Ye Olde Tree Tradition

The tradition of an evergreen entering the house for the blessings and celebration of the season predates the common era. The scent of the pine tree fills the senses with an uplifting feeling that brings smiles and anticipation of the holiday times.

While my family of origin had holiday traditions, when I started my own family I took the time to analyze the good and the not-so-good of holiday traditions. I kept what I liked, what worked & brought happy thoughts to mind. Then I built new traditions with my spouse and children as they've grown.

Times have been tough so this year is the first in several that we've had a tree in our house. It was so delightful to bring this lovely little tree into the house and devise a way to include the best of the best memories and wishes for the coming year.

We support the tree farmer, the tree yard and young delivery man wishing only that we could have offered them more than what they asked, for the joy their work has given us already far exceeds the price & tips we gave. After the holiday, we will donate the tree to be recycled into mulch for common areas.

What traditions have you incorporated into your holiday celebrations?

Happy Valentine's Day

A small acknowledgement for a loved one or intended, sending greetings remains a heart-warming and lovely tradition. Have you sent your Valentine wishes today?

During the mid-1800s in the US, sending Valentine cards was the fashion. The small remembrance could be as costly or as simple as the sender wished or could afford. Amazing editorial accounts dismiss the holiday as a fad and call the sums of $100 per handmade greeting cards outrageous.

By the 1870s Valentines were mass produced and a growing tradition with love blooming with the expansion of the West and rebuilding of America after the war. With a profound awareness of the immediacy of love, the general population grew kinder towards those they held dear.

Handmade Valentines with real lace, painted scenes and hand-written text were popular at the turn of the 20th century. The time enhanced times are among historical archives featuring the positive aspects of the early century.

Contemporary card dealers and hand-craft workshops are found today across the country for the next generation to learn about card-making, tatting and the creative side to this otherwise consumer generated holiday.

Staying true to the spirit of the day remains the essence of theme: Romantic Love is to be enjoyed by participation in all the silly little traditions that makes life just a bit more pleasant. Hand your girl a flower from the bush outside the door or buy her the most expensive flowers in the florist shop, if she smiles that’s what it’s all about.

Happy Valentine’s Day!




More information & thanks for the public domain photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine's_Day

Worst Christmas Since the Great Depression

Come on people, ya’ll are just being greedy not spending money to buy things you don’t need, or need. It doesn’t matter you don’t have a job. You’re just not in the spirit of the season. It doesn’t matter that prices have gone up. You’re just stingy. It doesn’t matter that your standard of living has plummeted. You just don’t understand what Christmas is all about!

It’s a sad state of the nation when people willing to work are forced to work for less than it costs to survive and on their day off, have to stand in line with below freezing temperatures to get bread & ramen noodles. We're not even talking about people who have lost everything, because they've stopped being statistically counted.

But where’s their Christmas spirit? After all, there are all those tax incentives if they’d only buy a house. Then they’d buy all the things you need to go with a new house and a new car and a new wardrobe and CDs and movies and books and toys and jewelry and greeting cards and go out to eat at restaurants and take vacations and send gifts to friends and get new luggage and redecorate their house and go to plays and musicals and build a pool or a hot tub, have parties and you know, have a life.

Haven’t you seen all the commercials, the marketing, and all the pretty holiday advertising? They come to get you on the Internet. Search for “coat” and clothing company catalogs will show up in the e-mail, pop up ads will abound. Look up real estate and have coincidental marketers call your home for a free market analysis.

Can’t you tell that the man at the top is stomping his foot. It’s not Chris Crinkle, it’s the billionaire wishing for his Christmas thrill, to reach a Trillion.

Come on people, get with the program.

Mother's Day 2008

For Mother’s Day 2008 to meet expectations it must reach an estimated spending spree of $3.8 billion. This breaks down, according to IBIS World, in the following way: $2.6 billion on flowers, $1.53 billion on pampering gifts, and $68 million on greeting cards. Notably, 7.8% of jewelry sales are attributed to Mother’s Day gifts.

Greeting card holidays always seemed, well, commercial. Instead, it seems that a tribute paid to honorable people, or ideals might be better served in thoughtful deed at a more logical or appropriate time.

The purpose of the acknowledged origins of Mother’s Day are many. Several cultures site the observance of Goddess manifestation in Mother Goddess or Earth Goddess.

Clearly, the moment of birth or beginning gave the ancient ones pause. The act of becoming Mother in ancient times, as today is an journey of transfiguration for the woman into Mother and the Child into existence. While an occurrence happening everyday, each event is one that should be observed with awe and wonder.

Later, as in the American tradition, the women who sought to call a particular day, Mother’s Day had another agenda, most notably, anti-war or pro-sanitation stances for the American population. These women hoped to find within other women the force of will to make our society less violent and more caring, as a Mother might seek these conditions for her children, so should society seek to make better the conditions of each citizen.

It seems logical that most Mothers would be for Peace, yet, War Continues around the world. It seems that the world would have made headway in some way with “Mothers Against” name your type of pain & suffering, as it shows itself in Lack of Care, Lack of Funding, Lack of Love, yet we find reports of suffering in the daily paper as well as down the street, perhaps, next door.

It was my desire that my children not observe these quirky cultural days in relation to me. Should they desire to do so otherwise with their offspring, that is a choice they will make.

The experiment seems to be successful as we went about our business in much the same way as we do everyday. In much contrast to the day becoming hectic with additional obligations of a “nice dinner out”, our regular simple faire is quite acceptable.

Time is the gift I received with a bit more sleep in the morning, calm throughout the day, a chance to regroup before another busy week and meditation in the sun on this lovely Mother’s Day.