Maureen18's Blog

15 Days to Valentines Day.

MaureenH — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 09:05:04 +0000

The question is – how did we end up with a romantic celebration based on a saint about which so little is known? It appears that the legend of St Valentine can be attributed to an early author called Jacobus de Voragine. Around about 1260, he wrote The Golden Legend (Legenda Aurea). It was described in Wikipedia as “a late medieval bestseller” and was one of the first books to roll off Caxton‘s Press in 1483. Legenda Aurea was a compilation of stories of all the saints who had been venerated at the time he wrote the book. His stories were based on references made in the Roman Catholic Church’s services commemorating that saint, with perhaps some literary license given to the biographies he included describing incidents involving the saint’s life. According to his version, St Valentine was persecuted as a Christian and personally interrogated by Roman Emporer Claudius II (AD 268-270, a possibility as Valentine of Rome was martyred in AD 269). He was executed for attempting to persuade Claudius to leave his Roman paganism and become a Christian. But, before he died Valentine is reported to have performed a miracle of healing for the blind daughter of his jailer. Another of the Legenda Aurea stories attempts to draw some connection with sentimental love. It tells of Valentine’s rejection of a law that ordered young men to remain single because Emporer Claudius had declared that married men did not make good soldiers. The priest Valentine is said to have secretly performed marriage ceremonies for young men. When Claudius found out about this, he had Valentine arrested and thrown into jail. On the eve of his execution, he is said to have written the first valentine himself to the jailer’s daughter whom he had befriended and healed. It was signed “From your Valentine”.

For a special gift for your Valentine this year I recommend Gifts for Your Valentine. Click here to view a suggested range of items you may wish to purchase for your special someone this Valentines Day.

19 days to Valentines Day

MaureenH — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:24:36 +0000

19 days to Valentines Day. So what is the big deal about Valentines Day? Who was St Valentine and why is February 14 so significant? A search of Wikipedia reveals that the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints lists February 14 as the feast day of Valentine and that the date recognises when Valentine was buried in Rome. The Catholic Encyclopedia lists three Valentines and because there is little known about any of them, they are all ascribed to the same feast day. Valentine of Rome was martyred about AD 269 and was buried in Rome on February 14. There is no official information recorded in Roman Catholic documents about why or how he died, but his personal relics can be found in Rome and also in a Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland. Valentine of Terni which is just north of Rome, was martyred in AD197. Wikipedia says he died during persecution by Roman Emporer Aurelian but Aurelian is supposed to have ruled from AD 270 to275 so I am not sure about that one. Both of these Valentines are buried in separate locations on the Via Flaminia, just north of Rome. A third Valentine was martyred in Africa with a number of companions, but nothing more is known about him. In 1969, the Roman Catholic Church decided to remove St Valentines feast day from the Roman Catholic Calendar because there was so little known about him (or them). The only known fact was that he was buried on the Via Flaminia on February 14. However, St Valentine’s feast day is still celebrated by traditional Catholics who follow the older pre-Vatican II calendar.

How about celebrating St Valentines Feast Day – February 14 – by giving someone you care about a special gift? I would recommend Gifts For Your Valentine. Click here to check out some of the gifts that you may want to give to someone special this Valentines Day.

20 days to go to Valentines Day

MaureenH — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:55:07 +0000

20 days to go to Valentines Day. I often wondered what the big deal was about Valentines Day. As youngsters the idea of people going all mushy and giving each other hearts and kisses was chunder-forming to the extreme… unless they were chocolates and sharing was part of the Valentines Day custom. My older sister was such a pain when it came to Valentines Day… or any day come to think of it. On the day she would mope and moan right up until such time as she had at least half a dozen cards from a number of “unknown admirers”. The objective among her group of friends was to see who could get the most Valentines. The guys in their classes must have had to work after school to save up for the cards they were dishing out. They knew how to play the game.

I will confess that I was actually a little chuffed if I ever achieved even one Valentines Day card from a secret admirer in my later years. But thankfully, I never reached the heights of stupidity that my sister reached among the self-admiration society in which she mingled in those final years of school. Hard to believe that she is now a successful business woman, happily married and a great mother. She found her Valentine and married him – a guy who admires and respects her and she him. Even in his own busy day, he finds the time to send her flowers when she least expects it, helps her around the house and even makes her take time out to meet up with her scatty former school buddies. Are some people lucky or what?

For a special gift for someone you care about, I would recommend Gifts For Your Valentine. Click here to check out some of the gifts that you might want to give to someone special this Valentines Day.

21 days to Valentines Day

MaureenH — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 10:46:08 +0000

Its only 21 days to Valentines Day. I’ve been thinking about what past Valentines Days have offered. The first Valentines Day card I ever got was so soppy. I was about 11 years old… I knew it was from Laurie… I so hated him. And he knew it. And I later found out that he did it as a dare. How sad is that! I didn’t even get a card from someone who just wanted to give me something special, even secretly. My friends thought it was great. In fact they thought it was a great joke! Only one of them had gotten a card of her own and she had a pretty good idea who it was from, seeing as she had been going out with the guy for three weeks. She recognised the handwriting. He wasn’t the brightest light on the Xmas tree. I didn’t even think he could write. He was dork. She only lasted 4 weeks with him anyway.
By the time I was sixteen, Valentines Day cards were quite special. I didn’t have a steady boyfriend, but I had lots of friends who were boys. But in those days cards weren’t considered “a boy thing” to do. If you got one it was special. And it was top secret. I never ever found out who sent the card I got that year. And I put out a lot of feelers among friends and foe to try to discover who would have sent me such a lovely card – it wasn’t full of mushy sentiment, but it just simply said that someone enjoyed being my friend. That was special.

Forests, Trees and Christmas

MaureenH — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 11:07:13 +0000

How Perspective Can Reduce Holiday Stress

When one suffers a lack of perspective, it said that he or she might be unable to “see the forest through the trees.” In other words, their attention to small parts may prevent them from gaining an understanding of the whole. It is possible to get too bogged down in details and to allow the mind to exaggerate their importance. When it comes to the holidays, there are many of us who have a hard time seeing the bigger picture and it can lead to a great deal of stress.

By becoming too focused on smaller parts of the holiday experience, we lose track of the greater meaning of the season and create highly stressful situations. There are some of us, for instance, who may spend hours obsessing over outdoor holiday decorations. Are those lights right? Is that figure in its proper place? Etc. It’s find to take pride in one’s holiday decorations, of course, but it is possible to become so focused on the perfect display and to become so frustrated at the process that one begins to lose track of how that one aspect of the season fits into the bigger picture.

Another example, and one to which many of us can relate, is gift shopping. The idea of freely giving to others during the holidays should be a source of fun and joy. Too often, however, it degrades into a trying and frustrating exercise. The simple act of giving somehow becomes a high-pressure activity that seems to consume us. Instead of enjoying this one component of the holidays, we allow it to consume a disproportionate amount of our attention and consideration. Finding the “perfect gift” becomes an intense process, devoid of pleasure.

The problem, in both instances, is the same. We lose track of the holiday forest as we become single-mindedly focused on one Christmas tree. We begin to see each part of holiday preparation and every aspect of holiday activities as ends in and of themselves, as opposed to small means to the greater end of a pleasurable holiday.

This loss of perspective is one of the greatest causes of holiday stress. We begin to believe that successful completion of every single holiday task or challenge is integral to having a successful Christmas. Every single part of the equation, from wreath hanging to making an extra pie is perceived as a matter of great importance. Not surprisingly, we find ourselves jumping from project to project in a state of high stress. Somewhere, amidst all of those individual tasks, we lose track of the essence of the holidays completely.

Some may argue that each step along the way is important. Perhaps, to some extent every little thing we do does have the chance to improve our holidays. However, if we reflect on Christmases past, we generally don’t remember the small mistakes or tiny incorrect details. Do you remember if every strand of lights on the tree were in perfect synchronicity on your favorite past holiday? Can you ever remember a year when the holiday dinner was completely ruined by one burned dish? Have you ever felt a holiday was ruined by a poor gift-wrapping job? Generally, those smaller features—the individual trees of the Christmas forest—are far less important in building holiday memories than interactions between people.

By stepping back when we begin to feel stressed about any part of the holidays and trying to visualize the overall holiday forest, we can reduce our stress levels considerably. A sense of perspective allows us to realize that correcting a somewhat sloppy gift-wrapping job is not the highest of our priorities or essential to a great Christmas. By seeing the full forest instead of giving our attention to individual trees we are better able to relax, enjoy and celebrate the season.

If you start to feel particularly stressed this holiday season, take a moment to ask yourself whether the source of your stress is really an issue of great importance. Try to visualize your holidays as a whole instead of focusing on the single matter at hand. Chances are that a bit of perspective will allow you to relax and enjoy the season a bit more.

This is one of a series of articles that have been provided to promote a Christmas website with lots of Christmas gift ideas. Check out http://www.xmassites4gifts.com or http://www.sites4gifts.com for other sites with ideas for gifts

Fancy Tales Related to Christmas

MaureenH — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:26:36 +0000

A lot of what is widely regarded as true about Christmas or held as a tradition cannot or has not been verified, or, has changed through the years. Even Christmas Day itself, Dec. 25, has been questioned about whether that is the exact day on which Jesus was born. Skeptics have asked why would shepherds be out in the cold watching their flocks by night during the winter. Those skeptics have put forward the thought that Jesus may really have been born in the spring instead. It is therefore little wonder that there are many fancy stories and tales that are told about Christmas and the Christmas season.

The most common fancy tale that everyone tells, particularly to children, is about Santa Claus, also called St. Nicholas. But even if it were accepted that Santa Claus existed, where does he live and how is he able to get to all the houses of good boys and girls on Christmas Eve?

In the United States, Santa Claus is said to have two homes. There is a home in Torrington, Connecticut, which is used as a distribution point for Santa and his many helpers, who are elves, to hand out gifts. And then, a second home is said to be located in Wilmington, New York, and that is where Santa Claus and his delivery reindeer crew are located.

But Santa can be visited in Cyberspace at anytime and what about the widely held belief that Santa Claus really lives in a village at the North Pole?

The people of Finland also claim that their country is the official residence of Santa Claus. That’s because in Finland, you can actually visit a village any time during the year and see Santa’s workshop and observe Santa and his elves hard at work as they prepare for their very important Christmas gift delivery job on Christmas Eve. The only day when Santa’s workshop is closed to visitors is of course, on Christmas Eve.

Maybe a very smart visitor could visit Santa’s workshop on the day before Christmas Eve to see if there are any clues to how Santa and his reindeers plan to make their trip the next day. That’s because as the tale goes, in Finland Santa Claus and his reindeers do not reach their destinations around the globe by flying.

Finland welcomes visitors to Santa’s workshop but there is nothing said about whether visitors actually have any chance of having a word with the man himself. While the chances of doing so are believed to be non-existent, among the questions that inquiring minds could ask Santa is whether Rudolph is the son of Donner (and to confirm the spelling – Donner or Donder) or whether Santa spotted him in a different reindeer village one foggy Christmas Eve when he had already started on his Christmas toy-delivery mission.

If mere mortals got a chance to question Santa, then he also would likely have some questions for us humans. He may want to know whose idea was it to have Christmas trees and for the gifts to be placed under them.

The tradition of Christmas tree as it exists today comes from Germany by way of immigrants. But it isn’t clear how the tradition really gained a foothold in Germany. One story is that Christians in Germany during the 16th century started to bring trees that were decorated into their homes. Some of those Christians would build pyramids for Christmas. The pyramids were made of wood and would be decorated with evergreens and candles if wood was in short supply.

It is however Martin Luther, a Protestant reformer, who is said to have been the first to add lighted candles as decoration to a tree based on his inspiration from the brilliant light of twinkling stars that shone through evergreen trees as he walked home one winter evening.

As the legend goes, Martin Luther placed a tree in a primary room of his house and placed wires with small, lighted candles around the branches of the tree. And that is how, as the tale goes, the Christmas tree as known today, was started.

Easy Christmas Cooking that is Sure to Please

MaureenH — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:13:49 +0000

Christmas is a hectic time of year. Many families find that they barely have time to breathe much less cook dishes to bring for this or that function. For this reason there are several great cheat dishes that can be purchased and prepared for the occasions and very few people will be the wiser. Though Christmas may be about being with friends and family it is not about broadcasting a possible lack of talent in the kitchen, time on hand, or a shortage of attention span that is required in order to prepare a stellar dish for your Christmas needs.

Of course, you could begin preparing and freezing large casserole favorites as early as August for the Christmas season. In this instance you could freeze all your family favorites and have great dishes not only for family functions that require a pitch in dish but also for those nights when you are far too busy to be bothered with something as demanding on your limited attention span as actually preparing a home cooked meal. This is possible the best method for each Christmas cooking known to man. If you prepare casseroles and similar dishes that work well with a holiday theme throughout the year be sure to double your efforts next time and freeze half for busier months such as November and December.

Of course there is one method that may be a little easier in the long run though a good deal more costly. This is the supreme cheater method. There are plenty of businesses that offer you the opportunity to put together or ‘assemble’ meals then bring them home to freeze and bake. This isn’t quite home made though it tastes as good and might convince those at the parties and events you attend that you are in fact an excellent cook even if you have difficulties finding your way to boiling water. Some cities have several of these meal assembly stores while others have none or only one. You need to constantly check with the menu if you are a finicky eater because they often rotate some of the more popular dishes so that they aren’t available all the time. Since the food is frozen you can typically plan your sessions for those times when they are offering the dishes you are interested in creating.

A variation on the theme above is purchasing prepared meals in the freezer section of your local supermarket. There are a few surprisingly good meals to be had especially if you are considering macaroni and cheese or lasagna for your offering. These are meals that you bring home and heat in your oven. They are often sold in foil pans, which are great for potlucks and pitch ins but not so much for looking good. If that isn’t the utmost concern these are definitely a possible fit for your needs and your plans. They also happen to be fairly budget friendly which is something most of us can agree is a great thing.

You do not have to have super powers or even a great deal of cooking talent in order to make a Christmas dinner that is delicious and easy to make when time is short. Careful planning well ahead of time is often the key to a successful Christmas season. Most of us begin our shopping early there is no harm in also beginning our cooking a little early too.

Decorating Strategies At Christmas

MaureenH — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:07:37 +0000

With so much decorative choice at Christmas, a strategy is needed to ensure that whatever is done looks organized, well arranged and beautiful, and not haphazard and disorganized. By doing some basic or traditional decoration, along with trying creative and different ideas, a beautiful and pleasing decorative environment can be created in all homes.

Traditional decorating ideas include using wreaths for doors or
entranceways and on a wall with unobstructed view. Garlands can be placed along surface where they can be hung vertically or horizontally. And Christmas lights can be used by itself or with garlands, in shrubs and of course on Christmas trees.

Using Christmas lights outdoors along the frame of houses and icicle shaped ones to decorate the roof lines of homes have become very popular. Icicle lights are just as easy as regular lights to put in place and they create a very pleasing display for the holiday season. Adding color to these outdoor light displays can also make houses and the lighting display look more spectacular.

For indoor lighting, candles have become an attractive Christmas
decorative item as they can light up the night in a subdued but beautiful manner. Candles create a pleasing look when displayed at windows if there are at least two sets of two or three windows directly above each other, which is in a vertical pattern. New technologies with candles have also made them safer to use. There are electrical candles but also battery-operated ones that can be
used safely instead of electrical ones or in places where there aren’t any electrical outlets.

There are also creative ways to use and incorporate various items around the home to make Christmas decorations. Christmas or holiday ribbons can be used to make bows that are pinned onto curtains to provide a festive look and a creative Christmas decoration. Like curtains, houseplants can also be dressed up
for the holidays. Small Christmas ornaments can be gently placed on houseplants to give porches, patios and front lawns a surprising Christmas decorative look.

Although many people don’t use Christmas stockings anymore to stuff Christmas gifts, they can still be used to create perfect Christmas decorations. A collection of Christmas stockings can be hung on the mantle, shelf or a wall with or without anything inside them. They will look just as beautiful as those that are often seen in stores.

Christmas lights can also be wrapped along with garlands on a banister or stair railing to add a twinkling Christmas look. Mistletoe can also be hung just about anywhere with or without Christmas lights. If the tale about mistletoe is believed however, then it should be hung somewhere with room underneath where two people can have a friendly holiday kiss or even a hug. Fake snow can also be sprinkled on garlands, mistletoes and wreaths to further enhance their appearance with something from the Christmas season. And to borrow a decorative feature from department stores, several differently sized boxes can be wrapped, piled in a haphazard manner and placed in a corner from floor to ceiling to make a gift pillar decoration.

Old Christmas cards can also be used for decoration by cutting pictures from them to make a collage. The pictures are then glued onto a poster board that can be framed or hung as is on a wall as Christmas decoration. Even Christmas cookie cutters can be put to an easy, simple and creative use as a decorative item at Christmas time. A ribbon can be used to string two or three or even single
cookie cutters that can be placed on the Christmas tree or at a window as decorative ornaments.

Any home can therefore be decorated to be appealing for Christmas and the holidays, given the many ideas and ways that Christmas decoration can be done.

Cooking Christmas Cookies with the Kids

MaureenH — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:54:48 +0000

Christmas cookies are as much a part of the Christmas tradition for many as a visit from Old St. Nick himself. The cookies are often prepared in hopes of his pending arrival by children that are as excited as they can possibly be with all sorts of visions of great things to come dancing around in their bright and shining little eyes. Preparing the cookies in these instances can be a great time of bonding with your little ones but can also be a trying time if you don’t follow a few of the tips and hints listed below.

If you want to make cooking Christmas cookies and/or candy with your little ones the very best experience for you all that it can possibly be make sure you do it on a day when this is the only thing on your calendar. You do not want to rush through this time that is not only important for bonding with your child as a parent but also a time that is an important opportunity to lock in a few precious memories of great times you’ll spend together. This is one thing that you want your children to look back at Christmas and remember doing with you and you want to be able to look back on Christmas and remember doing this with your children.

You should also make sure that everyone is well rested and well fed before beginning the process. This is important now more than ever before, as we know more about the dangers of foods, such as raw eggs, that are included in cookie dough as well as the dough for many of our favorite Christmas confections and candies. You do not want to risk the health of your children through temptation over raw cookie dough.

Be sure that every child gets a turn with the fun stuff. This includes of course using the mixer and watching things spin around as well as choosing their personal favorites for the next batch of cookies. You should also make a few cookies that you plan to let them paint, decorate, and play with just for fun and their own personal enjoyment. This will guarantee a few smiles while also scoring a few brownie points for mom.

Be patient and expect spills and messes. If you can afford a cleaning service once a year, the day after your cookie extravaganza is the day you want to splurge. Seriously, don’t sweat the small stuff. We make little messes every day it shouldn’t be such a shock when they make a really big mess in one day. This is one of the reasons why you want to plan your cookie making on a day when the calendar is clear—you will need time for clean up when all is said and done.

Make sure you have all the necessary ingredients for each and every single recipe before you begin. This is very important as cookie dough doesn’t wait well for that final egg and children don’t understand very well when they are interrupted from one project to run a quick errand (also, when was the last time you made it in and out of the grocery store in under an hour?). If you can make it through all the steps above you should be in for smooth sailing and Christmas cookie cooking.

Christmas Shopping Year Round

MaureenH — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:12:56 +0000

There are a lot of great advantages to Christmas shopping year round. Some of these advantages include avoiding the stress of last minute shopping, not having to worry about accumulating exorbitant credit card bills during the Christmas season and being able to enjoy the Christmas spirit all year. This article will take a look at some of these advantages in an effort to explain the benefits of Christmas shopping year round.

One of the biggest benefits of Christmas shopping year round is not having to do the bulk of your Christmas shopping at the last minute. It also may means not having to do much Christmas shopping in the typically hectic time after Thanksgiving and before Christmas Eve when malls and shopping centers are usually crowded beyond belief and most people have a ton of other obligations to take care of during this time. Although there are some people who enjoy shopping during this hectic and chaotic time, most people find it stressful and only do it because they have procrastinated and still have some Christmas shopping to get done before Christmas Eve. However, making a conscious effort to Christmas shop all year round helps to eliminate a great deal of the stress which is typically associated with last minute Christmas shopping. It also helps you to purchase more meaningful gifts for everyone on your Christmas list because you are not rushing around to purchase the Christmas gifts at the last minute. You may find a gift you think is absolute perfect for your sister in the month of April. All you have to do is purchase the gift when you find it and save it for the Christmas season.

People who do their Christmas shopping year round are not only less stressed around the holiday season but they also have more free time to participate in other activities. Those who like to bake may skip baking if they feel like they still have too much Christmas shopping to do while those who did their shopping ahead of time can take some time to relax and bake wonderful cookies to enjoy during the Christmas season.

Another downside of last minute Christmas shopping is the amount of bills which accumulate. For those who rushed to get their Christmas shopping done in the month of Dec. the New Year can bring in a new set of financial problems as repaying the debts accrued while Christmas shopping can be quite daunting. However, those who wisely did their Christmas shopping throughout the year do not have this problem. If they budget a certain amount of their monthly income for the purpose of Christmas shopping they may not have even noticed the financial strains typically associated with last minute Christmas shopping. Although last minute shoppers may save up to do their Christmas shopping all at once by putting their money into a special savings account, it can be difficult to stick to a budget when you are shopping at the last minute. This is because there they may wind up spending more than anticipated on each person on their list because they cannot find anything else to buy which seems appropriate. When this happens and there is a shortage of time, it is common to just purchase the more expensive item rather than keep looking.

Finally, Christmas shopping year round is a great idea because it helps people to stay in the Christmas spirit throughout the year. While many of us get caught up in the spirit of giving during the holidays, those who are always Christmas shopping may enjoy these feelings of generosity throughout the year. Giving is a wonderful experience and although you may not actually be giving the gifts until Christmas you are purchasing them at other times during the year and this can be very fulfilling. Sometimes simply finding a great gift for a loved one can put you in a great mood and make you feel as though you have really accomplished something wonderful.