What's a fillyjonk?
(It's a made-up animal. Very feminine. Somewhat neurotic. A lot like me.)

Read Tove Jansson if you really want to know.
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Happy Boxing Day!

Having British friends of the family (and also reading a lot of British books), this is a familiar day to me - traditionally, it was the day servants got their Christmas gifts, or alms were distributed to the poor. But it was also sort of another day of Christmas, a quiet day when not much had to happen but maybe some leftover festivities.

It is also St. Stephen's day on the Catholic calendar - you know the old carol, "Good King Wenceslaus went out, on the feast of Stephen"? That's today.

In some places this is also the big day for after-Christmas sales. Which I tend to be pretty 'meh' about. I would rather enjoy the time at home, with family, reading my new books or contemplating my new craft supplies.
posted by fillyjonk at 9:45 AM

 

A great and joyous Merry Christmas to all who celebrate.

I hope this day finds you happy and well, with people you love (or at least, with them calling you on the phone) in a snug house with good food and a pleasant way of spending the afternoon, whether it be reading or knitting or napping or playing board games or sledding or just watching your children have fun.
posted by fillyjonk at 9:07 AM

 


For those who celebrate, I hope all the preparations are nearly done.

I know, traditionally, trees were not put up until Dec. 24 - and in times and cultures when Advent was more strictly celebrated than it is now, many of the preparations for celebration were not done until this day. (Even my father, when he was growing up - they did not put up their tree until the 24th, and the children did not participate! Which always made me sad to think about as a kid, because decorating the tree was one of my favorite things).

And of course, tonight is the big church service. For me, this is when Christmas really 'arrives' - especially at that moment towards the end of the service, where we all have lit candles that have been lit from the Christ candle in the center of the Advent wreath, and we hold them up (symbolizing how, hopefully, we each carry a part of His light with us) and sing Silent Night. And then how quiet it is afterward, and how people hug and even kiss who normally are not that open in their greetings and emotions, and how everyone wishes everyone else a Merry Christmas, and then we all go home. And I have to admit, now, as an adult, the next morning with its presents almost feels a little anticlimactic, after the beauty of the night before. Would that all people knew that sense of togetherness and belonging and being part of something larger that fills that old church every December 24th.
posted by fillyjonk at 8:16 AM

 
One of my favorite "old timey" Christmas carols for today:

The Wassail Song



"Love and joy come to you, and to you your wassail too, and God bless you and send you a happy new year; God send you a happy new year."

Wassail, it is my understanding, is from the old Saxon phrase "Waes hael," which means "be well." - so it is doubly (triply?) wishing well to the hearer.
posted by fillyjonk at 9:32 AM

 
I know people who, for whatever reason, celebrate Solstice rather than Christmas.

So, to you who celebrate it, either as your winter holiday, or as one of them, a happy Solstice today. And today is the day when the daylength begins to get progressively longer - which I can imagine, in earlier cultures, was a vitally meaningful thing.

I often talk briefly about the whole history of this when I discuss climate and seasonality in my Ecology class...to think of people in Paleolithic times, how important it would be to see that warmth and light returning, how festivals could develop around this time. And of course, much later, the bishops, looking for a date on which the birth of Christ could be celebrated, chose a day close to Solstice (some of the evidence in Luke suggests Christ was actually born in the spring) because of the celebrations at that time.

I have known some neo-Pagans who are troubled by that, or feel that their holiday was "stolen." I have also known some Christians who did not celebrate Christmas because they saw it as being tacked on to a pagan holiday. I tend not to make such fine distinctions; I tend to prefer to come down on the side of live and let live.

This site has some of the history of solstice celebrations, and also on how Christianity has "adopted" (I prefer that to "stolen") some of the imagery, like holly and ivy.
posted by fillyjonk at 6:21 AM

 
A Christmas hymn that is not as common as some is "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." The words are from a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (who was born on the same day of the year as I was, just some 162 years before I was).

Longfellow wrote it during the Civil War, it was originally called "Christmas Bells." There are two stanzas in the original poem that is omitted from the carol:

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

The story goes, he wrote this after hearing that his son - fighting for the Union army - had been wounded. (He was still in mourning for his wife, as well). In the modern version of the carol, those verses are removed.

I like the carol; it, like few, recognizes the fact that some may have doubts or sadnesses during this season:

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

How many times, since September 2001, have I said some variant of that to myself?

But the poet answers his own question:

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men."

Would that that would come sooner rather than later.

The Christmas carol version of it is here (N.B.: Midi file of music plays automatically)
posted by fillyjonk at 9:28 AM

 
Lynn posted this this morning, but I had to post it too, before I head out.

It is my favorite (by FAR) version of a favorite Christmas song of mine. I love Nat King Cole anyway, but his version of this is just so great. This says "Christmas" to me in a way few pop songs can.



Merry Christmas, if you celebrate. Or happy Hanukkah (It started Friday night so I'm a bit late, but still, have a happy one). Or happy Solstice. Or Yule. Or happy New Year.
posted by fillyjonk at 10:17 AM

 
I am going to be doing the post-embargoing thing, so while there may not be a new post EVERY day that I am on break, there will be new posts here and there. Part of this is that there's so much fun Christmas/new year's/other holidays stuff out there to share, part of it is I don't like to totally go "blank" during the break. So you can look forward to occasional posts between now and January when I return.
posted by fillyjonk at 7:14 AM

 
Gearing up to get out today.

I do have to note that yesterday was the last piano lesson of the semester (I restart in January). My teacher gave me some new stuff to work on, as she was searching through her books (she loans out books as long as you are working on a piece - and some books we buy), she said, "Oh, here's a good piece for you. It's kind of long but it's a sonatina and it has key changes and tempo changes in it so it will be interesting to work on for a while"

I had to laugh when I saw what she had picked. It was the Clementi Sonatina in C, which was the most complex piece I had worked on (I never totally mastered it) back when I first took lessons as a 13 year old. Part of it is that I know I've now reached at least the level of achievement I had then, but the other part of it is that my teacher sort-of randomly (but sort-of not; I suspect the Clementi Sonatina is a common early-intermediate piano student piece) chose a piece that I knew and had played on before. (In fact, I even still have the sheet music for it from then - it was in the big box of sheet music my mom sent me when I got the piano.)

Yeah, I think I'll keep working on the piano. It's been almost a year and it's really become a part of my life. Some nights it's a little bit of an effort to get the practicing in (though trying to do 20 minutes before going over to school in the morning helps). But I still find a certain joy in being able to master a piece, or in starting something new.
posted by fillyjonk at 5:53 AM