Today is the Ninth Day of Christmas.  I remember as a kid January 2nd was often the day we returned to school after Christmas break.  At least if it was at the beginning of the week–maybe not on a Friday–I can’t remember that exactly.  Did any kids go back to school today?

I never liked January 2nd for this reason.  But I don’t have to go back to work until Jan 4, Sunday.  (Our workweek is Sunday to Thursday.)  And I still feel like celebrating, so I’m going to continue this “Days of Christmas” theme until the end (Jan 6).

So here goes the latest installment:

On the Ninth Day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Nine drummers drumming
(Eight maids a-milking
Seven swans a-swimming
Six geese a-laying
Five golden rings**
Four calling birds*
Three French hens
Two turtledoves
And a partridge in a pear tree.)

* Note: Wikipedia says “calling birds” is a corruption of “colly birds” which are black birds.

** Wikipedia also assures me that golden rings does not refer to “jewelry but to ring-necked birds such as the ring-necked pheasant.”

Today is the Eighth Day of Christmas.  It is also New Year’s Day. I hope you’ve been having a wonderful start to this new year.

As mentioned, it is the Eighth Day of Christmas.  We are still in the period of time known as Christmastide.  And so it is still the holidays, and I will continue to do “days of Christmas” posts until Christmastide ends.

Along with the new year is also the start of the non-bird or “people” gifts in the famous “Twelve Days of Christmas” song.  Don’t you think it interesting that all the gifts on the days in December are birds and the ones in January are not?

Here’s the latest installment:

On the Eighth Day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Eight maids a-milking
(Seven swans a-swimming
Six geese a-laying
Five golden rings**
Four calling birds*
Three French hens
Two turtledoves
And a partridge in a pear tree.)

* Note: Wikipedia says “calling birds” is a corruption of “colly birds” which are black birds.

** Wikipedia also assures me that golden rings does not refer to “jewelry but to ring-necked birds such as the ring-necked pheasant.”

Happy New Year, everyone!

I hope all of you are having a blessed start to your new year.

I didn’t see the ball drop in New York.  I woke up too late to turn the TV on and watch it.  Yes, folks, around here the ball drops at 8:00 a.m., and I was asleep.  I woke up at 8:18 a.m., so was too late.  But I didn’t go to bed until almost 5:00 a.m., so that really wasn’t much sleep.

Anyway, Jeremy and I are celebrating quietly.  We went to church last night, and had a really good time both in the church service and in the feasting and fellowship afterwards.  It was real nice.  So I had a great New Year’s Eve, and am having a great New Year’s Day.

I hope you are too.

Today is New Year’s Eve.  We have a party at church tonight.  We’re going to have a church service and then a party.  I’m making brownies and cheesecake to take.  Before anybody thinks I’ve morphed into a good cook, they’re both from mixes.  That’s the only way I cook–the shorter time I spend in the kitchen the better.  After all, it’s harder to read a book in the kitchen than it is sitting on the couch.

So after the party and feasting and fellowship, we’ll come home having rung in the New Year.  And then we’ll go to bed and maybe get up early to watch the ball drop in New York.  It’s due to drop at 8:00 a.m.  Then I might go back to bed.  But I might stay up to wish my family a Happy New Year at 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.

I think it’s rather strange the idea of sleeping first and then watching the ball drop.  Back home everyone’s staying up late to watch it, and then they’ll sleep.  But then they’re not half way around the world where it will be broad daylight by the time the ball drops.  So, yes, around here you ring in the New Year, go to bed, and then get up to watch the ball drop.

It’s even stranger when the ball will drop before my family even has their New Year’s.  It will still be 2008 for them when the ball drops in New York, while it will have been 2009 for eight hours already for me.

And then you have to think that it’s been New Year’s already even longer for Japan and China, but still 2008 for several hours yet for Hawaii.  I haven’t done the math, but I wonder if it is 2009 for almost an entire day for some of the world before 2009 comes for all the world.  Yes, I know if you stand on either side of the International Date Line it is an entire day’s difference, but it’s water on either side.  I’m talking about land where people actually live.

It’s kind of strange when you think about it.  New Year’s Day starts on January 1 for everyone, but New Year’s Day doesn’t start at the same time for everyone.

Interesting, though weird.

So how are you spending your Christmas Eve?  I hope you’re spending it with friends or family.  Is your New Year’s before or after the ball drops. Will you be viewing it in person or on television?  Do you even care?

I wish you a Happy New Year, and I hope 2009 will be a wonderful year for you and better than 2008.

Today is the Seventh Day of Christmas.  It is also New Year’s Eve. I will be talking about New Year’s Eve on another post.  So here I’ll do the continuation of the song, just to continue the tradition.  After all, you wouldn’t want me to quit halfway through, would you?

I think it’s interesting that the first seven gifts all have to do with birds.  When you start on Christmas Day as the First Day of Christmas, that very neatly brings us to the end of the year, New Year’s Eve.  So all the gifts given in December are birds, and all the remaining gifts given in January are people, or the services of people.  That’s interesting.  I don’t know what it means–if it’s supposed to mean anything.  I wonder if whoever thought up the song in the first place did it that way on purpose.  We’ll never know.

So here it is:

On the Seventh Day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Seven swans a-swimming
(Six geese a-laying
Five golden rings**
Four calling birds*
Three French hens
Two turtledoves
And a partridge in a pear tree.)

* Note: Wikipedia says “calling birds” is a corruption of “colly birds” which are black birds.

** Wikipedia also assures me that golden rings does not refer to “jewelry but to ring-necked birds such as the ring-necked pheasant.”

Today is the Sixth Day of Christmas.  And it is also the day before the end of the year.  Although for some it is the second day of the year.  My husband, Jeremy, informed me that yesterday was the start of the Muslim New Year.  It is year 1430 AH (anno Hegirae:  “in the year of the Hijra—Islamic prophet Muhammad‘s emigration from Mecca to Medina”).¹  This month in the Islamic calendar is called Muharram.  Interestingly the Wikipedia article says that this is the second holiest month in the year (Ramadan being the holiest), and that this is one of the four months of the year when fighting is prohibited.  And in fact, that is the source of the month’s name: “the word is derived from the word ‘haram’ meaning forbidden.” ²  Do please click on the associated links, both here and in the footnotes, to learn more.  There’s more interesting information in those articles than I can put here.

Happy New Year’s, Muslims!

And for the rest of us, since it’s the Sixth Day of Christmas, I have another installment for you in the song we all know:

On the Sixth Day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Six geese a-laying
(Five golden rings**
Four calling birds*
Three French hens
Two turtledoves
And a partridge in a pear tree.)

* Note: Wikipedia says “calling birds” is a corruption of “colly birds” which are black birds.

** Wikipedia also assures me that golden rings does not refer to “jewelry but to ring-necked birds such as the ring-necked pheasant.”

¹ Source is “Islamic Calendar” from Wikipedia.  Please follow the link to learn more.

² from the Wikipedia article “Muharram“

Today is the Fifth Day of Christmas.  I’m going to do a short post because I just got home from work, it’s 2127 (9:27 p.m. for you civilians), and I have to get up at 0400 (4:00 a.m.), so I can be at work at 0500 (5:00 a.m.).  In other words it’s late, the night will be short, so I’m not going to write much.  Besides, as far as I know it’s not some obscure holiday today.  If anyone knows differently, please let me know.  And no, I don’t usually get home this late from work or have to go in so early–I’m on duty tonight.  That’s just one of the joys of military life that civilians don’t have to deal with.  When civilians are off from work, they’re off.  But when military members are off of work, they still have duty and other responsibilities.

Happy belated anniversary to my brother Jeff and his wife Betsy.  It was on December 26, and it’s their tenth.  I can’t believe they’ve been married that long!  What I mean is it really doesn’t seem that long at all.  Betsy has a blog called Where the Wild Things Are.  Click here or on the link on the sidebar to go to it.

And speaking of blogs, I found out yesterday, when I was looking through my blog stats, that my brother Nathan has a blog.  It’s called Random Ramblings, and there’s a link in the sidebar for it too.

And now for what we’ve all been waiting for:

On the Fifth Day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Five golden rings**
(Four calling birds*
Three French hens
Two turtledoves
And a partridge in a pear tree.)

* Note: Wikipedia says “calling birds” is a corruption of “colly birds” which are black birds.

** Wikipedia also assures me that golden rings does not refer to “jewelry but to ring-necked birds such as the ring-necked pheasant.”

Greetings!

Today is the Fourth Day of Christmas.  According to Wikipedia, it is also Childermas or the Feast of the Innocents.  The article I linked to says it is in commemoration of the Massacre of the Innocents which was when Herod killed all the boy children two years and under in Bethlehem after the Magi told him that a new king of the Jews had been born and the religious scholars told him that it was prophesied to happen in Bethlehem.  The story can be found in Matthew 2:1-18.

The Wikipedia article recounts some interesting customs associated with this holiday.  To save you the trouble of clicking over to the article (although I encourage you to do just that as there’s more interesting stuff about the holiday), I’ve copied them here:

In Spain and Ibero-America, December 28 is a day for pranks, equivalent to April Fool’s Day in many countries. Pranks are known as inocentadas and their victims are called inocentes, or alternatively, the pranksters are the “inocentes” and the victims should not be angry at them, since they could not have committed any sin. Various Catholic countries had a tradition (no longer widely observed) of role reversal between children and their adult educators, including boy bishops, perhaps a Christianized version of the Roman annual feast of the Saturnalia (when even slaves played ‘masters’ for a day). In some cultures it is said to be an unlucky day, when no new project should be started.

In addition, there was a medieval custom of refraining where possible from work on the day of the week on which the feast of “Innocents Day” had fallen for the whole of the following year until the next Innocents Day. This was presumably mainly observed by the better-off. Philippe de Commynes, the minister of King Louis XI of France tells in his memoirs how the king observed this custom, and describes the trepidation he felt when he had to inform the king of an emergency on the day.

Interesting, right?  So did anyone start a new project today, or are you planning to?  Did anyone play a prank on anyone else?  How about reverse roles with your children or students or employees?  And what about taking the day of the week off for the whole rest of the year?  Today is Sunday, so, sorry.  Most of you don’t work on Sunday, so you didn’t really “win” anything as you won’t be working any other Sunday the rest of the year.  Now those of us who live in Bahrain and have a workweek from Sunday through Thursday, or those who routinely work weekends….  Hmm… Maybe we can get out of some work the rest of the year.  And then again maybe not.  I don’t think my employer would go for it.  What about yours?

Well, there’s always next year.  And the Feast of Innocents falls on a Monday next year.  That should enable everyone to play….

They are interesting customs though.  Very interesting.  You can learn the most interesting things on Wikipedia.

But the next thing is something you already know.  Today is the Fourth Day of Christmas and that means:

On the Fourth Day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Four calling birds*
(three French hens
Two turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.)

*Note: Wikipedia says “calling birds” is a corruption of “collie birds” which are black birds.

Happy Holidays!

Today is the Third Day of Christmas.  It is also the Feast of St. Stephen or St. Stephen’s Day according to the Eastern Church.  But the Western Church celebrates it on December 26, which was yesterday.  However, yesterday I was blogging about Boxing Day, which is a holiday that people I know celebrate.  I don’t actually know anyone who celebrates St. Stephen’s Day, therefore I thought Boxing Day was a little more important to blog about.  Besides, some people in the world celebrate it today.

I don’t know anything more about it than what the Wikipedia article has to say.  I linked to it, above, so you should check it out–then you’ll know what I know.

This holiday commemorates St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr.  For those of you who don’t remember, Stephen was a first century Jewish Christian who refused to recant when ordered to do so by the Jewish authorities.  So they decided to put him to death–by stoning.  (Historical note: Christianity at this time was considered a sect of Judaism, the religion of the Jews.  The Jews were part of the Roman Empire.  The Romans at this time still believed in religious freedom which meant local peoples got to manage their own religions including imposing the death penalty–the manner of execution was limited though.  For the Jews this meant they could stone someone for being a heretic or blasphemer.  This is what happened to Stephen.)  An interesting part of the story is the account of a young man who “held the coats” of those doing the stoning.  This man’s name was Saul.  He later converted to Christianity, changed his name to Paul, and went on to become a great evangelist and missionary and wrote many of the books of the New Testament.  He was also an incredible intellectual–read some of his epistles–you’ll see what I mean.  The story of Stephen can be found in Acts 6:8-8:2. (Click here for Acts 6, Acts 7, and Acts 8.)  The story of Saul’s conversion can be found in Acts 9:1-22.

I also found it interesting that the Christmas Carol “Good King Wenceslas” takes place on this day (actually December 26).  (Scroll down to the bottom of the above link for the lyrics.)  This is intersting to me, personally, because in my family it became a tradition to watch a low budget movie called Good King Wenceslas.  In it Wenceslas is a prince, not a king yet, and he has to save his kingdom from the machinations of his evil step-mother, or he never will be king.  And along the way he helps the poor.  As I said, the movie is low-budget, so it does leave a lot to be desired, but we liked it.  (At first we liked to make fun of it, but then it became a tradition to watch it.)  The humor in it appeals to us and there’s some good lines of dialogue in it.  My personal favorite is, “You’re right, Sire, the horse is prettier.”  And Nathan’s is “‘Fortunate wolves.”  If you haven’t seen it, you won’t know what that means.  Sorry about that–I’d give you some context, but it’s been some time since I watched it.  I can at least give you context for the first; my brother will have to leave the context for the second in comments.

The context: The stepmother arranges a marriage for Prince Wenceslas.  She has no intention of letting either him or the girl live after the wedding–but the girl’s father is rich and she wants the dowry.  Wenceslas wants no part of the marriage.  When the girl first meets Wenceslas, he pretends to be a stableboy.  She asks him questions about the prince, including what he looks like.  Wenceslas replies, “The horse is prettier.”  Later, when she finds out who he is and that he lied to her about his identity, she is angry and tells him, “You’re right, Sire, the horse is prettier.”

We saw it on TV and taped it off the TV back in the days of VHS.  I highly doubt it was ever released on DVD or that it’s available for sale anywhere.  (Here is the Amazon.com link for it.  It is currently unavailable.)  It was of too poor quality for any of that, although there is some good acting and dialogue in it and several reviewers on the aforementioned site did like it.  However, if I’m to ever have a copy of it, to carry on the family tradition, or if you were curious about it, we’d need our own copy.  Personally, I think somebody (maybe one of my brothers–Timothy or Nathan) should put it on the Internet and give it away free.  (I don’t think anyone would actually pay money for it.)  There’s a lot said and done these days concerning Internet piracy and copyright infringement, but whatever the lawyers might say, I don’t believe there’d be anything wrong with putting this movie on the Internet.  It’s not like whoever produced it is getting paid for it or would be getting paid for it or is expecting to get any kind of payment for it.  So no one’s lost anything.  And if they think they have–well, that’s the same as saying there’s no market for a product, so you won’t produce it or offer it for sale, and then when someone else proves you wrong complain that they’re smarter than you and demand they compensate you for marketing a product you didn’t think you could market.  Sorry, folks.  Life doesn’t work that way, or at least it shouldn’t.

But enough about Internet piracy and copyright.  That’s a post–probably several–for another time.

Today is the Third Day of Christmas.  And since somehow I skipped it yesterday, we’ll do both today:

On the Second Day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Two turtledoves
(And a partridge in a pear tree.)

On the Third day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Three French hens
(Two turtledoves
And a partridge in a pear tree.)

I hope you all are enjoying this holiday season!

Happy Boxing Day, Canadians!

Since my mother-in-law lives in Canada, I’m sure she’s celebrating Boxing Day.  It used to be, back in the day, when everybody gave a goody box to people like the mailman.  Now it’s the day everybody goes shopping, rather like Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) in the United States.  One thing I don’t understand is what, exactly are people buying?  On Black Friday people are buying Christmas gifts.  On Boxing Day are they buying next year’s Christmas gifts?

Today is also the Second Day of Christmas.  Or it is the First Day of Christmas according to the Wikipedia article I linked to.  It says that the day starts the night before, so that the first night of Christmas is the evening of the 25th until the evening of the 26th.  That would make the first day of Christmas the 26th.  Personally I think Christmas Day should count as the First Day of Christmas.  Apparently there are some traditions that agree with me.  It all depends on whether you consider January 5 or January 6 as the Twelfth Day of Christmas.

And we all know what “my true love gave to me” on the First Day of Christmas: a partridge in a pear tree.

I’ve never been sure what a partridge is but this site assures me that it is a small game bird, like a small pheasant.  There’s two kinds in the UK–a gray one and a red-legged one.  I suppose that it is a common bird in Europe; since that’s the continent the song came from I expect all the items in the song are common there, or were common there in the case of the lords a-leaping and so on.

I hope all of you had a very merry Christmas yesterday, and those of you in Canada or the UK (or any country that celebrates it), have a wonderful Boxing Day!