There is no contest

Oh Christmas Tree

Funny how we haven't gotten to this one yet. I mean, how does one rationally cut down a perfectly good carbon trap, ship it from the farthest northern region of Michigan, slap it on to a car and then put it in the house - then put shinny glass things on it, while then either lighting candles on a dried out fire stick, or wrapping it with electric lights? And this has to do with the Christ Child... er, how, exactly?

And isn't it kind of blasphemous too? As Jeremiah the prophet admonishes those who dare to erect such a pagan artifact: "Thus saith the Lord, learn not the way of the heathen...For the customs of the people are vain; for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not." (Jeremiah 10:2-6)

To find the origin of Christmas trees, again we go to pre-Christian (read icky dirty Pagans) Northern Europe. The nice folks who lived there believed that trees, especially fruit trees and evergreens, were the embodiment of powerful beings. But, why would they then cut these trees down and put them in the house? Wouldn't that, you know, kill the being inside it? Right, they thought so too! So they didn't. Now we have to jump forward to the fourteenth century - where on December 24th, as part of the miracle play was the story of Adam and Eve. They'd hang an apple in an evergreen to symbolize the paradise tree. Hey! Guess where those shinny red things you hang come from? There you go, we're learning stuff!

About two hundred years later in sixteenth century the Germans began hanging evergreens in their homes - which could have been a misguided attempt at the Yule Log (see our earlier post) or they were just really cold and would rather look at the tree in their home than outside? The German Christbaüme, or Christ Trees, were decorated with fruit, candies, cookies, and Eucharist wafers.

There's a rumor that Martin Luther is the first person to put candles on the tree, and therefore invented Christmas lights - but the funny thing about history is that he was probably trying to burn the Christmas tree down, and it was misinterpreted as a new decoration.

The mostly German tradition probably would have stayed with the Glüwein, and a few expats living in the US. Except a few German merchants gave one to Queen Victoria. Well, actually, it was for her boyfriend Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg. And as soon as the ladies saw etchings in Godey's Lady's Book (the Oprah of the Victorian Age) everyone had to have one... and they did. And no one ever once asked why.'

Artificial trees were also a German invention, but they were goose feathers that were dyed green. Now that's Festive! But this was a response to the deforestation of Germany. In the 1930's the Addis Brush Company made fake trees from brush bristles. Couldn't find the pipe cleaners, I guess? And like in the Charlie Brown special - there really were aluminum trees in the late 50's. Probably to go with that new aluminum siding on their homes? Today, most are made in China out of PVC or some other type of petroleum based plastic. Aproximately 10% of artificial Christmas trees are using virgin suspension PVC resin and despite being plastic most artificial trees are not recyclable or biodegradable.

Should you go plastic or real? Well, we debated that one way back in 2007.

Winter Solstice 2009

At exactly 12:04 p.m. UT (3:04 a.m. Eastern Standard Time) on December 21, the Sun will have reached its most southerly declination. Over the past six months, for the folks in the northern hemisphere, the every day peak of the Sun’s arc across the daytime sky has gotten lower. At 12:04 UT it reached its lowest point. Tomorrow, and now every day until June 21, the Sun will be a bit higher in the sky at local noon. June 21 at 05:45 UT, and be at the highest point it can get. Then the process reverses again.

We call those points in time the solstices.

"Solstice" is derived from the Latin phrase for "sun stands still."

The Winter Solstice has always been a time of celebration, because ancient people were intricately tied to the goings on of the sky. Their constant sky-watching was tied to a life in agriculture. The stars were their calender, GPS, and DirecTV. It might have helped that there was zero light pollution, save for a cloudy night here and there. The people of that time knew that the Winter Solstice signaled that the Sun had begun it's new cycle of life. Eventually spring - and more importantly, food - would return. The promise of another growing season would be fulfilled.

Throughout history, humans have celebrated the winter solstice, often with an appreciative eye toward the return of summer sunlight.

Massive prehistoric monuments such as Ireland's mysterious Newgrange tomb (video) are aligned to capture the light at the moment of the winter solstice sunrise.

Germanic peoples of Northern Europe honored the winter solstice with Yule festivals—the origin of the still-standing tradition of the long-burning Yule log. We have discussed.

The Roman feast of Saturnalia, honoring the God Saturn, was a weeklong December feast that included the observance of the winter solstice. Romans also celebrated the lengthening of days following the solstice by paying homage to Mithra—an ancient Persian god of light.

Many modern pagans attempt to observe the winter solstice in the traditional manner of the ancients.

"There is a resurgent interest in more traditional religious groups that is often driven by ecological motives," said Harry Yeide, a professor of religion at George Washington University. "These people do celebrate the solstice itself."

You and I celebrate the Solstice in modern times, as well. But we’re all far more sophisticated these days - we cover up this ancient pagan sun worship with more important religious customs and countless trips to Target.

Happy Winter Solstice, everyone.

Mandates for Christmas

Reid: "We are reshaping the nation. That's what we want to do."

...said majority leader Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada. “With this vote, we’re rejecting a system in which one class of people can afford to stay healthy, while another cannot.’’ Hey, he said it. That's what every Republican has been bitching about since this whole thing started. He actually quantified the Republican argument on the Senate floor.

Minority leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said that the bill would “long outlive this frantic, snowy weekend in Washington,’’ but he called it a historic mistake.

“If the people who wrote this bill were proud of it, we wouldn’t be voting on it in the dead of night,’’ he said. “The final product is a mess.’’ I can't argue with that statement.

The vote was 60 to 40, with all 58 Democrats and two independents supporting the measure. Republicans stood united against it, and they seemed determined to resist until the last moment possible under the Senate rules, setting the final vote for Christmas Eve night.

With the Senate and House health care bills expected to come crashing together like two drivers in Texas driving in the snow this week, let us take a quick look at the three biggest issues that have yet to be resolved...

* Abortion: Both bills have placed limits on abortion, but surprise, surprise neither side is happy. Abortion rights supporters feel women are being denied access to abortion, while anti-abortion folks are fairly sure that the government will be subsidizing insurance that covers the procedure.

* Taxes: The Senate bill increases the Medicare tax by almost a full percentage point for those earning more than $200,000 (or $250,000 for couples), but many Democrats believe this is a burden on the middle class. Which proves to me that these jokers need to be returned to the private sector and get a real job.

Also - NOTE - that none of any of this even starts until 2014. Most folks don't know that. You're not getting anything until then. It's so that all these back room deals and the current group of crooks won't be around or will conveniently have retired by then. With their full Congressional pension and Congressional Health Plan.

* The public option: The House bill includes a government-run plan, but the Senate bill—in an effort to bribe gain more support from moderate Democrats—sticks with privately-run national plans, one of which must be nonprofit and supervised by a federal office. Though some senators, such as Al Franken, still want the public option, more and more seem willing to compromise. Especially since Harry Reid has been standing in the Senate chamber with his wallet out. Scratch that - YOUR wallet out.

The funny part is that, as I predicted back in March, no one is happy with this hodgepodge of a corpse thing they're presenting as a bill. It's so corrupt, so vile, and so many people have compromised everything they wanted - no one is happy. The left has been betrayed: the Single Payer was DOA, but it worked on them pretty well on November 2. The right only looks obstructionist, but they're simply doing the potty dance until they get their turn again at the trough.

I agree with Howard Dean, strike the whole thing - start from scratch. If you're going to do it, do it right. Not this. Live or die with your values and your integrity of the party and- oh, that's not working out too well? I guess just keep whittling it down to the point of irrelevance then. Like you've been doing.

Christmas Cards

Christmas cards originated in England over 150 years ago. "You cannot reach perfection though you try however hard to there's always one more friend or so you should have sent a card to," wrote Richard Armour. Sir Henry Cole knew exactly what Armour was saying. The founder of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London had so many Christmas greetings to send that handwriting them was impossible. Yet he wanted to make his friends aware of the need to help the destitute on that holiday. What a champ.

His 1843 answer to cut n' paste? Sir Henry commissioned John Calcott Horsley to paint a card showing the feeding and clothing of the poor. A center panel displayed a happy family embracing one another, sipping wine and enjoying the festivities. And where did his good intentions get him? The card drew criticism because showing a child enjoying a sip of wine was considered "fostering the moral corruption of children." Crap! "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You" was printed on that first card. Legend says Sir Henry didn't send any cards the following year, but the custom became popular anyway.

Holiday cards designed by Kate Greenaway, the Victorian children's writer and illustrator and Frances Brundage and Ellen H. Clapsaddle, were favorites in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Most were elaborate , decorated with fringe, silk and satin. Some were shaped liked fans and crescents; others were cut into the shapes of bells, birds, candles and even plum puddings. You know, for the poor. Some folded like maps or fitted together as puzzles; other squealed or squeaked. Pop-up Cards reveled tiny mangers or skaters with flying scarves gliding around a mirrored pond. Sure beats the one I made at Costco.

For more than 30 years, Americans had to import greeting cards from England. Apparently it was just too high concept or high tech for Americans to figure out. In 1875, Louis Prang, a German immigrant to the U.S., opened a lithographic shop with $250 and published the first line of U.S. Christmas cards. His initial creations featured flowers and birds, unrelated to the Christmas scene. By 1881, Prang was producing more than five million Christmas cards each year. His Yuletide greetings began to feature snow scenes, fir trees, glowing fireplaces and children playing with toys. His painstaking craftsmanship and lithographic printing have made his cards a favorite of collectors today. Christmas Cards have changed since the days of Sir Henry and Louis Prang. They now sport comics, jokes and clever verses. You'll find these at Spencers at the mall. But those that picture timeless and simple settings such as excited children around a Christmas tree, Nativity scenes, nature scenes and carolers singing in the snow are still in the highest demand today.

It seems the trend will become just an elaborate Facebook post, somehow sponsored by Hallmark in the next couple years.