Aluminum Tree

Was at the Minnesota's Greatest Generation exhibit at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul yesterday. This display made me think of Grandma Alice's aluminum Christmas tree from the 1960s.

Tree Down - February 2012

It's finally down! All you can see here are the tree skirt and tree stand. In 2011 the tree came down on February 27th. I'm ahead by five whole days!

Lights Off - February 2012

The lights finally came off tonight. All that's left is the tree! Pictured above are the lights on a neighbor's trees.

Ornaments Off the Tree

Last year I had the ornaments off the tree by January 30. This year they're all off by today, Groundhog Day. The tree itself didn't come down last year until Feb. 27. Let's see if I can beat that this year.

Christmas Season 2011 - My Attempt at Christmas Cookies

Back in early December I bought a kit to make gingerbread cookies. The cookies in the kit were pre-baked and the frosting and sprinkles were included. Well, it's Martin Luther King, Jr. day and I finally got around to making them. They tasted better than they look.

Christmas Season 2011 -Twelfth Night & Summary

I did a little research online today and found out the following:

"Twelfth Night is a festival in some branches of Christianity marking the coming of the Epiphany and concluding the Twelve Days of Christmas."

"It is defined by the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary as 'the evening of the fifth of January, preceding Twelfth Day, the eve of the Epiphany, formerly the last day of the Christmas festivities and observed as a time of merrymaking.' However, there is currently some confusion as to which night is Twelfth Night: some count the night of Epiphany itself (sixth of January) to be Twelfth Night. One source of this confusion is the Medieval custom of starting each new day at sunset, so that Twelfth Night precedes Twelfth Day."

Well, tonight is the eve of January 6th so we'll follow the Medieval custom and call this Twelfth Night.

Dale and I celebrated with drinks, steaks and chocolate cake (and Downton Abbey too). It was all very lovely.

Christmastide this year was remarkable. It was full of family, fun, food, friends, gifts, Gethsemane and more. I'd like to help sum it all up with a poem. 

Ring Out, Wild Bells

Ring out wild bells, to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light:

The year is dying in the night;

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind

For those that here we see no more;

Ring out the feud of rich and poor,

Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,

And ancient forms of party strife;

Ring in the nobler modes of life,

With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,

The faithless coldness of the times;

Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes

But ring the fuller minstrel in. 

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

-Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809 - 1892)

Christmas Season 2011 - The Swedish Institute

Mom and I went to the Swedish Institute today to look at their Christmas trees which are on display until January 8th. The tree pictured above was found in the Iclandic room at the Institute. This was of particular interest to me as Dale and I made a trip to Iceland in 2008. The room included information  on    Icelandic Christmas tradition and mentioned  the Yule Lads, a part of folklore that I remember reading about on our trip.