What Would Jimmy Do?

Last year just about this time, I talked about Christmas trees and mentioned that over the years, we’ve had a lot of Christmas trees in quite a few places. I mentioned that most Christmas memories are not of the tree itself, but something, someone, or maybe some event associated with a particular Christmas. But we do have more than one Christmas tree in our house every year and even though for the past several years they’ve been the same “trees,” every year they’re a little different and that’s what makes them special. I’ve include a picture of one of this years trees….

The history of Christmas trees goes back to the symbolic use of evergreens in ancient Egypt and Rome. It seems like many of our Christmas traditions practiced today started in Germany — the German tradition of candlelit Christmas trees was brought to America in the 1800s.

Christmas trees have been sold commercially in the United States since about 1850.
The National Christmas Tree was not lighted in 1979 to honor the American hostages in Iran. Only the top ornament was lighted that year.
Franklin Pierce, the 14th President, brought the Christmas tree tradition to the White House.
The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree tradition began in 1933.
President Calvin Coolidge started the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in 1923. The ceremony is now held every year on the White House Lawn.
Beginning in 1966, the National Christmas Tree Association has given a Christmas tree to the President and the first family every year.
A typical Christmas tree generally takes six to eight years to mature.
The idea of replacing candles with electric lights on Christmas trees was an idea was devised by Thomas Edison’s assistants.
In 1963, the National Christmas Tree was not lit until December 22nd because of a national 30-day period of mourning following the assassination of President Kennedy.
If you put a live Christmas tree in your house, it will consume as much as a quart of water per day for the first week.

The outside of our house is decorated with wreaths and greenery… long before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people in the winter — evergreen boughs were hung over their doors and windows, in the belief that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness. So far, that seems to be working around here — maybe it’s also a sign of welcome for the Christmas spirit…..
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Well, it’s getting close to Christmas and its snowing outside… so I thought I might as well continue with the Christmas theme. Both my faithful readers know over the years I’ve discussed the t2 days of Christmas a few times and a few years ago, I talked about the lyrics to “The 12 Days of Christmas” being coded references to Christianity — the song was supposedly written to help Christians learn and pass on the beliefs of their faith while avoiding persecution. (You can find the various gift descriptions in the archives of this blog, if you’d like to check them again.)

The theory sounds good on the surface, but it doesn’t hold up under closer examination. There are a number of arguments that shoot holes in the logic, but the one that makes the most sense to me is that if Christians were so restricted from practicing their faith that they had to conceal messages in a song, they obviously wouldn’t be able to celebrate Christmas in the first place, much less sing Christmas carols.
So now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about the 12 days of Christmas and the Christmas carol with the same name…

December 25th marks the official start of the 12 days of Christmas. The 12 days of Christmas is the period in Christian theology that marks the span between the birth of Christ and the coming of the Magi, the three wisemen. It begins on Christmas, obviously, and runs through January 6 — the Epiphany, sometimes also called Three King’s Day. The four weeks preceding Christmas are collectively known as Advent, which begins four Sundays before Christmas and ends on December 24.

Each of the 12 days traditionally celebrate a feast day for a saint and/or have different celebrations. Some people choose to mark the 12-day period by observing the feast days of the various saints and planning daily Christmas-related activities, but for many, things go back to business as usual after Christmas. 

It’s hard to mention the 12 Days of Christmas without thinking of the Christmas carol with that name. The lyrics of the song have resulted in a number of theories as to their meaning, but the real history of the carol is a bit murky. The earliest known version first appeared in a 1780 children’s book called Mirth Without Mischief. Some historians believe the song is French in origin, but most all agree that it was designed as a “memory and forfeits” game, in which singers tested their recall of the lyrics and had to award their opponents a “forfeit,” like a kiss or a favor of some kind if they made a mistake.

There have been many variations of the lyrics over time — some mention “bears-a-baiting” or “ships-a-sailing,” some name the singer’s mother as the gift giver instead of their true love. But the song most of us are familiar with comes from an English composer named Frederic Austin. 

So even though there really are 12 days of Christmas, we most often think of the song where the singer brags about all the cool gifts they received from their true love during the 12 days. It’s a long song, as each verse builds on the previous one, and serves as a really effective way to annoy people at a party or in the car.
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You could spend a good part of the year looking at all the Christmas ornaments on our Christmas trees. I have no idea how many we have, but there’s a lot. I think Claire’s philosophy is that you can never have too many ornaments or lights on a Christmas Tree. 

Some of our ornaments are very old and have been handed down through the family. A number have been made by our kids over the years, starting when they were very young, some are from the various places we’ve lived and visited around the world. But the fascinating thing is that Claire can tell you where just about every one of them came from and almost all of them have a “story” associated with them. 

The other day I noticed a bird in a nest on one of the trees… Claire said that it’s good luck to have a bird in a nest on a Christmas tree — who knew?  Anyhow, it’s kind of interesting to hear about the where, when and why of each ornament.

One ornament on our tree is a pickle — even Claire hasn’t been able to adequately explain why a pickle should even be associated with Christmas, much less, become a Christmas tree ornament.
So…. I figured this must be a topic deserving of my extensive research. 

My extensive research determined that no one is quite sure why the tradition of putting a pickle on a Christmas tree even exists at all. Several “sources”  say it’s an old German tradition, but there seems to be a lot of evidence that disputes that theory. The most popular opinion is that the Christmas Pickle is a very old German tradition and that the pickle was the last ornament hung on the Christmas tree and then the first child to find the pickle got an extra present. 

All the theories seem to have some reference to Germany, even one that describes a fighter in the American Civil War. The story has it that he was born in Bavaria and was a prisoner and starving — he begged a guard for one last pickle before he died. The guard took pity on him and gave him a pickle and the pickle gave him the mental and physical strength to live on!

Another Story concerns St. Nicholas. The tale goes that two Spanish boys, traveling home for the holidays, stopped at an inn for the night, but the evil innkeeper killed the boys and put them in a pickle barrel. That evening, St. Nicholas stopped at the same inn, and found the boys in the barrel and miraculously brought them back to life.

I wasn’t aware of it, but some families do have the tradition of hanging the pickle on the tree, with the first person/child to find it getting a present. My research found a number of recent stories about “Christmas Pickels,” like… “On Christmas Eve, after the children had fallen asleep, the parents sneaked downstairs and hid the pickle in the boughs of the tree. Because of its green color, it blended into the evergreen and was hard to spot. The first child to find the ornament on Christmas morning was granted the privilege of unwrapping a special gift from under the tree.”

I figure the true story of how the pickle ornament became a mainstay in many homes remains a mystery. Even though some of the stories are interesting, I suspect an old article that I read probably is closest to being the truth… in the 1880s Woolworth stores started selling glass ornaments imported from Germany and some were in the shape of various fruits and vegetables. Apparently pickles must have been among the selection. I think some salesman, stuck with a lot of pickle ornaments, invented the legend of the Christmas Pickle to increase sales.
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I’ve been hearing a lot lately about the “Christmas Star” that will appear in the sky on December 21st. The so-called “star” will be the closest visible conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in 800 years.

On December 21 (the winter solstice) the two planets will appear nearly aligned, resulting in a very uncommon event — one that hasn’t happened in 800 years. When something extremely rare or unexpected happens, we often say, “the planets aligned.” In this case, it’s more than just a “saying.”

I think this is pretty cool, and weather permitting, I intend to check it out. However, from what I’ve read, timing is important — the “Christmas Star” won’t be visible the whole night, you’ll only be able to see it for about an hour shortly after sunset.

Some people see this, happening so close to Christmas, as a Christmas miracle or maybe the star of Bethlehem… no matter what you call it, it seems like a pretty special event.

This got me to thinking about events in history that have happened on Christmas over the years. I remember one year I took a break from Vietnam over Christmas and spent it in Manila. That year (1968) Apollo 8 orbited the moon. The three astronauts on board became the first men to leave Earth’s gravitational pull, first to orbit the moon, first to view all of Earth from space and the first to see the dark side of the moon. I remember watching as the astronauts read the opening lines of the book of Genesis from the Bible. The broadcast ended with the line “Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth.” I watched the telecast on a black and white TV in the Hyatt Hotel in Manila.

All of this prompted me to do some extensive research about significant events that have happened on Christmas over the years.

In the year 800, Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
Charlemagne was a Frankish warrior king who united much of the continent under the banner of the Carolingian Empire. He is often called the “Father of Europe.” On Christmas Day 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne “emperor of the Romans” in a ceremony at St. Peter’s Basilica. Charlemagne served as emperor for 13 years, and his legal and educational reforms sparked a cultural revival and unified much of Europe for the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire.

In 1066, William the Conqueror was crowned king of England.
He was crowned at Westminster Abbey in London. The coordination came just after William’s legendary invasion of the British Isles, that had ended with a victory over King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings. William’s 21-year rule saw the building of famous structures like the Tower of London and Windsor Castle. He also gave large land grants to his French-speaking allies. This permanently changed the development of the English language (nearly one-third of modern English is derived from French words.) It also contributed to the rise of the feudal system of government that characterized much of the Middle Ages.

In 1776 George Washington and the Continental Army crossed the Delaware River.
Near the end of 1776, the Revolutionary War wasn’t going well for the colonial forces. On Christmas Day, General George Washington led 2,400 troops on a daring nighttime crossing of the icy Delaware River — and launched a surprise December 26th attack on Trenton, which was held by a force of German soldiers known as Hessians. Washington’s gamble paid off — many of the Hessians were a bit hung over from the previous night’s holiday bender and the colonial forces defeated them with minimal bloodshed. This crossing of the Delaware served as a crucial rallying cry for the Continental Army.

In 1814, The Treaty of Ghent ended the War of 1812.
On Christmas Eve,the United States and Great Britain sat down to sign a peace agreement ending the War of 1812. The treaty was signed in Ghent, Belgium. British forces had burned the White House and the U.S. Capitol earlier in the year, but the American and British delegations agreed to a settlement that essentially ended the war as a draw. All conquered territories were relinquished, and captured soldiers and vessels were returned to their respective nations. 
(Interestingly, the Treaty of Ghent effectively ended the 32-month war, but it didn’t take effect in the United States until it was ratified —in February, 1815. One of the greatest American victories of the war — the Battle of New Orleans occurred more than a week after the Treaty of Ghent had been signed.)

In 1868, President Andrew Johnson issued a final pardon to Confederate soldiers. 
Near the end of his term as president, Andrew Johnson give a handful of former Confederate rebels a Christmas present. By way of proclamation 179, on December 25, 1868, Johnson issued amnesty to “all and every person” who had fought against the United States during the Civil War. The Christmas pardon stood as a final and unconditional act of forgiveness for unreconstructed Southerners, including many former Confederate generals.

In 1914, The World War I Christmas Truce was reached.
On the evening of December 24, scores of German, British and French troops in Belgium laid down their arms and initiated a spontaneous holiday ceasefire. The truce was reportedly instigated by the Germans, who decorated their trenches with Christmas trees and candles and began singing carols like “Silent Night.” British troops responded with their own rendition of “The First Noel,” and all eventually ventured into “no man’s land” — the treacherous, bombed-out space that separated the trenches, where they greeted one another and shook hands.
According to accounts from the men involved, the soldiers shared cigarettes and whiskey and some exchanged Christmas presents with men they had been shooting at only hours before. The truce was not sanctioned by the officers on either side, and eventually the men were called back to their respective trenches to resume fighting. Later attempts at holiday meetings were mostly forbidden, but the “Christmas Truce” still stands as a remarkable example of shared humanity and brotherhood on the battlefield.

The Christmas Truce is a great example of what Christmas is all about. It seems hard to believe that soldiers in a World War can put down their weapons and shake hands, and Republicans and Democrats can’t sit down together and talk about what’s right for their country. Maybe this will be the year for a true Christmas Miracle, maybe the “Christmas Star” is a sign, maybe this Christmas will be remembered for more than more Americans died on December 25 than any other Christmas in our history.
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A few days ago I got an e-mail from a friend that contained an article comparing Trump’s reluctance to concede and give up power to a similar situation in Nazi Germany. I hadn’t read that particular article, but it was similar and contained essentially the same information as a few other sources I had read.

Well, for some reason that got me to thinking about a story that I read to our kids by Dr. Seuss titled “Yertle the Turtle.” In case you haven’t read the story, Yertle is the king of a pond, but he wants more. He demands that other turtles stack themselves up on top of each other so he can sit on top of them and survey his kingdom. Mack, the turtle at the bottom, is exhausted. He asks Yertle for a rest but Yertle ignores him and demands even more turtles so he can have a better view. Eventually Yertle  notices the moon and he’s furious that anything dare be higher than himself, and is about ready to call for more turtles when Mac burped. The sudden movement topples the whole stack and sends Yertle flying into the mud, freeing the rest of the turtles from their stacking duty. 

This story, like a lot that Dr. Seuss wrote, is actually about much bigger things than it seems and has a deeper meaning than just being a “kids story.” This story is an acknowledged representation of Hitler and the Nazi regime during World War II.

Yertle the Turtle represents Hitler. Yertle’s dictatorial  rule of the pond and takeover of the surrounding area parallel Hitler’s regime in Germany and invasion of various parts of Europe.

The story’s symbolism can be interpreted in various ways — Mack, the little turtle on the bottom represents the German society, representing the German people who follow Hitler’s rules and beliefs due to fear. Mack supports Yertle by keeping the king up high even though he is going through pain. Mack said, “… but down here below, we are feeling great pain. I know up on top you seeing great sights, but down here at the bottom we, too, should have rights. We turtles can’t stand it. Our shells will all crack! Besides, we need food. We are starving!.” This describes how the German society felt about Hitler being in power. The people were poor and had to live with rationed food, while Hitler was in great shape at the top — the people did not have rights and were suffering greatly.

Finally, Mack decided that he had taken enough — he got mad. He got so mad, he burped! And his burp shook the throne of the king. His action caused the whole stack of turtles to shake, causing Yertle the Turtle to fall off his throne and into the mud. This illustrates the German people not being able to tolerate their suffering any longer and having enough of Hitler and the Nazi regime. Mack’s burp symbolizes the uprising of voices from society. The story ends with “…. all the turtles are free as turtles and maybe, all creatures should be.”

During an interview after Yertle the Turtle was published, Dr. Seuss was asked why he used “maybe” in that last sentence and not “surely.” He said, “I wanted other people to say surely in their minds instead of my having to say it.”
In my mind, that makes a pretty good point… no one should tell us what to think or do. 

During the past few years, I’ve often thought about this story… it’s said that “out of the mouths of babes….” Maybe sometimes it takes a good “Kids” story to make us think.
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I know there’s a lot to be depressed about these days, but not everything is bad news. I’m pretty sure that just about every day, you can find something that makes you happy.

For instance… in just the past three days, both my favorite football teams — Washington and Cleveland — won. And, they both beat good teams. 
Maybe this is an omen — things are starting to look up. Go Browns and Redskins Washington Football Team.
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In case you hadn’t noticed, the year is drawing to a close and as is my custom, it’s about time for me to update everyone  on the New Year’s Resolutions I made back in December of last year. Every year, I grade myself — honestly — on how well I did or am doing, or not doing, the things I said I would, or wouldn’t do.

Here’s the list I made for 2020 — since this year didn’t really fall into the “normal year” category, I think I (and everyone else) should cut me some slack. But anyhow, here’s the list and a truthful assessment of how I’ve been doing.
• I will drive by the Shepherd Wellness Center once a month. 
I have to confess I haven’t done this — but — because of the coronavirus the wellness center has been closed for much of the year, so even though I relaxed my goal from once a week to once a month this year my falling short isn’t totally my fault.

• I promise to wave more often to strangers.
I think I did pretty good with this one, I have waved more at strangers — and, as a bonus, I’ve waved a lot to some strange people. 

• I promise to give one compliment a day. 
I  think I nailed this one, too. I even caught myself giving compliments to myself fairly often.

• I will try a new restaurant.
This one seemed like a slam-dunk, but COVID closed a lot of restaurants… but in spite of that I did try a new (to me) restaurant. We weren’t able to eat inside, but we took the food home.

• I will never back up more than necessary….
I honestly believe I was totally successful here — goal accomplished

• I will talk less, listen more.
I think this one has to go into the success column, too. You might make the argument that I’ve been around fewer people to talk to, but there were also fewer people to listen to. But I listened to the news a lot more this year, so I think that counts.

So there you have it — All things considered, I think I did pretty well again this year. In the next few days, I’ll sit down with pen, pad, and a bottle of wine and come up with my list for next year that will once again give me another chance to be a better me.
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A little before 8 a.m. on Sunday, December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese planes made a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The attack was launched from aircraft carriers and destroyed or damaged about 20 American naval ships including eight battleships. More than 300 aircraft were also destroyed or badly damaged. 

The official American death toll was 2,403, including 2,008 Navy person, 218 Army, 109 Marines and 68 civilians. Of the dead, 1,177 were from the USS Arizona. That ship’s wreckage now serves as the main memorial of the attack. In addition to those 2,403 that were killed, 1,143 were wounded. 

World War II began on September 1, 1939 after Germany invaded Poland. Until that Sunday in December, the U.S. had been reluctant to join World War II, although we provided extensive assistance to the United Kingdom that was virtually the only source of resistance to the Nazis in Europe. The attack on Pearl Harbor reversed that reluctance in a day — Congress issued a declaration of war on December 8, 1941.

Congress designated December 7 as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day in August of 1994. Today, due to the coronavirus, the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center will be closed to the public, but a small gathering of veterans will honor the occasion.

79 years ago, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed, “December 7,1941 — a date which will live in infamy.” This is another one of those days we should never forget….
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Here we are into December — the last month of the first year of this decade. Last year about this time I looked back at the 2010 decade… a lot of “good and bad” things happened, but I suspect history will record it as a fairly “normal” decade. 

As we’re nearing the end of the first year of this decade, 2020 is shaping up to be the worst year ever. You’ve heard that haven’t you? You’ve probably even said it. The social upheaval that flared after police killed George Floyd in Minneapolis, that led to protests, some accompanied by looting — the death and economic destruction caused by the pandemic — the government’s mismanagement of the pandemic — the constant political bickering and non-functioning government… it certainly hasn’t been the best of years, but the worst year ever?

I got to thinking about that…. I’ve been fortunate, in my 80 plus years, I can’t say that I’ve ever had a really bad year. Sure — bad things have happened, loved ones and friends have died, we’ve had some illnesses that were on the serious side, jobs that went bad and things like that. But that’s all part of life. One of my friends said that not counting the pandemic, this year reminded him of 1968. I can see his point — Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated, the Vietnam war was raging, police beat protesters at the Democratic National Convention and rebellions erupted in streets all over the country. 

A number of historians claim that the worst year was 536. That year a volcano erupted in Iceland and the sun dimmed for a year and a half, leading to a catastrophic global cold spell. 

So the “worst year” is really objective, and, obviously personal. None of us lived through 536, so we can’t really make a comparison, just like most of us can’t relate to the Spanish flu pandemic or the Great Depression. 

For a lot of us, 2020 has been the worst year ever and, of course, it’s been far worse for some than others, but it’s touched us all. And it probably hasn’t been helped by the media constantly telling us what an awful year it is.

Actually, maybe worst isn’t the right word — maybe a better word would be strange. We’ve never experienced anything like it. But taken one day at a time, most of us can look around and find happiness, satisfaction or enjoyment in this “new normal.” And when we really think about it, maybe it isn’t the worst year of our lives…. 
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Every year around this time, the dictionaries come out with their “Word of the Year.” I’m always interested to see what word gets the honor every year. I remember a couple of years ago, the Word of the Year wasn’t even a “word.” It was an emoji. That just seemed wrong to me, but then I often don’t agree with the choice(s) for the Word of the Year.

This year, for the first time, the Oxford English Dictionary has chosen not to name a word of the year. They stated that 2020 turned out to be a year that cannot be neatly accommodated in one single “word.” This year the Oxford English Dictionary decided to announce its “words of an ‘unprecedented’ year.” Last week, the dictionary said that there were just too many words to sum up the events of 2020. It’s kind of ironic that in a year that left us speechless, the Oxford Dictionary couldn’t come up with a Word of the Year.

However, all is not lost — on Monday, Merriam-Webster did come up with their word of the year — “pandemic.” According to the company, the first big spike for people looking up the word “pandemic” happened on February 3 — the same day that the first COVID-19 patient was released from a Seattle hospital. Searches for the word increased by 1,621% compared to the same time the year before. But the largest spike in searches for the word “pandemic” happened on March 11 when the World Health Organization officially declared “COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic.” The increase on that day was 115,806% higher than on the same day in 2019.

I’m not sure that I’d have chosen pandemic for the word of the year, but I guess I have to agree it’s appropriate — from the Greek roots of the word, pan means ‘all’ or ‘every,’ and dēmos means ‘people.’ It’s literal meaning is ‘of all the people,’ The related word epidemic comes from roots that mean ‘on or upon the people.’ The two words are used in ways that overlap, but in general usage a pandemic is an epidemic that has escalated to affect a large area and/or population. 

The Word of the Year usually defines an era, or something that a particular year is known or remembered for…. in 2008 “bailout” was the Word of the Year, in 2016, it was “surreal.” 
So pandemic is probably not a bad choice — I’m not sure I’d have picked it over something like whew, ugh or Yecch.
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