Archive for the ‘Christmas’ Category:
How the Poinsettia Became the Christmas Flower
Poinsettias are widely recognized as a Christmas flower. Although a modern tradition, the history of the Poinsettia dates back to the birth of Jesus, and to a little girl named Pepita.
Pepita was overjoyed with the news about the birth of Jesus. She was even happier when she was the one chosen from her village to present a gift to the newborn baby. Coming from a very poor home, Pepita was unable to present a gift of monetary value, so she picked a handful of weeds and carefully arranged them into a bouquet. Once she arrived to present her gift, her smile turned into sadness and tears, as she became embarrassed that all she had to offer was a simple bouquet of weeds. Her tears of sadness disappeared when she saw the bouquet turn a bright red once the weeds were lain on the ground. Another miracle from heaven.
When Joel Roberts Poinsett, spotted poinsettias growing in Mexico, he did not realize that he was looking at a plant that would be named after him. Joel Poinsett was the United State’s first ambassador to Mexico, and on his visit to Mexico, he saw the poinsettias in bloom during December. As a botanist and Southern plantation owner, he was intrigued with these beautiful flowers and brought them back to grow in his greenhouse.
The poinsettias flourished in his South Carolina so he decided to give his plants and seeds to his friends and family.
Although discovered by Joel Poinsett, the Poinsettia was not a Christmas tradition until Paul Ecke cultivated the plant in 1902. Albert Ecke and his family emigrated to Southern California from Germany, where they grew a variety of crops, including flowers. Albert Ecke and his family saw the Poinsettia growing wild in California and decided to raise them as fresh cut flowers.
After Albert Ecke’s death in 1920, his son, Paul Ecke Sr., assumed management of the company. Paul Ecke would look for interesting species and began to cross-breed to develop new species. In 1923, Paul Ecke Sr. relocated his business to Encinitas, California.
After relocating the Poinsettia became known as a Christmas flower, after the hard work that Paul Ecke did in introducing and advertising the flower. Paul Ecke Sr worked over 70 years breeding, growing and distributing his plants to nurseries.
Today, the tradition of the Poinsettia has caught on around the world. 75% of Poinsettias grown in the United States, and 50% of those in the entire world, came from the Paul Ecke Ranch.
Resources:
http://gardenofeaden.blogspot.com
Subscribe to the comments for this postChristmas Elf
Good morning. Here is another watercolour card I sold to a coworker.
Watercoloured with SU and Tombow markers.
Happy Holidays
Christmas in Frankenmuth
Once upon a time there was a teeny tiny dog who was lying in bed daydreaming about her mommy, Beth, and daddy, Donnie. She was dreaming that they travelled to Frankenmuth, Michigan with their dear friends, Vera and Chester.
Upon their arrival to the outlet mall, they stopped at Tony’s where the portions were fair, large, Paul Bunyon sized, where one waffel order would feed a family, and the omlets were made with alot one dozen (12) eggs. This made Donnie and Chester very sad because they had to finish everything off their plate or there wouldn’t be any dessert. Or so, mommy said anyways.
Vera was delighted to show the “side” of bacon that consisted of one pound of the stuff. Or was she delighted that the side of bacon was only $5 because a side of bacon in Canada consists of 3 strips of bacon for $5?
Snow started to miss her mommy and wished she could have travelled with her to the land…
where the Nutcrackers stood guard and watched
the polar bears roam free and…
the penguins dance and play in the snow
where they made snowmen all day.
Santa had his workshop
where all the elves were kept busy.
The magic of Christmas was starting to come alive.
The magic was a BIG thing for some 
The day was becoming long, and some of the penguins and other animals wanted to party. Everyone was allowed to bring one cup for beverages. Poor, Chester penguin, got very upset when his friend thought of something he didn’t…
and that was to bring one gigantic mug where few trips were needed to refill the spiked eggnog.
Snow then thought that her mommy and daddy had enough fun and play and needed her home. So in her dream she only let them make more stop–the famous Zehnder’s chicken dinner.
The end.
Tutorial Tuesdays will resume in January.
Christmas Fairy
Good Tuesday morning!
This Christmas fairy card was made for a girl at the office who asked me to make her an elegant Christmas card to send to Holland. This Stamps Happen image was watercoloured with SU and Tombow markers.
So, tell me, how are you handling the stress of the holiday season this year? Maybe your holidays are not stressful. I’d sure love to hear your tales.
I’ll share one of my tales with you. Before I wrote my post called Belsnickles and Mummers, Oh My! I never heard of a Belsnickle. Imagine my surprise when I look at my behind-the-scenes stats and found that many people are coming to my blog because they are googling “Belsnickles”. Go figure. Hopefully there are some stampers who will keep coming back.
Thoughts? Got holiday tales to share?
Snowflake hugs,
Beth
Belsnicklers and Mummers, oh my!
He is described as a masked man who is known to be dressed in tattered and patched clothing, or a dress and a bonnet. He often travels with friends who play musical instruments and play practical jokes.  I’ll bet you are thinking this isn’t a Christmas post, but indeed it is. Any guesses who this might be? A Belsnickle of course!
Each year a visit from the Belsnickle was a much anticipated tradition of America’s early German settlers. 1. He would arrive as early as two weeks before Christmas and as late as New Year’s Eve. Belsnickle roamed the countryside carrying an over-sized sac on his back where fruits, candies and nuts were tucked away until they were passed out into eager little hands. The anticipation awaiting his visit was felt all around the countryside.
To announce his arrival, the Belsnickle raked a window with a branch or rang a cowbell. When the door was opened, the children scurried around hiding in fear of this odd spectacle of a man. To avoid being recognized by neighbours, the Belsnickle wore an over-sized hat and dirtied his face with mud, and sometime resorted to wearing a mask.
When the children came out of hiding, they were coaxed to recite their ABC’s, bible verses, or sing songs. “Nice” children received goodies from the Belsnickle’s sac, but the “naughty” children received a switch with the branch used to scrape the window upon his arrival.
As German-American families migrated during the 1720’s and 1730’s 2., so did the Belsnickle. During this time period, the Belsnickle began to travel with a character who would play music and play tricks.
During the mid 1800’s, the two man show evolved into a group activity known as belsnickling, shanghaiing or Kris Kringling, depending on the town or region. 3.
To avoid being recognized by family and friends, these bandits dressed in curious costumes and hats, and sometimes a mask.
The Country Living 1995 Holidays issue reported that Roy T. Stephenson, from VA, has fond memories of shanghaiing. He travelled around with his troop making noise by striking a sawblade with a hammer, ringing cowbells, whirling noisemakers, and hollering 4. until the homeowners came out to serve cookies and cider. When the homeowners came out to greet the travelling show, they were made to guess who stood under those masks and costumes.
Mummering in Canada was prominent in the prairies and in Newfoundland and dates back 200 years. Today the tradition is carried on between Christmas and January 6th.
In Canada, the Ukrainian settlers in the prairies and Newfoundland started their tradition based on fasting, church going, feasting and merry-making. 5. Although the two areas had similar traditions, there were two things that set them apart: 1) special Malanka songs were sung on the prairies, 2) prairie mummers were never female.
By the end of WWI, the Malanka mummering tradition weakend due to the harsh climate and nature of settlement patterns. 6.
In the last decade, the Malanka tradition on the praries has been revived, 7. but with modern elements. The term “Malanka” is known as New Year’s supper dance held on or about January 14th–New Year’s Day according to the old Julian calendar.
Modern day Mummary parade in Philadelphia
Mummery is still alive and well in Newfoundland. A video can be viewed of a mummering event.
More interesting links
Loreena McKennitt\’s Mummery Play video
Excellent 38 second video showing how the original Belsnickle dressed
Bibliography
1. Country Living Holidays, 1995 Edition, page 34.
2. Country Living Holidays, 1995 Edition, page 35.
3. Country Living Holidays, 1995 Edition, page 35.
4. Country Living Holidays,, 1995 Edition, page 35.
5. http://cjtm.icaap.org/content/13/v13art5.html-page 1
6. http://cjtm.icaap.org/content/13/v13art5.html-page 3
7. http://cjtm.icaap.org/content/13/v13art5.html-page 3
Tutorial Tuesday: Paper Christmas Tree
There are a lot of paper Christmas trees around blogland this year, so I can’t say this tree is an original idea. However, my tree stands apart from the others because there are lots of layers, paper sizes, and ribbon. I’ll bet you will be surprised to learn that that curly gold ribbon is in fact Christmas gift wrap ribbon. It curls beautifully and adds a shine to the tree. The best part: it’s quick and easy.
Supplies:
Styrofoam cone (mine is 7″ tall)
Different widths and lengths of paper.  Mine are 3/4″ x 7″ and 3/4″ x 5″
push pins
white glue/glue dots
Fold the 7″ strips of paper so that the ends touch. Line up the bottom of the paper so it just touches the table. Push the pin into the styrofoam. Alternate colours. Use the smaller lengths as you reach the top of the tree.
As you work upwards, let the bottom edge hang over top of the bottom layer.
These strips look big, but they are only 1/4″ wide. Cut them into strips of 5″ and 4″.
Use push pins to pin the smaller pieces of paper in between the larger pieces of paper.
Once you get to the top, pin curled gold ribbon to the top of the sytrofoam.  Place glue or glue dot on the back of the gold ribbon and ahere to the strip of paper directly underneath. This ensures that the push pins are hidden. When you push pins into the gold ribbon, make sure it is secured to the very top of the styrofoam as seen in this photo.
You are now ready to finish the top of your tree. There are so many things you can do such as:
- Ribbon
- Christmas ornaments
- Dollar store decorations
- polymar clay star
- assorted colours of decorative gift wrap ribbon
- beads
Please link me to your tree. I’d love to see it.
Due to time constraints of the holiday season, I will continue with coloured pencil in January. One kind reader let me know that it is just too hard to do homework at this time of year.  If anyone every has a comment that will be helpful to everyone, please feel free to let me know.
SD Challenge 20: Merry Christmas
Wow, here we are at challenge 20 already, and what a festive challenge it is. Today we are all about the holidays–Christmas, Hanaka, or however you celebrate. This week, we’d like to see your holiday cards, and would like a description of how you celebrate the holidays by linking into the comment section of this post.
Jessica Grundy created four fabulous fairies for the holidays. Check out her blog Solocosmo. Her darling artwork is sold on her Etsy store.
Today’s post is a sneak peak into our newest release. On Monday, four new holiday stamps will be ready for purchase.
Let’s see what the design team has for you this week.
Beth used Wreath Fairy
Jennifer used the Wreath Fairy
Kim used the Wreath Fairy
Beth used the Wreath Fairy once again
Beth used the Poinsettia Fairy
This week’s prize
Wreath Fairy and Poinsettia Fairy
Everything You Wanted to Know About the Candy Cane
Candy canes are one of my favourite things to have on hand during the holidays. There are so many yummy recipes and fun crafts to make. I hope you find inspiration to bake or create after reading my post.
Delight your guests with this candy cane cake.
Kids, both big and small, will like these candy cane cakes. Bon Appetite!
Candy Cane bark is a favourite of mine.
Legend of the Candy Cane
Long ago, in the 1600’s, Germans attended living nativities at church. The mass was long and it was difficult for children to sit still through the long service.  Young choir members fidgeted and became restless. One day the choir director decided to give the children white sticks of candy, in the shape of a “J”, to signify the staff of Jesus Christ.
The tradition of passing out white candy sticks at live nativity masses spread throughout Europe, and eventually people started to decorate their Christmas tree with these candy sticks.
Eventually the idea of decorating a tree with these candy sticks spread overseas, and in 1847, August Imgard decorated a spruce tree in Wooster, Ohio. He placed many white sticks and paper ornaments on that spruce tree, and created the first candy cane tree in the USA.
In the late 1800’s a candy maker wanted to create a candy signifying his faith in Jesus Christ.  This candy maker started with a white stick of candy, signifying the fact that Jesus was good and pure. Next, he shaped the candy into a “J” for Jesus Christ. He decided to add red stripes to represent the suffering that Jesus encurred. Finally, the candymaker added peppermint because it was like hysopp, a herb mentioned in the old testament.
Today, people everywhere are decorating their Christmas trees with candy canes. Unfortunately, the significance of the shape and colour of the candy cane was forgotten and is a commercial symbolism rather than a religous one.
When we decorate our trees this year, let us reflect on the symbolism of the candy cane.
Children’s Candy Cane Colouring Pages
Colouring Page site
Candy Cane from The Color site
Candy Cane Gingerbread House
For many years I used to make a gingerbread house from scratch. I’m thinking of doing one again this year and found a wonderful recipe and tutorial.
Fun Flickr Links
A darling little candy cane is running to catch up to Santa
Yummy candy cane cupcakes
The cutest little houses in Candycaneville.
Candy Cane merry go round
Martha Stewart Loves Candy Canes Too
Turning a plain candy cane into a cute reindeer is a good thing
Ways to use up leftover candy cane
For the chocolate lover there is Triple Chocolate Peppermint Triffle
Peppermint Eggnog anyone?
This was a very fun post to put together. Even I learned something new on my quest to entertain you.
Happy Holidays
Beth
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