Misunderstanding

Do you remember things from your childhood which you were convinced of, but were totally wrong?


The thing that keeps coming to mind at this time of year is the Christmas carol, Silent Night. I could never understand what made peas heavenly. And why would they have placed the baby in a manger full of them? It just didn't make sense to me, but I sang it dutifully. Why I never asked anyone, I cannot tell you. I guess it was just another of those things that grown-ups did that were incomprehensible to children.



In different circumstances, when I was much older than that - in the sixth grade as a matter of fact - our teacher taught us that there is no such thing as the moon. She claimed that the moon was only the reflection of the sun. I was surprised to hear that, and rather disappointed, but I had no reason to doubt what a teacher would say. I believed that for a while, until my older brother straightened me out and my parents confirmed that there was, indeed, a moon up there.


Did you ever misunderstand a word or phrase or fact as a child?

Memes

I've been feeling kind of strung out recently. I've decided to cut back on some of the memes I've been participating in. I stopped a few quite a while ago, but it's reached the point where even the few I do are becoming too much.

I really love Think Green Thursday and feel it's an important one, and I won't give up on that one, even though Thursdays sometimes sneak up on me, catching me without any preparation. And I do love Shadow Shot Sunday. Shadows have always fascinated me, and that one is fun - although here again I may not be able to get out and look around for something, particularly as winter closes in. So I hope that I'll keep up with those two. Sky Watch is beautiful. I love viewing as many as possible each week. But there are so many of them! It's impossible to really cover them all, much less comment on as many as I would like to do. I am always amazed at the talent all of those participants exhibit. And Mellow Yellow is fun too. So many possibilities.

There are quite a few other memes out there that look so interesting, and that I would really enjoy participating in. But I don't really enjoy being pinned down to things. Never have. I don't wear a watch, and don't like to follow routine in anything, although as I grow older it does become more necessary to do certain things at the same time every day. (Like eating, even though I'm supposed to take meds with my food. I frequently forget to eat, since I'm never hungry. ) It sometimes annoys me that I am supposed to do a meme on a certain day. I usually get around that by scheduling them ahead of time.

My dislike of routine even extended to how I got to work every day, before my retirement. I lived only about three minutes from work, if I turned left at the end of the driveway, left again at the end of the block, then right a few blocks farther. But I rarely went that way, I would leave early and go up to the bay first, or go around the block to see what was blooming in someone's garden, or just wander through the neighborhood.

I guess I have fallen into some routine recently. When I get up in the morning I generally sit down at the computer and check email first, then move to comments I've received the night before, then do the jigsaw puzzles. Then I eat breakfast - unless I become too distracted by the computer. At times that is the case and I forget to eat for an hour or two.

Anyway, I don't think I will be doing many memes other than the two I mentioned. Of course, if I see a gorgeous sky, or something yellow and unusual that I just can't resist, I'm sure I will drop by another meme once in a while. But for the most part, for a while I am just going to write what I feel like writing, when I feel like writing it.

Shadow Shot Sunday

We are all grateful to Tracy for hosting Shadow Shot Sunday each week.

We had a little rain this week. Well, actually, more than just a little. My daughter, Rita, took these pictures in front of the library, where she works. I think the shadows in the water are interesting.

Hanukkah

TO ALL OF MY JEWISH FRIENDS - A VERY HAPPY HANUKKAH

Think(ing) Green Thursday

Think(ing) Green Thursday is hosted by Michelle at Rambling Woods Green.

This is an area near my home called Bennett's Bog. I have enjoyed many hours wandering through the bog. There are a few trails through the woods and around the open space. Lots of birds and other creatures. And if you know where to look, there are some very rare tiny orchids and other wild flowers.

This time of year it isn't really possible to enter. We have had a great deal of rain, and you would probably find yourself sinking below the surface.










There are such places near most of our homes, unless we live in the center of a big city. Even in Metropolis, parks offer us some place to spend a little peaceful time for relaxation where we can commune with Nature and escape from our busy, hectic daily life.

The Tree

For the first six years of my life, the Christmas tree appeared on Christmas morning, completely trimmed, glittering with tinsel, gifts piled beneath it. We had hung our stockings from the mantel over the fireplace the night before. When we woke on Christmas morning, they were lying at the foot of the bed, full of good things. We emptied them there in bed, where we were then served a light breakfast - YES - before we were allowed to go downstairs to see the tree. Then when everyone had assembled, it was down a few steps to the landing, and that breathless moment as we turned the corner to the final steps. From the landing, we could see the tree!

I remember one year when I had some childhood disease - mumps I think. I'm not really sure. I got as far as the landing, took one look, said it was pretty, and went right back up to bed. I just wasn't up to Christmas that year - at least until the next day.

The big feature in those days was the lights. And every year my mother would tell me that when she was a girl there were real candles on the tree. The grown ups would get them all lit, Papa would stand to one side with a bucket of water, and they would be allowed to enter the front parlor, spend a few moments oooing and ahhing, and then the candles would be extinguished. And wasn't I lucky to be able to see the tree lights on all day long?

After my parents were divorced, when I was seven, I was allowed to accompany my mother to the tree lot each year to pick out the perfect tree. "Perfect" never seemed to be as big as the one I wanted. But I did love going to the lot. It smelled so wonderful! We lugged it home and trimmed it together. That was fun! I highly recommend that the whole family trim the tree together. Much better to allow the children to help. After all, Santa has enough to do on Christmas Eve without having to stop to do that at each house.

Two months after Ralph and I were married, we celebrated our first Christmas together. We had bought a star for the top of the tree, and some little accordion shaped, multi-colored ornaments. We added lights, strung popcorn, and hung it with candy canes. By our second Christmas we had added more ornaments, and the following week we brought home our first child and laid her under the tree as the best gift we had ever received.

There has to be some sort of order to the decorating of the tree. Lights must go on first. there should be a white one at the top to go inside the star, if that's what you put on top. I usually put the star on right away. And then I add the angel in front and just below it. I made this angel from plastic canvas. Then popcorn chains - or paper ones, if your child has made them.

The first ornament I always have added for the past forty-some years is the Christmas Dog. Our oldest cut it out of orange construction paper - an unidentifiable shape - and handed it to me as I was trimming the tree when she was very small. She asked me to put it on the tree. How could I have refused? Of course we displayed it proudly and have done so every year since. There's also a yellow construction paper star with a face made of glitter. That one is from my youngest, made in kindergarten class.

Then come the Jesse Tree symbols. These are home made, as are the snow flakes we scattered among the branches, some made by me, some by my sister.


A great many of our ornaments have been home made. They are cloth or paper, crocheted or needle point or ceramic, all mixed in with the more professional glass, wood and metal. Many we bought ourselves, for various occasions. Many were gifts. Souveniers of our travels or of my youngest daughter's travels, representing people and places that we love, many countries and many faiths and cultures. No matter what holidays people observe or what belief they profess, they are all basically the same moral values. Wars are fought over trivial differences. This is the season above all others when we should focus on basic beliefs rather than the different ways in which we choose to express them.

My brother and his wife used single color themes for their trees, different each year. Many trees in Cape May are strictly in the Victorian era theme. I have seen trees trimmed entirely with teddy bears or with sea shells. Our own trees were always sentimental affairs - nostalgic - each ornament as it was re-discovered each year, bringing a happy memory.

There are themes of course. There are a great many Santas. Many angels, birds, lighthouses, even a butterfly or two.

I have at times decorated my tree alone. More often with my mother, my husband, my children, and sometimes with friends of various colors, religions, nationalities and cultural backgrounds. They were sometimes artificial trees, cut trees, or the best kind - live trees that I could plant later. When they had been trimmed they were always a beautiful hodge-podge of color. Nothing sleek or sophisicated or stylish. Just color, warmth and love.