Getting Closer & Closer

It's only 9 days until Christmas, are you ready? I have been working on finishing up my shopping & getting the gifts wrapped. It seems the older you get the faster time flys.


THE LEGEND OF THE CHRISTMAS CANDLE
The legend of the Pennsylvania dutch about the Christmas candle tells that it will be instrumental in insuring good health, good luck & happiness through the coming year if burnt on Christmas Day. Once you light the candle it must burn without being extinguished.
When a Pennsylvana Dutch family would burn a candle it was usually given to them by a family member or friend.
The following verse was included with the candle when given to someone:
Always burn a candle on Christmas Day. When it is given with love, it will burn bright & clear, and the holiday light shed by the candle foretells happiness lasting all through the year.

So this Christmas start a tradition and give everyone in your family a candle with the verse.

Until next time

Useful Information For You...

Now that Thanksgiving is over it's time to start getting the Christmas decorations out and get busy. I am ahead of where I was last year at this time, I am done decorating and only have a couple of gifts to buy so I have a good headstart at being finished. Then I can sit back and relax and enjoy the rest of the holiday season.

Here are a couple of websites for you to check out:

Check updates from Santa and track him from the North Pole. A post is made everyday in December until December 23rd then it switches to updating every fifteen (15) minutes. Go check it out and let your children track Santa...
http://santaupdate.com/

There are "Dear Santa" websites online that may be dangerous for you & your family. However, there is a resource as a means for the safety of you & your children to warn of the danger signs and you can check it out here: http://santastandards.com/



THE CHRISTMAS SPIDER LEGEND
There are alot of different legends out there about "The Christmas Spider". I will post one of them here:
On Christmas Eve a long time ago in Germany, a mother was busy cleaning the house for the most important day of the year...Christmas Day. After she was done cleaning there was not a speck of dust to be found and not even the spider webs. The spiders had gone to the attic out of the way.
The tree was decorated and the spiders could not see all decorations nor be present for the Christ Childs' visit. Then the oldest & wisest spider had an idea to wait until the family had gone to bed then they could get a closer look.
When the house was dark the spiders came out of their hiding places. When they came near the tree they were amazed at the wonder of all the beautiful decorations. They crept all over the tree and its decorations all night long and spun their webs.
In the morning when the Christ Child came to bless the house, he was amazed at the work that Gods' creatures had done, but he knew the mother would be upset when she saw what the spiders had done.
With love in his heart he gently reached out and touched the spider webs and they sparkled with shimmering gold & silver.
According to the legend people had started to place gold & silver tinsel on their trees to represent the glistening of the webs, some people actually made a "Christmas Spider" and placed on their trees.

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Now you can make your own Christmas spider. Or you can go to the craft store where they sell the kits with all the supplies around Christmas time, but if you want to try your hand at making your own spider here is a supply list and directions to get you started.

Materials:
12mm faceted crystal beads
10mm faceted crystal beads
32mm small crystal bugle beads
26 gauge wire
metallic thread
hot glue glue & glue sticks
copy of "The Christmas Spider" legend

Instructions:
Hot glue the 12mm and a 10mm faceted crystal bead together hole to hole.
Cute 4 wires approximately 3-4 inches long and string each wire with 8 small crystal bugle beads.
Leave about a 1/2 inch gap between the first 4 beads and the last 4 beads, bend the ends of the wire.
Twist the 4 wires together at the 1/2 inch gap forming 8 legs.
Hot glue the twisted section of the legs to the underside of the crystal beads right where the 2 crystal beads join together.
Take approximately 10 inches of silver metallic thread and tie it around the middle of the spider, and tie the ends together to make a loop for hanging.
Bend legs to represent a spider.
Attach a copy of the legend to go along with your spider.


Until next time.......

I'm Back

Well, I'm finally back to blogging, things have been so busy here I have not had time to blog so hopefully things have settled down enough to get some computer time in.

It is only 26 days until Christmas. I hope you have started your shopping, I have done a little. But, I have my home decorated and enjoy the sights & sounds.

I will start posting some things about Christmas & share some recipes, etc with all of you. So keep coming back & checking out what's new.

Until next time
Ann

Where is Spring?

I thought Spring was going to arrive early to year. Last week 60 degrees and this week ugly weather again (sleet, rain and tonight snow). I want to get outside in the sunshine and look what my garden needs for this year to look beautiful again. I want the colors and smell of spring.

I am working on projects for a Spring Show my friend and I put on each year. This is one of four shows we do a year. We invite some of our friends to put their things they make in our show as well. Everything in this show must be handmade and people around here really appreciate that since nowdays when you go to craft shows there seems to be alot of imported items. People would rather spend money for handmade which is better made and will last longer than anything imported.

CHRISTMAS
I am searching for some vintage Christmas items to add to my collection.

Fact about Christmas........The man who set December 25 as the date of Christ's birth was Pope Julius. The time he set it: 340 A.D.

Until next time

The snow storm that hit the east coast missed us and we got only three inches (if that) of snow. So we are lucky!!!!

I have some vintage ornaments that I put on my tree each year and I wanted to share a few of them with you...especially my favorites because they are so unique. The whole tree is decorated with vintage ornaments and this is just a few of them. Enjoy







Until next time........

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!!

Christmas is over and a New Year has begun. Things around here has been so hectic during the holiday season with activities at the schools and family events. It was hard to find the time to post to my blogs, but I am going to make an effort every week to post to my blogs. So come back each week and check out what I have to write.

Here's are a few facts I have found in an old, old magazine:

In 1644, the observance of Christmas in England was forbidden by an act of Parliament. Under Oliver Crowmwell's regime.

The Pennsylvania Dutch name for Santa Claus is----Pelznickel

Until next posting.....take care

A Little Christmas Stuff

I have done some research and have come up with the meaning of the "12 Days of Christmas".

Here they are:

1.Partridge in a pear tree = Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

2 Turtle Doves = The Old and New Testaments

3 French Hens = Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues

4 Calling Birds = the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists

5 Golden Rings = The first Five Books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch

6 Geese A-laying = the six days of creation

7 Swans A-swimming = the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments

8 Maids A-milking = the eight beatitudes

9 Ladies Dancing = the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit

10 Lords A-leaping = the ten commandments

11 Pipers Piping = the eleven faithful apostles

12 Drummers Drumming = the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed



Come back again and I will share some more Christmas things, ideas, etc with you. Ann