The Christmas Spirit

Rudolph Day--February 25, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle @ The True Book Addict) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 17:30:00 +0000

First off, I really must apologize for missing Rudolph Day last month. That was the first time in a long time that it has happened. And I didn't even notice until a couple of days after it was past so I couldn't even do a late post. I hope you can forgive me.

For this month's Rudolph Day, I'm going to share some cute Christmas craft ideas I've come across on the new social sensation, Pinterest. If you haven't signed up over there, you really should. It is really fun. Be sure to get your self-control in check because it's very easy to waste a lot of time over there. I speak from experience. ;O)

A Santa ornament using metallic red shredded garland, a pop top and ribbon.

There aren't really any instructions for this, but they look relatively simple. Purchase some plain, clear glass (or plastic) ornaments. Remove hanger cap. Stuff metallic red shredded garland inside. Replace cap. Measure ribbon around ornament and cut to size. It looks like the ribbon is threaded through the pop can tab so thread it through the tab and then glue the ribbon around the ornament using craft glue or a hot glue gun. Simple and cute! (source: http://sweetstampindipity.blogspot.com/2010/10/crafty-projects.html )

Cookie cutters, ribbon and bells

Another one without instructions, but from what I can tell, just glue ribbon around the outer edge. Attach bells to a string or thin ribbon and attach by tying around top of cookie cutter. Be sure to leave enough length to fashion a hanger. (source: http://sweetstampindipity.blogspot.com/2010/10/crafty-projects.html )

Sentiment ornament

This ornament originated as a wedding invitations ornament, but it could be fashioned differently by writing sentiments on strips of colored or pretty parchment paper.

What you need:

A clear glass ornaments
colored paper or parchment paper

sharpie pen (color of choice) for writing sentiments on strips of paper
Craft knife or pair of scissors
Ribbon (Christmas colors, perhaps)
Charm (I used a heart that I found in the jewelry section of a craft store)
Pen or pencil

(another idea would be to use strips of Christmas wrapping paper!)

Cut the paper horizontally into strips.
wrap strips of paper around pen or pencil to corkscrew
insert strips into ornament and replace cap
attach charm to hanger ring of ornament (charm is optional)
Attach ribbon as a hanger

For the original idea behind this ornament craft, visit Shopping for Savings

Happy Rudolph Day and happy crafting! Be sure to visit me on Pinterest!

Giveaway Winners!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle @ The True Book Addict) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 09:25:00 +0000

Please forgive me for the delay in announcing the winners from the Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge. It has been an incredibly busy new year so far! So now, without further ado....

The winner of the mystery box of Christmas books is...

Julie @ My Book Retreat

The International winner of a Christmas book of her choice (up to $5) from Better World Books or Book Depository is...

Darlene @ Darlene's Book Nook

The winner chosen from all of the book reviews posted (wow, we had 118 book reviews posted!), who will win a Christmas book of her choice (up to $5) from Better World Books or Book Depository is...

Mariana @ Book Travels

Congratulations, ladies! Thanks again for joining me for the reading challenge and I hope you will join me again next year. I will be emailing you soon to iron out the details. I hope you will bear with me, as my finances are a bit shaky at the moment. If you read this before I contact you, feel free to email me at truebookaddictATgmailDOTcom

*********

And now for the winners of the other three giveaways that ended yesterday!

The winner of the 100 Followers Giveaway, who will receive the audio book copy of The Nine Lives of Christmas by Sheila Roberts, is...

Carol Wong

The winner of the We've Seen Santa giveaway is...

Julie @ My Book Retreat

The winner of the Wise Bear William giveaway is...

Ann McGuffy

Winners of the alternative Christmas titles are...

Little Dumber Boy
Sally Ford

Christmas in Killarney
Britney W.

I will be emailing the winners, but if you happen to read this post first, please email me your addresses at truebookaddictATgmailDOTcom. The authors will be mailing out Julie and Ann's books and I will be sending the book to Carol.

Congratulations to all the winners! I hope you enjoyed all the events during the holiday season. Be sure to stop by each month on the 25th for Rudolph Day!

Always in spirit....

REMINDER: Post your Christmas reading challenge wrap-ups by midnight tonight!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle @ The True Book Addict) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 01:32:00 +0000

Just wanted to remind everyone to be sure to post your wrap-up posts for The Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge by midnight tonight so you can be eligible for the participant giveaway. Please contact me if you need more time to post it. I can give anyone a day or two extra, if necessary, and just postpone the drawing. You can email me directly, if you like: truebookaddictATgmailDOTcom

Post your wrap-ups HERE.

GIVEAWAYS

There are also some giveaways still going on and I've decided to extend the deadline on two more of them. All three of these giveaways will all now end on Friday, January 20 at 11:59pm CST.

100+ Followers Giveaway

We've Seen Santa (2) copy Giveaway

Wise Bear William Giveaway

Good luck on all the giveaways and the reading challenge giveaways too!

Always in spirit....

Christmas Reading Challenges and Sharing the Joy Wrap-Up

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle @ The True Book Addict) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 09:20:00 +0000

The Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge and Christmas in July in December
I signed up for the Christmas Tree level (for the Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge), to read 5 or 6 books and I'm pleased to say, I read 5 adult novels, 2 childrens' books, and I watched a slew of movies!

Here's what I read:
The Quiet Little Woman by Louisa May Alcott (did not review--4 stars on Goodreads)
The Gift by Cecelia Ahern (my mini-review--A bit of A Christmas Carol feel to this one so it's a given I would like it, but told in a new and original way. No lightly tiptoeing on broken glass here. A Christmas book that really makes you think, but not the run of the mill Christmas fare. I highly recommend it.)
The Nine Lives of Christmas by Sheila Roberts (review)
The Gingerbread Bump-Off by Livia J. Washburn (review)
Next Christmas in Girouette by Michael and Dylan Welch (review)

Childrens' Books:
Tumbleweed Christmas by Beverly McClure Stowe (review)
Little Shepherd by Cheryl Malandrinos (review)

Stand-Out Movies:
Motion Pictures:

Arthur Christmas
Disney's A Christmas Carol

Television movies:

Debbie Macomber's Trading Christmas (Hallmark Channel)
A Princess for Christmas (Hallmark Channel)
Dear Santa (Lifetime)
Annie Claus Is Coming To Town (Hallmark Channel)
The Christmas Pageant (Hallmark Channel)
12 Dates of Christmas (ABC Family)
Christmas Comes Home to Canaan (Hallmark Channel)

I hope everyone enjoyed the challenge! I know I sure did. I will be hosting again this year for Christmas 2012 so I hope you all will join me again.

The Sharing the Joy event also ended on Friday. I hope it was a fun month of interesting posts for you. I wish I could have done more! There are still some giveaways going on and I'm going to extend the deadline on a couple of them so go enter! If you love Christmas as much as I do, be sure to stop by every month on the 25th for Rudolph Day and all month long for Christmas in July.

Always in spirit....

Book Reviews: The Gingerbread Bump-Off and Next Christmas in Girouette

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle @ The True Book Addict) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 08:41:00 +0000

The Gingerbread Bump-Off by Livia J. Washburn

My thoughts:
This was basically my very first cozy mystery and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. The mystery is set up nicely and amateur sleuth, Phyllis, reminds me of Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote (one of my favorite shows back in the day). She is known around town as "the woman who solved all those murders," much to the dismay of the police, most likely because it seems she tends to show them up. I can certainly say that I was kept guessing about who committed the crime...there was no figuring this one out! I will say that no one should read this book on an empty stomach or if you're on a diet. Phyllis and her roommate, Carolyn, are constantly baking yummy treats and cookies. I felt like I could reach into the pages and grab one of Phyllis's German Chocolate Cookies and eat one myself. I wish! I was so pleased when I discovered that there are recipes that Phyllis prepared in the story at the back of the book. I'll definitely be trying them out. In all, this book was a wonderful read at Christmas, even if it surrounded solving a murder. I'm thinking I will definitely be checking out more of Livia's Fresh-Baked Mysteries in the future.

About the book:
A Christmas killer has been icing Phylis Newsom's friends in the sixth Fresh-Baked mystery.

Not only will Phyllis Newsom's house be featured in the annual Christmas Jingle Bell Tour of Homes, she also has a Christmas Eve bridal shower and a New Year's Eve wedding to bake goodies for. But like her tasty treats, she rises to the occasion.

Before the tour gets under way, Phyllis makes a gruesome discovery on her porch: someone has tried to kill her friend. As Santa's naughty list gets longer, Phyllis tries to catch a half-baked killer.

Next Christmas in Girouette by Michael and Dylan Welch

My thoughts:
This book really was a heartwarming Christmas story. I wasn't sure at first if I liked it, but as I read more and more, it started to grow on me. It's one of those stories that has a message of appreciating the past, of letting go of all our technology and what we think are necessities, and mainly how to really appreciate people and the loved ones in your life. Really a wonderful message to read at Christmas time. The authors have incorporated the past and present of a ghost town in the Rocky Mountains, exposing the reader to what life was like then and now. The characters are all interesting in their own way. If I had one pet peeve, it would be the dialect depicted on the page that was supposed to make it sound like a western twang, but really just grated on the nerves a bit. Otherwise, a good Christmas story with a message and many heartwarming moments.

About the book:
Next Christmas in Girouette… is a full-length novel for people of all ages—nine to ninety-nine—who want to share a classic, heart-warming literary adventure at Christmastime.

Set on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains in Montana, this is the story of a brother and sister—Autry and Oxana Quinn—who find themselves stranded in a Girouette, a virtual ghost town, from Thanksgiving through Christmas when their father is taken seriously ill. Their grandfather, a Marine Captain long retired, plus an eccentric old café proprietress, a Blackfeet Indian horse trader who once served as the town’s mayor, a couple who published the local newspaper and an ancient deaf-mute trapper are the only remaining inhabitants of Girouette. These self-styled, “diehards” all seem to have one thing in common. Thanks to a mysterious event 60 years earlier, they still believe in Santa Claus.

Girouette features something for everyone: carefree cowboys who race their horses over snow covered country road, a team of wolves trained to pull a dogsled, a stroll that nearly turns tragic on a buffalo jump, a serialized newspaper story titled “The Adventures of Rocky Mountain Santa,” a desperate attempt to escape from an abandoned copper mine, a night-time journey through the mountains on a frozen river and the miracle that delivers wayfaring strangers to Girouette during a storm on Christmas Eve.

The book revels in the solitary beauty of winter in Big Sky Country, the enduring wisdom of the elderly citizens of Girouette, the excitement of frontier history coming to life, the inspiration of a family healing itself and the magic of an old-fashioned western Christmas. Read Next Christmas in Girouette with your family this year, and you’ll want to revisit it for years to come at holiday time.

Both read for The Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge.

FTC Disclaimer: I received both books from the authors in exchange for an honest review. I received no monetary compensation.

The Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge: Share Your Wrap-Up Here

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle @ The True Book Addict) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 07:44:00 +0000

Well, it's the last day of the challenge. *sniff* Another Christmas has passed and we're into the new year. Time to set aside the Christmas reads for our normal reading fare. Don't worry...the challenge will be back for Christmas 2012 and I hope you all will join me again!

I'm posting the linky below for you to link up your wrap-up post. I'm going to give everyone until Monday, January 9 at 11:59pm CST to complete their wrap-up post. If anyone needs a little extra time, please let me know. Now, on to the giveaway details...and I'm adding a little extra prize too!

GIVEAWAY!

All challenge participants in the U.S. will be entered to win a mystery box of Christmas titles handpicked by me. These will be gently used books (possibly library discards) and/or brand new books. I will pick an additional winner from any International participants and I will purchase a book or eBook of your choice under $5.00 (U.S.) from Book Depository or Better World Books and have it shipped to you. I will verify that these retailers do indeed ship free to your country. If they do not, you will have to choose an eBook or I will choose another winner. All winners will be chosen randomly using random.org. All challenge participants will be asked to complete a wrap-up post, share it in the wrap-up linky, and include your country of residence with your name to be eligible for the giveaway. If you have any questions, please leave me a comment below.

Extra Prize!
I feel bad for not getting around to comment on all of your reviews so I'm doing an extra giveaway. I will go to the review linky at midnight tonight and randomly pick (random.org) a winner from all reviews submitted. As posted above, I will purchase a book or eBook of your choice under $5.00 (U.S.) from Book Depository or Better World Books and have it shipped to you. If the winner is international, I will determine if they ship to you and, if not, an eBook will be purchased.

Thanks again for joining me for the challenge. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I'm actually still reading and will probably be doing so until midnight tonight! Yeah, today is my last day of Christmas and I'm milking it for all it's worth (well, at least until the next Rudolph Day anyway). =O)

Also, there are still some giveaways going on until midnight tonight and a couple, including my 100+ followers giveaway, going until well into January. Go try your luck!

***Remember to link to your wrap-up post and include your country of residence with your name***

Sharing the Joy: Alternative Christmas Titles and a Give@way

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle @ The True Book Addict) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 05:20:00 +0000

I thought I would save these alternative Christmas reads until after Christmas. Why do I call them alternative Christmas reads? Well, they're not your normal Christmas fare. They are what you might consider short crime/thriller stories told during Christmas. Now, like other Christmas stories, they do focus on a lesson learned, but the outcome isn't good for the protagonist, like it usually is in regular Christmas literature (Scrooge comes to mind). I have to say that I enjoyed both of them, even if they were a bit somber. So, these are actually stories that can be read any time of the year and Untreed Reads is giving away one eCopy of each story. There will be two winners. These might be good after Christmas reads for you fans of crime fiction. Full giveaway details at the end of the post.

Little Dumber Boy by B.K. Stevens
Will’s aunt wants him to spend some time with his estranged son at Christmas. All Will wants is to knock off his girlfriend’s husband and collect a share of the life insurance policy. Unfortunately, when you fail to take into account all the angles, the perfect crime can really ruin your holiday. A short story from our Fingerprints line.

B.K. Stevens (Bonnie Stevens) is the author of One Shot published by Untreed Reads in November, 2011. She has also published over thirty-five other mystery stories, most of them in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. Some of her stories have been reprinted in anthologies such as Women of Mystery I, II, and III. Another story appeared in Family Circle after winning first place in a national suspense-writing contest judged by Mary Higgins Clark. In addition, Bonnie has published college textbooks on composition (Holt) and on literary criticism and research (Holt/ Harcourt), along with a book on Jewish education (Behrman House). She and her husband, Dennis, live in Lynchburg, Virginia, where Bonnie teaches English at Lynchburg College; they have two daughters, Sarah and Rachel. Bonnie belongs to Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime.

http://www.bkstevensmysteries.com/

Christmas in Killarney by S. Furlong-Bolliger

Maureen is facing the prospect of a depressing Christmas after her husband Bob loses his job and she’s forced to clean hotel rooms. When Bob’s former boss is murdered, she thinks there’s a chance that the couple’s luck has changed. Unfortunately, for Maureen, her luck just got a lot worse. A holiday short story from the author of Dead Giveaway.

Susan writes mysteries from her rural Midwest home as a way to escape the demands of having four kids, two cats, one dog, several chickens … and one husband. Besides writing mysteries, Susan also works as a freelance academic writer for various research publications, medical dictionaries, and encyclopedias. She also has several articles published in national magazines. In 2010, Susan joined Untreed Reads with the short stories Death by Jello and Christmas in Killarney, following up in 2011 with the humorous mystery short Paddy Whacked and the crime short Dead Giveaway.

http://www.sfurlongbolliger.com/

Giveaway:

Enter to win an eCopy of Little Dumber Boy and Christmas in Killarney. Two winners...please specify which title you prefer in the comments along with your email address. Open to everyone. Giveaway will end on Friday, January 20 at 11:59pm CST. Good luck!

Give@way Reminders!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle @ The True Book Addict) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:29:00 +0000

There are currently three giveaways going on here at The Christmas Spirit.

Giveaways ending Friday, January 6 at 11:59pm CST:

--One copy of children's book, Wise Bear William by Arthur Wooten. Read about the book, read my review, and enter HERE.

--Two copies of children's book We've Seen Santa by Tiffany A. Higgins. Read about the book, read my interview with the author, and enter HERE.

100+ Followers Giveaway extended until Friday, January 20 at 11:59pm CST. Enter HERE.

I hope you've been enjoying the Sharing the Joy event this year. I still have a couple more reviews and other things planned for the last two days. There may be multiple posts. Also, the Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge ends on Friday so I'll be looking for those wrap-up posts. ;O) There will be a linky posted for them.

Alway in spirit....

Giveaway Winners!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle @ The True Book Addict) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:15:00 +0000

I'm pleased to announce a couple of winners in two Sharing the Joy giveaways!

The winner of the signed copy of To Be Queen by Christy English is...

~~Valerie~~ (did not respond and left no contact info)
New winner----Christy Robinson (she has been contacted)

The winner of the eBook copy of Harem by Colin Falconer is...

Cheryl

Congratulations! I am emailing Cheryl, but Valerie, please contact me at truebookaddictATgmailDOTcom within 48 hours with your mailing information. Thank you!

Sharing the Joy: Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle @ The True Book Addict) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 09:53:00 +0000

Sharing the Joy was taking a much needed break from the hustle and bustle of Christmas, but we're back so look forward to continued Christmas content through Twelfth Night/Epiphany (January 6)!

It's time for the next chapter from Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan by Clement A. Miles.
Read previous chapters: Chapter I Chapter II Chapter III

CHAPTER IV
CHRISTMAS IN LITURGY AND POPULAR DEVOTION

Advent and Christmas Offices of the Roman Church—The Three Masses of Christmas, their Origin and their Celebration in Rome—The Midnight Mass in Many Lands—Protestant Survivals of the Night Services—Christmas in the Greek Church—The Eastern Epiphany and the Blessing of the Waters—The Presepio or Crib, its Supposed Institution by St. Francis—Early Traces of the Crib—The Crib in Germany, Tyrol, &c.—Cradle-rocking in Mediaeval Germany—Christmas Minstrels in Italy and Sicily—The Presepio in Italy—Ceremonies with the Culla and the Bambino in Rome—Christmas in Italian London—The Spanish Christmas—Possible Survivals of the Crib in England.

THE NATIVITY.

From Add. MS. 32454 in the British Museum

(French, 15th century).

From a study of Christmas as reflected in lyric poetry, we now pass to other forms of devotion in which the Church has welcomed the Redeemer at His birth. These are of two kinds—liturgical and popular; and they correspond in a large degree to the successive ways of apprehending the meaning of Christmas which we traced in the foregoing chapters. Strictly liturgical devotions are little understanded of the people: only the clergy can fully join in them; for the mass of the lay folk they are mysterious rites in an unknown tongue, to be followed with reverence, as far as may be, but remote and little penetrated with humanity. Side by side with these, however, are popular devotions, full of vivid colour, highly anthropomorphic, bringing the mysteries of religion within the reach of the simplest minds, and warm with human feeling. The austere Latin hymns of the earlier centuries belong to liturgy; the vernacular Christmas poetry of later ages is largely associated with popular devotion.

Liturgiology is a vast and complicated, and except to the few, an unattractive, subject. To attempt here a survey of the liturgies in their relation to Christmas is obviously impossible; we must be content to dwell mainly upon the present-day Roman offices, which, in spite of various revisions, give some idea of the mediaeval services of Latin Christianity, and to cast a few glances at other western rites, and at those of the Greek Church.

Whatever may be his attitude towards Catholicism, or, indeed, Christianity, no one sensitive to the music of words, or the suggestions of poetic imagery, can read the Roman Breviary and Missal without profound admiration for the amazing skill with which the noblest passages of Hebrew poetry are chosen and fitted to the expression of Christian devotion, and the gold of psalmists, prophets, and apostles is welded into coronals for the Lord and His saints. The office-books of the Roman Church are, in one aspect, the greatest of anthologies.

Few parts of the Roman Breviary have more beauty than the Advent offices, where the Church has brought together the majestic imagery of the Hebrew prophets, the fervent exhortation of the apostles, to prepare the minds of the faithful for the coming of the Christ, for the celebration of the Nativity.

Advent begins with a stirring call. If we turn to the opening service of the Christian Year, the First Vespers of the First Sunday in Advent, we shall find as the first words in the “Proper of the Season” the trumpet-notes of St. Paul: “Brethren, it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” This, the Little Chapter for the office, is followed by the ancient hymn, “Creator alme siderum,” chanting in awful tones the two comings of Christ, for redemption and for judgment; and then are sung the words that strike the keynote of the Advent services, and are heard again and again.
“Rorate, coeli, desuper, et nubes pluant Justum(Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down the Righteous One).Aperiatur terra et germinet Salvatorem(Let the earth open, and let her bring forth the Saviour).”

Rorate, coeli, desuper—Advent is a time of longing expectancy. It is a season of waiting patiently for the Lord, whose coming in great humility is to be commemorated at Christmas, to whose coming again in His glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead the Christian looks forward with mingled hope and awe. There are four weeks in Advent, and an ancient symbolical explanation interprets these as typifying four comings of the Son of God: the first in the flesh, the second in the hearts of the faithful through the Holy Spirit, the third at the death of every man, and the fourth at the Judgment Day. The fourth week is never completed (Christmas Eve is regarded as not part of Advent), because the glory bestowed on the saints at the Last Coming will never end.

The great Eucharistic hymn, “Gloria in excelsis,” is omitted in Advent, in order, say the symbolists, that on Christmas night, when it was first sung by the angels, it may be chanted with the greater eagerness and devotion. The “Te Deum” at Matins too is left unsaid, because Christ is regarded as not yet come. But “Alleluia” is not omitted, because Advent is only half a time of penitence: there is awe at the thought of the Coming for Judgment, but joy also in the hope of the Incarnation to be celebrated at Christmas, and the glory in store for the faithful.

Looking forward is above all things the note of Advent; the Church seeks to share the mood of the Old Testament saints, and she draws more now than at any other season, perhaps, on the treasures of Hebrew prophecy for her lessons, antiphons, versicles, and responds. Looking for the glory that shall be revealed, she awaits, at this darkest time of the year, the rising of the Sun of Righteousness. Rorate, coeli, desuper—the mood comes at times to all idealists, and even those moderns who hope not for a supernatural Redeemer, but for the triumph of social justice on this earth, must be stirred by the poetry of the Advent offices.

It is at Vespers on the seven days before Christmas Eve that the Church's longing finds its noblest expression—in the antiphons known as the “Great O's,” sung before and after the “Magnificat,” one on each day. “O Sapientia,” runs the first, “O Wisdom, which camest out of the mouth of the Most High, and reachest from one end to another, mightily and sweetly ordering all things: come and teach us the way of prudence.” “O Adonai,” “O Root of Jesse,” “O Key of David,” “O Day-spring, Brightness of Light Everlasting,” “O King of the Nations,” thus the Church calls to her Lord, “O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, the Desire of all nations, and their Salvation: come and save us, O Lord our God.”

At last Christmas Eve is here, and at Vespers we feel the nearness of the great Coming. “Lift up your heads: behold your redemption draweth nigh,” is the antiphon for the last psalm. “To-morrow shall be done away the iniquity of the earth,” is the versicle after the Office Hymn. And before and after the “Magnificat” the Church sings: “When the sun shall have risen, ye shall see the King of kings coming forth from the Father, as a bridegroom out of his chamber.”

Yet only with the night office of Matins does the glory of the festival begin. There is a special fitness at Christmas in the Church's keeping watch by night, like the shepherds of Bethlehem, and the office is full of the poetry of the season, full of exultant joy. To the “Venite, exultemus Domino” a Christmas note is added by the oft-repeated Invitatory, “Unto us the Christ is born: O come, let us adore Him.” Psalms follow—among them the three retained by the Anglican Church in her Christmas Matins—and lessons from the Old and New Testaments and the homilies of the Fathers, interspersed with Responsories bringing home to the faithful the wonders of the Holy Night. Some are almost dramatic; this, for instance:--

“Whom saw ye, O shepherds? speak; tell us who hath appeared on the earth.We saw the new-born Child, and angels singing praise unto the Lord.Speak, what saw ye? and tell us of the birth of Christ.We saw the new-born Child, and angels singing praise unto the Lord.”

It is the wonder of the Incarnation, the marvel of the spotless Birth, the song of the Angels, the coming down from heaven of true peace, the daybreak of redemption and everlasting joy, the glory of the Only-begotten, now beheld by men—the supernatural side, in fact, of the festival, that the Church sets forth in her radiant words; there is little thought of the purely human side, the pathos of Bethlehem.

It was customary at certain places, in mediaeval times, to lay on the altar three veils, and remove one at each nocturn of Christmas Matins. The first was black, and symbolised the time of darkness before the Mosaic Law; the second white, typifying, it would seem, the faith of those who lived under that Law of partial revelation; the third red, showing the love of Christ's bride, the Church, in the time of grace flowing from the Incarnation.

A stately ceremony took place in England in the Middle Ages at the end of Christmas Matins—the chanting of St. Matthew's genealogy of Christ. The deacon, in his dalmatic, with acolytes carrying tapers, with thurifer and cross-bearer, all in albs and unicles, went in procession to the pulpit or the rood-loft, to sing this portion of the Gospel. If the bishop were present, he it was who chanted it, and a rich candlestick was held to light him. Then followed the chanting of the “Te Deum.” The ceremony does not appear in the ordinary Roman books, but it is still performed by the Benedictines, as one may read in the striking account of the monastic Christmas given by Huysmans in “L'Oblat.”

Where, as in religious communities, the offices of the Church are performed in their full order, there follows on Matins that custom peculiar to Christmas, the celebration of Midnight Mass. On Christmas morning every priest is permitted to say three Masses, which should in strictness be celebrated at midnight, at dawn, and in full daylight. Each has its own Collect, Epistle, and Gospel, each its own Introit, Gradual, and other anthems. In many countries the Midnight Mass is the distinctive Christmas service, a great and unique event in the year, something which by its strangeness gives to the feast of the Nativity a place by itself. Few Catholic rites are more impressive than this Midnight Mass, especially in country places; through the darkness and cold of the winter's night, often for long distances, the faithful journey to worship the Infant Saviour in the splendour of the lighted church. It is a re-enactment of the visit of the shepherds to the cave at Bethlehem, aglow with supernatural light.

Various symbolical explanations of the three Masses were given by mediaeval writers. The midnight celebration was supposed to represent mankind's condition before the Law of Moses, when thick darkness covered the earth; the second, at dawn, the time of the Law and the Prophets with its growing light; the third, in full daylight, the Christian era of light and grace. Another interpretation, adopted by St. Thomas Aquinas, is more mystical; the three Masses stand for the threefold birth of Christ, the first typifying the dark mystery of the eternal generation of the Son, the second the birth of Christ the morning-star within the hearts of men, the third the bodily birth of the Son of Mary.

At the Christmas Masses the “Gloria in excelsis” resounds again. This song of the angels was at first chanted only at Christmas; it was introduced into Rome during the fifth century at Midnight Mass in imitation of the custom of the Church of Jerusalem.

It is, indeed, from imitation of the services at Jerusalem and Bethlehem that the three Roman Masses of Christmas seem to have sprung. From a late fourth-century document known as the “Peregrinatio Silviae,” the narrative of a pilgrimage to the holy places of the east by a great lady from southern Gaul, it appears that at the feast of the Epiphany—when the Birth of Christ was commemorated in the Palestinian Church—two successive “stations” were held, one at Bethlehem, the other at Jerusalem. At Bethlehem the station was held at night on the eve of the feast, then a procession was made to the church of the Anastasis or Resurrection—where was the Holy Sepulchre—arriving “about the hour when one man begins to recognise another, i.e., near daylight, but before the day has fully broken.” There a psalm was sung, prayers were said, and the catechumens and faithful were blessed by the bishop. Later, Mass was celebrated at the Great Church at Golgotha, and the procession returned to the Anastasis, where another Mass was said.

At Bethlehem at the present time impressive services are held on the Latin Christmas Day. The Patriarch comes from Jerusalem, with a troop of cavalry and Kavasses in gorgeous array. The office lasts from 10 o'clock on Christmas Eve until long after midnight. “At the reading of the Gospel the clergy and as many of the congregation as can follow leave the church, and proceed by a flight of steps and a tortuous rock-hewn passage to the Grotto of the Nativity, an irregular subterranean chamber, long and narrow. They carry with them a waxen image of an infant—thebambino—wrap it in swaddling bands and lay it on the site which is said to be that of the manger.”

The Midnight Mass appears to have been introduced into Rome in the first half of the fifth century. It was celebrated by the Pope in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, while the second Mass was sung by him at Sant’ Anastasia—perhaps because of the resemblance of the name to the Anastasis at Jerusalem—and the third at St. Peter's. On Christmas Eve the Pope held a solemn “station” at Santa Maria Maggiore, and two Vespers were sung, the first very simple, the second, at which the Pope pontificated, with elaborate ceremonial. Before the second Vespers, in the twelfth century, a good meal had to be prepared for the papal household by the Cardinal-Bishop of Albano. After Matins and Midnight Mass at Santa Maria Maggiore, the Pope went in procession to Sant’ Anastasia for Lauds and the Mass of the Dawn. The third Mass, at St. Peter's, was an event of great solemnity, and at it took place in the year 800 that profoundly significant event, the coronation of Charlemagne by Leo III.—a turning-point in European history.

Later it became the custom for the Pope, instead of proceeding to St. Peter's, to return to Santa Maria Maggiore for the third Mass. On his arrival he was given a cane with a lighted candle affixed to it; with this he had to set fire to some tow placed on the capitals of the columns.  The ecclesiastical explanation of this strange ceremony was that it symbolised the end of the world by fire, but one may conjecture that some pagan custom lay at its root. Since 1870 the Pope, as “the prisoner of the Vatican,” has of course ceased to celebrate at Santa Maria Maggiore or Sant’ Anastasia. The Missal, however, still shows a trace of the papal visit to Sant’ Anastasia in a commemoration of this saint which comes as a curious parenthesis in the Mass of the Dawn.

On Christmas Day in the Vatican the Pope blesses a hat and a sword, and these are sent as gifts to some prince. The practice is said to have arisen from the mediaeval custom for the Holy Roman Emperor or some other sovereign to read one of the lessons at Christmas Matins, in the papal chapel, with his sword drawn.

Celebrated in countries as distant from one another, both geographically and in character, as Ireland and Sicily, Poland and South America, the Midnight Mass naturally varies greatly in its tone and setting. Sometimes it is little more than a fashionable function, sometimes the devotion of those who attend is shown by a tramp over miles of snow through the darkness and the bitter wind.

In some charming memories of the Christmas of her childhood, Madame Th. Bentzon thus describes the walk to the Midnight Mass in a French country place about sixty years ago:—

“I can see myself as a little girl, bundled up to the tip of my nose in furs and knitted shawls, tiny wooden shoes on my feet, a lantern in my hand, setting out with my parents for the Midnight Mass of Christmas Eve.... We started off, a number of us, together in a stream of light.... Our lanterns cast great shadows on the white road, crisp with frost. As our little group advanced it saw others on their way, people from the farm and from the mill, who joined us, and once on the Place de l’Église we found ourselves with all the parishioners in a body. No one spoke—the icy north wind cut short our breath; but the voice of the chimes filled the silence.... We entered, accompanied by a gust of wind that swept into the porch at the same time we did; and the splendours of the altar, studded with lights, green with pine and laurel branches, dazzled us from the threshold.”

In devout Tyrol, the scenes on Christmas Eve before the Midnight Mass are often extremely impressive, particularly in narrow valleys where the houses lie scattered on the mountain slopes. Long before midnight the torches lighting the faithful on their way to Mass begin to twinkle; downward they move, now hidden in pine-woods and ravines, now reappearing on the open hill-side. More and more lights show themselves and throw ruddy flashes on the snow, until at last, the floor of the valley reached, they vanish, and only the church windows glow through the darkness, while the solemn strains of the organ and chanting break the silence of the night.

Not everywhere has the great Mass been celebrated amid scenes so still and devotional. In Madrid, says a writer of the early nineteenth century, “the evening of the vigil is scarcely dark when numbers of men, women, and boys are seen traversing the streets with torches, and many of them supplied with tambourines, which they strike loudly as they move along in a kind of Bacchanal procession. There is a tradition here that the shepherds who visited Bethlehem on the day of the Nativity had instruments of this sort upon which they expressed the sentiment of joy that animated them when they received the intelligence that a Saviour was born.” At the Midnight Mass crowds of people who, perhaps, had been traversing the streets the whole night, came into the church with their tambourines and guitars, and accompanied the organ. The Mass over, they began to dance in the very body of the church.  A later writer speaks of the Midnight Mass in Madrid as a fashionable function to which many gay young people went in order to meet one another.  Such is the character of the service in the Spanish-American cities. In Lima the streets on Christmas Eve are crowded with gaily dressed and noisy folks, many of them masked, and everybody goes to the Mass.  In Paris the elaborate music attracts enormous and often not very serious crowds. In Sicily there is sometimes extraordinary irreverence at the midnight services: people take provisions with them to eat in church, and from time to time go out to an inn for a drink, and between the offices they imitate the singing of birds.  We may see in such things the licence of pagan festivals creeping within the very walls of the sanctuary.

In the Rhineland Midnight Mass has been abolished, because the conviviality of Christmas Eve led to unseemly behaviour at the solemn service, but Mass is still celebrated very early—at four or five—and great crowds of worshippers attend. It is a stirring thing, this first Mass of Christmas, in some ancient town, when from the piercing cold, the intense stillness of the early morning, one enters a great church thronged with people, bright with candles, warm with human fellowship, and hears the vast congregation break out into a slow solemn chorale, full of devout joy that
“In Bethlehem geborenIst uns ein Kindelein.”

It is interesting to trace survivals of the nocturnal Christmas offices in Protestant countries. In German “Evangelical” churches, midnight or early morning services were common in the eighteenth century; but they were forbidden in some places because of the riot and drunkenness which accompanied them. The people seem to have regarded them as a part of their Christmas revellings rather than as sacred functions; one writer compares the congregation to a crowd of wild drunken sailors in a tavern, another gives disgusting particulars of disorders in a church where the only sober man was the preacher.

In Sweden the Christmas service is performed very early in the morning, the chancel is lighted up with many candles, and the celebrant is vested in a white chasuble with golden orphreys.

A Midnight Mass is now celebrated in many Anglican churches, but this is purely a modern revival. The most distinct British survival is to be found in Wales in the early service known asPlygain (dawn), sometimes a celebration of the Communion. At Tenby at four o'clock on Christmas morning it was customary for the young men of the town to escort the rector with lighted torches from his house to the church. Extinguishing their torches in the porch, they went in to the early service, and when it was ended the torches were relighted and the procession returned to the rectory. At St. Peter's Church, Carmarthen, an early service was held, to the light of coloured candles brought by the congregation. At St. Asaph, Caerwys, at 4 or 5 a.m., Plygain, consisting of carols sung round the church in procession, was held. The Plygain continued in Welsh churches until about the eighteen-fifties, and, curiously enough, when the Established Church abandoned it, it was celebrated in Nonconformist chapels.

In the Isle of Man on Christmas Eve, or Oiel Verry (Mary's Eve), “a number of persons used to assemble in each parish church and proceed to shout carols or ‘Carvals.’ There was no unison or concert about the chanting, but a single person would stand up with a lighted candle in his or her hand, and chant in a dismal monotone verse after verse of some old Manx ‘Carval,’ until the candle was burnt out. Then another person would start up and go through a similar performance. No fresh candles might be lighted after the clock had chimed midnight.”

One may conjecture that the common English practice of ringing bells until midnight on Christmas Eve has also some connection with the old-time Midnight Mass.

For the Greek Church Christmas is a comparatively unimportant festival by the side of the Epiphany, the celebration of Christ's Baptism; the Christmas offices are, however, full of fine poetry. There is far less restraint, far less adherence to the words of Scripture, far greater richness of original composition, in the Greek than in the Roman service-books, and while there is less poignancy there is more amplitude and splendour. Christmas Day, with the Greeks, is a commemoration of the coming of the Magi as well as of the Nativity and the adoration of the shepherds, and the Wise Men are very prominent in the services. The following hymn of St. Anatolius (fifth century), from the First Vespers of the feast, is fairly typical of the character of the Christmas offices:—
“When Jesus Our Lord was born of Her,The Holy Virgin, all the universeBecame enlightened.For as the shepherds watched their flocks,And as the Magi came to pray,And as the Angels sang their hymnHerod was troubled; for God in flesh appeared,The Saviour of our souls.
Thy kingdom, Christ our God, the kingdom isOf all the worlds, and Thy dominionO'er every generation bears the sway,Incarnate of the Holy Ghost,Man of the Ever-Virgin Mary,By Thy presence, Christ our God,Thou hast shined a Light on us.Light of Light, the Brightness of the Father,Thou hast beamed on every creature.All that hath breath doth praise Thee,Image of the Father's glory.Thou who art, and wast before,God who shinedst from the Maid,Have mercy upon us.
What gift shall we bring to Thee,O Christ, since Thou as Man on earthFor us hast shewn Thyself? Since every creature made by TheeBrings to Thee its thanksgiving.The Angels bring their song,The Heavens bring their star,The Magi bring their gifts,The Shepherds bring their awe,Earth gives a cave, the wilderness a manger,And we the Virgin-Mother bring.God before all worlds, have mercy upon us!”

A beautiful rite called the “Peace of God” is performed in Slavonic churches at the end of the “Liturgy” or Mass on Christmas morning—the people kiss one another on both cheeks, saying, “Christ is born!” To this the answer is made, “Of a truth He is born!” and the kisses are returned. This is repeated till everyone has kissed and been kissed by all present.

We must pass rapidly over the feasts of saints within the Octave of the western Christmas, St. Stephen (December 26), St. John the Evangelist (December 27), the Holy Innocents (December 28), and St. Sylvester (December 31). None of these, except the feast of the Holy Innocents, have any special connection with the Nativity or the Infancy, and the popular customs connected with them will come up for consideration in our Second Part.

The commemoration of the Circumcision (“when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child”) falls naturally on January 1, the Octave of Christmas. It is not of Roman origin, and was not observed in Rome until it had long been established in the Byzantine and Gallican Churches.  In Gaul, as is shown by a decree of the Council of Tours in 567, a solemn fast was held on the Circumcision and the two days following it, in order to turn away the faithful from the pagan festivities of the Kalends.

The feast of the Epiphany on January 6, as we have seen, is in the eastern Church a commemoration of the Baptism of Christ. In the West it has become primarily the festival of the adoration of the Magi, the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. Still in the Roman offices many traces of the baptismal commemoration remain, and the memory of yet another manifestation of Christ's glory appears in the antiphon at “Magnificat” at the Second Vespers of the feast:—

“We keep holy a day adorned by three wonders: to-day a star led the Magi to the manger; to-day at the marriage water was made wine; to-day for our salvation Christ was pleased to be baptized of John in Jordan. Alleluia.”

On the Octave of the Epiphany at Matins the Baptism is the central idea, and the Gospel at Mass bears on the same subject. In Rome itself even the Blessing of the Waters, the distinctive ceremony of the eastern Epiphany rite, is performed in certain churches according to a Latin ritual. At Sant’ Andrea della Valle, Rome, during the Octave of the Epiphany a Solemn Mass is celebrated every morning in Latin, and afterwards, on each of the days from January 7-13, there follows a Mass according to one of the eastern rites: Greco-Slav, Armenian, Chaldean, Coptic, Greco-Ruthenian, Greco-Melchite, and Greek. It is a week of great opportunities for the liturgiologist and the lover of strange ceremonial.

The Blessing of the Waters is an important event in all countries where the Greek Church prevails. In Greece the “Great Blessing,” as it is called, is performed in various ways according to the locality; sometimes the sea is blessed, sometimes a river or reservoir, sometimes merely water in a church. In seaport towns, where the people depend on the water for their living, the celebration has much pomp and elaborateness. At the Piraeus enormous and enthusiastic crowds gather, and there is a solemn procession of the bishop and clergy to the harbour, where the bishop throws a little wooden cross, held by a long blue ribbon, into the water, withdraws it dripping wet, and sprinkles the bystanders. This is done three times. At Nauplia and other places a curious custom prevails: the archbishop throws a wooden cross into the waters of the harbour, and the fishermen of the place dive in after it and struggle for its possession; he who wins it has the right of visiting all the houses of the town and levying a collection, which often brings in a large sum. In Samos all the women send to the church a vessel full of water to be blessed by the priest; with this water the fields and the trees are sprinkled.

The sense attached to the ceremony by the Church is shown in this prayer:—

“Thou didst sanctify the streams of Jordan by sending from Heaven Thy Holy Spirit, and by breaking the heads of the dragons lurking there. Therefore, O King, Lover of men, be Thou Thyself present also now by the visitation of Thy Holy Spirit, and sanctify this water. Give also to it the grace of ransom, the blessing of Jordan: make it a fountain of incorruption; a gift of sanctification; a washing away of sins; a warding off of diseases; destruction to demons; repulsion to the hostile powers; filled with angelic strength; that all who take and receive of it may have it for purification of souls and bodies, for healing of sicknesses, for sanctification of houses, and meet for every need.”

Though for the Church the immersion of the cross represents the Baptism of Christ, and the blessings springing from that event are supposed to be carried to the people by the sprinkling with the water, it is held by some students that the whole practice is a Christianization of a primitive rain-charm—a piece of sympathetic magic intended to produce rain by imitating the drenching which it gives. An Epiphany song from Imbros connects the blessing of rain with the Baptism of Christ, and another tells how at the river Jordan “a dove came down, white and feathery, and with its wings opened; it sent rain down on the Lord, and again it rained and rained on our Lady, and again it rained and rained on its wings.”

The Blessing of the Waters is performed in the Greek church of St. Sophia, Bayswater, London, on the morning of the Epiphany, which, through the difference between the old and new “styles,” falls on our 19th of January. All is done within the church; the water to be blessed is placed on a table under the dome, and is sanctified by the immersion of a small cross; afterwards it is sprinkled on everyone present, and some is taken home by the faithful in little vessels.

In Moscow and St. Petersburg the Blessing is a function of great magnificence, but it is perhaps even more interesting as performed in Russian country places. Whatever may be the orthodox significance of the rite, to the country people it is the chasing away of “forest demons, sprites, and fairies, once the gods the peasants worshipped, but now dethroned from their high estate,” who in the long dark winter nights bewitch and vex the sons of men. A vivid and imaginative account of the ceremony and its meaning to the peasants is given by Mr. F. H. E. Palmer in his “Russian Life in Town and Country.” The district in which he witnessed it was one of forests and of lakes frozen in winter. On one of these lakes had been erected “a huge cross, constructed of blocks of ice, that glittered like diamonds in the brilliant winter sunlight.... At length, far away could be heard the sound of human voices, singing a strange, wild melody. Presently there was a movement in the snow among the trees, and waving banners appeared as a procession approached, headed by the pope in his vestments, and surrounded by the village dignitaries, venerable, grey-bearded patriarchs.” A wide space in the procession was left for “a strange and motley band of gnomes and sprites, fairies and wood-nymphs,” who, as the peasants believed, had been caught by the holy singing and the sacred sign on the waving banner. The chanting still went on as the crowd formed a circle around the glittering cross, and all looked on with awe while half a dozen peasants with their axes cut a large hole in the ice. “And now the priest's voice is heard, deep and sonorous, as he pronounces the words of doom. Alas for the poor sprites! Into that yawning chasm they must leap, and sink deep, deep below the surface of that ice-cold water.”

Following these eastern Epiphany rites we have wandered far from the cycle of ideas generally associated with Christmas. We must now pass to those popular devotions to the Christ Child which, though they form no part of the Church's liturgy, she has permitted and encouraged. It is in the West that we shall find them; the Latin Church, as we have seen, makes far more of Christmas than the Greek.

Rome is often condemned for using in her liturgy the dead language of Latin, but it must not be forgotten that in every country she offers to the faithful a rich store of devotional literature in their own tongue, and that, supplementary to the liturgical offices, there is much public prayer and praise in the vernacular. Nor, in that which appeals to the eye, does she limit herself to the mysterious symbolism of the sacraments and the ritual which surrounds them; she gives to the people concrete, pictorial images to quicken their faith. How ritual grew in mediaeval times into full-fledged drama we shall see in the next chapter; here let us consider that cult of the Christ Child in which the scene of Bethlehem is represented not by living actors but in plastic art, often most simple and homely.

The use of the “crib” (French crèche, Italian presepio, German krippe) at Christmas is now universally diffused in the Roman Church. Most readers of this book must have seen one of these structures representing the stable at Bethlehem, with the Child in the manger, His mother and St. Joseph, the ox and the ass, and perhaps the shepherds, the three kings, or worshipping angels. They are the delight of children, who through the season of Christmas and Epiphany wander into the open churches at all times of day to gaze wide-eyed on the life-like scene and offer a prayer to their Little Brother. No one with anything of the child-spirit can fail to be touched by the charm of the Christmas crib. Faults of artistic taste there may often be, but these are wont to be softened down by the flicker of tapers, the glow of ruby lights, amidst the shades of some dim aisle or chapel, and the scene of tender humanity, gently, mysteriously radiant, as though with “bright shoots of everlastingness,” is full of religious and poetic suggestions.

The institution of the presepio is often ascribed to St. Francis of Assisi, who in the year 1224 celebrated Christmas at Greccio with a Bethlehem scene with a real ox and ass. About fifteen days before the Nativity, according to Thomas of Celano, the blessed Francis sent for a certain nobleman, John by name, and said to him: “If thou wilt that we celebrate the present festival of the Lord at Greccio, make haste to go before and diligently prepare what I tell thee. For I would fain make memorial of that Child who was born in Bethlehem, and in some sort behold with bodily eyes His infant hardships; how He lay in a manger on the hay, with the ox and the ass standing by.” The good man prepared all that the Saint had commanded, and at last the day of gladness drew nigh. The brethren were called from many convents; the men and women of the town prepared tapers and torches to illuminate the night. Finding all things ready, Francis beheld and rejoiced: the manger had been prepared, the hay was brought, and the ox and ass were led in. “Thus Simplicity was honoured, Poverty exalted, Humility commended, and of Greccio there was made as it were a new Bethlehem. The night was lit up as the day, and was delightsome to men and beasts.... The woodland rang with voices, the rocks made answer to the jubilant throng.” Francis stood before the manger, “overcome with tenderness and filled with wondrous joy”; Mass was celebrated, and he, in deacon's vestments, chanted the Holy Gospel in an “earnest, sweet, and loud-sounding voice.” Then he preached to the people of “the birth of the poor King and the little town of Bethlehem.” “Uttering the word ‘Bethlehem’ in the manner of a sheep bleating, he filled his mouth with the sound,” and in naming the Child Jesus “he would, as it were, lick his lips, relishing with happy palate and swallowing the sweetness of that word.” At length, the solemn vigil ended, each one returned with joy to his own place.

It has been suggested by Countess Martinengo that this beautiful ceremony was “the crystallization of haunting memories carried away by St. Francis from the real Bethlehem”; for he visited the east in 1219-20, and the Greccio celebration took place in 1224. St. Francis and his followers may well have helped greatly to popularize the use of the presepio, but it can be traced back far earlier than their time. In the liturgical drama known as the “Officium Pastorum,” which probably took shape in the eleventh century, we find a praesepe behind the altar as the centre of the action; but long before this something of the kind seems to have been in existence in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome—at one time called “Beata Maria ad praesepe.” Here Pope Gregory III. (731-41) placed “a golden image of the Mother of God embracing God our Saviour, in various gems.”  According to Usener's views this church was founded by Pope Liberius (352-66), and was intended to provide a special home for the new festival of Christmas introduced by him, while an important part of the early Christmas ritual there was the celebration of Mass over a “manger” in which the consecrated Host was laid, as once the body of the Holy Child in the crib at Bethlehem.  Further, an eastern homily of the late fourth century suggests that the preacher had before his eyes a representation of the Nativity. Such material representations, Usener conjectures, may have arisen from the devotions of the faithful at the supposed actual birthplace at Bethlehem, which would naturally be adorned with the sacred figures of the Holy Night.

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the crib can be traced at Milan, Parma, and Modena, and an Italian example carved in 1478 still exists.  The Bavarian National Museum at Munich has a fine collection of cribs of various periods and from various lands—Germany, Tyrol, Italy, and Sicily—showing what elaborate care has been bestowed upon the preparation of these models. Among them is a great erection made at Botzen in the first half of the nineteenth century, and large enough to fill a fair-sized room. It represents the central square of a town, with imposing buildings, including a great cathedral not unlike our St. Paul's. Figures of various sizes were provided to suit the perspective, and the crib itself was probably set up in the porch of the church, while processions of puppets were arranged on the wide open square. Another, made in Munich, shows the adoration of the shepherds in a sort of ruined castle, while others, from Naples, lay the scene among remains of classical temples. One Tyrolese crib has a wide landscape background with a village and mountains typical of the country. The figures are often numerous, and, as their makers generally dressed them in the costume of their contemporaries, are sometimes exceedingly quaint. An angel with a wasp-waist, in a powdered wig, a hat trimmed with big feathers, and a red velvet dress with heavy gold embroidery, seems comic to us moderns, yet this is how the Ursuline nuns of Innsbruck conceived the heavenly messenger. Many of the cribs and figures, however, are of fine artistic quality, especially those from Naples and Sicily, and to the student of costume the various types of dress are of great interest.

The use of the Christmas crib is by no means confined to churches; it is common in the home in many Catholic regions, and in at least one Protestant district, the Saxon Erzgebirge.  In Germany the krippe is often combined with the Christmas-tree; at Treves, for instance, the present writer saw a magnificent tree covered with glittering lights and ornaments, and underneath it the cave of the Nativity with little figures of the holy persons. Thus have pagan and Christian symbols met together.

There grew up in Germany, about the fourteenth century, the extremely popular Christmas custom of “cradle-rocking,” a response to the people's need of a life-like and homely presentation of Christianity. By the Kindelwiegen the lay-folk were brought into most intimate touch with the Christ Child; the crib became a cradle (wiege) that could be rocked, and the worshippers were thus able to express in physical action their devotion to the new-born Babe. The cradle-rocking seems to have been done at first by priests, who impersonated the Virgin and St. Joseph, and sang over the Child a duet:—
“Joseph, lieber neve mîn,Hilf mir wiegen daz kindelîn.
Gerne, liebe muome mîn,Hilf ich dir wiegen dîn kindelîn.”

A NEAPOLITAN “PRESEPIO.”

Photo] [Meisenbach, Riffarth & Co., Munich.

The choir and people took their part in the singing; and dancing, to the old Germans a natural accompaniment of festive song, became common around the cradle, which in time the people were allowed to rock with their own hands.  “In dulci jubilo” has the character of a dance, and the same is true of another delightful old carol, “Lasst uns das Kindlein wiegen,” still used, in a form modified by later editors, in the churches of the Rhineland. The present writer has heard it sung, very slowly, in unison, by vast congregations, and very beautiful is its mingling of solemnity, festive joy, and tender sentiment:—

“Lasst uns das Kindlein wiegen,Das Herz zum Krippelein biegen!Lasst uns den Geist erfreuen,Das Kindlein benedeien:O Jesulein süss! O Jesulein süss!
* * * * *
Lasst uns sein Händel und Füsse,Sein feuriges Herzlein grüssen!Und ihn demütiglich erenAls unsern Gott und Herren!O Jesulein süss! O Jesulein süss!”

Two Latin hymns, “Resonet in laudibus” and “Quem pastores laudavere,” were also sung at the Kindelwiegen, and a charming and quite untranslatable German lullaby has come down to us:—
“Sausa ninne, gottes minne,Nu sweig und ru!Wen du wilt, so wellen wir deinen willen tun,Hochgelobter edler furst, nu schweig und wein auch nicht,Tûste das, so wiss wir, dass uns wol geschicht.”

It was by appeals like this Kindelwiegen to the natural, homely instincts of the folk that the Church gained a real hold over the masses, making Christianity during the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries a genuinely popular religion in Germany. Dr. Alexander Tille, the best historian of the German Christmas, has an interesting passage on the subject: “In the dancing and jubilation around the cradle,” he writes, “the religion of the Cross, however much it might in its inmost character be opposed to the nature of the German people and their essential healthiness, was felt no longer as something alien. It had become naturalized, but had lost in the process its very core. The preparation for a life after death, which was its Alpha and Omega, had passed into the background. It was not joy at the promised ‘Redemption’ that expressed itself in the dance around the cradle; for the German has never learnt to feel himself utterly vile and sinful: it was joy at the simple fact that a human being, a particular human being in peculiar circumstances, was born into the world.... The Middle Ages showed in the cradle-rocking ‘a true German and most lovable childlikeness.’ The Christ Child was the ‘universal little brother of all children of earth,’ and they acted accordingly, they lulled Him to sleep, they fondled and rocked Him, they danced before Him and leapt around Him in dulci jubilo.”  There is much here that is true of the cult of the Christ Child in other countries than Germany, though perhaps Dr. Tille underestimates the religious feeling that is often joined to the human sentiment.

The fifteenth century was the great period for the Kindelwiegen, the time when it appears to have been practised in all the churches of Germany; in the sixteenth it began to seem irreverent to the stricter members of the clergy, and the figure of the infant Jesus was in many places no longer rocked in the cradle but enthroned on the altar.  This usage is described by Naogeorgus (1553):—
“A woodden childe in clowtes is on the aultar set,About the which both boyes and gyrles do daunce and trymly jet,And Carrols sing in prayse of Christ, and, for to helpe them heare,The organs aunswere every verse with sweete and solemne cheare.The priestes do rore aloude; and round about the parentes standeTo see the sport, and with their voyce do helpe them and their hande.”

The placing of a “Holy Child” above the altar at Christmas is still customary in many Roman Catholic churches.

Protestantism opposed the Kindelwiegen, on the grounds both of superstition and of the disorderly proceedings that accompanied it, but it was long before it was utterly extinguished even in the Lutheran churches. In Catholic churches the custom did not altogether die out, though the unseemly behaviour which often attended it—and the growth of a pseudo-classical taste—caused its abolition in most places.

At Tübingen as late as 1830 at midnight on Christmas Eve an image of the Christ Child was rocked on the tower of the chief church in a small cradle surrounded with lights, while the spectators below sang a cradle-song. According to a recent writer the “rocking” is still continued in the Upper Innthal. In the Tyrolese cathedral city of Brixen it was once performed every day between Christmas and Candlemas by the sacristan or boy-acolytes. That the proceedings had a tendency to be disorderly is shown by an eighteenth-century instruction to the sacristan: “Be sure to take a stick or a thong of ox-hide, for the boys are often very ill-behaved.”

There are records of other curious ceremonies in German or Austrian churches. At St. Peter am Windberge in Mühlkreis in Upper Austria, during the service on Christmas night a life-sized wooden figure of the Holy Child was offered in a basket to the congregation; each person reverently kissed it and passed it on to his neighbour. This was done as late as 1883.  At Crimmitschau in Saxony a boy, dressed as an angel, used to be let down from the roof singing Luther's “Vom Himmel hoch,” and the custom was only given up when the breaking of the rope which supported the singer had caused a serious accident.

It is in Italy, probably, that the cult of the Christ Child is most ardently practised to-day. No people have a greater love of children than the Italians, none more of that dramatic instinct which such a form of worship demands. “Easter,” says Countess Martinengo-Cesaresco, “is the great popular feast in the eastern Church, Christmas in the Latin—especially in Italy. One is the feast of the next world, and the other of this. Italians are fond of this world.”  Christmas is for the poorer Italians a summing up of human birthdays, an occasion for pouring out on the Bambinoparental and fraternal affection as well as religious worship.

In Rome, Christmas used to be heralded by the arrival, ten days before the end of Advent, of the Calabrian minstrels or pifferari with their sylvan pipes (zampogne), resembling the Scottish bagpipe, but less harsh in sound. These minstrels were to be seen in every street in Rome, playing their wild plaintive music before the shrines of the Madonna, under the traditional notion of charming away her labour-pains. Often they would stop at a carpenter's shop “per politezza al messer San Giuseppe.”  Since 1870 the pifferari have become rare in Rome, but some were seen there by an English lady quite recently. At Naples, too, there are zampognari before Christmas, though far fewer than there used to be; for one lira they will pipe their rustic melodies before any householder's street Madonna through a whole novena.

CALABRIAN SHEPHERDS PLAYING IN ROME AT CHRISTMAS.
After an Etching by D. Allan.
From Hone's “Every-day Book” (London, 1826).

In Sicily, too, men come down from the mountains nine days before Christmas to sing a novena to a plaintive melody accompanied by ‘cello and violin. “All day long,” writes Signora Caico about Montedoro in Caltanissetta, “the melancholy dirge was sung round the village, house after house, always the same minor tune, the words being different every day, so that in nine days the whole song was sung out.... I often looked out of the window to see them at a short distance, grouped before a house, singing their stanzas, well muffled in shawls, for the air is cold in spite of the bright sunshine.... The flat, white houses all round, the pure sky overhead, gave an Oriental setting to the scene.”

Another Christmas custom in the same place was the singing of a novena not outside but within some of the village houses before a kind of altar gaily decorated and bearing at the top a waxen image of the Child Jesus. “Close to it the orchestra was grouped—a ’cello, two violins, a guitar, and a tambourine. The kneeling women huddled in front of the altar. All had on their heads their black mantelline. They began at once singing the novena stanzas appointed for that day; the tune was primitive and very odd: the first half of the stanza was quick and merry, the second half became a wailing dirge.” A full translation of a long and very interesting and pathetic novena is given by Signora Caico.

The presepio both in Rome and at Naples is the special Christmas symbol in the home, just as the lighted tree is in Germany. In Rome the Piazza Navona is the great place for the sale of little clay figures of the holy persons. (Is there perchance a survival here of the sigillaria, the little clay dolls sold in Rome at the Saturnalia?) These are bought in the market for two soldi each, and the presepi or “Bethlehems” are made at home with cardboard and moss. The home-made presepi at Naples are well described by Matilde Serao; they are pasteboard models of the landscape of Bethlehem—a hill with the sacred cave beneath it and two or three paths leading down to the grotto, a little tavern, a shepherd's hut, a few trees, sometimes a stream in glittering glass. The ground is made verdant with moss, and there is straw within the cave for the repose of the infant Jesus; singing angels are suspended by thin wires, and the star of the Wise Men hangs by an invisible thread. There is little attempt to realize the scenery of the East; the Child is born and the Magi adore Him in a Campanian or Calabrian setting.

Italian churches, as well as Italian homes, have their presepi. “Thither come the people, bearing humble gifts of chestnuts, apples, tomatoes, and the like, which they place as offerings in the hands of the figures. These are very often life-size. Mary is usually robed in blue satin, with crimson scarf and white head-dress. Joseph stands near her dressed in the ordinary working-garb. The onlookers are got up like Italian contadini. The Magi are always very prominent in their grand clothes, with satin trains borne by black slaves, jewelled turbans, and satin tunics all over jewels.”

ST. FRANCIS INSTITUTES THE “PRESEPIO” AT GRECCIO.

By Giotto.

(Upper Church of St Francis, Assissi)

THE “BAMBINO” OF ARA COELI.

In Rome the two great centres of Christmas devotion are the churches of Santa Maria Maggiore, where are preserved the relics of the cradle of Christ, and Ara Coeli, the home of the most famous Bambino in the world. A vivid picture of the scene at Santa Maria Maggiore in the early nineteenth century is given by Lady Morgan. She entered the church at midnight on Christmas Eve to wait for the procession of the culla, or cradle. “Its three ample naves, separated by rows of Ionic columns of white marble, produced a splendid vista. Thousands of wax tapers marked their form, and contrasted their shadows; some blazed from golden candlesticks on the superb altars of the lateral chapels.... Draperies of gold and crimson decked the columns, and spread their shadows from the inter-columniations over the marble pavement. In the midst of this imposing display of church magnificence, sauntered or reposed a population which displayed the most squalid misery. The haggard natives of the mountains ... were mixed with the whole mendicity of Rome.... Some of these terrific groups lay stretched in heaps on the ground, congregating for warmth; and as their dark eyes scowled from beneath the mantle which half hid a sheepskin dress, they had the air of banditti awaiting their prey; others with their wives and children knelt, half asleep, round the chapel of the Santa Croce.... In the centre of the nave, multitudes of gay, gaudy, noisy persons, the petty shopkeepers, laquais, and popolaccio of the city, strolled and laughed, and talked loud.” About three o'clock the service began, with a choral swell, blazing torches, and a crowded procession of priests of every rank and order. It lasted for two hours; then began the procession to the cell where the cradle lay, enshrined in a blaze of tapers and guarded by groups of devotees. Thence it was borne with solemn chants to the chapel of Santa Croce. A musical Mass followed, and the culla being at last deposited on the High Altar, the wearied spectators issued forth just as the dome of St. Peter's caught the first light of the morning.

Still to-day the scene in the church at the five o'clock High Mass on Christmas morning is extraordinarily impressive, with the crowds of poor people, the countless lights at which the children gaze in open-eyed wonder, the many low Masses said in the side chapels, the imposing procession and the setting of the silver casket on the High Altar. The history of the relics of the culla—five long narrow pieces of wood—is obscure, but it is admitted even by some orthodox Roman Catholics that there is no sufficient evidence to connect them with Bethlehem.

The famous Bambino at the Franciscan church of Ara Coeli on the citadel of Rome is “a flesh-coloured doll, tightly swathed in gold and silver tissue, crowned, and sparkling with jewels,” no thing of beauty, but believed to have miraculous powers. An inscription in the sacristy of the church states that it was made by a devout Minorite of wood from the Mount of Olives, and given flesh-colour by the interposition of God Himself. It has its own servants and its own carriage in which it drives out to visit the sick. There is a strange story of a theft of the wonder-working image by a woman who feigned sickness, obtained permission to have the Bambino left with her, and then sent back to the friars another image dressed in its clothes. That night the Franciscans heard great ringing of bells and knockings at the church door, and found outside the true Bambino, naked in the wind and rain. Since then it has never been allowed out alone.

All through the Christmas and Epiphany season Ara Coeli is crowded with visitors to the Bambino. Before the presepio, where it lies, is erected a wooden platform on which small boys and girls of all ranks follow one another with little speeches—“preaching” it is called—in praise of the infant Lord. “They say their pieces,” writes Countess Martinengo, “with an infinite charm that raises half a smile and half a tear.” They have the vivid dramatic gift, the extraordinary absence of self-consciousness, typical of Italian children, and their “preaching” is anything but a wooden repetition of a lesson learned by heart. Nor is there any irksome constraint; indeed to northerners the scene in the church might seem irreverent, for the children blow toy trumpets and their parents talk freely on all manner of subjects. The church is approached by one hundred and twenty-four steps, making an extraordinarily picturesque spectacle at this season, when they are thronged by people ascending and descending, and by vendors of all sorts of Christmas prints and images. On the Octave of the Epiphany there is a great procession, ending with the blessing of Rome by the Holy Child. The Bambino is carried out to the space at the top of the giddy flight of marble steps, and a priest raises it on high and solemnly blesses the Eternal City.

A glimpse of the southern Christmas may be had in London in the Italian colony in and around Eyre Street Hill, off the Clerkenwell Road, a little town of poor Italians set down in the midst of the metropolis. The steep, narrow Eyre Street Hill, with its shops full of southern wares, is dingy enough by day, but after dark on Christmas Eve it looks like a bit of Naples. The windows are gay with lights and coloured festoons, there are lantern-decked sweetmeat stalls, one old man has a presepio in his room, other people have little altars or shrines with candles burning, and bright pictures of saints adorn the walls. It is a strangely pathetic sight, this festa of the children of the South, this attempt to keep an Italian Christmas amid the cold damp dreariness of a London slum. The colony has its own church, San Pietro, copied from some Renaissance basilica at Rome, a building half tawdry, half magnificent, which transports him who enters it far away to the South. Like every Italian church, it is at once the Palace of the Great King and the refuge of the humblest—no other church in London is quite so intimately the home of the poor. Towards twelve o'clock on Christmas Eve the deep-toned bell of San Pietro booms out over the colony, and the people crowd to the Midnight Mass, and pay their devotions at a greatpresepio set up for the veneration of the faithful. When on the Octave of the Epiphany the time comes to close the crib, an impressive and touching ceremony takes place. The afternoon Benediction over, the priest, with the acolytes, goes to the presepio and returns to the chancel with the Bambino. Holding it on his arm, he preaches in Italian on the story of the Christ Child. The sermon ended, the notes of “Adeste, fideles” are heard, and while the Latin words are sung the faithful kneel at the altar rails and reverently kiss the Holy Babe. It is their farewell to theBambino till next Christmas.

A few details may here be given about the religious customs at Christmas in Spain. The Midnight Mass is there the great event of the festival. Something has already been said as to its celebration in Madrid. The scene at the midnight service in a small Andalusian country town is thus described by an English traveller:—“The church was full; the service orderly; the people of all classes. There were muleteers, wrapped in their blue and white checked rugs; here, Spanish gentlemen, enveloped in their graceful capas, or capes ... here, again, were crowds of the commonest people,—miners, fruitsellers, servants, and the like,—the women kneeling on the rush matting of the dimly-lit church, the men standing in dark masses behind, or clustering in groups round every pillar.... At last, from under the altar, the senior priest ... took out the image of the Babe New-born, reverently and slowly, and held it up in his hands for adoration. Instantly every one crossed himself, and fell on his knees in silent worship.” The crib is very popular in Spanish homes and is the delight of children, as may be learnt from Fernan Caballero's interesting sketch of Christmas Eve in Spain, “La Noche de Navidad.”

In England the Christmas crib is to be found nowadays in most Roman, and a few Anglican, churches. In the latter it is of course an imitation, not a survival. It is, however, possible that the custom of carrying dolls about in a box at Advent or Christmas time, common in some parts of England in the nineteenth century, is a survival, from the Middle Ages, of something like the crib. The so-called “vessel-cup” was “a box containing two dolls, dressed up to represent the Virgin and the infant Christ, decorated with ribbons and surrounded by flowers and apples.” The box had usually a glass lid, was covered by a white napkin, and was carried from door to door by a woman. It was esteemed very unlucky for any household not to be visited by the “Advent images” before Christmas Eve, and the bearers sang the well-known carol of the “Joys of Mary.” In Yorkshire only one image was carried about. At Gilmorton, Leicestershire, a friend of the present writer remembers that the children used to carry round what they called a “Christmas Vase,” an open box without lid in which lay three dolls side by side, with oranges and sprigs of evergreen. Some people regarded these as images of the Virgin, the Christ Child, and Joseph.

In this study of the feast of the Nativity as represented in liturgy and ceremonial we have already come close to what may strictly be called drama; in the next chapter we shall cross the border line and consider the religious plays of the Middle Ages and the relics of or parallels to them found in later times.

source: The Project Gutenberg

Chapter V coming soon to Rudolph Day in the coming months

Always in spirit....

Merry Christmas from The Christmas Spirit!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle @ The True Book Addict) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 17:03:00 +0000

I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. ~Charles Dickens

Merry Christmas! Be happy and safe on this most precious day of the year.

Always in spirit....

Christmas Around the World--French Canada

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle @ The True Book Addict) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 17:14:00 +0000

The charming, yet simple, declaration of faith by the people of French Canada awakens memories of the ancient French Christmas, with its quaintness, characteristic lightness of spirit, and intense religious feeling.

Christmas day begins with a midnight mass of great splendor, followed by the Reveillon, an elaborate after-church dinner in the home. Throughout the holiday season there is great emphasis upon the religious aspects of Christmas. Reveillon dinner usually consists of lobster, oysters, escargots or foie gras, etc. One traditional dish is turkey with chestnuts. Réveillons in Quebec will often include some variety of tourtière, a meat pie originating from Quebec usually made with pork, veal, or beef. A common dessert served is buche de Noel. In Provence, there is a tradition of the 13 desserts: 13 desserts are served, almost invariably including: pompe à l'huile (a flavoured bread), dates, etc.

A Reveillon feast at Brennan's in New Orleans

Buche de Noel

pompe a l'huile

On January 6th, the holida season ends with the feast of the Kings of Epiphany, celebrated with much merriment and festivity. It is at this feast the the traditional cake, "Le Gateau des Rois" is cut. This cake has a pea and bean in it and the king and queen of the Twelfth Night are elected by those receiving them.

Le Gateau des Rois

Sources:
Christmas Around the World, an ideals publication, 1961.
Wikipedia

Always in spirit....

Sharing the Joy: Interview with Tiffany A. Higgins, author of We've Seen Santa {Giveaway}

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle @ The True Book Addict) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:05:00 +0000

Please join me today in welcoming the author of We've Seen Santa, Tiffany A. Higgins.

Your children's book, We've Seen Santa, was released last May. Can you tell me what inspired you to write a Christmas-themed book?

Actually, this is kind of a funny story. When my daughter, Alexandra, was about 2, she asked why we didn't have to go to bed before Santa came. I told her that Santa likes to talk to Mommy and Daddy about how good her and her brother, Damion, had been throughout the year. She asked if she could stay up. So, I came up with a bedtime story about what might happen if Santa saw her awake. We've Seen Santa is an adaptation of that bedtime story. One day, my husband told me that he thought I should write these stories down. As I wrote them, I developed them into stories that everyone could enjoy.

Your bio states that you want to write a novel and I know that you recently participated in NaNoWriMo. Did you get that novel written and is it aimed at children or adults?

I surprised myself and did complete my first novel during the NaNoWriMo event. I have a lot of editing and rewriting to do before it can be released to the public. I am hoping to release it early next year. It is a novel for adults, and therefore will be released under my pen name (or alter ego as I like to call it), Tifanne Messer.

When you write, do you like to have a complete plan or plot outline or do you just write as you go or “fly by the seat of your pants”, like they say?

I am definitely a fly by the seat of my pants kind of writer. In the past, I have attempted to plan and outline and pre-write, but I have learned that absolutely nothing ever goes in the direction I initially planned, so I've stopped planning and just let the story lead me where it may.

What would be your number one piece of advice for aspiring authors?

Have faith in yourself. The hardest part of writing (or any other art form) is that we are always our own worst critics. We could have a masterpiece in our stack of trunk novels, but we keep telling ourselves it's not good enough. Usually, we are wrong. Also, stick with it. When it seems like you are never going to get past that writer's block, set it aside. I like to grab a couple of characters, put them in the goofiest of situations and see what they will do. You can write out this goofy scene, or you can just let them play in your head. For a writer, it's okay to have personalities living inside your head.

What do you think is the most important Christmas tradition? What do you think is the key to Christmas spirit?

The most important tradition is definitely the gathering of family. My family is now spread far and wide, and you really don't realize how important those Christmas's spent together are until you lose them. I would love to spend just one more Christmas with my entire family gathered at my grandmother's house. I believe the key to the Christmas spirit varies from person to person. For me, I would have said, it is the light in the children's eyes that always gets me in the Christmas spirit. The wonder and amazement as they see the decorations or Santa or just hear that Christmas is around the corner. However, I am reexamining that this year. These news stories of all the anonymous “Santa's helpers” that are popping up nationwide, helping families in need and not looking for any recognition at all have definitely gotten me more into the Christmas spirit than in years past. Perhaps, I never noticed it missing before, but now that it is front and center it lightens my heart. I have faith that perhaps Christ is coming back to Christmas in America once again.

Do you have any favorite Christmas books or movies? What about music?

My favorite Christmas book goes back to family traditions. It is 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. I have two favorite Christmas movies, "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Miracle on 34th Street." The former was one I had to grow up to truly appreciate. I used to roll my eyes whenever my family watched "It's a Wonderful Life" at Christmastime. Now, I make sure to watch it every year. "Miracle on 34th Street", on the other hand, has been a favorite holiday movie of mine for as long as I can remember. My favorite Christmas song is "Carol of the Bells." The other day, I learned that this is also my mother's favorite.

Okay, for my final question, how about a little Christmas this or that?

real tree or artificial tree? We have an artificial tree. Every year, I swear I'm going to get my first real tree. I would love to go as a family, select and cut down our own tree, and bring it home to decorate. Every year, we end up putting up the artificial one yet again.
clear lights or colored lights? Colored lights, I am a colorful person.
mistletoe or holly? Mistletoe, after all who doesn't like a little holiday romance?
hot chocolate or hot spiced cider? Hot chocolate, with lots of whipped cream and a mini candy cane.
sugar cookies or gingerbread cookies? Sugar cookies, because I love the tradition of having my kids decorate them after I cut them out but before I bake them. It is one of my favorite family traditions.
egg nog or boiled custard? This one, I would have to say neither. It's a texture thing more than a flavor thing.
Rudolph or Frosty? Do I really have to choose? I love the magic of Frosty, but I love the message of acceptance in Rudolph. Rudolph shows that different is good. I believe that children need both. They need to believe in magic and miracles, but they also need to learn and understand that it is okay to be different and to accept those that are.
Scrooge or The Grinch? Another difficult question. I have always loved Scrooge. I enjoyed reading Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and have enjoyed the many different ways it has been portrayed on screen. I do love watching the Christmas Spirit growing inside of The Grinch. However, if I were forced to choose only one to watch in a year, I would choose to watch "A Christmas Carol" over "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

Wow, Tiffany, thanks for the great interview! I know exactly what you mean about the artificial tree thing. I have had a real tree every year of my life, except for the last two years. Both times, we've run out of time and money for a real tree. Next year, there will be a real tree. And you should go cut your own. We used to do it when I was a kid and we have done it several times in the past years. It's a wonderful experience. A Merry Christmas to you and your family...and a Happy New Year too!

We've Seen Santa~It's every child's dream to catch Santa leaving presents under the tree. Falling asleep on Christmas Eve is a struggle! You hear a sound. What was it? Could it be Santa? We've Seen Santa is the story of a brother and sister who sneak out of bed and go downstairs to take a peek. Will Santa be eating the cookies they left out for him? Will he be the jolly man they imagine? Will he be happy to see them? An unforgettable Christmas is in store for the siblings!

Tiffany A. Higgins is the author of We've Seen Santa. She was born in St. Charles, Illinois, grew up in Plano, Texas, and currently resides near Richmond, Michigan. She credits her family, and especially her children, for inspiring her to write. “As I read my stories to my family, I watch their faces. Even my ‘too good for parents’ teen-aged son will sit and listen. He smiles and seems to really enjoy himself.” We’ve Seen Santa is a bedtime story that was created for Higgins’ daughter when she was two. Her husband, Clark L. Higgins, illustrated the story for her. “This book project,” Higgins says, “has brought us all closer.” Higgins’ next book tells the story of the seasons. Its working title is When Seasons Change. She has always loved writing. She has been writing for as long as she can remember. She has dabbled in poetry, short stories, children's stories and hopes to one day write a novel. She is excited to be being published for the first time in her life. This book deal is fulfilling a lifelong dream of hers.

We've Seen Santa is available at Amazon , Barnes and Noble and Strategic Book Group

Visit Tiffany: Website | Blog | Facebook | Publisher On Twitter: @TiffanyAHiggins and @WeveSeenSanta

GIVEAWAY: (2) copies of We've Seen Santa are up for grabs. Please leave a comment telling me what you think is the key to Christmas Spirit. Include your email address so I can contact you if you win. You do not have to be a follower, but followers will receive one extra entry point. This giveaway is open to U.S. and Canada and will end on Friday, January 6, 2012 at 11:59pm CST. Good luck!

Always in spirit....

Sharing the Joy Double Feature: Review of Wise Bear William: A New Beginning by Arthur Wooten {Giveaway}

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle @ The True Book Addict) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 05:00:00 +0000

Sorry I'm late with the second part of today's double feature. I just ran out of time today!

My thoughts:
This was such a lovely book. I had absolutely no idea it would make me cry! I have a little story to tell you to explain why I cried. In the process of moving last year, we were moving things from the attic and I had a box of cherished stuffed animals from when I was a child. One of them was my teddy bear, Theodore, my first teddy bear that I received when I was a newborn baby. When I looked at the box, I noticed that it was wet and when I opened it, horror awaited. My teddy bear had gotten wet and had disintegrated into almost nothing. I cried and cried. Of course, the one leaky spot in the attic had to be above that box. =O( So, when I got to a certain point in Wise Bear William, it made me think of that and also how much I loved my teddy when I was growing up. For a children's book to evoke this kind of emotion in an adult is a powerful thing. Now don't get me wrong. The book is not meant to be sad and it's not sad, really. It just caused that kind of reaction in me.

I read the book with my sons and they really liked it too. They said their favorite characters were Calico Kitty and Wise Bear William and the parts they liked best were when Wise Bear William was chosen and how Rag Doll Rose looked after William fixed her up. I was impressed with the book because it really kept their interest. They are 9 and 10 so they are starting to outgrow this type of book, but it was written so well and kids can tell when a book is well written.

Wise Bear William is not a Christmas book, but it is a good book to read with your children at Christmas because it teaches that helping others is important and that rewards can come to you, even when you think all is lost. Wise Bear William is the voice of hope throughout the book and hope is a good thing to read about during Christmas. I highly recommend this book.

About the book:
WISE BEAR WILLIAM: A New Beginning
by Arthur Wooten
Illustrated by Bud Santora
(December 2011)

"Wise Bear William is one of the most delightful books
for young readers ever! Adults will enjoy it as well."

- Phylicia Rashad

(New York, NY, November 10, 2011) — In this beautiful and classic story penned by the critically acclaimed writer, Arthur Wooten, and illustrated by Emmy award winning designer, Bud Santora, toys long forgotten in an attic discover that children are coming up to rescue them.

All wanting to be picked, each toy examines their own self-described shortcomings and turn to one another for comfort and advice. But the most important thing they discover is that as much as you fix things up on the outside, it’s what’s on the inside that really counts.

With an emotional and surprising ending for all the toys, this heartwarming and timeless tale of love and friendship is destined to become a favorite of young and old for years to come.

To learn more about author Arthur Wooten, visit his website.

GIVEAWAY:
Arthur is giving away one copy of Wise Bear William. Open Internationally. Please leave a comment telling me about a toy that meant the most to you while growing up. You do not have to be a follower, but followers will receive one extra entry point. Giveaway ends on Friday, January 6, 2012 at 11:59 pm CST. Good luck!

Always in spirit....

Sharing the Joy Double Feature: 100+ Followers Giveaway!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle @ The True Book Addict) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:22:00 +0000

GIVEAWAY EXTENDED! NOW, ENTER UNTIL FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, AT 11:59PM CST!

As part of the Sharing the Joy Double Feature (second feature will be a book review) and in celebration of surpassing 100 followers, I am giving away an audio book copy of The Nine Lives of Christmas by Sheila Roberts (find entry info below). Here's my review and some info about the book and author:

(this is reposted from The True Book Addict)

My thoughts:
Give me a book with a cat and Christmas in it and it's a surefire bet that I'm going to like it. The Nine Lives of Christmas is a lovely Christmas tale told partially from a cat's point of view. The cat is named Ambrose and he is a yellow tabby who is on his last life. Ambrose is so engaging. Sheila really captured what most of us cat lovers know about cats...little lovers with attitude. I enjoyed the parts featuring Ambrose best, with his inner monologue all focused on how he is going to achieve a long and comfortable ninth life. Of course, some matchmaking is in order. It wouldn't be a Christmas story unless there was a little romance thrown in.

I was afraid at first that this book might end up very sad. It seems that a lot of the stories featuring animals often do. Luckily, this book filled the bill of a fun and heartwarming Christmas tail (tale...sorry, had to use Sheila's witticism) that just adds to the fun and magic of the season. Thank goodness Nicholas Sparks doesn't write Christmas books.

If you love Christmas themed books, you will really enjoy this book. I know it has become part of my permanent Christmas book collection and, I'm sure, will get a reread in Christmases to come!

About the book:
Bestselling author Sheila Roberts brings us a humorous, heartwarming Christmas novel about a matchmaking cat who brings a couple together just in time for the holidays.

When a guy is in trouble, he starts making deals with his Creator…and Ambrose the cat is no exception. In danger of losing his ninth and final life, Ambrose makes a desperate plea. He’ll do anything—anything!—if he can just survive and enjoy a nice long, final life. His prayer is answered when a stranger comes along and saves him, and now it looks like he has to hold up his end of the bargain.

The stranger turns out to be a fire fighter named Zach, the quintessential commitment- phobe who’s in need of some serious romantic help. If Ambrose can just bring Zach together with Merilee, the nice lady who works at Pet Palace, it’s bound to earn him a healthy ninth life. Unfortunately for Ambrose, his mission is a lot harder than he ever anticipated. Now it’s going to take all his feline wiles—and a healthy dose of Christmas magic—to bring them all together in time for the holidays. (Goodreads)

About the author:

Writing since 1989, Sheila Roberts has had 26 books published, both fiction and nonfiction, under different names. Her books have been chosen for book clubs, Readers Digest Condensed books, and her popular novel ON STRIKE FOR CHRISTMAS was made into a movie and appeared on the Lifetime Movie Network. Her novel ANGEL LANE was named one of Amazon’s Top Ten Romances for 2009.

However, before she settled into her writing career, she did lots of other things, including owning a singing telegram company and playing in a band. Writing and helping others to find ways to better themselves are her greatest passions and her popular newsletter SUPER YOU, is dedicated to helping women improve their lives.

When she’s not making public appearances or playing with her friends, she can be found writing about those things near and dear to women’s hearts: family, friends, and chocolate.

Sheila Roberts lives in the Pacific Northwest. She’s happily married and has three children.

Visit Sheila: Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook

Giveaway
I have one audio book copy of The Nine Lives of Christmas for one lucky winner. I apologize to my international followers, but I must make this U.S. only. I'm extremely strapped during the holidays. =O( To enter, leave a comment about your favorite pet. Do you buy them presents at Christmas, do they have a stocking, do you dress them up in cute holiday outfits or collars? If you don't have a pet, share anything about your holiday this year. Please leave your email address so I can contact you if you win. You do not have to be a follower to enter, but followers will get an extra entry point. Giveaway will end on Friday, ~~January 6~~ January 20 at 11:59 pm CST. Good luck!

Sharing the Joy: Author Colin Falconer--Guest Post and Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle @ The True Book Addict) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:47:00 +0000

Please join me today in welcoming author Colin Falconer as he shares an anecdote about dressing up as Santa. Enjoy...it is quite funny indeed!

Christmas again.

I liked Christmas best when my kids were little. Lauren and Jess just loved Christmas, though they were a lot different to the ones I had in London. Here the seasons are reversed; Australia can get very hot in December. Some days it can get very hot indeed.

Like the day I had to dress up as Santa for the kid's Christmas party.

Even in these times of equal opportunity, mothers strongly prefer Santa to be a man, and that year it was my turn. As I put the girls to bed the night before the big event, I told them: 'Father Christmas will be coming to the party tomorrow.'

Jess clapped her hands, delighted. 'Will he be coming on the back of his sleigh?'

'Well no ... he's coming in your mum's car.'

''But will he be bringing us presents?' Lauren asked me.

'Of course.'

Jess's suspicions were aroused. 'Why is he giving us presents tomorrow? Is he trying to get out of bringing presents on Christmas Eve?'

'He'll bring you presents on Christmas Eve as well.'

Lauren wouldn't let it drop. 'Where does he get the money to buy all these presents?'

'He doesn't buy them. The elves make them.'

'What elves?' Jess asked.

'There's two of them,' Lauren explained to her, this being her obligation as older sister. 'They're called Fisher and Price. Anyway, I don't believe in elves. Jamie Burridge said Santa gets all the presents himself from the shops, same as everyone else. He's got a platinum Visa with a really big limit. That's why he's coming to the party in mum's car. Last year he had to sell the reindeer to pay back the banks.'

They grow up so fast.

Christmas in Australia

The next day I got dressed for my role. I put on a fur-lined Santa suit, fur lined hood, fur lined gloves, fur-lined boots and fur-lined beard. The temperature outside was one hundred and three degrees.

Some of the mothers popped by the house to see how preparations were going. Being fairly long and lean, my appearance was not to their entire satisfaction.

'Needs pillows,' one of them said.

Five pillows later they still weren't happy. 'Still not fat enough,' another said. 'My husband would be perfect but he's at work.'

So they stuffed another couple of pillows up the front and finally pronounced themselves satisfied. 'There do you think he needs anything else?' my wife said.

'A glass of water,' I said.

On the radio the announcer said it was the hottest December day for nineteen years.

The hall they had hired for the party was not air-conditioned. Santa had to wait in the stuffy little kitchen while small children were rounded up. By now his little cheeks were indeed red as a cherry, but from heat exhaustion, not because of any merry disposition.

My wife gave me my final briefing. 'The kids have pulled all the crackers and eaten all the little pink sausages. Now they've started fighting with each other. You'd better get in there and distract them.'

Ringing my little bell and groaning a few muffled 'ho-ho-ho's' I staggered into the hall. The children shrieked and ran to their mothers. Two were so overcome they left little puddles in the middle of the floor. Santa Claus is all very well on Christmas cards but in the flesh kids are terrified. They'd rather sit on Freddy Kruger's lap.

photograph: Jackie

Their distress was short lived. It was so hot Santa passed out half a dozen presents then passed out himself.

I heard all about it later from Lauren.

'He's not really all that fat,' she said. 'He's just got all these pillows stuffed up his jacket, like the ones on the sofa.'

'Is that so?'

'And I don't think he's as nice as everyone says, either.'

'And why is that?'

'He fell on the floor and all the mums had to carry him into the kitchen. He kept saying he wanted a beer and said some nasty words. The ones we're not supposed to say. It was like Uncle Terry at your birthday party.'

'Perhaps he wasn't feeling well.'

'That's no excuse. I don't like him. I don't want him to bring our presents this year. I want you to creep in in the dark and hang our stockings on the bed. Just like you did last year.'

I kissed them goodnight and shut the door. This year they will be in a cold country for Christmas and someone else will be kissing them goodnight on Christmas Eve.

And I will be thinking very of the time I dressed up as Santa Claus for their Christmas party and passed out on the floor of the Country Womens Association hall. And wishing I could do it all again.

******

Colin Falconer has been published widely in the UK, US and Europe and his books have been translated into seventeen languages. You can find him at his blog at http://www.colin-falconer.blogspot.com/ or his web page at http://www.colinfalconer.net/

HAREM is available on Amazon US http://www.amazon.com/Harem-ebook/dp/B006JV8IW6 or Amazon UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005MLA3Q8

Leave a comment for a chance to win an eBook copy of HAREM. Giveaway will end on January 3, 2012 at 11:59pm CST. Open worldwide.

Sharing the Joy: Weekend Crafting

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle @ The True Book Addict) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 17:48:00 +0000

I'm planning on making one or two of these this year. They are so awesome and surprisingly easy!

Paperback Book Christmas Tree

Tear off the front and back covers of a paperback book, leaving the binding intact.

Take the top corner of a page and fold it down to meet the binding.

Then fold the same page down to meet the binding again.

Turn up the resulting triangle at the bottom of the page so that it is even with the bottom of the book. Make the same three folds on the next page.

Repeat the folds on every page until the tree looks generously proportioned--about 150 pages. To make things easier, clip folded pages together as you go. Trim the excess pages off the binding by using a utility knife or box cutter to cut through the spine.

Glue first and last pages together so the tree fans around and stands on its own.

To decorate the trees, mist edges with silver spray paint and glue on metallic rickrack "garlands." For topper, stick a toothpick through a rhinestone button shank and into book spine. Or glue bits of glittered floral pick to top. To make silver rosettes, wind small pieces of silver pipe cleaners into circles, gluing a pearl bead in the centers. Glue rosettes onto the tree.

Note: I purchased some thin silver ribbon with colorful glitter embedded inside the ribbon to use as garland instead of the rickrack. Also, they say silver spray paint, but if you look at the image above, the can says glitter spray so I think that's what they meant. If there are other colors of glitter spray available, like green, red, gold, or even blue, I think that would be nice as well.

This craft was in the December 2011 issue of Family Circle magazine and can also be found on their website.

Always in spirit....

Christmas Around the World--Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle @ The True Book Addict) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 18:01:00 +0000

Eclipsing the Christmas festival in Italy is the feast of the Immaculate Conception, honoring the Virgin Mary. Calabrian shepherds, dressed in goatskin trousers and colorful jackets, come down from the mountains to play on their pipes and pastoral flutes, stopping before each shrine in the streets and before the doors of all carpenter shops to salute the Virgin and Child.

Italy's Christmas scene is set with a profusion of pretty flowers and graceful olive trees. Their Santa Clause is the beneficent old witch, "Befana," who, clothed in rags, rides from house to house on a broomstick, leaving presents beside the hearth for the children.

Befana dispensing gifts suspended from a fennel stalk - by Bartolomeo Pinelli, 1825

The Precipio, truly symbolic of the Italian Christmas, is found in every home, with tiny statuettes of the Holy Family, angels, shepherds and Wise Men grouped about a miniature manger.

Precipio made of shells (Image Credit)

(This section--credit, Christmas Around the World, an Ideals publication, 1961)

The Italian Christmas Eve

The traditional meal for Christmas Eve does not include meat. Called La Vigilia, it's all fish and vegetables. This is true with most of the meals served on the night before a religious festival in Italy. It's supposed to be a giorno di magro...eating lean to help purify your body for the holiday.

A traditional Christmas Eve dish is capitone (eel), although it’s not as common as it used to be. Presently, fish that is commonly prepared is baccala, octopus, and shellfish. The favorite in Rome is the pezzetti, which are fried cubes of ricotta or pieces of artichokes, zucchini, or broccoli. Also in Naples, a starter is a sauteed mix of broccoli and seafood.

Of course, next come the pasta dishes. There are different variations according to region. In the north, in Lombardy or Piedmont, for example, lasagna is covered with anchovies, parmesan, and seasonings. In Naples, there's vermicelli with clams or mussels.

Italian Christmas Day Lunch

Lunch is the meal of the day. Pasta in brodo—pasta in broth—is a usually the starter to the meal throughout Italy, but especially in northern Italy. In Bologna, there's meat-filled tortellini in capon (eel) broth; in Ferrara, it's pumpkin stuffed pasta.

Filled Pasta

Eel used to be the common main course, but now, Turkey has become a mainstay—stuffed, not unlike what we eat for our Thanksgiving (or Christmas dinner).

At the Christmas Day meal in Calabria, the table stays set after the meal is finished. This occurs because they're waiting for the Madonna and baby Jesus to come and enjoy the food!

Of course, the dessert can't be forgotten. Generally, Italians aren't big dessert eaters, but sweets at Christmas are very important. Of course, sweet breads, like panettone and pandoro, are very popular throughout Italy. Other desserts include cavallucci, cookies with the image of a horse (from, of course, Siena); dita degli apostoli (“fingers of the apostles”), chocolate- or coffee-flavored ricotta-filled omelettes, a Puglian tradition; and mostaccioli, spiced nut pastries gobbled up by Romans.

Panettone

Pandoro

The Christmas season doesn't end there for Italians, as the season continues until January 6, the day of Epiphany.

(Credit: The Walks of Italy Blog)

Always in spirit....

Sharing the Joy: Guest post with author Cheryl C. Malandrinos and Review

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle @ The True Book Addict) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:26:00 +0000

Please join me today in welcoming Cheryl C. Malandrinos, author of Little Shepherd, as she shares the Christmas spirit as portrayed in literary works. Please check out my review of Little Shepherd after the guest post. Enjoy!

When I considered what I would write for such a blog titled The Christmas Spirit, I began thinking of the literary works where the spirit of Christmas plays a role.

The first that comes to mind for me—and probably many others—is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Who can forget the transformation of miserly, sour Ebeneezer Scrooge after the ghostly visit from his former business partner Jacob Marley and the journeys Scrooge took with the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future? While Dickens painted Scrooge as a horrible man, the reader is left with sympathy for all he has suffered and rejoices when he declares, “I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”

Dr. Seuss came up with his own Scrooge-like character when he created the Grinch. In How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the bitter angry Grinch lives on top of Mount Crumpit overlooking Whoville. The Whos love Christmas, but the Grinch does not, so he decides to steal their decorations, presents, and food to keep Christmas from coming. Imagine his surprise when Christmas morning comes and the merry voices of all the Whos in Whoville float up the mountain. “Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more!”

Even a short poem such as, “I am the Christmas Spirit,” by E.C. Baird, touches our hearts with its profound words. Here are some lines from it that capture my attention. “I cause the miser's clutched hand to relax, and thus paint a bright spot on his soul…

“I enter dark prison cells, reminding scarred manhood of what might have been, and pointing forward to good days yet to be…

“In a thousand ways I cause the weary world to look up into the face of God, and for a little moment forget the things that are small and wretched.”

What do these literary efforts say about Christmas spirit? Perhaps, it is that the spirit of Christmas lives in all of us—we only need to go looking for it. Maybe they serve as a reminder that we are all brothers and sisters sharing one tiny planet in one universe that God created. And maybe, just maybe, they are calling to us and asking, “How will you make a difference?”

About the author:

Cheryl Malandrinos is a freelance writer, children’s author and editor. Her first children’s book, Little Shepherd, was released in August 2010 by Guardian Angel Publishing. She is also a member of the SCBWI.

Cheryl is a Tour Coordinator for Pump Up Your Book, a book reviewer, and blogger. Ms. Malandrinos lives in Western Massachusetts with her husband and two children. She also has a son who is married.

Visit Cheryl at her newly redesigned website http://ccmalandrinos.com or visit the Little Shepherd book blog at http://littleshepherdchildrensbook.blogspot.com.

My thoughts:

Little Shepherd is a wonderful children's book to share with children during Christmas, or really any time of year. It tells about the birth of Christ in a simple way, while also bringing across to the reader that God is watching over us. I read the book to my sons, who are nine and ten years old and I asked them their thoughts when we finished reading. One thing my younger son said first off was that he liked the illustrations (beautifully done by Eugene Ruble). When I asked him what else he liked about the book, he said he liked when the angels came telling them Jesus was born and when they came to see baby Jesus. I asked him how the sheep were kept safe and he said God watched over the sheep. My older son also liked when they went to see Jesus. He also couldn't believe that Obed was watching over sheep when he was only five years old. When I asked him who kept the sheep safe, he first said the angels and then said God. He then asked me how God did that and I told him that God was the almighty and he protects who and what he chooses. He chose to protect the sheep because he wanted the shepherds to witness the birth of Jesus and therefore, to spread the good news. He said, "I wish I could be God. I like God." Out of the mouth of babes. =O) As you can see, Little Shepherd does get its message across. Although clearly written for a younger audience than my sons, they still enjoyed this lovely book. It's a good edition to any family's Christmas book collection.

About the book:

In the hills outside Bethlehem, Obed guards his first flock of sheep. When the angels appear to tell of the Savior's birth, he is hesitant to follow the others to see the new King. When Obed returns to his sheep, he realizes it is a night of miracles. Suggested age for readers: 4 - 8

Always in spirit....

Sharing the Joy: 2011 Virtual Advent Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle @ The True Book Addict) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:41:00 +0000

Welcome to my stop on the 2011 Virtual Advent Tour. For my stop this year, I decided to write an original Christmas short story. I hope you enjoy it.

Christmas Hope
by Michelle Stockard Miller

Mary looked around at the boxes of books piled around the room. Her thoughts shifted to the storage facility down the street where all of her Christmas decorations were stored. Sighing, she got up and began taking books from the boxes and placing them on the shelves.

"I can't believe I don't have one Christmas decoration up, not even the tree" she thought.

Mary came from a long line of Christmas fanatics. It was not unusual for her to have all the Christmas decor up before Thanksgiving and then the trees (yes, she decorates two Christmas trees) and outside lights by Thanksgiving weekend. Unfortunately this had not been the case for the past three years. It always seemed like something got in the way. Her family was not any help either. Sure they loved having everything decorated, but they didn't want to put forward the effort of the decorating itself. And having moved the first week in December, there was a lot more work to do than just the fun of decorating.

"Okay, Mary, stop dwelling on the negative," she said out loud. "There's still plenty of time and as long as everything is decorated before Christmas, it will be fine."

Her teenage sons came running in the room.

"Mom, we need some cookies for the holiday party at school tomorrow." they said in unison.

"Jack, can't you see that I'm busy at the moment. Do you think you could have let me know sooner than the day before? I'm afraid we will just have to buy some at the store."

"Aw, Mom! Store bought cookies? Man, that's a bummer!"

"Well, I'm sorry boys. I have to be informed sooner than the day before if you want homemade cookies. Besides, don't you think that I think it's a bummer we don't have the tree up or anything decorated yet? No one seems to care too much about that." With that said, she walked out of the room, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

The boys looked at each other in dismay. "I didn't mean to upset her." Jack said.

"Yeah, we should know what Christmas means to her." Mark said.

Mark picked up a photo album and began thumbing through the pages. The photographs were of Christmases past. The house was always beautifully decorated for the season and the photos showed happy Christmas celebrations. Mark frowned when he thought of how upset his mom had just been.

"Jack, mom has to work today, doesn't she?" Mark said.

"Yeah, I think she is getting ready to leave in a few." Jack said.

"Good, because I have an idea. We need to call dad at work to see if he can get off early. He needs to pick up the Christmas decorations at the storage place and buy a tree."

"Okay, I'll call him right now. I think I know exactly what you have up your sleeve!" Jack smiled.

Mary came into the room carrying her purse and coat. "I'm headed to work. It's bound to be busy at the store with only a week until Christmas. I'll stop on the way home and pick up the cookies."

"Thanks, Mom. Store bought cookies will be fine," Mark said. "I'm sorry we reacted the way we did. I know you're busy."

"I'll see you later. You'll have to order pizza for supper."

Mary walked out the door. As soon as she was gone, Mark sprang into action. He began unpacking the books and shelving them furiously.

"Dad was a little puzzled when I called, but once I explained, he was on board. He's going to take care of everything." Jack said, coming back into the room.

"Good. Now help me get the rest of these boxes unpacked. We have to be ready when dad gets here."

They worked quickly and had every box unpacked and every book shelved within an hour. Mark vacuumed and Jack took care of the dusting. When their dad got home, loaded with boxes, the house was looking neat and orderly.

"Wow, you guys are really serious about this. It looks great. Now run out to the car and get the tree and the rest of the boxes." said Dan.

The boys came in from the car loaded with boxes. Mark was gingerly carrying an 8 foot tree. The three of them got to work immediately, putting out decorations and trimming the tree. Dan got the outside lights up and the wreath on the door. They rabble roused and laughed while Nat King Cole played in the background. The house was looking very festive indeed.

******

Mary drove home from work marveling at all the wonderful displays of lights at other peoples' homes. The lighted Christmas trees looked beautiful in all the windows. The Christmas music on the radio was making her get into the spirit. She felt ready to tackle getting everything done once and for all, help or not. It was Christmas after all. The time for optimism and hope. As she pulled in the driveway, she gasped in surprise. The house was decorated like the other homes, with beautiful lights everywhere, on the house, trees, and bushes. The wreath she had made years before was in its place of honor on the front door. She jumped out of the car and rushed inside. What awaited her was even more wondrous than what was outside. The tree was trimmed and standing majestically in front of the bay window. The decorations were placed here and there around the room. The Christmas village was arranged on the mantle. It was breathtaking.

Dan, Mark, and Jack were standing off to the side, beaming with pride.

"Merry Christmas, Mom!" said the boys.

"Merry Christmas, honey." said Dan.

"We know how much Christmas means to you and how busy you are. This is our Christmas gift to you." Mark said.

As Mary hugged them and thanked them for all they had done, she had a thought in the back of her head.

"Never lose hope during Christmas. The spirit of the season always seems to bring about happiness, no matter how small or large is the method of delivery."

The End

******

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

Sharing the Joy: Guest post and Giveaway from author, Christy English

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle @ The True Book Addict) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:26:00 +0000

Please join me today in welcoming historical fiction author Christy English.

Sharing the Joy: Christmas Trees and Imagination
By Christy English

When I was a child, I would spend hours in the evening lying beneath the Christmas tree, looking up into the lights. The initial attraction was of course, the gifts. I would lie next to them, as if being close to the objects of my desire would bring Christmas Day to fruition that much sooner. I am sorry to say that it didn’t work.

But as I continued to lie beneath the tree, with the rest of the lights in the room dim or out altogether, I found that I forgot the presents as I gazed up into the shifting colors of the tree itself. Those lights were soothing and mysterious all at the same time. I found my mind shifting from the obsession with the future, from wishing for Christmas Day itself, to an internal world, where anything might happen, where magic was real.

Even as a small child, my belief in real world magic had all but faded. But as I lay beneath that tree, listening to the silence, watching the shifting lights as they blinked in the darkness, I found a different kind of magic. A magic that to this day leads me to other worlds, to other places just beyond the door of my mind. Those places beckon me still, leading me into undiscovered countries, to uncharted seas, where I find my characters and my stories waiting.

Christy English is the author of The Queen’s Pawn and To Be Queen: A Novel of the Early Life of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Please join her on her blog for more musings on magic, mystery, and the beauty of the written word. http://www.ChristyEnglish.com

GIVEAWAY:
Please leave a comment below to enter our give away of a signed copy of To Be Queen. Open to those who live in the US/Canada/UK.

About the Book:

Duchess at fifteen, Eleanor of Aquitaine marries the King of France. But will she find that she must pay too high a price to be queen?

Although Louis VII is enamored of his bride, the newly crowned king is easily manipulated by forces in the Church. Trapped in a loveless marriage, Eleanor fights for her freedom and for the love of her life. In the arms of Henry of Normandy, Eleanor may finally find the passion she longs for, and the means to fulfill her legacy as Queen.

Thank you to Christy for the lovely guest post!

Always in spirit....

Christmas Around the World--Ireland

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle @ The True Book Addict) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 17:14:00 +0000

Christmas Traditions in Ireland
First, Kathleen at Blog O' the Irish and Celticlady's Reviews shares with us the traditions of decorations and ornaments in the Irish family home. Kathleen is the go-to lady on everything Irish and so it's only appropriate that she shares with us traditions of her Irish heritage. Thank you, Kathleen!

Christmas decorations & ornaments in the family home

Most, if not all, Irish families decorate their homes with lights, tinsel and baubles. A Christmas tree is usually erected in the family home on the first day of the holy advent calendar. The tree will be beautifully decorated with an angel on top, presents will lay underneath as seen with many family homes around the world.

A large candle is placed in the front window of the family home, to symbolize guidance for the Virgin Mary and Joseph before the birth of Christ. The symbolic candle is explained to the Children but to add to the atmosphere to the Christmas holiday kids are told it also help Santa find his way to their home.

Many homes will place Christmas ornaments on the fireplace, tables and anywhere else that puts them on display. The ornaments usually consist of angels, elves, snowflakes, Santa’s and anything else that would represent Christmas. There is no special reason behind the display of Christmas ornaments, only that it helps with the atmosphere of such a special holiday. See the list of Irish Christmas decorations if you would like an Irish themed Christmas. (from Kathleen--Blog O' the Irish)

******

The majority of Ireland are Roman Catholic so Christmas is a largely religious time of year. However, many of their traditions are very similar to those celebrated in other countries.

The streets of villages, towns, and cites are decorated with holy symbols, lights, and large Christmas trees located central to the community. Nativity scenes which celebrate the birth of Jesus and the arrival of the Three Kings are displayed in front of most churches.

Irish families attend a midnight vigil mass and each member of the congregation lights a candle blessed by the bishop or high priest.

The feast of Christmas is celebrated in Ireland with a large meal. It is the biggest meal cooked in a family home out of all the meals prepared throughout the year. Christmas dinner preparation is usually began on Christmas Eve...slow cooking the turkey and preparing the vegetables and other dishes that go along with the feast. An Irish Christmas dinner consists of turkey, ham, chicken, stuffing, potatoes, Brussels sprouts, and various other vegetables.

Children are given chocolate as a treat after the Christmas dinner that is more commonly known as a Selection Box, a selection of chocolate bars. Families are strict that everyone must eat their Christmas dinner before receiving their selection box. Families usually gather around the television to watch classic Christmas Movies such as “It’s a Wonderful Life”.

St. Stephen Day (also known as Boxing Day) is another important day during an Irish Christmas; it is the day after Christmas Day. Most families will treat St. Stephen’s Day as day of rest with a visit to their local church and also celebrate with another large meal. St Stephen’s Day may also bring relations to the household to join in on the Christmas celebrations.

Source: yourirish.com

Sharing the Joy: Tumbleweed Christmas, Author Guest Post, Book Review and Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle @ The True Book Addict) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 09:31:00 +0000

UPDATED TO ADD GIVEAWAY DETAILS--SEE BELOW!

Please join me today in welcoming Beverly Stowe McClure, author of Tumbleweed Christmas. You can read my review of the book below the guest post.

A TIME FOR MIRACLES

For most children, Christmas is a time of wonder, a time of joy, a time to dream of Santa and gifts, decorated trees and wishes fulfilled. Christmas is also a time for miracles. Once in a while, however, Christmas is a time of sadness. A parent is sick. A parent has only enough money for food and rent, with nothing left for gifts and trees. In today’s world, a parent may be deployed to a foreign land, or a family may have split up, the mother or father moving away from home. What are children to do in circumstances over which they have no control? They sometimes become very inventive and make their Christmas a special, if unique, one.

Now, Christmas and Easter are my two favorite holidays. For years, when our sons were home, we put up a live Christmas tree. The scent of pine, the sparkle of lights, and the brightly colored decorations I made, along with stars and wooden school houses my students gave me, put us in the Christmas spirit. When I added the ceramic manger scene that I also made to the mantle, every day was a remembrance of the reason we celebrate Christmas.

One year not long before Christmas, I found a tumbleweed that had blown up against our fence. North Texas is noted for its wind and many times tumbleweeds are plentiful. For some odd reason the tumbleweed fascinated me. If you’ve never seen one, it’s a roughly round shaped weed of sharp branches that will stick you if you aren’t careful. Anyway, I took the tumbleweed into the house and set it on top of the China cabinet. Now, why did I do that? What good was the weed? For a few days it just sat there, a quiet reminder that I either should do something with it or else put it back outside to continue its wandering. I finally decided to see how it would look decorated with my western ornaments. I only punctured my fingers a few times as I hung the horses and mice cowboys on the branches because I am opposed to pain, especially mine, and was very careful. A few silver icicles tossed on the tumbleweed turned it into a pretty interesting Christmas tree. I hear that Chandler, Arizona, builds a tumbleweed tree in the historic downtown section and lights it to officially start the holiday season. That most be an awesome sight.

My fascination with the tumbleweed lasted for months, long after I’d put the weed out to tumble around the pasture. When an object or person stays on a writer’s mind for a long time, what does she do about it? She writes a story, of course. So was born my early reader, Tumbleweed Christmas, about a young girl and a tumbleweed.

******

When Beverly was a kid she hated to read. Even though her eighth grade teacher sent her poem “Stars” to the National High School Poetry Association, and it was published in Young America Sings, an anthology of Texas high school poetry, she hated to write. In spite of her rocky relationship with the written word, she attended Midwestern University where she read too many books to count, graduated, and became a teacher, which meant more reading. As she read to her students and they read to her, she made an amazing discovery. Reading was fun.

She also started writing. To her surprise many of her articles were published in leading children’s magazines, such as Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill, Ladybug, and Focus on the Family Clubhouse Jr. One of her articles was published in a PreK-K Scott Foresman anthology. She also has five novels for teens and two books for young readers published, along with a story in Chicken Soup for the Soul. Her latest release is the children’s picture book, Tumbleweed Christmas.

Beverly has three sons and a bunch of grandkids. She and her husband live in the country where deer, skunks, and armadillos stop by for a visit. She writes most every day and usually has a book in one hand, with the vacuum, mop, skillet, or other household items in the other.

Visit Beverly online at http://beverlystowemcclure.wordpress.com

About the book:

Christmas is the time for miracles, but sometimes, a child must make her own miracle, and one for her siblings.

My thoughts:

What a charming early reader for children to read at Christmas. It's also a lovely book to read together as a family, which I did with my sons. Although they are a bit older than the age group for this book (they read quite well on their own now and my younger son reads at a higher level than his grade level), they enjoyed the book. I asked them for their thoughts on the book and here is what they said. They both thought it was cool how she figured out to use the tumbleweed as a Christmas tree. They also liked how she gave up her ball glove so she could buy presents for her family. As we were reading, we came to the part where the main character is talking about miracles with her friend. My son said, "Daniel doesn't know what a miracle is?" So I asked him, "Do you know what a miracle is?" He said yes, and told me, "It's something good that happens when you think it won't." Exactly! Tumbleweed Christmas teaches that we should believe in miracles and that sometimes we just may have to make the miracles happen ourselves. Also, I need to mention the wonderful illustrations. Just terrific! I highly recommend this book as a family Christmas book to be shared every year during the season.

Giveaway Details:
In celebration of Beverly Stowe McClure’s Tumbleweed Christmas, she will be appearing at Pump Up Your Book’s 1st Annual Holiday Extravaganza Facebook Party on December 16. More than 50 books, gifts and cash awards will be given away including an angel tree ornament from Beverly! Visit the official party page here!

Leaving comments on Beverly’s tour stops means more prizes! The person who leaves the most comments at Beverly’s tour stops will win a $10 gift certificate to Amazon.com. The second place winner will take home an angel tree ornament. Visit Beverly’s schedule HERE to see where she’ll be stopping during the month of December. Deadline for comments is 11:59 PM Eastern on December 16th.

Thank you to Pump Up Your Book tours for having me on the tour today.

Always in spirit....

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. No monetary compensation was received.

Sharing the Joy: The Priceless Little Gift--Barbara Briggs Ward

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle @ The True Book Addict) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 16:57:00 +0000

Please join me today in welcoming Barbara Briggs Ward, author of The Reindeer Keeper.

The Priceless Little Gift

For whatever reason, certain Christmas gifts stand out from others received over the years. Sometimes those remembered the most aren’t necessarily the most expensive. Cars, jewelry, trips-they all cost a pretty penny but the one gift I remember in particular cost less than a dollar. That’s because it didn’t matter what was wrapped up inside red tissue paper with my name printed on it in pencil. What mattered was that it came from my older brother.

We grew up in a house sitting next to a lane surrounded by other houses mostly occupied by young families like ours. Because our yard was the biggest one in the neighborhood, it was the one we’d all play in. A favorite game played was “Apes.” We’d split up into families of apes and the rest was pure pretending. My brother always picked me to be in his family. I’d follow him and others up and down the flagstone steps and into and around the brambles and thorns as we fought to survive in our land of make believe. With his wild, red hair and freckles covering his face, my brother made a great fearless leader.

Because the street was on a bit of a hill, whenever school was closed due to a blizzard, we’d all be out there sliding with our toboggans and sleds. It was a great location to grow up in and our home was a great place for Santa Claus to visit. Even though there was no fireplace, our parents would bring a cardboard replica down from the attic every year. We’d get so excited when those pretend flames started back up once the batteries were in place. On Christmas Eve we’d tape our stockings to the cardboard mantle after leaving milk and cookies for that much anticipated guest who’d fill the stockings to the point of overflowing once we were sound asleep.

My brother had the bedroom at the top of the stairs. Mine was in the back of the house. It was all about location on Christmas morning as he’d beat me down stairs; then wait impatiently for me to follow. A few times he’d get under the register leading up into my room and make loud noises. It always worked!
One Christmas he didn’t wait. He came right up and brought me back down. After our parents had their coffee in hand we were allowed to dig into our stockings. Our mother wrapped every little gift stuffed inside them so it took awhile to get down to the toe. Once we did, we were then allowed to open one present from Santa. Then we’d have to wait while breakfast was cooked and served before diving into the pile of gifts awaiting us.

This one particular Christmas was no exception. Wrapping paper went flying as surprises were discovered in that house by the lane. It was after the gifts had been opened and gone over again and again that my brother came up to me with a smile. I remember as if it was yesterday. I was sitting on the floor trying to get a doll with two braids out of its package when he handed me a very small gift wrapped in red tissue paper. Even at my young age I could tell how excited he was. He told me he’d wrapped it after I went to bed and hid it under his pillow. I became excited too. Not because it was another gift. Rather, it was because it was from my big brother.

Seconds later I was holding a 5-stick pack of chewing gum. He’d bought it at the little grocery down on the corner. He knew it was my favorite kind.

Gifts remembered and treasured forever come straight from the heart. My brother’s heart was full that Christmas-as was mine.

Barbara Briggs Ward is the author of the award-winning Christmas story, “The Reindeer Keeper.” She’s been published in Highlights for Children, McCall’s, and Ladies’ Home Journal and is the creator of the Snarly Sally picture book series. Her short story, “In Anticipation of Doll Beds”, was included in the Chicken Soup for the Soul Book titled, “Christmas Magic.” In March, 2012, her short story, “A Brown Boy of Our Own”, will be included in the Chicken Soup for the Soul Book titled, “Family Caregivers.” For more information: www.thereindeerkeeper.com.

Read my review of The Reindeer Keeper HERE.

Always in spirit....

Sharing the Joy: The Gift of Years--Bette Lee Crosby

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle @ The True Book Addict) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 15:33:00 +0000

Today I'd like to welcome Bette Lee Crosby, award-winning author of Spare Change and Cracks in the Sidewalk, as she shares The Gift of Years.

THE GIFT OF YEARS

In our family Christmas starts early, sometimes as early as January, but always before woolen sweaters are pulled from drawers. We buy gifts to tuck away in closets, sew stockings, embroider names and create clever little plots to send some poor unsuspecting guest on a treasure hunt for his or her present. On more than one occasion I’ve been the unsuspecting guest and oh what fun it was.

The most memorable occasion was the Christmas before hubby and I were married. He had given me gifts of jewelry during our courtship and they were always wrapped in the same paper with a shiny gold tassel tied on top. Since we’d already set the wedding date, I expected him to give me an engagement ring for Christmas and sure enough, under the tree was small package with the Jeweler’s gold tassel glimmering in the twinkle of Christmas lights.

Our tree was a twelve-foot high spruce that we had chopped down and carted home from the tree farm; underneath the tree were dozens upon dozens of beautifully-wrapped presents. My eye went directly to the gold tassel; “Oh, you’ll have to open that one last,” my soon-to-be hubby said. So I waited as the rest of the family unwrapped shirts, sox, bathrobes, picture frames and knick-knacks galore. Finally it was my turn. The box felt heavier than I’d expected, but slowly I peeled back the gold paper, then my jaw fell… “a watch?” I sighed, removing it from the box. My disappointment was quite obvious, but future hubby was smiling.

The smile turned to a full-out grin. “Well,” he said, “there is one more gift for you, but I think Santa’s hung it on the tree.”

He expected it to take a good hour or so for me to locate the little red lacquer ball hidden in the branches of the gigantic tree…but as I said earlier, I come from a family who specializes in Christmas and I knew every ornament on the tree. Each and every bauble meant something to me—many were hand-made, clothespin dolls and felt angels with pipe cleaner halos, snowmen, Santa’s and bells tied atop the packages of Christmases gone by, ornaments that were gifts from friends, some from people long departed… everything on the tree was rooted in family tradition. It took five minutes to find the red lacquer ornament and less than a heartbeat to open the ball and find a beautiful diamond ring that was precisely my size.

That was twenty-five years ago. This year hubby and I will celebrate our silver wedding anniversary. As for the red lacquer ball that held my ring…it still hangs on our tree every year only now it comes with a new tradition, one that warms my heart more than words can say. Each year before I hang the ornament on the tree I open it up and inside is a new love note from the man I am so happily married to.

What a wonderful story! Thank you so much for sharing, Bette. Congratulations on your silver wedding anniversary!

Always in spirit....