Greetings

I hope to be back soon after Christmas using my new (well, refurbished) computer with Windows 10. Good ol' Windows 7 will not be supported by Microsoft after January 14, boo hiss! If I find difficulty coping with a new-fangled operating system, however, I might be gone for quite some time!

In the meantime:

Christmas Trimming

At around this time last year I remember thinking to myself, as I sorted out a bit of Christmas decor for the living room, "I wonder if I'll be here to do this again next Christmas?" At that point, most of my current ailments hadn't surfaced, I felt fairly confident that I would see another Christmas, barring accidents. Thinking along the same lines in 2019 I'm not quite as confident. I have had 2 more surgeries, several procedures, and some radiation therapy; early breast cancer has spread to bones - femur and hip, since Christmas 2018. I've made it through 2019 though, and once again here comes Christmas, with me still part of it. Yay!!

I decided I must make an attempt to do some seasonal decor, and made a start this morning. Dang though, I feel knackered! (As we'd say in Yorkshire). I should have asked for assistance from Himself, but I'm an independent cuss. I didn't realise how much walking is entailed, too and fro - garage to utility room to kitchen, to living room. It's part-finished now. I'm having a rest, here at the keyboard.

Our minimalist outdoor seasonal decor will be done tomorrow - with help from Himself. We'll put solar lights on our two young Redbud trees, exchange a Fall wreath with a Christmas one, and stand Santa where he'll catch the breeze and wobble on his springy feet. We don't clamber around putting lights along gutters and window frames as most householders do in these parts. Okies tend to start on Christmas trimming immediately Thanksgiving is over. I like to allow December to find its feet before getting out the red and green stuff, while inadvertently scattering glitter where it ought not to glitz. It's not long since all of last year's wandering sparkly bits eventually disappeared! I bought a robot vacuum cleaner a few months ago and, happily, it seems to have an appetite for sparkles. It has been a big help to me. I can mop and dust, with quad cane at hand, but can't easily push a heavy vacuum cleaner around. I didn't opt for the most expensive robot vac. I chose a mid-priced model called "Roborock" - I can recommend it.

Now...back to the glitter spreading!

The Circle of Life and of Christmases

The Christmas wreath signifies or symbolises different things to different people. For me the wreath symbolises the turning of the year, as does the zodiac circle.

Some ten years ago I wrote a Christmas-time post on such a theme - it's time for another look, slightly updated.

Looking back over the years - and I have lots to look back over - Christmas stands as a kind of milepost. It's a focal point when a pattern of change can be identified. In some ways, the pattern could be equated to the cycle of the zodiac, as of course, can our whole life's cycle.

The earliest Christmases I recall, the Aries ones, were spent at my maternal grandparents' home in a tiny village, where I was sent during the worst period of the war years in the UK, safe from the bombing of the city where my parents lived and worked. My parents would make a last minute bus journey the 20 miles or so on Christmas Eve so we could all be together for "the day".

My grandmother (right) was a wonderful cook. With the few facilities she had in those days, I can hardly imagine how she managed to put such delicious meals on her table. She often said that she and I had a "special bond" - it didn't extend to inheriting her culinary prowess though! Water came from a pump in the yard, direct from an underground spring. The only oven she had was at one side of the big black fireplace, powered by coal and wood fires, at the other side, a tank for heating water.
No refrigerator, food was kept out in a building called "the wash-house" where a boiler for boiling water and equipment for washing clothes was also kept. Earliest memories come from a time before the grandparents had electric light, when I went off to bed with a candle, and rooms were lit by oil lamps. I used to be given an early present each Christmas Eve, a book - the "Rupert Book" into which my little head was thrust for hours on end, reading about the adventures of a little bear and his friends, as I waited for Mum and Dad to arrive.

As the cycle moved around to Taurus and Gemini, Christmases evolved into bigger family gatherings, accompanied at times by school friends, both sets of grandparents, occasional aunts and uncles. Sometimes there was carol singing with a group of friends around the town on Christmas Eve, attending midnight service, or a Christmas morning service, then back to Dad's excellent cooking - he was the head cook of our family, after grandma retired from her post. Traditional, sociable, predictable - Christmases then were all those things.

Cancerian Christmases were fewer in number - they involved my retiring into a shell, for a variety of reasons. Working in hotels for a brief period in my life, I'd find that after all the hard work and long hours put in during the run up to Christmas, we staff were often to be found exhausted and alone in lowly staff accommodation, too tired to get together. I remember one particular Christmas evening walking out alone around the city where I worked, gazing longingly into the windows of houses where families celebrated together. I'd be home in the next day or two though, when my parents and I enjoyed a delayed celebration, also in honour of their wedding anniversary on 27 December. Another Christmas day around this period, I clearly recall, was spent alone in a cramped apartment, with a can of chicken breast a loaf of wholemeal bread, and a radio. I remember that much, but have no recollection of how it came about - something connected with my disastrous first marriage I think. Best forgotten!

So.... on to the Leo Christmases which developed as my life changed, accompanied by a new partner, a new job, and an altogether brighter frame of mind. Christmases at the office were fun - always. Some years we'd have a fancy dress party (that's me, under the clock, as Dick Whittington!) Sometimes we'd organize a special quiz or other years just a buffet with plenty of wine. One Christmas a bright spark in the office persuaded the chairmen (well respected lawyers) to act in our version of a pantomime - "Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp". A few in-jokes were included in the much-adapted scripts to further engage an already enthusiastic audience of staff and uninvolved charimen. This is one of my favourite treasured Christmas memories. Magical! They were all such good sports. Most have now "gone before" to the great tribunal in the sky, others are High Court Judges.




































Virgo/Libra/Scopio Christmases cover a long period of very mixed flavours. My parents were growing older, they lived at a distance for much of the period, but my partner and I always spent most of Christmas time with them, as much as my job would allow. Tensions arose sometimes, as they are wont to do among most family groups.



But many years saw beautiful Christmas-times, trouble-free and filled with love and good humour. We'd spend hours singing songs and carols and recording them on a tape machine. I still have a couple of the tapes but I find it difficult to listen to them even now, so many years later. Photographs are fine - but those so familiar, long gone voices always bring on the tears. After my Dad died in 1992, we spent each Christmas with my mother (right), usually at our home. Tensions arose more frequently during these years. There was almost always one passionate argument, where I found myself in the middle, loving them both, trying to appease both sides. Eventually things would calm down to an uneasy peace. After my mother died in 1997, my late partner and I spent quiet times together at Christmas, some gentle and precious memories of his last years remain, his health began to slowly deteriorate. Then death visited once more, not long after my last Scorpio Christmas.

Sagittarius Christmases found me here in the USA - 5000 miles from Christmases of yore, with a new husband and family. Christmases here are bright and happy. A family get together on Christmas Eve, then, weather permitting the husband and I have sometimes taken a drive to Mount Scott with a pack of cheese sandwiches, some fruit and soft drinks, to eat our version of Christmas Dinner surveying the Oklahoma countryside from 2000ft up, followed by a leisurely drive home through the wildlife refuge, hoping to greet some buffalo or long horned cattle, or even a colony of prairie dogs.




















Aquarius Christmas? Maybe the Christmases when I was astrology blogging come into this category, with Pisces Christmases, perhaps still to come.





HAPPY CHRISTMAS Y'ALL!!
I hope all your Christmases are as happy as my happiest ones. Know that any less happy ones will give way to joy again.

Perceiving Christmas Through Its Wrapping

To perceive Christmas through its wrapping becomes more difficult with every year.
~E.B. White, "The Distant Music of the Hounds".

At this time of year, when we receive a greetings card with illustration of a nativity scene, I remember a dear old boss of mine -my first ever boss, Mr H. He'd say, tongue firmly in cheek, if we received such a greetings card in the office, "Oh my, they've even started bringing religion into Christmas now - whatever next?!"

In some ways it really is a pity that Christianity got itself tangled up with the season formerly known as Yule, instead of making for itself a festival closer to the date of Christ's real birthday, inasmuch as that could have been established. The idea of goodwill and peace at what we call Christmas does reflect the true Christian message, even so, the traditions of the season do not necessarily stem from that message - it's a bit like putting the cart before the horse. Traditions of giving, loving and helping others pre-date Christianity by thousands of years.

In Europe, and later in the USA, traditions rooted in the pagan Norse and Celtic Yule, from long before the time of Jesus, have persisted over many thousands of years. Yule represented the moment when the days would again become longer, when light would return to the land, and people had reason to be thankful as spring was on its way, with the birth of new animals, and the softening of the soil for planting. Such winter festivals exist in most other parts of the world too, each with their own motifs and traditions, all rooted in the past.

What follows appeared on this blog some 8 years ago - time for a re-run! Sources originally linked are, unfortunately, no longer available.

Our western traditions and their roots:

Giving to the Needy- This tradition may have come from the Saxons who had 2 tables at the door of the banquet hall during their feasts. One was for all to take food, and the other was to leave alms for the poor. This meant to symbolize the unity of all human lives and to remind the Saxons that what one gave was returned 3-fold. Even today it is a Christmas custom to give food to the needy, and for this act of kindness we can thank the Saxons.....~Tala~ (Robin Paladino)

Gift Giving- seems to originate from the Winter Solstice holiday, Saturnalia (which honored the God Saturn) which was long established by the Romans before they invaded Britain and was celebrated for several days around 17th December. It was a time when Masters waited on servants at mealtime, gifts of light were given, particularly candles. Other traditional gifts included coins, honey, figs, and pastry. Gifts were also given in honor of loved ones who had died during the previous year. Early Roman explorers carried this tradition throughout Europe.

Feasting- had several purposes: to acknowledge the return of the season of growth, to give physical expression to the hope for abundance in the year to come, and finally to alleviate boredom and depression. As Christianity gradually usurped Pagan ways of worship, the custom of Advent (a month long fast before Christmas) reflected the times when people had to survive on eating very little. It became custom to feast on the 25th and to mark this day with acts of hospitality and generosity. The rich were expected to open their doors for all, and this could well have been the precursor to the tradition of helping those less fortunate.

Yule Log- is a small log of usually oak, with a flattened bottom that is decorated with evergreen and holly, after it is inscribed with symbols that represent wishes and what you want to bring into your life in the coming year. It is burned on Yule, after it is charged, or "wished upon". It is kept in the house all year to protecT inhabitants from illness AND adverse conditions; it is used the following year to light the new Yule log. Some Yule logs today are similar, except for 3 holes drilled down the center, to place candles, as many people today do not have working fireplaces. Cakes in the shape of Yule logs are a 20th century nod to this tradition.

Christmas Trees- were originally Yule trees. The Celts believed they stood for the everlasting life because the trees did not "die" in the winter. They stood for protection, prosperity and were the symbol of renewal and the hope for the sun to make the earth green again. Because of their massive height, they were a symbol of eternity. It was from these beliefs that the decorating of Yule trees, now known as Christmas trees, evolved. Yule trees were decorated with images they wished the coming year to bring for them: nuts for fertility, love charms for happiness, fruit for a successful harvest, and coins for wealth.

Lights- on houses and Christmas trees is a modern version of the Pagan custom of lighting candles and fires to "lure back the sun." The Saxons may have been the first to put candles on Yule trees.

Red candles- symbolize the fire and heat of the returning sun.

Wreaths- signify the "wheel of the year," a circle with no beginning and no end. (See image at top of post)

Pine cones are the male aspect of fertility, and the fruit signifies the female aspect. They were initially used by Scandinavian Pagans 4,000 years ago.

Mistletoe- symbolized peace, prosperity, healing, wellness, fertility, protection and rest. It was placed around the fire and helped women to conceive. It was believed to be an aphrodisiac (magickally, not medically, as it is poisonous); if left hanging up all through the year, it would bring good luck. It was also dubbed the "golden bough" by the Druids. Kissing under the mistletoe has its origins in Norse mythology and a story about Baldur, a son of Odin and goddess Frigg. Long story short: a dart fashioned from the little mistletoe plant was used to murder Baldur in front of all the gods who loved him dearly. Frigg was devastated, her tears became the berries of the plant. It was decreed that mistletoe would never again be used as a weapon and that she would place a kiss on anyone who passed under it. Legal matters were sealed beneath its boughs. A couple who kissed beneath the mistletoe bough were announcing their intent to get married. They would kiss under it again after the official ceremony, to further seal their vows.

Holly- symbolizes the old solar year, the waning sun, and good luck.

Jingle bells- were used by the Norse to herald in the dawn after the long dark night. They also used them to ritually frighten away the powers of darkness that they felt reached their peak at Yule.

Santa/Father Christmas has multi-cultural roots with characteristics of Saturn (Roman Agricultural God), Cronos (Greek God known as Father Time), The Holly King (Celtic God of the dying year), Father Ice/Grandfather Frost (Russian Winter God), Thor (Norse Sky God, who rides the sky with a chariot drawn by goats), Odin/Wotan (Scandinavian/Teutonic all-father who rides the sky on an 8-legged horse), Frey (Norse Fertility God), Tomte (a Norse land spirit known for giving gifts to children at this time of year). Santa's reindeer can be viewed as forms of Herne (the Celtic Horned God), and Frau Holde (a Goddess from Germany believed to ride on the wind in a sleigh on Yule eve, and give gifts to her followers.

Arty Farty Friday ~ Historic Dates

Today's date is historic, the reason is illustrated below, by artist and illustrator Chuck Hamrick.

A native of Memphis, TN, figurative artist, painter, designer and illustrator, Chuck Hamrick, continues to enjoy a life-long love of drawing and painting the human experience.

For his biography and many illustrations of his artwork, the artist's website is at
https://chuck-hamrick.pixels.com/

The second image below relates, of course, to another historic date, one coming up later this month.


Clicking on the images should bring up larger, clearer versions.

 Pearl Harbor by Chuck Hamrick

 Wondrous Night by Chuck Hamrick

A Bit of the Ol' "Bah Humbug!" from Ian Lang

Someone at Quora last week posted this question, possibly hoping for some nice, warm, cuddly answers about carol singers, Christmas lights, parties, kiddies, Santas and suchlike. Ian Lang had different ideas! His answer is below - shared here with his kind (blanket) consent.

"What is your favorite thing about Christmas?"

AUGHHHHH! Bloody Christmas! It’s only just gone bonfire night and we haven’t had Remembrance Sunday yet and do you know what, as I went in to get twenty John Player’s coffin nails, I saw in the bleedin’ Co-Op an hour or so ago? A huge pyramid display of chuffin’ chocolate Santas, that’s what. I tell you, I was a heartbeat away from “accidentally” tripping up and knocking the sodding lot down.

Actually I tell a lie. Three sides of the pyramid were Santa. The other side was bleedin’ Rudolph. What sort of a message are we giving to our children here? Look at this kindly, jolly old elf, kids! Now eat him! With some fava beans and a nice chianti, presumably. Then eat his deer too!

I went in Quality Save last Saturday. For reference, that was November 3rd. November. NOVEMBER. They were doling out Christmas carrier bags. Had been for a fortnight, apparently. My wife trotted in on Friday with a box of mince pies with a Christmassy picture printed on. And the caution best before Nov 15th.
Now look, retail bathtubs. Christmas is in bogpiggin’ December. Right at the arse-end of December, actually. I don’t mind if you want to whip a gullible horde of frenzied consumers into panic mode to buy your vastly inflated tat from the first of December. I take a bit of an objection to early November, and I’m positively spitting fire when you do it in October. One of you started it just after the brats went back to school after summer, and you know who you are. I will willingly sacrifice my left knacker to any God who will ensure that you will go bust by February, you bloody charlatans.

And why does my wife insist on cooking bloody sprouts for Christmas dinner? I don’t like sprouts. She doesn’t like sprouts. The kid won’t even countenance sprouts. Yet still, on Dec 25th, an Imperial Shedload of sprouts causes the table to creak and groan alarmingly and she gets upset if we don’t eat any.

“You’ve got to have sprouts because it’s Christmas”.

What in the name of the Sacred Mango Pigeon kind of reasoning is that?? Johnny Pope and his gang of merry batchelor-boys say we’ve got to have fish on Friday but I don’t see us polishing off a plaice, tackling a trout or sucking down a salmon on a weekly basis. Is it some sort of superstition hanging over from the middle ages?
“Arrr, Jezelda, it be only ten days to the Christ-Mass. Better start boiling a boat load of sprouts for ye village feast, lest God should smite us, or at least the bishop come down and bugger all the menfolk red-raw!”

Sprouts. Turkey. Crackers. Stupid paper hats. Being nice to people for days. Balls to all that. Still, Christmas is miles better than bloody New Year.

“Happy New Year!”

“No I won’t! £&!* off.”

Bathtubs. So what’s my favorite thing about Christmas?

January.

https://www.quora.com/What-is-your-favorite-thing-about-Christmas

Greetings

Saturday & Sundry Thoughts on ....well, look at the date!

I spent a while looking back over the Christmas posts of my early blogging years yesterday. My, how the years have flown by! In December 2006, 11 years ago, I wrote:

It's coming up to my third Okie Christmas-time. I no longer feel amazed when I see houses in town bedecked with zillions of lights in the shape of angels, reindeer, Christmas trees, and any other conceivable symbol of this time of year. Some front yards are veritable works of art at night.

Christmas starts earlier here. As soon as the Thanksgiving turkey is off the table, lights are lit for Christmas. Whether they stay lit, or even stay up all year is a matter of culture, as Gretchen Wilson pointed out in her song "Redneck Woman":

"Cause I'm a redneck woman
And I ain't no high class broad
I'm just a product of my raisin'
And I say "hey y'all" and "Yeeee Haw"
And I keep my Christmas lights on, on my front porch all year long
And I know all the words to every Charlie Daniels song"

In most cases those lights go out as soon as Christmas Day is over. In England the Christmas holiday spreads over until New Year's Day for most people, with Boxing Day on 26th December, a special time for many families, and one I always enjoyed - it's totally unknown here. I think the differences in custom stem from the fact that the USA celebrates Thanksgiving quite close to Christmas, so what the British lose then, they make up for on Boxing Day, and try their best to make the holiday stretch to New Year - it'd be a shame not to !

As I wrote in a later Christmas post, Christmases really are akin to those re-makes beloved of movie makers. Nothing major has changed in Okie Christmases some 11 years on from the above. There are still some dramatically lighted houses around - though I do suspect there are rather less of them now than then. Re-makes allow for subtle differences! Perhaps, as children grew up, left home for college, or for employment, remaining family members didn't retain sufficient enthusiasm for the effort of putting up and taking down Christmas lights. Younger, newer families might find the practice too expensive for a limited budget.

Outside of Okie-land, G.W. Bush and Barack Obama have come and gone as Presidents of the USA since Christmas of 2006, leaving us with the disaster that is Donald Trump. What a very unsubtle, not to mention unsuitable, cast change in the re-make that has turned out to be! In the UK in 2006, Brexit was not even a twinkle in a disaffected Brit's eye!

Ah well...

Remakes are always a challenge and they always are sitting ducks.
(Nicolas Cage)

There are a lot of wrong reasons to do a remake, but there are some good ones. I think it's human nature, in many ways, to retell our favorite stories. We do it in the theater, all the time. I've seen four different Hamlets, and every one has given me something different.
(Joel Kinnaman) [I remember him - he was the reason I watched the whole of the TV series "The Killers" twice!]

Clearing the Way

Time to get cynicism about Christmas trappings out of our system - Winter Solstice coming up, can't be cynical about that! Let's indulge in a mini cynic fest today:

“Oh look, yet another Christmas TV special! How touching to have the meaning of Christmas brought to us by cola, fast food, and beer.... Who'd have ever guessed that product consumption, popular entertainment, and spirituality would mix so harmoniously? ”
― Bill Watterson, The Essential Calvin and Hobbes

“I am sorry to have to introduce the subject of Christmas into these articles. It is an indecent subject; a cruel, gluttonous subject; a drunken, disorderly subject; a wasteful, disastrous, subject; a wicked, cadging, lying, filthy, blashphemous, and demoralizing subject. Christmas is forced on a reluctant and disgusted nation by the shopkeepers and the press: on its own merits it would wither and shrivel in the fiery breath of universal hatred; and any one who looked back to it would be turned into a pillar of greasy sausages.”
― George Bernard Shaw, Dramatic Opinions and Essays, volume 2

“It's supposed to be jolly, with mistletoe and holly... and other things ending in olly.”
― Terry Pratchett, Hogfather

“As joy dwindles with the years
I wistfully recall
When the Christmas tree
Looked ten feet tall
And the presents under it
Seemed endless
And more
Than mere wrapping paper.”
― Justin Wetch, Bending The Universe

To perceive Christmas through its wrapping becomes more difficult with every year.
― E.B. White, The Second Tree from the Corner

Deep breaths......

“The rest of the year, I wondered if the point of Christmas was just spending money and getting fat and opening gifts. Indulging.
But when Christmas finally comes, and that warm, tingly, mints-and-sweaters-and-fireplace-fires feeling gathers in the bottom of your stomach, and you're lying on the floor with all the lights off but the ones on the Christmas tree, and listening to the silence of the snow falling outside, you see the point. For that one instance in time, everything is good in the world. It doesn't matter if everything isn't actually good. It's the one time of the year when pretending is enough.”
― Francesca Zappia, Made You Up

Music Monday ~ Veni, Veni....

There's a particular piece of beautiful music that brings back memories of High School assemblies, long ago in England. On icy December mornings, we out-of-town students hurried from the railway station to our school, in double-file - a 10 minute brisk walk - we were not allowed to run, even if the train had been late. The train was often late during winter weather. We didn't have the luxury of "snow days" leave of absence, a common occurrence in the USA, or of being driven to school - we were a hardy generation!

On these early December mornings, at last arriving in school, hanging up our warm coats and changing winter boots for indoor shoes, we'd shuffle into our rather elegant assembly hall. Morning business had, quite often, already begun, and the choir, up in the organ gallery, would be singing..."O come, O come Emmannuel...." - my favourite Advent hymn.

These days I'm not into religion; it wasn't always the case, so distant whispers do remain. In a strange way, I now view New Testament Christmas, and other stories in similar light to another interest of mine - astrology. In both cases there was/is "something going on", though probably not exactly what we were/are told, and not exactly what some people would hope and like to believe, or would like others to believe, but, nevertheless... "something".

Anyway, less waffle, more music. Here are two gorgeous versions of O come, O come....(Veni, Veni...) . This wonderful music is centuries old, some surmise it came from 12th century manuscripts, though it wasn't associated with the words of the Advent hymn until mid-19th century.

Arty Farty Friday ~ the Anomaly that was Thomas Kinkade

When I think of paintings reflecting the traditional flavour of Christmas, other than Nativity paintings that is, the first painter's name springing to mind is Thomas Kinkade. When I first wrote a blog post on Mr Kinkade, in December of 2009, Thomas Kinkade was still with us; he died, however on April 6, 2012, in Monte Sereno, California. Here's my post, edited slightly to reflect the artist's demise.

As we're closing in on the annual beanfeast known as Christmas, a look at an artist whose paintings, many of which depict winter and Christmas landscapes, are well-known in the USA, and elsewhere. They appear on Christmas cards, calendars, and death knell of a "proper" artist, chocolate boxes. Thomas Kinkade, self-styled Painter of Light is this week's seasonal arty-farty subject.
(Photo by John Storey/Corbis)

I cannot put hand on heart and say I like Kinkade's paintings, but they are very recognisable, and that has to be a plus for artists of any stripe. He was way too twee for yours truly. Yet having carried out a spot of light research, it appears in real life Mr. Kinkade was anything but twee. Ruthless business man, prone to "inappropriate" behaviour, yet said to be a devout Christian

The Los Angeles Times reported that some of Kinkade's former colleagues, employees, and even collectors of his work said that he has a long history of cursing and heckling other artists and performers. The Times further reported that he openly groped a woman's breasts at a South Bend, Indiana sales event, and mentioned his proclivity for ritual territory marking through urination, once relieving himself on a Winnie the Pooh figure at a Disney site while saying "This one’s for you, Walt." Kinkade denied some of the allegations, and accepted and apologized for others.

In 2006 John Dandois, Media Arts Group executive, recounted a story that on one occasion ("about six years ago") Kinkade became drunk at a Siegfried and Roy magic show in Las Vegas and began shouting "Codpiece! Codpiece!" at the performers. Eventually he was calmed by his mother. Dandois also said of Kinkade, "Thom would be fine, he would be drinking, and then all of a sudden, you couldn't tell where the boundary was, and then he became very incoherent, and he would start cussing and doing a lot of weird stuff."
(At Wikipedia)


A devout Christian who called himself The Painter of Light, Kinkade traded heavily on his beliefs and said God has guided his brush - and his life - "for the last 20 years".
"When I got saved, God became my art agent," he said in a 2004 video biography, genteel in tone and rich in the themes of faith and family values that have helped win him legions of fans, albeit few among art critics. But some former Kinkade employees, gallery operators and others contend that the Painter of Light has a decidedly dark side.

In litigation and interviews with the Los Angeles Times, some former gallery owners depicted Kinkade as a ruthless businessman who drove them to financial ruin at the same time he was fattening his business associates' bank accounts and feathering his nest with tens of millions of dollars.

Kinkade - whose solely owned Thomas Kinkade Co. was based in Morgan Hill, Calif. - denied these allegations. Later, however, a three-member panel of the American Arbitration Assn. ordered his company to pay $860,000 for defrauding the former owners of two failed Virginia galleries. That decision marked the first major legal setback for Kinkade, who won three previous arbitration claims. Five more followed. (LA Times)

ASTROLOGY

So...what should be found in the natal chart of this artistic anomaly? Certainly some indication of his acute business sense, there's no denying that. Wikipedia tells us
He is self described as "Thomas Kinkade, Painter of Light" (a trademarked phrase), and as "America's most-collected living artist". Media Arts, the publicly-traded company that licenses and sells Kinkade's products, claims that 1 in 20 homes in the U.S. feature some form of Thomas Kinkade’s art."

There should be some link to creativity and artistic skill - whatever one's taste, it has to be admitted that the man could paint a picture. There's going to be a hint of the obtuse, or unexpected too, I'd guess.

Born on 19 January 1958 in Sacramento, California. No time of birth available so 12 noon chart has to suffice. Rising sign and Moon 's degree will not be accurate as shown. If born after 4pm Moon would be in Aquarius, before that, in Capricorn.




Sun and Mercury in Capricorn - Capricorn, the sign of the businessman. That fits! Whether Moon was in Capricorn or Aquarius that would still be a good fit too. Venus is already in Aquarius, reputed sign of the oddballs of this world. In his case Venus, planet of the arts lies there. I wouldn't call his art oddball, or in any way Aquarian, but it is odd and unexpected (another Aquarian trait) given the kind of guy he's said to have been. Uranus, ruler of Aquarius lies in Leo in opposition to Venus - here's a second hint as to the unexpectedness of the type of art this painter produced, and the anomaly of his Christian beliefs with his reported actions.

Neptune, planet of creativity is conjunct Jupiter planet of excess in Scorpio, and is in helpful sextile to Mercury, communications and mental process planet. That link-up brings together mental process, creativity, and the wide marketing of his prolific output of artwork.

Saturn and Mars are conjoined in Sagittarius - sign known for its excesses, these two planets traditionally thought of as malefics, and are magnified in Sagittarius. Could this account for a streak of ruthlessness in Kinkade's nature?

Examples of his Christmas/Winter-related pieces. The Kinkade website is HERE.

 Christmas in New York

Christmas Glow

 Christmas, St Nicholas Circle

 Hometown Christmas Memories

 Christmas Homecoming

Pre-seasonal Lethargy

This is the part of December when I have to give myself a swift kick up the backside to summon enthusiasm enough to: go find the Christmas trimmings, find the address list for Christmas cards, find the Christmas cards I bought months ago and now can't remember where I put them (theory was to save last minute hassle!)

So far, amazingly, I have managed to find, write and address the handful of specially chosen cards due to fly over the ocean. Others, for more local recipients remain pristine in their box secreted somewhere "easy to remember". Our big Christmas wreath is out front - that was easy, but nothing else so far, because there are too many leaves on the strip of front garden, waiting to be cleared. Ahem!

We've never done the "Christmas lights" thing beloved of so many in the USA. This summer we did invest in some cheap solar lights to stick in the ground around said strip of garden, all year round. They work well, for a few hours anyway, not as well now as in the summertime though, far too many hours of darkness in December.

Update: I now know where the boxes of Christmas trimmings are stashed in the garage. Next step - open them up and try to remember what goes where. Later this week, perhaps.



A couple of cartoons with a pre-seasonal flavour to fill out this lean post - click to enlarge (cartoons not the post - and not you, I hope.)

Music Monday on National Cookie Day

It's National Cookie Day in the USA - who knew? Not me, not until I read it on Wikipedia's page for 4 December. See also here for more detail. It's Music Monday too - I was doubtful about being able to find a song about cookies, but lovely George Strait has one:

Ring-a-dingly

29 December - 5th Day of Christmas = 5 gold rings. It doesn't take much search time to find out that the 5 gold rings of the traditional song are not of the 24 carat, or any carat variety, but, like the gifts given on days 1 to 4, related to a winged rather than a fingered lifeform. Some sources point to the fairly common ringed pheasant, who has a white feathered ring around its neck area. I suspect it more likely the 5 gold rings in the song referred to the less common golden pheasant - look below! Its rings are multiple and golden!

 Ringed Pheasant

 Golden Pheasant

See also a post from a blog called Pixiebirding with further information on the golden pheasant.

Also an interesting read is this article at Brownielocks.com on the history, meaning and symbolism of the entire dozen gifts sung of in The 12 Days of Christmas.

Merrily

“Christmas is the gentlest, loveliest festival of the revolving year - and yet, for all that, when it speaks, its voice has strong authority. ”
― W.J. Cameron

“I manage a toast to the Christmas tree
and one to the sweet absurdity
in the miracle of the verb to be.
Lucky you, lucky me.”
― Miller Williams

“It's supposed to be jolly, with mistletoe and holly... and other things ending in olly.”
― Terry Pratchett, Hogfather

Music Monday ~ "Let's hope it's a good one..."

By next Music Monday another Christmas will have come and gone so, today calls for something seasonal!

This one has an excellent video accompaniment:

Christmas Day in Literature

When I think of Christmas Day, as encountered in literature, the two instances I think of first are not those famous ones from the pen of Charles Dickens, but these: one from Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, the other from 19th century American novelist Louisa M. Alcott.



A snippet from A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas:

One Christmas was so much like another, in those years around the sea-town corner now and out of all sound except the distant speaking of the voices I sometimes hear a moment before sleep, that I can never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights when I was twelve or whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six.............

..........For dinner we had turkey and blazing pudding, and after dinner the Uncles sat in front of the fire, loosened all buttons, put their large moist hands over their watch chains, groaned a little and slept. Mothers, aunts and sisters scuttled to and fro, bearing tureens. Auntie Bessie, who had already been frightened, twice, by a clock-work mouse, whimpered at the sideboard and had some elderberry wine. The dog was sick. Auntie Dosie had to have three aspirins, but Auntie Hannah, who liked port, stood in the middle of the snowbound back yard, singing like a big-bosomed thrush. I would blow up balloons to see how big they would blow up to; and, when they burst, which they all did, the Uncles jumped and rumbled. In the rich and heavy afternoon, the Uncles breathing like dolphins and the snow descending, I would sit among festoons and Chinese lanterns and nibble dates and try to make a model man-o'-war, following the Instructions for Little Engineers, and produce what might be mistaken for a sea-going tramcar.

Illustrations by Edward Ardizzone

And from Little Women by Louisa M. Alcott

Jo was the first to wake in the gray dawn of Christmas morning. No stockings hung at the fireplace, and for a moment she felt as much disappointed as she did long ago, when her little sock fell down because it was crammed so full of goodies. Then she remembered her mother's promise and, slipping her hand under her pillow, drew out a little crimson-covered book. She knew it very well, for it was that beautiful old story of the best life ever lived, and Jo felt that it was a true guidebook for any pilgrim going on a long journey. She woke Meg with a Merry Christmas, and bade her see what was under her pillow. A green-covered book appeared, with the same picture inside, and a few words written by their mother, which made their one present very precious in their eyes. Presently Beth and Amy woke to rummage and find their little books also, one dove-colored, the other blue, and all sat looking at and talking about them, while the east grew rosy with the coming day.

In spite of her small vanities, Margaret had a sweet and pious nature, which unconsciously influenced her sisters, especially Jo, who loved her very tenderly, and obeyed her because her advice was so gently given.

Girls, said Meg seriously, looking from the tumbled head beside her to the two little night-capped ones in the room beyond, Mother wants us to read and love and mind these books, and we must begin at once. We used to be faithful about it, but since Father went away and all this war trouble unsettled us, we have neglected many things. You can do as you please, but I shall keep my book on the table here and read a little every morning as soon as I wake, for I know it will do me good and help me through the day.

Then she opened her new book and began to read. Jo put her arm round her and, leaning cheek to cheek, read also, with the quiet expression so seldom seen on her restless face.

How good Meg is! Come, Amy, let's do as they do. I'll help you with the hard words, and they'll explain things if we don't understand, whispered Beth, very much impressed by the pretty books and her sisters' example.

I'm glad mine is blue, said Amy. And then the rooms were very still while the pages were softly turned, and the winter sunshine crept in to touch the bright heads and serious faces with a Christmas greeting.

 Illustration by Jessie Wilcox-Smith