Today is the 12th. day of Christmas in the old church calender... and in the carol, also. This commemorates the day when the wise men reached Christ's manger and 'worshipped and adored him...'  In my family it was always called 'Little Christmas' -not sure where they got the term, it seems to have been Irish, originally and they were almost all Italians!
Here is a little article of the traditions of this end to Christmas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Days_of_Christmas
I will take down my nativity scene either tomorrow or the next day... spoke to a neighbor about bringing her children to see it but she did not do so and I suspect she hasn't the time.
Well, 'tis over for another year. I hope Christmas 2007 was a pleasant one for you. As a craft's person I am already making plans for next year. Leon just gave me about 10 old hard disks - he took them apart and gave me the actual disks. I plan to make ornaments out of them. I need a tatting shuttle in my hand - quick. Its been way too long.

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me 4 calling birds....
Hi there, everyone ! well, Christmas is not yet over. We have the twelve days of Christmas counting down. I am very old-fashioned about Christmas. I don't usually decorate until the 15th. and I don't take down my nativity scene until the 12th. day - which is, of course, the 6th. of January. I sometimes leave the tree up all twelve days, though other years I take it down a bit early...
Look here to understand the meaning of the old carol and to hear it played:

http://www.carols.org.uk/the_twelve_days_of_christmas.htm

The twelve days are called Christmastide (or Christmas time) in the church's calender and it has to do with a time of festival that encompasses Christmas, itself, St. Stephen's day, New Year's and then, as the finale, January 6th., the epiphany, the day we commemorate the coming of the Magi to the home of Jesus and his family. St. Steven is believed to be the first Christian martyr - and unlike the Muslims we have to be KILLED not do the killing to be called a martyr; in Christianity - killing yourself is suicide and is frowned both on earth and in eternity. Oh, its a good way to become a ghost, in case you are wondering! (You never escape ANYTHING.)

There are many traditions the world over about Epiphany... from the wise-man cake to the actual giving of gifts that day, some do not celebrate it at all, though traditional Christians do consider it an important day. The gifts of the wise-men are symbols of Christ's life : gold for king-hood, myrrh for sorrow & death and frankincense for godhood. I try to burn frankincense and myrrh on the 6th. before my nativity scene. They are spicy scents that I particularly like and are still available as both oils and in solid form from herb companies.

In both the Catholic and the Episcopal Church the priest wears WHITE with gold trim. It is a joyous time for we celebrate the coming of the light. In truth, I think the one thing exceptional about Christianity is it's native, bottomless, endless JOY .... In Christian mythology Christ is always identified with the sun - and just because its mythology it doesn't mean it isn't true. All of his symbols are solar in origin.  As many christian  philosophers have said, Christ is prefigured as the solar lord; Apollo, Ra and Lug would all be on that list.  When the Church was deciding feast days early in its history the coming of our light, Jesus, was naturally put  just past the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, when the sun is lowest in the sky, December 21 or 22nd - by Christmas, the coming of the new sun (The sun turns around and days slowly lengthen again. ) we celebrate the coming of the spiritual sun/son. This is purposeful and planned, pointing to a great truth in Christianity.  The Christian myth works - all myth always work on a different plane of consciousness and myth always teaches us inner realities that could not easily explained or understood without myth, but Christian myth is especially skillfully creative. It inspires the even the mind when it is told by a skillful writer.

 We don't know exactly when the Magi arrived but it has always been guessed that it would have been soon after the birth. It does not matter, though, whether they arrived 12 days or 12 weeks or even twelve years, later, and neither does it matter if  they never arrived to worship the new born Christ, for the mythic aspects still work: The wise men are often shown as belonging to the major races of man :African black, European white and golden Asian - we don't know much about them though we do know that the Magi are an actual sect of astrologers who worshiped Light in the form of fire - ie. the Zoroastrian religion - a gnostic religion of the Middle East (Iran) and India - which believes that the universe is a never ending battle ground for the forces of Light and the forces of darkness and they are very close to my own philosophy, in many ways. In their coming, in their acceptance of both his God-head and his kingship, they are symbolic of all of us and they showed that Christ came not only for the Jews but for all mankind.  From the very beginning, Christianity was meant to be universal and open to everyone. Christian myth is always its most powerful aspect. I would suggest you read about the "Hunt for the Great Unicorn" tapestries if you want to do research into the mythic aspects of Christianity. There is always pure history (first century Middle Eastern politics, the astronomy of ancient times, for example.) and the mythic realm : the star, the wise-men, the search for the holy grail, the hunt of the great unicorn. One is for the mind, the other for the heart. I always prefer the myth to the details of the history, at least in my religion. Facts prove nothing of any value in spirituality and religion.

The Zoroastrians still exist but they are a minor religion of mankind. Gnosticism has always existed in one form or other. It is not a religion, itself, though elements of it often appear in religions.

                                    TO EVERYONE !!!!

We bought it yesterday and it sits undecorated, quite pathetic in its barren state... Leon is sick with a cold/flu, so the house is quiet and he is resting, sneeze, sneeze, cough, cough... I will be decorating all day. Well, must go and deck those old halls. OH, Joy, joy, joy, dearest friends, all ... cold or not 'tis the season to be jolly !

Our 32nd. anniversary is Thursday... don't know how many anniversaries I was either sick or fighting off a cold/flu.... so its nothing new. It doesn't seem possible ... 32 years? Best darn thing ever to happen to my life was and is, Leon.

We are buying the tree today if everything goes well. Leon bought a black-powder pistol for Christmas and we are going to make the tallow (so we can make the wads) this week. I've never rendered fat on purpose so its going to be a new experience. I may make soap with what I have left over.
Everyone seems to be raving about the new Will Smith Movie "I am Legend" - but I ask you, do you really want to see a movie about the end of the world at Christmas time? This year they offer a movie written by an atheist about a girl who wants to destroy the church and kill God and a movie about vampires... so much, for Hollywood's Christmas spirit!  The guy is a fine actor - both proficient and skillful - Not brilliant in the old sense of the word but certainly one of the best in movies today so I am sure the movie is fine. The story is incredibly dark, though and I have no desire to contemplate the darkness in this season of both physical darkness and profound spiritual light - I need to be lifted up not cast into a horrible hell. I might get it out of the library and see if it is any good... Leon may want to see it.
I have to go ... Leon wants go ... he is afraid we will miss all the good trees ...
OH - if you want to see real Christmas movies I will write the list my favorites tomorrow.

I've got that foggy,weird distorted feeling I used to get when young and working on weekends with my mom in the Abby kitchen. I try my best never to exhaust myself to this stage, but here I am. I used to cry, I would get so exhausted I could nothing else.

I sent the last gift box out this morning  - but funny, funny - when I went to dry the wash later, I found 3 scarves that I had totally forgotten about. Oh, well - Maybe that is why Leon's brother's wife's gifts seemed a little skimpy this year? I also have a store bought shawl that should go to someone, I just don't know who  -- Me?
I try for evenness and coverage of all ... but sometimes I just muck up, if only a little. I promise to perk up later, really I do!

I really need to start moving, sometime, today. I seem exhausted. Is it the weather, the sun cutting out...the longest night of the year just weeks away, perhaps?  well, we are in for another spat of cold-sunny-icy weather so I think I will get out and walk in the sunlight, even if it is as cold as Hades !
Leon had overtime this week. I can't seem to motivate. All that is left is sorting everything out and making the boxes up.
Hey - 176 lbs. this morning !!! brought a smile to my face and all .... feels good. This counting downwards is beginning to be actual fun. I am not sacrificing that much, everything considered. I do hope my blood work will be very positive when I, at last, go back to the doctor's.

Watched the last Pirates of the Caribbean last night... weird, weird, weird... sad ending, though. I would suggest it was the best of the three in many ways, including its emotional ending. The plot was a bit muddled in places and I am not sure they always obeyed the rules of their own 'universe' - a big NO in fantasy and science fiction but it was otherwise a fine, amusing movie. Not Shakespeare, of course, but I don't need Shakey every day. Speaking of Shakey I need a heavy dose of the master, soon - 12th. Night, perhaps? or what about Hamlet?

Here is a page of quotes for your amusement and amazement... love Winston Churchill - with Teddy Roosevelt, he is one of the two men I admire the most when it comes to modern politics.
 http://thinkexist.com/quotation/you_have_enemies-good-that_means_you-ve_stood_up/220332.html

See if that link works - going through the top link page icon seems to be a rather hit or miss or mess affair. I am very frustrated with the linking option on this site... it works or it doesn't and I do not understand how the two differ. I like linking people to sites that encourage their further education and understanding... isn't that one of the reasons I like to blog, because I am a frustrated teacher, at heart?
I learned a valuable lesson last night : Do not attempt to knit socks while watching a Pirate movie. You will have to pull everything out, afterwards!!!! Sad, sad, sad.

Wednesday is Mail -Day. Help me, oh, Lord ! I have to wash and pack everything we made - and I am still working on several projects. I erred,too,  when I wrapped several hand made items before photographing them - I wanted them for bragging rights, here, but also as a help in future years so I don't make the same exact things in the years to come.

All my dearest friends and family seem to be across country. Leon's brother & wife, for instance, are in Virgina, his home state. Other friends, we met here are now scattered across the country in such varied places as Boston, Michigan and Indiana - so everything must travel at least 2000 miles - in two cases, 3000 miles. Really, sad, in a way. It is far more fun to hand a gift to a friend and watch them open it, particularly when you made it, yourself.
 I miss them all both friends and family.

The snow fell but disappeared by morning. The low lands here are not prone towards snow in any large amount - a real snow storm is a very rare thing and even those tend to melt in a day or two as warm tropical air from the Pacific, again, asserts itself. We must go the foothills or the mountains to really see snow nearly every year. As it is I am shivering some as I sit here.

After all this work is done I will settle down some, clean and dust the house - put away a lot of yarn, at least for now, and then, decorate !  I can barely believe another year is its decline. It doesn't seem possible.
Well, the dishes await my presence with a stink rarely smelled in civilized society so duty CALLS !
Sunday afternoon: they are predicting a windstorm tonight or tomorrow.  Just what I need ---- a windstorm ! The chimes outside have been ringing all day,  as it is.  They are saying 60 MPH on the coast but they aren't saying much about inland, that means it could 60 MPH inland or it could slow down to 40-45 MPH. <sigh>
So do I have the clothes washed ??? Are cats carnivores? completely washed - just a few washcloths and I think I will wash those, too - heck I may even iron some, now that the kitchen is caught up! 
I am going to massively irritated if we lose power.

I have no idea what picture I would use for this post... one of those old Doan commercials. I have been wrapping gifts for hours. I am not nearly done but my feet and back hurt, hurt, hurt and I still haven't washed dishes or clothes. The only cure for my back and feet is sitting down a moment and relaxing both. Its going to snow tonight, hence, the decoration today on this website ---  I will believe it when I see the snowflakes, myself.  Leon would have  a fit if he actually thought I wanted snow.
NO MATTER how hard I try I never get the presents quite right - I am giving L. gift shawl to B. because I didn't have enough for B. - etc. somehow it will all even out, I suspect, but I buy/make gifts over months so sometimes I over buy/make for one while neglecting another... is this unconscious favoritism? Don't answer that question, it was rhetorical.  Does anyone else ever do that kind of thing ... now, lets see - 10 gifts for A. and 2 gifts for B. How do I even this equation off. A (10) + B(2) = A (6) B (6)  =   what have I done?
(why do they have no variety of smiley faces on this site?)
Well, I have to clean up. I forgot to weigh myself today - I more than likely lost more weight. Last time I weighed myself it was 182 and that was the day after Thanksgiving - perhaps tomorrow I will remember to do it. Today I got up with Leon and as soon as he left and my coffee was made I started moving things around and getting my supplies out to wrap.
++++
When at last the day is done,
last things said,
let it be
that I was generous to my friends
(to a mighty and surprising fault!)
and rather a puzzle to all.
++++


Tis' nearly December, people ! I must mail, mail, mail by the 5th. or be put to shame ! Merry Christmas to all and a busy week to Santa's many elves.
HO, HO, HO

Christmas rush continues.
 Here is a list :
I need to
 1. make my comprehensive list of gifts and put them in the 'green book'.
2.Wrap gifts all ready prepared/bough
3.Return Donny's shirts to LL Bean - they are too small. (Donny is Leon's brother.)
4. Wash and wrap all hand made gifts. Stretch out and dry all hand made gifts that need to be blocked. I might do this first?
a. don't forget S.'s  tatted doily, sew down knots, wash & block.
5. Christmas cards.
6. make several jewelry pieces from beads bought this weekend.
a. N.'s necklace
b. S.'s "
c. my "
d. Check L.'s gifts to see if you need to make her something
start planning more projects for next year.

7. order dishes and knitting needles from websites
9. get up earlier so I can knit in morning????
10. finish socks for S. & start ones for N.
11. look for motorcycle insurance info tommorrow.
12. get the lead out, pretty please.

Merry Christmas season everyone !!!! Don't forget to enjoy the season & let the joy flood through you.  All is good, all is good. Rejoice!
 I will decorate my site soon, I promise. Love you all !!   HO, HO, HO !!!!!!
Kathy Mary H.

I looked around for a theme for the season (for my blog) but I haven't found one quite yet - I like Multiply a lot but its not user friendly until you actually know something about how website design works. May I learn more in future.

I am SCARED Stiff about Thanksgiving .... I mean, Thanksgiving on a DIET????????? Here is our plan:
Roasted Breast of Turkey (2 people, a full turkey would go to waste!)
Roasted Sweet Potatoes ( my old recipe was heavy on sugar and orange sauce)
Broccoli with Cheese sauce (I am going to use either skim or 1% milk with real cheese.
Maybe mushrooms topped with Pesto (Just made some, yesterday. ) Maybe some other light things. It is difficult to make a varied and clever dinner for just two people - we eat so little at one sitting and I hate to waste food.
Dessert : I am still at a standstill on this subject. My heart says make one, my mind says no way. I am considering something like cookies with a diet sweetener. I am not sure Leon with even eat one if I make it ... Something made with Yogurt/fruit is a possibility but so is a egg custard. Both would yield to a sugar substitute rather easily. I have always been a clever cook - in truth, a very good cook for a mere housewife.  I make a wonderful 'biscuit' from the Middle Ages called Shrews-bury cakes... made with butter, flour, sugar , a mixture of alcohol, egg and rose water. Leon loves them, and, yes, the original recipe is definitely from the Middle Ages. I could tweak it a bit... use whole wheat flour, artificial sweetener and a Smart balance margarine. I always tweak recipes for amusement, really - so I know what I am doing.  I haven't got this diet/cooking thing-ie quite mastered, yet. Also, if I was to declare a no diet day about now - it wouldn't be Turkey on the table... it would be pasta, salad, garlic bread and home made cheese cake. If any of you want any of the recipes I have mentioned, ask me and I will post them tomorrow or the next day. I make my own turkey rub, by the way - a nice mix of herbs and salt. Rubs are very easy to make and are always over priced at the supermarkets.

 Most cooking is just good sense. I have always had a passion for art of cooking, since my earliest days. I could lament the loss of so much I used to cook or I can look forward and figure out new ways to do things that are a lot healthier and keep both of us alive a lot longer. I choose the later. What I really miss out of my diet isn't sugar - its cheese of all kinds. I fear cheese may have to be the rare and wonderful cheat for the rest of my life.  I have been a cheese lover my entire life ... that and salami ... I could live off of those two foods, but that wouldn't be very healthy.
 - That I need to master new healthy recipes is the obvious answer to my problems. Leon seems against dessert, right now, perhaps wisely ... I want to create new recipes, he doesn't want a sweet tooth eruption. I think he is mostly right but I am also realistic about human nature... I like sweet if it is done correctly and skillfully.
If you want a real fine sugar substitute try Stevia.
 It is a herb from south America that is many times sweeter than sugar but isn't processed by the body as a sugar ... I use it all the time - it actually has a positive effect on blood sugar.  The reason it is not more popular has to do with politics and ignorance. Silly, really. Its a herb, people, no more harmful than sage or rosemary.

I feel really challenged by this first holiday since my diet began... I love food, I love making good food and seeing others eat it. It is a cultural and social aspect of my nature that is founded in my self-identity as an Italian.

 It is difficult to face the fact that food, a passion I have had so long could have killed me - how do you approach food wisely?  Enjoy the wonderful tastes, the challenges of making it, the speed limits of calories?  I don't have the answers quite yet, but I swear I will find them.

I am working on Christmas gifts, now, full time... and we fetched the boxes to send everything, yesterday. Leon's got to work next weekend and we try to stay off the roads during the holidays so we ran Many errands, yesterday. I need to get everything organized as soon as possible.  I never meet up to my own wishes/standards/desires/creative imagination, dear friends... I would LOVE to have done more, made more... my imagination always outstrips my shear ability and the limits of time and effort that are laws of the universe.

A very Happy and joyful thanksgiving to all of you who read this ! Life is Good !! I am actually very pleased with my diet - I am either 183 or 184 by our scales. I don't want to back slide, as you can well imagine. This success is too hard won.  Blessings on all !

Hi, everyone -
I am being held at the North Pole. Santa says he's not letting me go until I finish the Christmas presents I have been neglecting. I pulled all outstanding projects, varried as they were, out of bags and have begun tying off ends, hiding ends and generally washing & finishing all the projects but you know how Mr. Santa Claus is - What an elf !  Don't try to ransom me !!!! I got'ta do the work like a good Italian Elf or there will be hell to pay!!!!! But please, though, send vegetables and a little chicken soup, for mercy's sake. Even the houses here are made of candy and I don't want to  destroy my diet. When I asked for my daily rations I was handed hot peppermint soup with floating candy cherries  and loaf of dark chocolate.  The dessert was german chocolate cake. I resisted all temptation and hung my head in both sorrow and wonder but I am going to lose control without some vegetables.  Help !!! send vegetables, soon.
Kathleen Mary H.
North Pole,  international waters
November, 15th, 2007
P.S. Santa is allowing me to watch a real interesting history video about gunslingers in the Old West, so he isn't completely without mercy, nice of him, no?

Can I have a house elf for Christmas... PLEASSEEE ? just one. Make him funny and cute and a really hard worker - I'll even knit him a hat, scarf and booties and free him just as long as he sticks around and helps me with the housework. Heck, I'll sew him a wardrobe if he does my dishes ! I don't want to OWN Mr. House Elf; I am satisfied with a servant that I pay, if only a little (not hardly rich as Italian Witches, go, I suspect.) plus room and board.
No, I am not getting my work done. I am not doing nearly enough. I am doing my Christmas shopping and making gifts of various kinds. I am so far behind in just about ever facet of my life I have been writing here for about 2 weeks with any real consistency.
About three weeks ago my doctor read me what can only 'the riot act'. It was so frightening Leon took a week off in the middle of September and we went walking and began our diet with salads and full reduction in all food that week - The dear man really, really loves me - He walks every day with me. I think I am finally calming down and finding my voice and peace, once again. I tend to deal fear by first screaming and then growing very introspective.

Actually, that poem - I admit that pathetic poem a week or so ago was a heart-felt revelation of the situation. I am in rather a mess health-wise. I could end up very, very sick if I don't do something... not only diabetes but a heart condition. I have a load of physical problems I don't like to talk about - talking about them always sounds like whining to me no matter how much I try to explain feeling sorry for me (or me feeling sorry for myself !) is rather silly and an awful waste of time. Part of the list is inherited junk, part, just a long and somewhat colorful life : so short I don't need the calories big people need, really, really flat feet so almost all walking is rather painful for me almost all the time, hypothyroidism that I suspect is inherited and suddenly popped into existence sometime in my 40's, twisted toes that are bent all kinds of ways and most annoying and very embarrassing : I have IBS - irritable bowel syndrome which makes dinner and post-dinner times sometimes rather shorter and more interesting than it would otherwise be ! Sometimes it doesn't even have to be dinner. I am an Italian of the old fashioned kind who loves to cook for friends and family and its really a kind of cruel torment to deny me the joy of both making and eating a fine dinner - making salad every day is incredibly uncreative and utterly boring. I fell so severely in my early 20's that I permanently did something to my lower back and my upper leg goes slightly numb or tingles or just plain hurts - see what I mean about whining?

I really am short (How short is she?) 4 feet, 9 inches, though one nurse claimed 4 feet 8 inches but I will deny THAT until my dying day. There is a lot to be annoyed with when you under 5 feet tall- though, I have always trying to enjoy the humor of the siltation more than dwell on some of the problems involved with being short in a tall world.

The doctor kept telling me to reduce my calories ... 1500 ? gained weight ... 1200 ? still gained weight. He thinks I am eating 1200 a day, now. .. poor, deluded doctor. Try between 300 - 600 averaging about 500 a day and I still am going down rather slowly. Leon is eating maybe 1000-1500 a day and has lost at least 11 lbs. I am not sure exactly how many I have lost but I suspect its about 9. I bought about about dieting and the thyroid and I am going to educate myself - something I should have done the day I found out that my weight was, in part, caused by an untreated thyroid problem. I have always wanted to write something about IBS - because I've learned a lot about very useful ways to keep it under control, but have never had the nerve because - well, its embarrassing.
See what I mean about whining ?
I am busy, also, with preparations for Christmas - not only shopping but pulling some decent gifts together, what I mean, I need to wash & finish, fringe, box some shawls I made earlier this year - I don't have as much made as I did 2 years ago and I don't think I am going to finish that much in the next 2 months - so I need to get some quick gifts made and ready to send before the end of November or the beginning of December. I have to mail everything (We joke that getting to know us is a one way ticket out of the Northwest because all our dearest friends seem to move away soon after becoming our friends!) very, very late November or perhaps the first week in December .