The Real Meaning of The Twelve Days of Christmas.

When it was a crime to be Catholic and to practice one's faith in Ireland and England "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was written as a "catechism song" to help the young learn their faith. It was a memory aid-when being caught with anything in writing about the faith could get you imprisoned, even hung.  The gifts hide the teachings of the faith. The "true love" mentioned in the song refers to God himself. The "me" who receives the presents refers to every baptized person.

A Partridge in a pear tree = Jesus Christ, the son of God.

Two turtle doves = The Old and New Testaments

Three french hens = Faith, Hope and Charity, the theological virtues.

Four calling birds = The four Gospels and/or the four Evangelists.

Five golden rings = The first five books of the Old Testament

Six geese a-laying = Six days of creation.

Seven swans a swimming = The seven Sacraments.

Eight maids a-milking = The eight Beatitudes.

Nine ladies dancing = The nine classifications of angels).

Ten lords a-leaping = The Ten Commandments.

Eleven pipers piping = The eleven faithful apostles.

Twelve drummers drumming = The twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed.

christmas decoration from nordstrom

just under $400

Christmas in Scotland

 

The Aurora Borealis over an abandoned croft in Scotland on Christmas eve. 

for all you believers

Global Warming Physics Question - Please enlighten me

When I hear that melting ice is causing a rise in sea level, I wonder: why does the sea level rise at all?  I put an ice cube in a glass of water and when it melts the level of the water shows No Change.  If that's the case then wouldn't Artic ice (which is floating on the  Ocean) melting have no effect on sea level?  Yes, melting of glaciers would add new water and have some effect, and some glaciers seem to be melting.  However Antarctica ice has increased significantly and I would think offsets some of the glacier runoff.
Where in my thinking is the flaw?  Seriously, I'm not savvy enough to know and I want someone with knowledge to show me where I go off the road.

Try this!
Put ice in a glass of water. Mark the level of the water with the ice in it.  Let it melt and see if the water level has changed. It won't change at all.

statue in snow

"I've searched all the parks in all the cities and found no statues of committees."    Gilbert K. Chesterton 

Christmas In America.

Babes in toyland

A Laurel and Hardy musical film released on March 10, 1934 (my mother was 13 yrs old). The pair of toy makers build 100 wooden soldiers at six feet tall, instead of 600 soldiers at one foot tall.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDdhg8CyeUo

jpr: available on netflix

stained glass holly

http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/daydreaming/images/27778907/title/merry-christmas-princess-3-fanart

silent night

        I believe it's real and do not care if it is not!!!!

Bing Crosby

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aShUFAG_WgM

  jpr: the Irishman (ancestors from Cork) is resurrected every Christmass...pretty nice legacy! His mother Catherine Harrigan  was a devout catholic.

What the f-----.

Stefonknee (pronounced ‘Stephanie’) Wolschtt, 46, had been married for 23 years when she realized she was transgender.  A Canadian transgender father of 7 left a wife and seven children to begin a new life as a six-year-old girl in the UK.  Is it just me or has the world gone to the absolute absurd?  

most expensive Christmas ornament & tree

some ideas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmcAh1NEnqY


Mark Hussey of Hallmark jewelers — a shop and studio in Titchfield Village, Hampshire, UK — decided to make the world's most expensive Christmas ornament. The result: An 18-carat white gold bauble encrusted in 500 diamonds. Two rings made from 188 rubies orbit the gaudy globe. The piece took 130 hours to produce, costs just over $130K 

Séraphine Louis

Known as "Séraphine de Senlis"  (1864–1942), was a French painter inspired by her religious faith and by stained-glass church windows and other religious art. She was employed as a housekeeper for middle-class families in the town of Senlis.

Much of her work was lost during WWII but her surviving work is valued at several hundreds of thousands of USD.
samples http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP5mhTE7Bgg

snow art

http://vimeo.com/72407361

Christmass (LED) Candles

Totally Safe!!!!

Edna St. Vincent Millay and Christmas

As we approach Christmas, a difficult time for us, I am again drawn to read The Ballad of the Harp Weaver by Pulitzer Prize winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay.   My parish priest read it ever Xmas as his sermon until his death a few years ago.  Nothing brings me closer to the memory of my mother and my childhood. Too long for presentation here, I encourage each of you to read it at least once.  The site below is the work read by Johnny Cash.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eih8Cj-ZsE as read by Johnny Cash

snow angel

Mom is talented!

Night Snow ~~ Bai Juyi

I was surprised my quilt and pillow were cold,
I see that now the window’s bright again.
Deep in the night, I know the snow is thick,
I sometimes hear the sound as bamboo snaps.

Dr. NakaMats

aka Yoshiro Nakamatsu born June 26, 1928 is a Japanese inventor who has become a celebrity for his inventions (over 4000 patents). He anticipates living until 2072.

Jpr: the good dr has revealed his diagnosis with terminal cancer and expects to die before the end of 2015. Let us hope he wins his battle.

ice castles

Towering sculpture at the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival

Poinsettia Facts

Poinsettias are native to Mexico.

The Aztecs called the poinsettia Cuetlaxochitl. They made a reddish purple dye from the bracts.

Chile and Peru called the poinsettia the "Crown of the Andes."

In nature, poinsettias are perennial flowering shrubs that can grow to ten feet tall.

The showy colored parts of poinsettias that most people think are the flowers are actually colored bracts (modified leaves).

The flowers or cyathia of the poinsettia are in the center of the colorful bracts.

Poinsettias are not poisonous.

My favorite all-time documentary (so far) - Mule Deer and the Scientist

(click caption to link)

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/touching-the-wild-touching-the-wild/8679/

A poem to warm the soul

In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.

.....


by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894), 1872;
appeared posthumously in
The Poetical Works of Christina Georgina Rossetti, Poem #426, 1904.

winter rose

Winter Roses
Author: John Greenleaf Whittier 


My garden roses long ago
Have perished from the leaf-strewn walks;
Their pale, fair sisters smile no more
Upon the sweet-brier stalks.
.................

decorating with christmas cards

jpr: My mother received nearly a hundred cards each Christmass and decorated with them in every way imaginable.

Quote of the day.

Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.

Mark Twain

Where is my Xmas?

An Ohio couple is defying orders to remove a zombie-themed nativity scene from their front garden. For a second year in a row, Jasen and Amanda Dixon constructed the scene, which features a spoof version of Silent Night including a demonic baby Jesus and undead wise men. The local council have said the display violates zoning laws, and local religious groups have denounced it.  Could we just get some carols, a little snow, Bing Crosby, and a decent Mass?

christmass decoration from italy

window decorations for christmass

reusable ideas!

Happy Birthday Mikey!

  Advertisement paid for by ASPE,the American Society  of Philosophical Experimentalists.


jpr: one more earth cycle about the sun for u!  Congrulations!

snow

It's snowing, it's snowing
All over the place
When I look up
It falls in my face.

by ?????

Gingerbread Man Poem

Once there was a gingerbread man,
Baking in a gingerbread pan.
Raisin eyes and a cherry nose,
Trimmed right down to his fingers and toes.
A gingerbread man in a gingerbread pan!

jpr. Just for the adults to have some fun on the holidays.

Figgy pudding

Figgy pudding is a pudding resembling a paler coloured Christmas pudding containing figs. The pudding may be baked, steamed in the oven, boiled or fried. Figgy pudding dates back to 16th century England.

jor : Reminders of me ma's christmass plumb pudding.

Glory....Ben Navis

An object in front of the sun shrouded by clouds will show a halo effect called a Glory.  It is rainbow like circular  spectra of light. The phenomenon was first observed on the mount Ben Navis in the highlands of Scotland.

Christmass in Malaysia

Selamat Hari Natal!

Mistletoe

Celtic Druids used the stuff a lot. It got into Christian tradition but the kissing rite continued.

Some holiday with Rossetti

st pauls choir school cambridge, mass

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bQau6UJ8amQ

The Shepherds had an Angel,
The Wise Men had a star,
But what have I, a little child,
To guide me home from far,
Where glad stars sing together
And singing angels are? –

Alert for holidays

These days are not for children and toys only...bring back some cheer for adults!

What's in ur crab apple tree

jpr: have seen him but been signs near abouts my biggest crab apple tree

Ice sculptures

Make the best of mother nature Y'all

Spectating

Jpr: ppears sometimes the fun is lost in difficulty, misery, and work

Good black Friday morning

jpr: Is it me or is something gone wrong here!

Tasteless Xmas Decorations Part 1

I love tasteless Christmas decorations.  Here find Santa's underpants courtesy of Tiverton England town council.  Absurd.

The Last Of The Line

Our Sister Helen Elizabeth celebrates her 93rd birthday with her great grand nephew Ronan.

RIP

THANKS  UNCLE JAY ------ RIP

Dogs and turkey

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp6MQ5QhGMo

Please Mr President, LEAD.

I don’t want war, the lose of Americans in some God forsaken desert.  But President Obama’s consistent position on ISIS reminds me of President Clinton’s position on Rwanda.  Clinton has publicly expressed his regrets for not taking action in Rwanda and the horrible deaths and suffering of millions of innocent people.  ISIS has tortured, murdered, enslaved 100,000’s of innocents in the most horrible of ways.  They have now brought the terror to the civilized world.  Evidence clearly proves their intention and ability to expand such actions through Europe while the FBI announces they have active ISIS investigations in every state in the country.  I voted for Obama twice, not because of his promises but purely because his election made an important statement on race. It’s time for him to step up as the de facto leader of the free world. The cost of his failure to do so will be the incredible suffering of huge numbers of more innocents, including Americans..

Those Belgians

 In response to a request from the Belgian police asking the population 'not to tweet' any information about police activities during the current crises, 1000's of people began posting 'cat tweets.'  Hysterical.