Posts by Pat:
The Christmas Spider Legend…
There are many different versions of the folk legend dealing with Christmas spiders from the Ukraine and Germany.
In each case the association with spiders and their webs and our Christmas tree tinsel is delightful!
(Also, the fact that spiders may seem small and insignificant but, in fact, are important is also a concept to consider!)
The legend goes…
The day before Christmas, the resident spiders in the small house in Germany hid in the attic to avoid the house cleaning. When they crept downstairs that night they saw the beautifully decorated Christmas tree. They loved it and crawled about in the branches, leaving them covered with webs.
When Father Christmas arrived, he came up with a wonderful solution for the now cobweb-covered tree. He turned all the webs into beautiful shimmering silver strands.
From that day on, tinsel became a treasured ornament for trees all over the world. Those who know the legend make sure that they give thanks to the industrious spiders by hanging a beautiful silver or gold spider ornament in a prominent location on their tree.
I love the tinsel on my Christmas tree!
So much so, that I have saved it every year for the next Christmas. It’s been over 20 years now, and they don’t make that kind any more!
I loved finding this legend even though I think my family thinks I’m nuts!
(However, there are no spiders on my tree!)
Do you or your family have any special traditions that YOU love?
Some more word play!
Here’s a lighthearted look at some more word play! Would you like to join..? ANSWER: The Peter Pan Club? Never Never The Ford-Nixon Club? Pardon me? The Alzheimer’s Club? […]
Full vs. Enough
One of the lessons of Thanksgiving is that we eat too much! We eat until we’re full, experiencing the sensation of too much. We confuse our desire for that feeling of ‘full,’ with the feeling of ‘enough.’ Even though enough doesn’t feel like full, could’t we make that be okay? Black Friday teaches us […]
Story of two brothers
Two brothers grew up and worked together on the family farm. One married and had a large family. The other was single. At the day’s end, the brothers shared everything equally, produce and profit. Then one day the single brother said to himself, “It’s not right that we should share equally the produce and the […]
Ain’t English fun?
Let’s face it: Sometimes our English language can be downright bizarre. The plural of ox is oxen while the plural of box is boxes, ‘rough’ rhymes with ‘gruff, even though the two words only have two letters in common, and there are actually more than nine hundred exceptions to the infamous ‘i before e except […]
What is time to you?
We’re not really “saving daylight.” We’re just shifting our perception of it! Time isn’t really a thing. It is really nothing but a viewpoint. It is an idea. It’s a linear measure of an experience. It’s recollection of the past, attention in the present, anticipation of the future. After all, we all know that the […]
7 Life Lessons from Carving Pumpkins!
It’s practically Halloween. Schools will have parties, Trick-or-Treaters will out in droves seeking candy, and Jack-o-Lanterns will be decorating porches around the town. The question is, as you carved your pumpkin, did you realize how many of the secrets to success in life are wrapped in that large orange oval? Here’s some of what I […]
Oh No! some more word play!
I can’t help it! You know that words are my weakness! Can you wrap your head/tongue around this tongue twister on a familiar story? Here’s an overwhelming tongue twister take on the tale of the prodigal son. See if you can get through it without stumbling! “Feeling footloose and frisky, a featherbrained fellow forced his fond […]
Information is not wisdom
You do not need to store, stockpile or even keep a lot of information around. (Unless you want to wallpaper the house or insulate your garage!) If you can’t use the information today or it’s not integral to your most important project, you can chuck it in the garbage. And if it’s hard for you to chuck it, maybe it’s smarter […]
The notoriety of Walla Walla!
Back in 2013, there was an article in our local paper that I just found stashed in my files. I hope you find it as much fun as I did! It said: Our area is famous for the Native American tribe from which it derives its name, for the pioneers who settled in our beautiful agricultural WW […]