People, Look East, The time is near of the crowning of the year.
Make your house as fair as you are able, trim the hearth and set the table.
Look East and sing today, Love the guest is on the way.
"Make your house AS FAIR AS YOU ARE ABLE"...yes, that is exactly what I do! That is my grapevine wreath that I have now had for almost twenty years. Each year I retrieve it from the garage and then I set to work on it. Some years I try different kinds of greenery, this year it is cedar, Indian Hawthorn (it has the blue berries, Richard says they are quite poisonous!), English ivy, and cleyera. Someone from church gave me those little white flowers, and I think they set it off nicely!
Do you notice the green plant just to the left of our front door? That suffered a bit during Richard's illness, it was big and full all summer long...can anyone guess what it is? Here is a hint: it's very popular at Christmas! Give up? It is a poinsettia! This was from our last Christmas... which we hope we don't spend in the emergency room of the hospital like we did last year! That was my fault. A bit overdoing things, I had hurt my back and then I took medication which I was allergic to and ended up passing out on Christmas Day. Christmas Day! What a bummer! Now, when I pass out, I can't just fall over on the carpet. No, no that's not my style, I have to look for the sharpest object in the room. Oh look over there, a brand new space heater...bam, I fall right on it and I ended up breaking it too! So, I go to the hospital with a bad back and a very sore front! It was as if a giant had pinched me between two giant fingers! Here's the good news, I have a very strong heart! (After undergoing fun tests at the hospital.) Then, we leave the hospital and it is just getting dark and then it starts to snow! On Christmas Day in Georgia! Of course, it is only snowing because I have a bad back (and sore front) and can hardly walk, so naturally there will be slippery snow on the ground! But hey, I lived to tell the tale and it makes for a nice funny story, don't you think? My husband and son were both with me, so I am hoping that THIS year, we will be able to have a more enjoyable holiday!
So, what things do you make for your home at Christmas ? Can you share any Christmas memories that will make me laugh?
I wish all of you a very happy time with family and friends!
Kay, your wreath is very pretty, and I like it that there is not a thousand other ornaments, garlands and knick-knacks around to distract from it :-)
ReplyDeleteWhat a stunt you did for last year's Christmas!! I hope this year you have a better idea for the making of future holiday memories ;-)
You were asking for a Christmas memory that will make you laugh; how about this one:
When I was 1 3/4 years old and my sister almost 3, our parents wanted to attend a Christmas concert on Christmas Eve and asked our grandma to look after us for the 2 hours they would be out.
Grandma loved us and it wasn't the first time she was on her own with us, she was very capable.
The living room was all set for celebrating Christmas Eve (which is the most important part of Christmas for us), with a tree from the floor to nearly the ceiling, hung with glittery ornaments, lametta and real candles (as always).
My sister, at almost 3 years old, was a very good and reasonable little girl who usually understood and did what she was told, so when she was told not to touch the tree, she kept her distance and just admired the beautiful things on it with her eyes.
Not so little Meike. She had to investigate, and for that, she needed to go closer and closer, and use her chubby little hands to pull at one of the pretty shiny things dangling from the tree, until it fell over and right on top of her!
Much crying ensued, but grandma, the capable one, didn't make much fuss; instead, she put the tree upright again, made sure I had not cut my fingers on anything or swallowed lametta, tidied things up and calmed my sister down.
Only that I would not be calmed down, I kept crying until I was quite red in the face.
When my parents returned, they were duly informed by my sister that I had thrown over the tree, and of course grandma told them that I had not been hurt. So why wouldn't I stop crying? Couldn't be shock; I was of generally robust nature, and then I would have cried in a different way...
Finally, my mum had the idea to undress me and open my nappies - and found that so many needles from the (real fir) tree had made it into my clothes and were giving me nasty little pin pricks all over my tender little baby's bum! No wonder I cried!
This story I can't remember myself, but of course it's been told countless times and is a favourite of my mum's to dig out on Christmas Eve with everyone there to have a good laugh at my expense ;-)
I'm always curious with poinsettias... they look like fake flowers for me, it's not that I hate it, it's just that the ones I see are made from plastic and I'm having a hard time which ones were real. :)
ReplyDeleteAs for some funny christmas memories... hmmm... I once caught my parents sneaking out of their bedroom with christmas gifts under their arms when I was little. I never told them that. From that day onward, I realized that Santa is a fraud :( I do love the gifts though! There was even a time when the gift I received was not even gift wrapped! My mom told me that santa was in a hurry... T_T
I love your wreath. It brings back memories of making holly wreaths with my Mom. I loved going in search of red berried holly in the hills of County Cork as a young girl.
ReplyDeleteLibrarian,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your Christmas story!
Oh, poor little baby Meike, with those sharp needles hurting you! You would think that it would have made you less curious in your life, but we know that did not happen! Thank goodness!
So much to read and understand here... I looked up "lametta" since I did not know that word. Is it like a "thin metal rope", like a garland around the tree? Or is lametta more like single strands that you hang on the tree? And I hope that people notice that you had real candles on the tree! Also, you say Christmas eve is the most important part, I hope you will expand on that and perhaps do a post on it for your blog!
And I know that "nappies" are what we call "diapers" in America, but what are they called in German?
You know this would be a story repeated in your family, more so for the fact that there was a good outcome and that we still have Meike, with the curiosity of a cat!
Thanks so much for sharing this story.
Love,
Kay P.S. I also meant to say that I also have a sister not much older than myself who did everything she was told to perfection. But not little Kay! :-)
Denise, Denise, Denise,
ReplyDeleteAm I going to have to come over there and make you love Santa Claus? Can't do that, so you will just have to wait for one of my posts, and I will explain Santa Claus AND poinsettias to you. I might not make you love them but I will do my very best! :-)
Thank you so much for your comment!
Love,
Kay
Irish American Mom,
ReplyDeleteLooking for red berried holly in the hills of County Cork with your mother, what a lovely memory to share! I would dearly love to see Ireland one day. My grandmother was a Fitzgerald, do you think that I might have a wee bit of Irish in me too? :-) Hope you have a happy Christmas! Thank you so much for your comment!
Kay, lametta is the single strands of gold and silver that we put on the tree. Nappies/diapers are Windeln in German (has nothing to do with wind!).
ReplyDeleteI showed a picture of the Christmas tree (with real candles) and wrote about our Christmas Eve last year: http://librarianwithsecrets.blogspot.com/2010/12/reporting-directly-from.html
and there will probably be a post this year, too :-)
Librarian,
ReplyDeleteThanks, for lametta explanation. It is a much prettier word than tinsel! Windeln also sounds better than nappies or diapers, I will have to ask Richard how to say it!
Thanks for telling me about your post from last year! I will read it now!
Love,
Kay (who cannot type without exclamation points apparently!)
Hey Kay,I found your blog!!!! Can't wait to see you at the shower! I'm going to figure out how to make me one! I didn't know all this happened to you on Christmas that was a bummer!Tell Richard & Christopher I said hello!
ReplyDeleteLove,
Gayle
Hey Gayle,
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to it. Yes, Christmas day in the ER is not fun, but I lived to tell the tale.
Take care and quit smoking!
Love,
Kay