Christmas Nostalgia...Bubble Lights

Christmas in this family is all about traditions and memories ... telling and listening to stories. It's impossible to decorate the Christmas tree, for instance, without telling a story about each and every ornament that's being hung. It's a long procedure.

When I was a child, I remember making the present delivery runs just before Christmas. My mom would have wrapped all the gifts for the cousins and we traveled what seemed a long, long distance (20-30 miles maybe) to deliver them to my cousins in Clinton and Oxford and Dudley … all little Massachusetts towns … where members of the extensive Lacoste family resided. We'd just show up … no reservations required. The adults would have coffee and chat. The kids stayed out of the adults' purview and sneaked peeks at gifts under the tree.

My Aunt Jeannette's house was always a favorite stop. My seven cousins always seemed to have so much more fun than we did. After all, they had bubble lights on their tree and when we arrived, Uncle Henry would let us turn them on! We would all lie on the floor with our heads underneath their tree, looking up and watching the bubbles ... totally mesmerized … and mentally preparing ourselves, I guess, for the lava lamps that were to come in the next decade.

After listening to my sister recount the bubble light story for the umpteenth time, our cousins, Mark and Julia, ran across the nostalgic lights at a shop in Vermont and bought them for her. What a delight as she strung them with the greenery on the mantle. Since arriving, we've spent several evenings trying to unwind by watching the bubbles do their thing. We've discovered that a glass or two of wine tends to enhance the experience.

It's Christmas Eve. We're heading to friends for some Christmas cheer and then to a candlelight Christmas service at Lin's historic and beautiful UU church in Milton, Massachusetts. How are you spending your Christmas Eve?

Caught in a Whirlwind

From the moment Lin picked us up at Logan Airport, it's been a non-stop frenzy of activity. The weather was unseasonably warm for a day and then dipped below freezing. The forecast, however, is for a warm, non-white Christmas. Sigh! If we have to put up with the travel and cold, we want the white stuff on the ground at the appropriate time. Speaking of cold … David has one.

Lin and I have been thrifting up a storm. David and I brought very few clothes home with us and I've been stocking up on warm clothes for us both. I came home the other day with two huge bags of sweaters, fleeces, long sleeve shirts and jeans … all in excellent condition, brand names, hardly used. It was Dollar Day at St. Vincent de Pauls' (aka Vinnies) … total cost $22. The thrill of the bargain … not quite as good as seeing dolphins off the bow, but it wasn't bad!

There was a Cousins' Christmas get-together over the weekend (we have lots and lots … and lots of cousins) that we jointly hosted at Lin's house. There are a myriad of doctor's appointments, lab tests and dentists that we're enduring midst all the festivities. We're invited to a Christmas Eve soirée with friends followed by a Christmas Eve candlelight service at Lin's UU church. There's Christmas Day, of course and Lin also celebrates Boxing Day. We've been food shopping at least a half dozen times and cooking and baking non-stop. We've been wrapping gifts and stuffing stockings and when there's a free moment, we play Speed Scrabble and drink wine.

We thought it was hectic in Chaguaramas when we arrived to haul out Cups. That was nothing compared to this. We flop into bed each night exhausted with more activities on the agenda for the next day.

Complaining? No, not really. We're glad to be part of the holiday hustle and bustle with friends and family, but we won't mind the reprieve that comes when the holidays are over. Whew!

Color Me Christmas

As we're bustling around decorating and shopping for Christmas, the colors of red, green and white seem to predominate and I had to stop and think why ... although it might seem quite obvious to some of you. Considering that most of the Christmas traditions we know are derived from western and northern Europe where the winters were dark and cold, it makes sense that people would look for anything living to help remind them that Spring would eventually come. Holly, ivy and mistletoe were readily available and, of course, evergreen trees. I read that Romans traditionally exchanged evergreen branches during the winter months as a sign of good luck and the Egyptians brought green palm leaves into their homes during mid-winter holidays.

As I look out in Lin's backyard woods, there's not much color there. It's bare and bland except for the evergreens. Inside, we've got the Christmas tree and the smell of evergreen permeates the air. Tuesday, the cat, seems fascinated that we've brought some of the outside to the inside … a tree in the sun room. She sits and contemplates the tree from time to time. She's managed to remove a few ribbons from the presents, but hasn't tried climbing the tree yet, thank goodness.

We've got sprigs of holly in vases throughout the house. Those tiny red holly berries provide color and contrast to the shiny green pointed leaves. Holly has been used as a winter decoration for centuries. The Druids donned holly wreaths for traditional celebrations and holly was used as an heraldic design symbolizing truth. Holly was also the sacred plant of  the Roman god, Saturn and the Romans gave each other holly wreaths at the Saturnalia festival to honor him. Holly was also used as a folk remedy for toothaches, measles and dog bites.

Then there's Santa's costume … all red and white. Evidently, St. Nicholas was a bishop and bishop's robes were and still are, traditionally red. The white is probably representative of snow at this time of year in the northern climes. Candy canes with red and white stripes adorn our tree and are placed strategically throughout the house keeping with that red/white theme.

We've got a big red poinsettia sitting in the middle of the dining room table upon a bright red tablecloth. Here's some trivia for you. According to Wiki, poinsettias are native to Mexico and the English name for the plant, poinsettia, is derived from Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first US Minister to Mexico who introduced the poinsettia plant to the USA in 1825.

It actually seems that the use of red and green was most likely taken from the 14th century Adam and Eve Day plays presented by the Christian churches on December 24th. The iconic apple tree and apples associated with the legendary first couple was obviously not available in the cold December north lands. Instead, they took stored winter apples and tied them to evergreen trees. The tradition was popularized, especially in Germany, where reputedly the first use of decorated Christmas trees in people's homes was begun.

So there you have it … perhaps way too much trivia about Christmas colors, but now you know!