Posts

**"**The Nutcracker Suite opened in St. Petersburg on December 17, 1892. It is the tale of a girl named Clara who is given a nutcracker doll for Christmas by her godfather, Drosselmaier. That night she falls asleep and is disturbed by an attack of mice led by the Mouse King, who wishes to take her away to his kingdom. She is rescued by soldiers and the Nutcracker who, as a prince, takes her to his land, a country full of sugarplums and waltzing flowers. She awakens the next morning with only the nutcracker doll and memories of her Christmas adventure." (The World Encyclopedia of Christmas) ...

Christmas Cat\ “Who would believe such pleasure from a wee ball o’ fur?” - Irish Saying It was fun making my pet, Cali, look beautiful for Christmas. She obliged for just a short while and I was able to take these images. With the lovely colors of her coat of hair and the red ribbon, she makes a striking picture. Cali is a calico cat. We adopted her four years ago from a family who couldn’t take care of her any longer. At that time she was already four years old. Cali loves Christmas. She loves tissue paper, gift wrap, and bags, and has lots of fun when we are opening the presents Christmas Day. ...

Christmas Evergreens\ The preparations for Christmas begin long before Christmas and never seem to stop. One of my favorite activities a few weeks before Christmas is to stop by at one of the flower shops selling fresh branches and buy a bunch to make my own indoor creations. I like the look and smell of dogwood, spruce, pine, and cedar. All the images in this collage are creations of mine that bring the joy of the holiday season inside my heart and my home. ...

Christmas Angels\ “When the song of the angel is stilled/When the star in the sky is gone/When the kings and princes are home/When the shepherds are back with their flock/The work of Christmas begins:/To find the lost/To heal the broken/To feed the hungry/To release the prisoner/To rebuild the nations/To bring peace among brothers and sisters/To make music in the heart.” - Howard Thurman Angels abound everywhere at Christmas - in manger scenes, on Christmas trees, in store windows, and even as cookies. It was the angel Gabriel who foretold the birth of Jesus to Mary. Angels appeared too to shepherds who were tending their flock - to announce the birth of Jesus. My earliest memory of angels comes from the pageants at church where the story of the birth of Jesus was acted out by the children. They were light on their feet and had beautiful wings. In the Greek language, the word angel means messenger. ...

More than any other symbol of Christmas, the poinsettia brings a magical feeling to me and tells me that it’s Christmas time. All the images in this collage were taken in a Loblaws supermarket with a beautiful selection of poinsettias of various colours. I added the greenery image with the Christmas ornament for contrast within the collage. This really is my favourite Christmas shrub. While red is my favourite colour, I like to put a few of the other colours in with it as well when I’m decorating at Christmas time. The poinsettia takes its name from Joel Roberts Poinsett who was the first U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. I read that he first saw this plant in Taxco and was fascinated by its beauty. This was an interesting piece of information since I have visited Taxco myself. As they say, it’s a small world. ...

 Hand-made Christmas cards\ Garrison Keillor - A lovely thing about Christmas is that it’s compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together. That time of year for merriment, festivity, and joy is upon us. Christmas Day is just around the corner. As the day draws closer and closer, many of us look forward to receiving our Holiday Greetings. We put them where we can see them and they are tangible reminders of our friends and family who have taken the time to remember us and share their good wishes for our happiness, health, and wellness at Christmas, and in the New Year. ...

\ One thing in life calls for another; there is a fitness in events and places. The sight of a pleasant arbour puts it in our minds to sit there. One place suggests work, another idleness, a third early rising and long rambles in the dew. - Robert Louis Stevenson At the entrance to our garden, there is a rose arbour. It is particularly beautiful in the summertime when a variety of roses are out and we can enjoy walking under this canopy of roses to get to our door. When we sit on our front porch, we are also graced by this view. ...

Diwali is being celebrated all over the world where people of East Indian origin live. It is a Hindu and Sikh Festival. “The name “Diwali” or “Divali” is a contraction of “Deepavali” Sanskrit: दीपावली Dīpāvalī), which translates into “row of lamps”. Diwali involves the lighting of small clay lamps (dīpa in Sanskrit: दीप) filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil. These lamps are kept on during the night and one’s house is cleaned, both done in order to make the goddess Lakshmi feel welcome. Firecrackers are burst because it is believed that it drives away evil spirits. During Diwali, all the celebrants wear new clothes and share sweets and snacks with family members and friends.” ...

 \ In anything fit to be called by the name of reading, the process itself should be absorbing and voluptuous; we should gloat over a book, be rapt clean out of ourselves, and rise from the perusal, our mind filled with the busiest, kaleidoscopic dance of images, incapable of sleep or of continuous thought. The words, if the book be eloquent, should run thenceforward in our ears like the noise of breakers, and the story, if it be a story, repeat itself in a thousand coloured pictures. - Robert Louis Stevenson ...

\ As I did the last post and was thinking of this Autumn/Fall season, I remembered a beautiful poem my Dad wrote called “Autumn Leaves.” He was reflecting on when it is that the leaves are really showing their true colours and whether each change is not really part of the whole process in Nature. My Dad did most of his writing in the Winter of his life. When he was alive, I didn’t appreciate his writing as I do now. I will share this beautiful poem with you. ...