St Lucia's Day

St Lucia's day has always intrigued me. Photos of beautiful Scandinavian women with wreathes holding candles in celebration of St. Lucy, followed in procession by other women in white holding a single candle. The images are beautiful and so evocative.

This exerpt from the website Phases of Womanhood gives a great description of St Lucia and the origins of the day.

"St. Lucia was born in Italy, a virgin-martyr from the early 4th century. She is the patron saint of Sicily and of eye ailments. She is typically depicted wearing a white robe and holding a palm branch. However, Swedish artists depict her with a crown of candles on her head. Legend has it that, years after her death, during a great famine in Syracuse, St. Lucia appeared on December 13th, which was then celebrated as the darkest night of the year and also happens to be the date of her martyrdrom. St. Lucia wore a crown of candles on her head to leave her hands free to carry baskets of bread for the starving peasants."

Long time readers may know that the stories of the saints are one of my great loves. And this may be why I am so fascinated by this beautiful celebration. Perhaps next year we can have a St Lucia's day in our house.

Etsy finds for Will (and Mommy)

William's third (THIRD!) birthday is the 26th, so last night I took a tour of etsy trying to find items I might buy for him. As always, I found some wonderful stuff!

At Lisa J Honey's Sweet Things you can find the most Amazing felt food. Check out this cheese tray for $20. Looks good enough to eat!



Speaking of felt, asherjasper offers The Cutest egg people. They start around $15, but for $70, you can get this custom ordered set of your own family. Email a picture and you will receive this amazing set (even with the family pet!).



This woodpecker print would be perfect for William's animal room. From Studio Lyon, $18.



Studio Lyon also offers these ABC prints; with a modern graphic they are a nice way to introduce the alphabet ($8).



I love this owl shelf for Will's room. Maple shade Kids specializes in eco-friendly Room Decor and Art. $59



It's hard to find great boy's clothing, but I think this car shirt from BabyBolt fits the bill. It's $20, and would thrill Will, who loves anything with a car.



These two are more for mommy. You may have gathered by now that I am fascinated with saints. Blame it on catholic school. But this St. Therese of Lisieux ($18) is detailed and just the cutest little saint ever. Saintly Silver and Saintly Sewing offer any saint you can think of, all intricately stitched and highly detailed. And cute!



Kelly Street Vintage (one of my favorite shops on ebay) has this wonderful late 1800's - early 1900's wooden alphabet toy. I so want this (I doubt Will would ever get his hands on it - this is a mommy toy, too). Priced at $82.50, I think it would be a wonderful addition to my antique collection!

I Love: Candles

But not just any candle. . .



Candles on birthday cakes, celebrating a new year.

Flickering lights on Christmas Eve, midnight Candlelight service to welcome our Lord.

Moody candles smelling of myrrh, cloves, and patachouli.

Long elegant tapers on impeccably set tables.



Candles in windows, welcoming and bright.

Luminaria shining against the snow.

Flickering paper lanterns blowing in the breeze.



Halloween candles that create a spell in the night.

Long rows of alter lights.

The glow of candlelight on a romantic evening.

I love candles.

(All photos from We Heart It)

Winter Loveliness

We had a rather grand snowfall last night. The kids were on a 2 hour delay for school and we nestled inside for most of the day. I did, however, manage to get a few photos of winter in Marysville, OH.


Isn't he the greatest? I found him in the park.



Saint Francis's snowy lap









Couldn't get enough of this guy!

I hope you are staying warm, and for those readers across the sea where snow is rare, I hope you can feel the chill coming from these snowy day photos!

7 Random Christmas Bits

The Cattle Are Lowing

We were singing Christmas carols tonight and I wondered, "what exactly does it mean that the cattle are lowing?" The answer was a bit of a let-down. They are mooing. Just mooing, like cows do. I guess the line "The cattle are mooing, the poor baby wakes," didn't make the final cut.


mrjohnno_bucket, photobucket

And What's with Figgy Pudding?

It sounds pretty darn good to me. Sort of a carrot cake (with figs instead of carrots) mixed with custard, it contains figs, apples, dates, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg. And suet. Can't forget that. It is steamed in a pudding mold for four hours (which is probably why more people don't make it (that, and the suet)).

The Patron Saint of Christmas

I went to Catholic school for a few years, and I have a fascination with saints. According to American Catholic, there really isn't a saint for this day; instead, we should remember the shepherds to which the angel of the Lord appeared. Then there's Saint Nicholas, who's day is really December 6th, and who earned his reputation in part by throwing bags of gold into the houses of young women who were too poor for a dowry. On one occassion, to keep from being found out, he threw the money down the chimney. So there you go.



Christmas Cards

The average household mails out 27 Christmas cards annually. I used to send out over 60. Now, I don't send any. Stamps go up every other day! More than three billion Christmas cards are sent out annually. This courtesy of How Stuff Works.

Christmas Colors

So red and green are the colors associated with Christmas, but why? There are two explainations. One is that during Christmas in the days of yore, Miracle Plays were all the rage. And to have a proper one, you needed a Paradise Tree, which was a symbol of the Tree of Knowledge. It was constructed with a pine tree festooned with apples (and Eucharist wafers eventually).


Jenson6, photobucket

The second story is that the green symbolizes the hope brought to mankind with the birth of Christ, often pictured as a pine tree. The red is the blood of Christ as a result of his sacrifice for mankind.

Gift Ideas, but not Really

A search for Christmas gift ideas on Yahoo will yield you 223,000,000 results. That's a lot of Christmas gifts.

Bangs of Expectation

The original Christmas crackers were manufactured in Tom Smith's factory in Norwich, England and were called "Bangs of Expectation." They were also known as Cosaques because the sound they made was reminiscent of the crack made by the Cossack's whips during the Franco-Prussian War. Saltpeter produces the bang, and if too much is used, your Christmas cracker can burst into flames!