15 posts tagged “xmas”

Merry Christmas & Happy Hanukkah to all my Voxey friends.  My gifts to you today are, pretty much, the same as last year: a donkey and some oranges.  Have a great one!

If you are like me you have put off all your holiday cleaning until "The Eve."  At the very least, I betcha got another package to wrap.  So crank up these Christmas oldies and get to it.  Here are a few that we love here at M/Donkey Head Office.   Hey, atheists like music, too!

I've got a few more holiday tunes in my library if you want to check it out.  AND I saved a couple of things for tomorrow, too!  So, get to shopping, cooking, wrapping, cleaning, taking the sled to Granny's house, etc.

"I wish I had all the money we used to spend on dope.  I think I'd buy me a used car lot.  Baby, I don't think I'd ever sell any of them.  Probably just drive me a different car every day depending on how I feel."

My apologies if somebody has already posted this version, Live from Austin City Limits, 1978.

All I want for Christmas is... for you to share your favorite Christmas song.

What's that giant lump in the toe of your Christmas stocking?   An orange.  Maybe an apple and a few pecans.  

I've talked to a lot of people:  many of whom had the orange tradition and some who have not.  It's a family tradition that I had to have explained to me, as I grew up in a period of relatively high orange-accessibility.  We had year-round access to concentrated orange juice (yech) and chewable Flinstones vitamins (yech yech).  There was always the space-age promise of Tang-- drink of the astronauts!  (triple-yech)

But the orange was always there.  And when I asked why, I was informed that you always have fresh fruit in your stocking-- in winter it is a "treat."  "When WE were kids, we were glad to get an oran..."  OK.  As a kid I was underwhelmed by this concept.  (see above)  Yet to me the crisp smell of orange peel is evocative of Christmas morning itself.

The orange is a traditional Christmas gift.  They are harvested and are at their peak of availability in December.  From Portugal, Spain, and Morocco, for centuries oranges (especially Clementines) have made their trek throughout Europe to fill Christmas stockings and stomachs.  

An orange is a small, portable, edible, traditional, somewhat-durable, pre-wrapped, imported gift:  THE PERFECT STOCKING-STUFFER!  

And, it helps prevent scurvy! So... that's always good.
 
The Christmas stocking tradition originates with a legend of a wealthy patron (St. Nikolaus) who dropped gold coins down the chimneys of the poor.  The orange in the toe of the stocking is the symbol of the coins that fell into socks hanging in the chimney to dry.  Or that's what "they" say...

In America, the tradition continued, with oranges available from the West Indies, then Florida, then California. Mid-winter victuals were rich in meats, roots, dry beans, and pickles but deficient in colorful vegetables.  What a treat to have an orange, bursting with vitamins and packed with the brisk taste of summer. 

My parents have heart-breaking stories about Christmas as children during the Depression.  In these stories incalculable happiness results from a hand-made toy-chest or a sought-after pair of store-bought shoes.  I took my parents a crate of oranges today.  I wonder if it meant anything to them?  Merry Christmas, parents.

Growing up, our Christmas gifts were skewed toward the utilitariatian.  Even when we weren't poor, we didn't have a lot of money.  A stocking probably yielded fruit, nuts, candy, socks, and a few other small personal items.  We could ask Santa for what we wanted, but nice people don't ever want too much.  And there were no guarantees.  If your wish was not reasonable, it was discarded and you got what was deemed appropriate.  And, besides, Christmas is not about getting what you want.  It is about... uhhhhm, a lot of other stuff.

Some of that other stuff I don't care for so much.  I'm not a religious person, so I'll skip mass and morning service and the Christmas pageant.  Santa Claus is for people with kids.  I'm not one for perpetuating traditions for the sake of it:  creches, caroling, secret santa/dirty santa, cards, shopping, tree-chopping, tree-decorating, etc.  There are other people out there to do that stuff and make it meaningful. 

But I do like to think about the orange in the toe of the stocking. 

Enjoy an orange.  Roll it between your palms and feel the weight of it.  Brush your fingers over the peel; look for braille messages.  Smell the orange oil on your fingers.  Dig in your thumbnail and peel it.  Lean in close and feel the orange sparkles on your nose.  Pull it apart and eat it. Slowly. Section by section.  Reflect on the idea of the orange: 

• A simple yet exotic holiday visitor.  
• An anchor against the tidal wave of materialism that sweeps us up at Christmas-time. 
• A symbol of the sacrifice and perseverance of our ancestors through war time and poverty.
• My gift to you for Christmas.

"Oranges developed in Southeast Asia, and they spread through the world with a timing closely parallel to the spread of civilization."  ~John McPhee.

"Columbus brought the orange to the West Indies, and it is known that orange trees were well established in Florida before 1565 and were growing in California by 1800. Oranges are grown in the warm parts of all continents." ~Bartleby's

"The Clementine is a hybrid variety, first grown in Algeria. This variety was introduced into California in 1914.... The Clementine separates easily into eight to twelve juicy segments filled with a taste of apricot nectar. Clementine Mandarins are available from mid November through January." ~Sunkist

"Golden apples" appear in at least three Greek myths:  the orange-grabbing huntress Atalanta, Hercules in the Garden of the Hesperides, and Helen and the Judgement of Paris. 

The Christingle, or "Christ-Light," is a tradition started in 1749 in a church in Germany.  The Christingle is made from an orange and a candle decorated with dried fruit and is part of the Christingle service. 

"Oranges, in addition to containing vitamin C, also provides substantial amounts of vitamin B1, dietary fiber, potassium and folic acid. Pectin, a fiber found in citrus, is known to significantly lower blood cholesterol levels. Potassium protects against sodium-induced elevation of blood pressure." ~Vegetarian Nutrition Info

Take the Orange Nutrition Quiz here.

Drinksmixer has 274 libation recipes containing orange. =D

 

Yes. 

Now I'm just being silly...

Top Artists this Week (see more)

16 Dec 2007 – 23 Dec 2007

16	1		The Sugarman Three & Co.	19
22	2		Interpol	12
46	2		Solomon Burke	12
	4		Malicorne	11
	4		The Soft Boys	11
13	6		Bruce Springsteen	7
4	7		Son Volt	6
2	8		The Decemberists	4
39	9		David Bowie	3
	9		The Flaming Lips	3

For your listening pleasure, here are a few selections from Solomon Burke. 

A beautiful spiritual number:

A couple of doleful love songs:

One that you just need to get up and shake your rump to:

And a special gift for the year-end, spiritual or secular holiday of your choice, from King Solomon and me:

In the Ghetto is not a Christmas song in the strictest sense, but I've always thought of it as one.  Maybe it's the young mother and child in straightened circumstances.  Or maybe I heard or saw it around Christmas-time.  Whatever, it's a poignant song written by Mac Davis, immortalized by Elvis Presley, and covered by a whole slew of people.  Here are a few of them. 

Have a nice holiday libation and enjoy.

I accidentally had about 2 hours of holiday spirit yesterday. 

That's over now, so it's back to the Christmas death march.

  

Donkey Wednesday presents: 
Nestor the Long-eared Christmas Donkey!

This is one of those vaguely creepy Rankin/Bass Christmas cartoons full of felt animals with big googley eyes.  Except for the cows, which appear to be knitted.  Nestor is narrated by a medallion-wearing donkey (voiced by the inimitable Roger Miller) who works at Santa's compound. 

Nestor's situation is that he is ear-impaired, or ear-gifted depending on how you view it.  His donkey ears hang so low that he trips over them.  So he looks different and he's a clutz.  Poor lil donkey is just a big walking target for donkey derision.  If not for the support of his adoring mother (voice of Brenda Vaccaro) he'd be a total basket-case.

Nestor was a donkey who seldom liked to play

Because no one ever used him in the stable where he stayed

Everybody teased him and the other donkeys too

They said look at little Nestor, there’s nothing he can do

Look at little Nestor, he’s got ears that drag the ground

They whispered as they mocked him but he heard every sound

Nestor's heart was broken and his eyes were full of tears

If only there was something he could do about his ears

 
ZOMG!  The Emperor needs donkeys!  A centurion comes to the stable looking for young donkeys.  When he discovers goofy-looking Nestor in the herd, he accuses the stable keeper of trying to pass off "imperfect misfits" on the Emperor.  In a fit of pique he takes the other young donkeys and leaves no silver in exchange for the donkeys.  Nestor gets tossed into a barrell of grain and then is banished from the stable into the snow.

Of course, Nestor’s Mom goes nuts and busts out of the stable to find Nestor.  She takes him to an overhang by  some boulders and scratches out a a place to for them to sleep.  She shelters him with her body from the blizzard.  In the morning we find that Mom had sacrificed her life for her son.  Good donkey mom.

Alone, Nestor wanders aimlessly in the wilderness for an undetermined amount of time, until Tillie the cherub shows up to tell him what he is to meant to do:

Your ears can do a wonderous thing no other ears can do

The sounds you hear will guide you on a path that’s straight and true.
And you will save another as your mother once saved you.

So Tilly, who has curiously dirty feet for a non-corporeal entity, leads Nestor to a little village to await his eventual mission to Bethlehem.   Nestor is caught by a desert merchant who doesn't have much demand for long-eared donkeys. Until one day when an old guy named Joseph comes looking for some transport for his pregnant wife, Mary.  They, of course, select Nestor... because of his "gentle eyes."  The warty merchant tries to jack up the price because of the stylish ears, but he then relents and gives Nestor to the couple in a fit of uncharacteristic generosity.  Nestor is stoked to be A. finally selected for something and B. going to Bethlehem.

En route a huge sandstorm strikes and the party is left stranded in the desert.  They could not see but Nestor could hear his mother's voice and used his ears to HEAR his way to Bethlehem. 

You have figured out which story this is so you know that they arrived and found no lodgings.  But Nestor remembered that a stable can be a warm and beautiful place for a baby.  Nativity happens and Nestor returns to the old stable as a hero.

Nestor's star

Nestor’s heart was happy and his eyes held no more tears

Now all the world knows Nestor for his laughter and his ears

And remember what Roger Miller donkey says about making fun of people/donkeys:

Don’t laugh and make somebody cry.

There but for the grace of God go I.

Oopsie!  I forgot to give a nod to the other two Christmas donkeys mentioned previously:  Dominic the Italian Christmas Donkey (who delivers toys with Santa "because the reindeer cannot climb the hills of Italy") and Hazel from the nativity story in The Silver Donkey. 

Christmas:  It's for DONKEYS!!!