Day 22
Running some errands in town before it’s back to editing our last video for this year’s Advent Calendar, coming out on the 25th.
You can feel the excitement in town, everyone is rushing to get their last presents sorted and Christmas dinners prepared – the streets are BUSY!
Part of us can’t wait until it’s all over and this hectic insanity makes room for the calm energy that defines the days between Christmas and New Year’s. And the other part of us loves it all! There is something amusing about people-watching at this time of the year. Aren’t we all crazy creatures?
Anyway, we hope you’re having a great day today. Make sure to appreciate the little moments and stop and smell the … Poinsettias (do they even smell?!)
M&L xx
Looking back, but moving forward!!
It goes like it goes like it goes. Where it’s going nobody knows. You find strength you didn’t think you had but remember to make time to recover when things begin to calm down. Balance keeps you from falling.
I wonder where those stairs go? I’m trying to avoid the Christmas congestion, but had to get out and just try to go with the flow, while staying Groovy. Looking forward to tomorrow. Family fun.
I hope you have fun running your errands! Merry Christmas!!
Today is the shortest day of the year (in the northern hemisphere). It lasts for 7 hours 49 minutes and 41 seconds in Britain, which is 8 hours, 49 minutes shorter than the June Solstice. As such, Sunday December 22 is the longest night of the year with the sun not rising until 08:05 GMT on Monday morning.
On the arrival of the Winter Solstice, Yule celebration is observed.
While the winter solstice is observed around the world, Yule was celebrated primarily by the Germanic cultures of northern and western Europe. The midpoint of winter was a time to celebrate the rebirth of the sun and the light it would bring to the earth.
Yule predates the Christmas holiday by thousands of years.
Many Christmas Traditions Borrowed From Yule
Many of the traditions we use at Christmastime today are borrowed from Yule traditions of old. Whether they’re from myths, feasts, folklore, ancient beliefs, oral stories told, or festivals, they’ve been woven into the fabric of our modern-day customs.
Vikings would decorate evergreen trees with gifts such as food, carvings, and food for the tree spirits to encourage them to return in the spring.
Mistletoe combined with a mother’s tears resurrected her son, the God of Light and Goodness, in a Viking myth. The Celts believe Mistletoe possessed healing powers as well and would ward off evil spirits.
In Norse tradition, Old Man Winter visited homes to join the festivities. The Viking god, Odin was described as a wanderer with a long white beard and is considered the first Father Christmas.
Viking children would leave their shoes out by the hearth on the eve of the winter solstice with sugar and hay for Odin’s eight-legged horse, Sleipnir.
Children would traipse from house to house with gifts of apples and oranges spiked with cloves and resting in baskets lined with evergreen boughs.
The Yule log was a whole tree meant to be burned for 12 days in the hearth. The Celts believed the sun stood still during the winter solstice. They thought by keeping the Yule log burning for these 12 days encouraged the sun to move, making the days longer. The largest end would be fed into the hearth, wine poured over it, and it would be lit with the remains of the previous year’s Yule log. Everyone would take turns feeding the length of timber into the fire as it burned. Letting it burn out would bring bad luck.
Very interesting history of the winter solstice there Angelo. Thank you for sharing. Many customs, myths and religions have been combined into the one festive season in the West. “Vikings would decorate evergreen trees with gifts such as food, carvings, and food for the tree spirits to encourage them to return in the spring” – I think we should introduce this custom to my country following our devastating bush fires that have ravaged our country for the past month and don’t look like ending at the moment.
Well Howard, I sympathize with your problems, truly. Even if I can barely realizing it when he saw the images on TV. Is it global warming or a seasonal anomaly? Who knows? Thinking of you, that’s why I said “in the northern hemisphere” … You know, it’s always cold here and it’s raining, snowing …
It’s global warming Angelo. Our seasons have been changing for years and the country is becoming dryer. My sister had to evacuate her home in the Blue Mountains last week as the fires got closer. She said the trees around her property are drier than ever and because of the oil in the eucalyptus leaves they explode when they catch fire and easily spread the fire. I’m in Sydney at the moment where we haven’t seen the sky for days because of the smoke.
Saw the news tonight and the fire situation and the prolonged drought in Australia is quite concerning. Proud to hear Canada sent many firefighters to help as well as other countries. Fires are becoming a big problem in Western Canada lately too. It use to be in the summer people can explore the vast western Canadian wilderness and camp, but nowadays they have to close down the big parks because of the fires. 2 years ago I tried to plan a summer trip to Northern BC, and it became a challenge finding a route north without running into a big fire at every corner! Stay safe!
Well the sun shows itself today here on the shortest day of the year,, but I will take it. Will do my 5K walk. Thanks for the history lesson about winter solstice and Yuletide customs. It gives a nice festive feel.
Interesting Angelo…. Thankyou for sharing… It’s awesome to learn new things daily…
Thank you for sharing this, very interesting
Poinsettia do faintly give of a smell, but its unlike any other smell. Very hard to describe.
I have so much left to do and only one more day to do it in.
Ladies I will see Mark (Spike) today, a bit later.
Have you ever had S’mores?
1) Graham Cracker broke to make 2 halves
1) Roasted Marshmallow
1) piece of a Hershey Bar (big enough to cover Graham Cracker)
Place Hershey Bar on Graham Cracker, then place roasted marshmallow on Hershey Bar, put other half of Graham Cracker on top, and Enjoy.
Rich and Chocolaty mess. Yum Yum.
The reason they call it S’more?
Eat one and you will want S’more of them.
OMG, S’mores… Not had those in eons… Lol… Not sure if I can eat Graham wafers with my food allergies… With my luck, probably not… But I’ll gladly eat Aero/KitKat bars that are made in Canada
(The Choco bars in USA I can’t eat because they don’t carry Nutfree/Peanut free symbol on them and not made in a dedicated nut/peanut free facility like in Canada) ”
andMarshmallows by themselves lol… I saw a recipe bfor making homemade marshies… If I can find link to it again, will share
I’ve posted /shared 2 different links of same homemade marshmallow recipe by Mairlyn Smith over on DAY 4 here on Advent Calendar….. I may attempt to make these in my future, if I ever find/buy my dream Purple Stand Mixer ?
Jacki,, your recipe reminds me of Marshmrllow Rice Crispy Squares. Haven’t had one of those in eons. I hope you get that dream Puple Stsnd Mixer! Sound like your kitchen is the place to be around the holidays.
Jung… I can’t tolerate the normal rice krispue cereal anymore so I make the squares with the GF brown Rice Krispies cereal instead?
Those S’Mores sound wonderfully yummy Rick, and I bet after one, I’ll want S’More! ?
We’ve never had them! Again, that’s one of those American things we only know about from movies and pop culture. We’ve got a lot of catching up to do next time we make the trip across the pond 😉
We hope you and Mark had a nice day, please tell him we say hi!
Yes a part of me can,t wait till it’s all over but then I do like Christmas. Even though now a days it’s more comer trial
We’ve about got the shopping part done. Soon the baking starts and final decorations for the family get together. Since there aren’t that many little ones around for our Christmas these day with my grandkids 3,000 miles away it’s not so gift oriented as much as a “food” holiday. Thought I saw Mona and her twin sister at Wal-Mart yesterday on the $10 and under gift kiosk posters. Made me do a double take I have to admit. I do miss when my kids were young and there was more energy in the air during the festivities, and in the adults who were much younger then.
Still have a few more last minute gifts to get my hands on, then gift bag them all, start thinking about Xmas cookies recipes ideas to compliment with my fudge that I’ll be bringing with me on both Xmas/Boxing Day as I’ll be with family on both those days… And oddly enough… Both families live out in the rural countryside… One is a hobby farm of sorts (does work a normal job during week but does farm rest of time) while my oldest brother and his family enjoy living in a small village out in countryside about an hour away from me one direction while my cousin’s farm the opposite direction but about same driving distance…. I make fudge night before& sets in fridge, next morning, take out, cut up, put in containers, ready to go (well I’ll make my oldest brother’s batch Xmas night after coming home from my cousin’s farm… I’ll make my cousin’s batch on Xmas Eve? Luv the photo.. Compact Backpack Knapsack LampiBampi travels…. ?
Busy days ahead! Good luck with the fudge, and we hope you got all your presents sorted today like you wanted to.
There’s something special about celebrating Christmas in the countryside, away from all the noise of the city. We’ve always loved our little Austrian village during the Christmastime. It gets even quieter than usual – no commercial shops and billboards screaming about last minute Christmas deals and holidays sales.
Even more special if there’s some snow around out in countryside… Not pleasant if it’s a blizzard… The Great Ice Storm of 1998, affected both Canada and parts of USA…. My cousin, whose place I’m going out into countryside for Xmas, had to rely on generator power for almost a month that year, and not sure but I think he lost a few cows, or was it in Summertime due to thunderstorm he list some cows… (they all went for shelter under tree, the tree that the lightening hit which the electrical currents went through tree trunk roots, thus killing the cows)… Back to Ice Storm1998… My cousin then shared his generator amongst his neighbours for their farms….
With Christmas often it is the journey of preparation of getting things ready, getting together with people before Christmas, traveling etc that can be just as memorable as the destination which is Christmas morn or Christmas eve. Some streets in the city here have beautiful white Christmas lights lining all the street lamps like snow covered pine trees, and from a distance looks like a Winter Wonderland! There are many big beautifully decorated Christmas trees downtown filling the squares and other popular areas. Have the eggnog, nuts, chips, cookies, and other treats all ready for next week. Wishing you both a great warm, fun weekend leading up to Christmas.
Well I’m relaxing now that our weather has improved and the temperature come down to the low 20s Celsius instead of the low 40s of yesterday. If you’re on your way to get a Christmas present for LampiBampi, I hope you pop him/her inside your bag. Really looking forward to your final Duo Session release for the Advent Calendar. Any hints? ?❤️
Have a nice Day Mona & Lisa! Can’t wait to see the video.