CHRISTMAS: THE HARD FACTS...

 

The colors of Christmas are colors of warmth and nature

 - red and green - 

often accented by or grounded in white, the color of peace and light. 

 Rooms decorated in the colors of Christmas 

resonate with energy and sparkle

 and they all perpetuate the spirit of welcome.

Disclaimer: 

 This fact is only true if you live in a Hallmark movie, 

which it sometimes seems that I do. 

 In reality, 

Christmas is wonderfully warm 

and welcoming in any color.

In Tasha Tudor's imaginary world it was always Christmas. 

 It presented the world as it should be.

  All the creatures of the woods living in a sharing harmonious community

 with everyone taking some responsibility for the common good.

 

 Travel is made possible by lantern bearing owls,

 

gnomes slide through the air on white geese, 

rabbits ski through deep snow, carrying apples for grateful deer 

and birds carol by candlelight. 

 In "Forever Christmas" readers are shown the simple appreciation of 

the spirit of Christmas by celebrating it "as it used to be",

 and as it could be again.

In 1500 elaborate sweet-cake molds were being carved from wood. 

 In Germany the idea was taken a bit further and Black Forest wood carvers 

created cookie molds in the shapes of people and animals 

and embellished them with intricate designs.  

Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, 

cookies made of gingerbread expressed greetings and affection 

and were a part of the celebration of Christmas.  

By the end of the 19th century cookie cutters were becoming mass produced 

and aluminum ware began in 1913.  

The earliest aluminum cutters made have wooden handles of red or green.

Pretty as well as practical, 

table linens known as "layovers" were used in the Victorian times

 to protect furniture from airborne dust.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert first

 popularized the Christmas tree 

as part of the royal family's yuletide

 celebration in the 1840's. 

 Despite many attempts

 by early conservationists, 

including President Teddy Roosevelt,

 who banned Christmas trees

 from the White House in 1901, 

the Christmas tree, over time, 

became the symbol of the season. 

 

Electric tree lights were first used in 1812. 

 They were prohibitively expensive,

 costing the equivalent of $1,000 today, 

so until the early 1900's 

candles provided that Christmas glow.  

A damp sponge,

 tied to the end of a long stick,

 was kept handy to put out any blaze.

 

 Up until about 1900,

 only one in five families 

had a Christmas tree of their own. 

 Instead, an evergreen was set up

 in the schoolhouse, church, or town hall

 for everyone to decorate and enjoy.

Long before the first Christmas Day boughs of holly 

were brought indoors 

to mark December's celebrations 

and holly branches were exchanged 

by friends as tokens of goodwill.  

When the Romans introduced their

 December traditions 

to the Northern peoples,

 they found that beliefs

 in the powers of holly 

were already long established.  

Holly was brought into the dwellings to

 provide winter refuge for friendly spirits. 

 In Ireland, good fairies were 

thought to reside in holly. 

 Throughout the Old World,

 belief in the protective power 

of holly in winter was wide spread.  

The red of its berries 

was thought to ward off evil 

and the holly boughs 

to defend a house against witchcraft.

As for the inhabitants of this Cottage, 

all we need is a good spot

 in front of the fire

 to ward off anything 

that may be lurking in the shadows. 

 I imagine the presence of

 those little Irish fairies 

in the 100 year old holly trees in the garden 

don't hurt either.

I had picked this candle holder up 

at a yard sale quite some time ago. 

 I just saw something on Pinterest 

that sparked my imagination 

so I hauled it out of hibernation 

and here you have it.

  I just think it turned out so cute.

  If you take away

the holly berries and the pine cones 

 it will have found a permanent spot

in the dining room after Christmas.

I hope you enjoyed learning 

some of the hard facts about Christmas. 

 Mostly they came from Country Living's Holidays magazine, 1992 edition.

  Just one of the many Christmas magazines I have hoarded over the years, 

but some were just
 a figment of my imagination, more or less.
  I hope you found something out 
that will make your holidays
 just a little happier.

The quest continues 

for the perfect Christmas...

don't think I am not hard at work

 to make it happen 

and am hoping to show you soon.

Until then...

...and that is one hard fact!

On with the decorating!

...xxoJudy...

Hope everyone had a
 Happy and blessed Thanksgiving.

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IMPORTANT NOTIFICATION: 

The day after I typed up this post, my computer left this world never to be seen again.  I am struggling to master this new machine known as a laptop.  I can only hope to master it before the Christmas holidays are over and done.  I probably will miss another dead line as I can't confer with the professionals until next Thursday.  Wish me luck!