple but beautiful form of artistry. This craft was known as “Quilling” due to how the scraps of paper were wrapped around goose quills to create “coiled shapes”.
Getting into paper quilling craft is not very expensive, as most of the time you will only need few basic materials, all which you can buy at most art and craft stores. If you're really pressed for cash, simply buy a sheet or two of colored paper, and cut your own strips!
With a bit or practice and a touch of perseverance, the opportunities opened up by this unusual and highly flexible medium are endless.
Christmas ornaments made through paper quilling are quite common and in-demand. According to paper quiller, Lana J Bates, she earned $900 at a single farmers’ market style Christmas crafts show. That’s quite a good return for a bit of paper, clue and your creativity.
Moreover, the tools used in paper quilling are rather simple and straightforward.
Some of the common tools used in the process are slotted quilling tool, needle, glue, tweezers and pins. Just by using these simple tools, long strips of paper are wound tightly and released, and hereby forming complicated and complex shapers.
Tear-drop shapes are made by pressing one part of the circle. Using just the coils and some tear-drops, endless combinations are possible.
Get creative and create squares, ovals, etc – and the sky's the limit!
Making a peacock feather wreath is a very easy project and will result in a beautifully elegant finished product.
This sort of wreath makes a beautiful adornment for your home at any time of year, and can be enhanced by the addition of ornaments, dried flowers or left in its natural splendor.
This Christmas bird feeder is a fast and easy project for children of all ages - even adults! The feeders are fun, functional, and should easily last the entire winter season.
Every neighborhood has a host of wild birds that would enjoy an extra tid-bit or two during the winter. Kids and adults alike love watching wildlife up close. That’s where we come in!
Christmas bird feeders are fun to make and even more fun to watch! They will teach your youngsters many lessons in a delightfully engaging way, and will help the birds survive the long winter months.
The following is a super simple way for children (and adults) to make a Christmas bird feeder.
In fact, its so easy, and accomplishes so many things, try making several!
You can reduce the stuff going in the recycling bin, teach the kids about all the different wild birds in the neighborhood, have lots of fun making them together, and even more watching them, and help out the birds with a special Christmas gift all their own!
Wassailing and caroling have little in common... I should state here, that even caroling in the 15th century was only somewhat similar to what it was just a few decades ago.
Early in Christmas history, a caroling group consisted of a leader, who did most of the singing, and a troop of dancers, who not only danced through the songs, but also provided the chorus.
Usually, these carolers were hired to perform at a feast or ball, and stayed in one place to entertain the guests.
Wassailing, on the other hand was only slightly closer to what I remember as caroling when I was a kid in the 70's, and has long been a popular tradition in Christmas history.
A group of us would get together (in my case it was my girl-scout troop), and practice for weeks. We'd sing carols and Christmas songs at each house along a selected route one evening before Christmas.
The last stop was always a nursing home, where we would sing our songs to the people who lived there - and instead of asking for drinks and food, we would hand out small baskets we'd made as gifts for them!
Wassailing, however, was carried out by a group of (usually) costumed singers. Nearly always, these were peasant-class people. Their song always asked for food, drink or money from the hosts whose homes they went to. They would continue on well into the night on Christmas eve.
This custom continued throughout Christmas history, but in the mid-nineteenth century, started to become violent...
With the social and class-system upheaval of the 19th and early 20th century, the wassailers would demand food, drinks and money from the wealthy citizens they targeted.
If they were refused, it became more and more common that threats and violence would meet that refusal.
It became dangerous in cities like New York, and sparked major social and political reform as well as a popular re-structuring of the Christmas holiday in the United States.
Today, wassailing has become more of a drinking party, rather than roaming around town demanding food, drink and money. However, in some instances, due to the desire to link back to days-gone-by, modern wassailing can include caroling before sitting down to a feast of mulled wine and cider, and a few Christmas cakes.
I guess through the blurred lines of Christmas history, caroling has become a children's activity - when it is done at all - and wassailing is now for adults only.
Many Blessings
GrannySue
Pope Perpetuus proposed a time for pre-preparation for Christmas in 490. Today, we call this time Advent. He feared the increasing decadence of the celebrations beginning to swirl around the observance of Christ's birth. Advent is a much-celebrated part of Christmas history even now in many parts of the world.
Perpetuus suggested fasting on each Monday, Wednesday and Friday from Martinmas (November 11) until Christmas eve. These preparations were similar to the idea of Lent in the spring. Easter, at the time, was Christianity's biggest Holy Day, and he felt that Christmas should be honored in the same tradition.
Though it was not called such, the idea of Advent quickly spread throughout Europe, but crashed and burned when it came to Rome. There was no way that the newest converts to the religion were going to give up their feasting and other festivities - even if by now they had toned them down measurably.
Another major highlight in our Christmas history came in the 16th century, when Pope Gregory introduced his new calendar, and indirectly with it, the Renaissance Christmas. The reverberations are still felt today - especially when it comes to Christmas celebrations!
The Pope's new calendar was not widely accepted at first. The Eastern Orthodox churches, and the protestant church kept the old (Julian) calendar. Even today, the Greek Orthodox church celebrates Christmas 13 days after the 'official' Christmas - on January 6th (our Epiphany)!
The 17th century saw the first "Christkindlmarkts" (Christ Child Markets) in Germany. These markets centered around the Nativity which was set up in the middle of the market space. Around this, vendors of all sorts of Christmas wares would set up their tents and tables. These markets are still very popular today!
(For those who cannot get to Germany to see the spectacle of these wonderful markets, several major US cities have them, including Chicago!)
Also in 17th Century Christmas history... The Puritans arrived in New England in 1620. With them, they brought their very austere and strict religion. Puritans did not celebrate Christmas.
They saw the celebration as a vile pagan observance. Since a Renaissance Christmas meant dancing, feasting, gift-giving and other festive occupations, the Puritans began in earnest to pass laws against this pagan festival in the New World as well.
When Oliver Cromwell took the British throne in 1645, he had also outlawed Christmas celebrations in Britain. The Puritans vowed to remove the decadence from England.
In 1659 they succeeded in the New World, and in Boston, one found celebrating the Christmas holiday could be fined 5 shillings! Though by 1681 these laws were no longer strictly enforced, it was not until the 1850's that some places actually repealed these laws.
It was not this way everywhere in the Colonies, though... In Jamestown, Virginia, Captain John Smith recorded in his diary that Christmas passed without incident, and was enjoyed by all.
When Cromwell died in 1660, King Charles II was restored to the British throne, and with him came the celebration of Christmas, and the repeal of the ban.
However, popular opinion was not so quick to change. With the growing disparity between the classes, and the continuing popularity of the Puritan religion, the traditions of Renaissance Christmas celebrations would not return to the masses for another two centuries.
Many Blessings
GrannySue
Most Americans were finally beginning to embrace the idea of celebrating the Christmas holiday by 1851. It was, after all, an excuse to lavish gifts and attention on their children, without appearing to spoil them!
It was customary in those days to treat one's children as if they were merely small adults. This was the perfect family holiday!
New York made Victorian Christmas history when it opened its first Christmas tree market in 1851. It did not take long for the idea to spread, and before the end of the decade, several major cities boasted their own Christmas tree markets each year.
By 1860, 14 states had included Christmas in their list of official state holidays.
Macy's flagship store in New York City hosted the first ever in-store Santa in 1862. In 1864, they unveiled the first of their famous annual Christmas window displays. It was also the first in the country. Macy's is noted for being the first to start several traditions in Christmas history.
By the first year of the Civil War (1861), 31 of the then 36 states had declared Christmas to be an official holiday. Though these were sad years, Victorian Christmas history was made several times.
Retailers, of course, helped this along, with the first Christmas wish books, and magazine articles described once again the methods of making many useful and practical Christmas gifts.
People needed a respite from the ravages of a war which tore the fiber out of both sides, and a Victorian Christmas provided not only that respite, but also a perfect occasion for hosting fund-raisers for the armies.
After the Civil War, Victorian Christmas history begins its spiral into becoming a secular holiday, and major economic force in the United States.
Children's books were a vital force in bringing about the commercialization of Christmas. Beginning shortly after Thanksgiving (now an official Federal holiday), the children's books and magazines began to feature stories about Christmas, and pictures of decorated Christmas trees.
They told of presents being delivered by Santa, and even had simple crafts in them so that the children could make their own Christmas presents.
Women's magazines were not only becoming larger, but also more plentiful by the time the war ended. The "Cult of the Home" was being promoted heavily, and Christmas figured prominently into the idea of the Ideal Home.
It was the women's responsibility to make the home as perfect and inviting as possible, and to do this 'right' she must decorate and host lavishly at Christmas time!
Of course, just as today, we can blame the media for the commercialization of Christmas history!
Sunday schools even got into the promotion of Christmas. Of course, their primary focus was the Nativity of Christ and the Biblical stories surrounding his birth.
With even the sanction of the church, Congress had to act. In 1870, Christmas became a federally recognized holiday, and, of course, the politicians and their families were especially happy, because that meant that no longer would Congress be in session at Christmas!
Thomas Nast published his first cartoon of Santa in the year 1863, for Harper's Weekly. In 1881 his famous Santa caricature was published - also in Harper's. In 1890, he published "Thomas Nast's Christmas Drawings for the Human Race".
This German immigrant and political satirist/cartoonist probably did more than any other single human being to develop the Santa we all know and love to this very day!
The last major Victorian Christmas history milestone of the 19th century came, not from New York, but from Chicago. This was the first year that the Marshall Field flagship store on State Street hosted its annual Christmas window displays. Over the years, they became as well-known as those of Macy's, and equally as popular.
Many Blessings
GrannySue
Well, let's see... Christmas history is a very broad subject... So, I guess we'll start with why December 25th was chosen as the date for Christmas in the first place!
In the very beginning, the Christian church didn't even celebrate the birth of Christ. Christmas history as such did not begin until late in the third century after the Crucifixion.
Nothing in writing has been found as to what possible Christmas observances were actually held, if any, during the first three hundred years of the church.
During the late second, and much of the third century after Christ's death, many prominent elders argued about the Nativity, and whether or not it should be observed. They argued about the date of the nativity, the method of observance, and just about everything else.
Some elders favored dates in spring, because of the references in the Bible to the shepherd's being in the fields with their flocks 'by night'. One Latin treatise written in 243 suggested March 21st, the date the church tells us that God created the Sun. April 18 and 19, as well as May 20 were favored dates by some.
Others favored the reputed date that the Three Kings arrived to honor the Christ Child at Bethlehem, which on today's calendar is January 6th - recognized as Epiphany. Christmas history was full of quarrels and dissension for quite some time.
It was in the year 273 that December 25th was finally chosen as the official date of the Nativity of Christ. So, Christmas history records this as the date of the Nativity of Christ.
Origen, an early church leader, feared a celebration, as he felt that Christ should not be honored in the same way as Pharaoh and Herod were.
Thus, December 25th was to be a solemn day of thanksgiving in the very early church. There were no gifts exchanged, no carols, no Christmas trees. It was a day of prayer and introspection. Since these early days of Christmas history, we seem to have lost the religious significance of the holiday.
There was also the problem of bringing the pagan populations to Christianity. They were not likely to give up some of their most favored holidays. Even those who were beginning to look upon the Christian church with more curiosity were not willing to give up the feasting and other celebrations they'd grown up with.
Well, the church back then identified Christ with the celestial sun. Most of the pagan celebrations were held at and around the time of the winter solstice on December 21. The pagan festivities were loud, boisterous, and featured many of the traditions we currently consider as Christmas traditions.
Christmas history would change them, of course, and give them new meanings, but they are still very much a part of our celebrations, even today!
Part of the church leadership felt that by choosing the December 25th date, Christians could honor their savior without worry of persecution or other problem from the pagan populations. At the same time, some of the others who were curious about Christianity might just make the leap of faith required to convert.
December 25, incidentally, was also the reputed date of birth of the god Mithras, whose cult flourished in Rome at the time.
Another Roman celebration, Natalis Solis Invicti (the birth of the invincible sun) was also celebrated on December 25.
And, this was also the middle of the festival of Saturnalia, in which gift-giving and feasting were prominent features, as well as the lighting of candles and the decoration of the home with evergreens.
And finally, after all, December 25th is exactly nine months after the Feast of the Annunciation (March 25th).
Gradually customs became increasingly mingled together... The first truly 'western' Christmas was celebrated in 336, once Constantine had declared Christianity to be the official religion of Rome.
By this time in Christmas history, lit candles and practical small gifts had become more acceptable to some Christians, though by no means were a major part of the occasion of observing Christ's birth.
Many Blessings
GrannySue
