Archives for “Holiday Fun”
In 1860, the New York Times declared them “vulgar, degrading and filled with indecent impertinence.” It’s hard to believe that these strong words were used to indict, of all things, Valentine cards. But it’s true; Cupid didn’t always shoot arrows of love. Throughout most of the late nineteenth century and early 1900s, he often shot [...]
I’ve given up on resolutions decades ago, because I never keep them. Although once I became a full time writer, I do have a couple of beginning-of-the-year rituals. First, I check off my goals for the ending year and see how many I met. I then come up with new writing goals, both [...]
Fireworks. Champagne glasses clinking together. A huge crystal ball slowing falling to a countdown. The ways of ringing in the new year are as many and varied as the cultures in our world. And the traditions are sacred to those who repeat them each December 31. In my home, dh and I will fix a [...]
Today is Boxing Day and it’s celebrated in Britain, Canada and other commonwealth nations. Despite its name, it has nothing to do with duking it out with the family or fighting crowds at the mall. Today is the day families give presents to those providing service during the year. It’s also a day to think of the less fortunate. The tradition is [...]
Merry Holidays Friends and Family!! The lights are on, the decorations are up, awaiting Santa’s arrival. We are ready for Christmas! I feel especially blessed his holiday season to have new two additions to our family. Little Everley Frances was born in 2011 and little Kyra Nicole arrived on the scene last June. Their [...]
I have a soft spot for nativity sets, especially vintage ones, and over time I have acquired over two dozen of them. Every year I assure my husband ‘no more’, but every year I break my word and discover another I must have. So for my Christmas card to you, I thought I’d share a [...]
Saint Nicholas b. 270 AD was a Bishop in what is now Turkey. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him, and thus became the model for Santa Claus, whose modern name comes from the Dutch Sinterklaas which was a translation [...]
The cake pans and cookie sheets that is, right onto the baking rack!! It’s a SURRENDER kind of season for me, so with the holidays in mind, I thought I’ll surrender my favorite recipes, if you’ll surrender yours! And even if you don’t, I’ll still share, because I’m that kind of girl. In our [...]
The story I’m working on right now has a thirteen year old girl named Jane, who grew up in a foundling home and foster homes. In one scene, my main character, Ruby is reading Jane Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates. She explains about how she’d read that the author had never been to the [...]
You’ve Made A Difference By Joanna Fuchs As Thanksgiving Day approaches, Our blessings we recall; The things we are most thankful for, We recollect them all. You are really special, In all you say and do. You’ve made a difference in our lives; We’re thankful now for you.
We all know about the Old West cattle drives, but did you ever hear of a turkey drive? If you raised turkeys during the early nineteenth century and wanted to get them to market in time for Thanksgiving or Christmas, there was only one way to do it; you had to walk them. Before refrigerator [...]
Prompted by a good harvest, the first Thanksgiving in the New World was celebrated by the Pilgrims in 1621. That feast was attended by 53 Pilgrims and 90 Native Americans. The New England colonists were accustomed to regularly celebrating thanksgiving days of prayer thanking God for blessings. 1614, Squanto, (his true name was Tisquantum) a Patuxet [...]
November is NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month. The challenge is to write a novel – or 50,000 words – in a one month span. Writing 50k in that amount of time means you don’t have the luxury of going over everything you’ve written over and over again. You have to keep moving forward. The [...]
My BFF Robyn is a MOPS mom and has a blog Coolest Mommy’s Coolest Thoughts with all kinds of tips on child raising and money saving techniques. She shared this timely topic with us today: It’s summer and this means many of you will be traveling with small children. Through the years, we’ve found a [...]
Spring is definitely in the air and on the ground with green grasses coming back to life and vibrant flowers bursting through. The orchards around my place are gorgeous with miles of trees in full bloom with pink and white blossoms. The colors of spring brings Easter eggs to mind, which are a symbol of new [...]
Harkening back to 18th century Pennsylvania, and rooted in ancient lore, Groundhog Day is traditionally celebrated on February 2nd. Perhaps the most famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil of Gobbler’s Knob, was immortalized in the 1993 movie Groundhog Day featuring Bill Murray. Legend says if the groundhog sees his shadow, we’ll have six more weeks of winter. [...]
I had so much fun with my last blog about Valentine’s customs and traditions that I thought it’d be enjoyable to look at some of the interesting facts surrounding the holiday. The first one I found made me feel so much better about the times I’ve bought the cute little candy “conversation hearts” on sale [...]
Anyone else still reeling at the realization that another year has gone by? Chinese New Year doesn’t begin until January 23rd, and according to the Zodiac calender, 2012 is the Year of the Dragon, a powerful symbol signifying success and happiness. I like the sound of that. I’ll take that over some of the [...]
I love New Year’s Eve. When I was younger, I was pretty much a wallflower who sat home year after year. I would watch the glass ball going down in Times Square and wish I was there. As an adult I’ve tried to make up for all those lost New Year’s Eves and rarely miss [...]
It is to Scottish songwriter, Robert Burns, that the world owes its debt for the beautiful poem of Auld Lang Syne. Interestingly, it’s become almost an anthem that is recognized and sung all around the world . As the website at www.scotland.org says: “Auld Lang Syne is one of Scotland’s gifts to the world, recalling the love [...]
Elvis Presley’s famous holiday song, Blue Christmas dates back to 1957 when Russ Morgan, Hugo Winterhalter and Ernest Tubb also had hits with the song. Elvis recorded his slightly different “bluesy” pardon the pun, version at Radio Recorders in September 1957 with the Jordonaires singing back-up. The song was a part of Elvis’s Christmas album [...]
Christmas carols have to be my favorite form of holiday cheer. My husband and I both sang in choir during college as well as in an adult classical chorus a few years ago. My children love to sing too, and one of our friends from church jokingly calls us the family Von Trapp. As soon [...]
The Bible doesn’t mention the animals that were in the manger on that first Christmas Eve. But surely they were there, silent witnesses to the miracle. What would they say if they could talk? “The Friendly Beasts” is a song about the gifts the animals gave to the baby Jesus. The melody comes from a [...]
Hello, Winnie here. I love Christmas carols. And not just at Christmas time – all year round. I raised my children to love them as well. When they were little, one of our nightly rituals was for me to go to each of their rooms at bedtime and sing them a song. Among the usual [...]
