SUNDAY FUNDAY - DECEMBER 27, 2020
WOW - IT IS TWO DAYS AFTER CHRISTMAS!!
Do you have a favorite Christmas food? Do you have Eggnog (with or without liquor)? Do you have gingerbread houses or cookies? We had turkey on Thanksgiving, Ham on Easter, and I don’t remember what we had on Christmas - maybe a HoneyBaked Ham? My father had a standing joke that we could have leftover turkey from Thanksgiving for a whole year!! Do you have pie? Do you like Mincemeat pie? I do (and no meat in the mincemeat pies I’ve eaten!!) Do you have fruitcakes? Actually, I don’t mind fruitcakes (unless they are the really bad ones - that could be used for bricks!!). Do you have wine?
For Christmas Eve, I spent it with a friend’s family. I drive for the Georgetown Faith in Action group. In particular, two of my riders have become great friends. One has a daughter in Round Rock who invited us to cook on Wednesday and then to enjoy Christmas Eve with them on Thursday. And, no mincemeat pie, but some very nice cherry cheesecakes!!! (It was nice to be with a family for Christmas).
As a child, we opened presents on Christmas Day. One year, my uncle was visiting and wanted us to open presents on Christmas Eve (which we did), and to me, that spoiled Christmas.
Has your Christmas/Holiday Card list decreased over the years? I had cards for about five local friends and emailed greetings to others!!!
At age 73, I really don’t need anything for Christmas, although LOVE is always an awesome gift!!! I am learning to be content.
I hope you had a loving, thoughtful, SAFE Christmas!!! Even though there is a vaccination, COVID is NOT over!!!
Hugs!!
Karen
CRYPTOGRAMS (encoded messages - each letter is the same for all the puzzles. One hint is given at the bottom)
Do you do Cryptograms? Here is a list of encrypted Christmas Songs
Q PQOR WYY VR JWFNSJBY
AFYRUN UFTSN, SQYV UFTSN
IRPZ NSR SWYYA DFNS MQBTSA QJ SQYYV
SWXZ! NSR WUTRYA AFUT
NSR JFXAN UQRY
DR DFAS VQB W ORXXV PSXFANOWA
FN PWOR BLQU NSR OFIUFTSN PYRWX
F’O IXRWOFUT QJ W DSFNR PSXFANOWA
WDWV FU NSR OWUTRX
AWUNW PYWBA FA PQQFUT NQ NQDU
AFYERX MRYYA
YFNNYR IXBOORX MQV
TQI XRAN VR ORXXV TRUNYRORU
XBIQULS NSR XRI UQARI XRFUIRRX
F AWD OQOOV ZFAAFUT AWUNW PYWBA
KFUTYR MRYYA (hmm - #11 and #16 have the same word)
POEM TIME:
Do you know this poem by heart? I did once upon a time. But, I missed a few words here and there this year. We sang it in the High School Choir (55 years-ago!!)
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds;
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window, I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,
Gave a luster of midday to objects below,
When what to my wondering eyes did appear,
But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny rein-deer,
With a little old driver so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment he must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:
"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"
As leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the housetop the coursers they flew
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too—
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head and was turning around,
Down the chimney, St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly
That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight—
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”
******
Hints: Q in the Puzzle is “O”, R in the puzzle is “E”.
*****
SOME CHRISTMAS QUOTES
"Christmas isn't a season. It's a feeling." —Edna Ferber
"My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?" – Bob Hope
"May you never be too grown up to search the skies on Christmas Eve."
"I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph." – Shirley Temple
"I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year." – Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
"Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas." – Calvin Coolidge
"God bless us, every one!" — A Christmas Carol
"Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmastime." – Laura Ingalls Wilder
"Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone.” – Charles M. Schulz
"I don't think Christmas is necessarily about things. It's about being good to one another." — Carrie Fisher
“Peace on earth will come to stay, When we live Christmas every day.” – Helen Steiner Rice
******
CHRISTMAS MUSIC
I love Christmas religious music. I grew up in choirs and for many of the common Christmas carols, I can sing four stanzas (and my voice is pretty harsh these days).
I also sang Handel’s Messiah a few times, and I greatly enjoy singing along with it.
For me, Christmas is the birth of a special baby. For me, this is the Messiah - I know my Jewish friends are still looking for the Messiah - and we can agree to disagree on this topic. Never-the-less, someday, the Prince of Peace will be with us someday to reign forever and ever!!!
Next week, the obligatory review of 2020 - COVID, Black Lives Matter, Election, Isolation, and (maybe) Hope!!!
LOVE WINS!!!
HUGS!!!
Karen
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