An Ex-Expat’s Neighborhood

I just paid rent to my building manager, and he gave me a bar of Ghana chocolate to say thank you! And I guess as a kind of Christmas present. How sweet. Literally!

If you could kiss anyone under the mistletoe, who would it be?

I'm not going to tell you!! 

Slipping asleep I wonder,
Which is better,
The peace of solitude,
Or the peace of having another.
At this dark, silent hour,
I cower beneath the sheets,
Press indignantly into my pillow,
I know the answer.
I pull the cover closer
to warm
the chill in my shoulder.

03:55

"I love it that I'm the dream girl for geeks. That means smart men like me."

For all those early travellers (is such a thing possible this year?) - In those famous words ...

My husband and I wish you a Merry Chrstmas!

Best Wishes from Mr FD, and more importantly, Best Wishes from Flamingo Dancer! 

I was following a mother with a small child sitting in the shopping trolley around the supermarket aisle. The little girl, about 3 or 4 years of age, was singing "Jingle Bells" as her mother shopped. Mum stopped and said "That is some very nice singing that you are doing"

The little girl replied very seriously, "Yes, it's a gift!"

I looked closely at the little girl, wondering if she was a Flamingo Dancer relative, but couldn't see any family resembelance. Love that attitude!

leaping lords, drummers drumming - I think I feel a headache coming on

Twelfth Day and Night – Twelve Drummers Drumming / Lords a leaping.

January 5^th. – Feast of Fools

Twelve - The 12 points of doctrine in The Apostle’s Creed

Leaping dancers were only performed by males and in pagan times were performed for the purposes of fertility, and for war. A good leaping dance was thought to psychologically prepare the men to go into battle. I don't know what it did for their fertility!

The Roman god of vegetation and war was Mars. Roman priests, with swords, performed a Satii ritual in which they leaped high to ensure that the corn crop grew.

In English tradition the leaping lords were probably morris dancers who performed between banquet courses. Twelve morris dancers, also armed with swords, would form dance patterns that ended with the swords coming together to form a Lock or Nut over the head of the Lord Of Misrule.

Other lords a leaping performed a dance, the gavotte, accompanied by a bagpipe and a drum

The day begins, like Christmas, with a dramatic religious service featuring the coming of the Three Kings. It had become traditional for the English king to make offerings at Mass of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to symbolize his connection with those kings and with Christ. This custom survived the Reformation.

The festivities were the most sumptuous of the year, filled with royal balls and parties. For Twelfth Day and Night among the common fold, a bean was baked into a cake and pieces distributed among the children and servants. Whoever found the bean was pronounced King of the Bean, and reigned for the rest of the day and night. If a pea was used as well, whoever found it became (or chose) the Queen of the Pea.

The Epiphany, the oldest of the Christmas feasts, is also known as Three Kings Day for the three magi who found the Christ Child after following a star to Bethlehem. It is celebrated on Jan. 6 and is the major holiday of the Christmas period in the Eastern Church.

Time for the Christmas tree and greenery to come down too. St. Boniface chopped down an oak tree, regarded as sacred by the Germanic pagans in an attempt to convert pagans to Christianity , and a fir tree sprang up from the stump, with its branches pointing heavenward. The apparent miracle and its interpretation gave the evergreen family of trees an unquestioned and permanent place in the constellation of natural Christian symbols.

The Twelve Days of Christmas song is a Twelfth night song  and sung by children as a "memory and forfeits" game. Whoever first forgets a line is out.

In many homes, they also played flapdragon or snapdragon. Players took turns picking raisins out of a dish of flaming brandy and popping them into their mouth. There were wagers on each person's chances of success – on surviving, I suspect!

Ordinary rural people enjoyed feasting, dancing, card playing, carol singing, storytelling, party games like hot cockles and shoeing the mare and attempting to bite an apple with a candle stuck in it hung on a string from the end of a stick. Oh how they loved dicing with immolation those hearty folk!

The twelve days of Christmas was a most welcome break for rural workers , which in Tudor times would have been the majority of the people. All work, except for looking after the animals, would stop, restarting again on Plough Monday, the first Monday after Twelfth Night.  Maybe that is also why we all hate Monday so much  - I mean Plough Monday, yippee!

The 'Twelfths' had strict rules, one of which banned spinning, the prime occupation for women. Flowers were ceremonially placed upon and around the wheels to prevent their use.

During the Twelve Days, people would have visited their neighbours, sharing and enjoying the traditional 'minced pye'. The pyes would have included thirteen ingredients, representing Christ and his apostles, typically dried fruits, spices and of course a little chopped mutton - in remembrance of the shepherds.

That’s it folks – over for another year! Diets start January 6th and the credit card balance will be due in February.

The Eleventh Day of Christmas : Eleven Pipers Piping  / or ladies dancing / bulls a-bleating / bears a-baiting

January 4th

The Eleven Pipers represent the Eleven Faithful Apostles

In centuries past guests were often entertained by musicians, dancers, jugglers, etc. as well as singing and dancing themselves. Bagpipes and their younger cousins the musette (an instrument similar to a bagpipe but the air for the sound came from bellows rather than blowing into the instrument) were popular instruments for dance music. While we usually associate the bagpipe with Scotland, they were also a common instrument in France as well. Since Queen Elizabeth I was succeeded by the Stuart kings of Scotland, bagpipes and other aspects of Scots culture were common among the upper classes in England as were elements of French culture due to intermarriage of the English and French nobility.

It has been reported that the members of the present British Royal Family are woken up at their Christmas retreat of Balmoral by pipers playing bagpipes outside their bedroom windows. What a jolly lot they must be!

During the reign of Elizabeth I archery was the only sport allowed on Christmas day. All others were banned. Archery was promoted as the lower classes were often archers in the army of the period and so to practise at the expense of all else was seen as a good way of building the nations defences

Throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas the Lord of Misrule reigns.  The Lord of Misrule is thought to have originated from benevolent Roman masters who allowed their servants to be the boss for a while. The Church entered the act by allowing a choirboy, elected by his peers, to be a Bishop during the period starting with St. Nicholas Day (6th December) until Holy Innocents Day (28th December). Within the period the chosen boy, symbolising the lowliest authority, would dress in full Bishop's regalia and conduct the Church services. Many of the great cathedrals adopted this custom including York, Winchester, Salisbury Canterbury and Westminster. Henry VIII  abolished Boy Bishops

The Lord of Misrule was appointed by all "persons of worship" including Lieutenants and Sheriffs of counties, and even bishops, to manage the merriment of the Twelve Days.

At the court and at the universities, Misrule was usually elected on St Thomas's Day, so there is plenty of time to plan. He then chooses officers for his Court of Misrule such as Marshal, Master of the Game, Constable, and Chief Butler. For Christmas 1561, the Lord of Misrule at the Inner Temple was Lord Robert Dudley.

On each of the twelve days of Christmas, his rule runs from evening until breakfast the next day. His duties consist consisting mainly of presiding over the feasting, games, and dancing.

At supper, the courtiers of Misrule are cried in to the hall with silly names like Sir Francis Flatterer, Sir Randall Rakabite of Rascall Hall in the County of Rakehell, Sir Morgan Mumchance, or Sir Bartholomew Balbreech of Buttocksbury. How amusing!

Remember The Pied Piper of Hamelin  by Robert Browning (1812-1889)? He has nothing to do with the Twelve Days of Christmas but he was a piper piping!

http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/rbrowning/bl-rbrown-pied.htm

Want a Christmas Pudding with a difference? Try it as a cocktail!

Christmas Pudding

• 1 ounce Drambuie
• 5 ounces Guiness beer
• 1 ounce Southern Comfort

Combine ingredients and serve in a red wine glass.

Read more at : Christmas Cocktail Recipes: These festive Christmas cocktail recipes will help you deck the hall http://partyfood.suite101.com/article.cfm/christmas_cocktail_recipes#ixzz0aKIaawKM

I am sitting at home, empty house (everyone has left for the holidays). It's about eleven at night, and I am having the last of the instant miso soup that Ryu gave me. I just got off the phone with Haroon who's in California for winter break. He called me randomly to talk about some things. I've added him, along with my younger brother, to the group of people a couple years my junior who seem to feel comfortable talking to me about their personal lives. I was a little surprised to hear from him, but it made me glad.

My friend J stayed over for two nights, kind of pushing the boundaries of her welcome, asking me for cigarettes (it's not the money, I am not that stingy, it's that they are Japanese cigarettes I've been careful not to smoke them so quickly because I enjoy them more than the US Marlboro lights, plus, she doesn't even smoke) and other things. I consider myself a pretty good host, but to a point. It was nice to have my friends' company since Ryu left, but I need solitude now.

Ryu emailed me again which made glad. I told him before he left that I wanted him to email me as much as he could, about anything, the weather, simple things, just so that I could hear from him. He cut his hair today and says that he looks very different. I guess short hair is more desirable for job hunting.

While the email made me glad it also made me feel stupid for a minute. Has it come to this? From our passionate relationship to the simple exchange of emails, it feels like a big downgrade. I look at my countdown calendar and think how silly I am trying to have an overseas boyfriend. Is it dumb of me to want to visit someone on the other side of the planet who may or may not continue to feel the same? We pinky-promised (ゆびきり) not to forget how we felt about each other, and to stay faithful, but is it possible/logical to hang on? And even if my visit to Kyoto is really wonderful and we still love each other, what then, thereafter? I don't doubt his feelings, I just question the practicality.

I am just thinking as I type. I truly have hopes and I feel good about it.

The days are passing by and the rythm is winding down as we head towards the downtime of the Holiday season at work. Everyone's distracted by the coming events and we sometmes forget the small details.

Just because a truce for the season is called doesn't mean we forget the war. Forgive but never forget is my motto for everything BigMediaCo related. nnd to add to the irony, a year late there's this offer of a transfer that is dangling in front of me. But I'm far too stubborn to admit defeat, especailly with how whipped I felt last year.

Willbender

Must be why my MtG card of the day is WILLBENDER. It's just a questioon to finding whose will will break first But they say when something is borken, it rebuilds itself stronger.

A theory that I'm sure I'll have to find the results by myself...