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Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
12 December 2023
25 December 2022
10 December 2022
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GARDEN RAILROAD SOCIETY - A NETWORK OF OUTDOOR TRAIN LAYOUT ENTHUSIASTS
Trains are so much part of American history. Many of you may remember setting up a toy train under a Christmas tree, or perhaps having a more elaborate set up in the attic or basement of your home. Well, I learned that there are also train enthusiasts who set up in their yards! They also set up at some historical site events and public gardens. They are the SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RAILROAD SOCIETY
http://www.socalgrs.org/ They network with train enthusiasts all over - other states - even cold weather places - and have conventions. Just look at some of the photos here showing their work and you can see why having a model train set up in nature takes the hobby to a new level. South Coast Botonical Garden, the Santa Village in Mission Viejo - and who knows, maybe your own special event in your own back yard.
18 December 2021
FAMILY HISTORY WRITING : QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW HOLIDAYS HAVE BEEN SPENT IN THE PAST COMPAIRED TO NOW
A Jewish friend of mine long ago told me that her family always went out for Chinese food on Christmas. She said this was because the Chinese restaurants were the only ones open on Christmas. Her family did not send or expect Holiday cards.
HOW DID YOUR FAMILY CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS EVE? CHRISTMAS? NEW YEARS EVE? NEW YEARS DAY? or HUNUKKAH (CHANUKAH) the Jewish Festival of Light? Or perhaps you've established a KWANZAA celebration?
How did your great grandparents celebrate it?
Your grandparents?
Your parents?
Your family then?
Your family now?
Some things to think about:
Was there a change in religion or philosophy that changed the way the holiday was celebrated or ignored?
How did having children who are now all grown up change the use of these holidays? For instance maybe your family used to stay home but now they go skiing.
Maybe your family uses these holidays for family reunions?
You used to send cards through the mail and now?
(Don't throw those cards with personal messages out!)
Did they decorate Christmas trees? Perhaps switch one year to an artificial tree? Plant live ones?
Did they hang stockings - real socks - big or small? - or put out shoes?
What, if anything, did they tell you about Santa Claus?
At what age did you believe or not believe?
Is your family one to spend on gifts or do you just give token gifts? Do children get individual gifts or does each person provide one gift for one person?
Do you open presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?
What foods do you like to prepare for yourselves or guests? Or do you go out to eat or order in a restaurant meal?
Do you include alcohol in your celebrations?
Did your school have crafts that were for sale for gift giving?
Where did people live? What was the climate during the holidays? (Perhaps they lived south of the equator and the holidays were during the summer?)
This is the time to look through your archived cards, letters, and photos.
Happy Ones!
C Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot
18 December 2020
VINTAGE GLASS CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS
17 November 2020
TIS THE COVID SEASON TO COLLECT HERITAGE RECIPES INTO A BOOK TO GIFT YOUR FAMILY
It seems that time off due to Covid-19 crisis has resulted in many of us gaining a few pounds as we try the recipes that we bookmarked in cookbooks, ripped out of magazines, and begged friends for after tasting them at parties. All well and good.
Several of my friends are attempting to make the free food they have picked up at giveaways into interesting meals. A little this - a little that.
May I suggest that this is an excellent time to collect heritage recipes for your family history book or a special genealogy supplement.
I suggest that you ask each of your relatives for a recipe they are famous for or love and put it in a collection for distribution just among the family. Add a photo of the person and any comments they might make such as memories of a meal that included that dish, when they first made it, or who best loves the meal. Perhaps a traditional recipe from one's native country has been adapted to be vegetarian?
C 2020 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot
24 December 2019
05 January 2017
CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS into THREE KINGS
I'm lucky to live in a place where Christmas continues on for a few more days, through the feast of the Three Kings (or Wise men or Magi or Magicians or Astrologers) on January 6th, when these men, likely merchants who traveled the trade routes around the Mediterranean, followed a bright star in the sky that lead them to finding the baby Jesus and presenting their finest gifts. This means that many of my neighbors of the Eastern churches still have their holiday lights up outside and inside. So while others have thrown their live spent trees out for pick up to be turned (sans fake snow or flocking) into wood chips, I've kept mine up because of the children nearby who expect these lights to help their slightly delayed gifts arrive to the right homes.
It's been raining and the weather people say this is the wettest season in years, and that's a good thing because of the terrible drought we've been having. But I lived in Southern California for years without using an air conditioner or a heater, and the leaves changing color and falling from the trees is rather new too. My fairy lights have continued to twinkle in the dark and the rain, and I think they are safe, because I took care to wrap the electrical connections in plastic.
This year I met some Russians and Armenians, as well as Ukrainians, who are celebrating their traditional Christmas season, and who have not been here long enough to know that what they are experiencing is exceptional weather for Southern California. Coming from colder climates they seem quite happy for the relief of too high temperatures and dryness that characterized another rather insufferable summer. Also, they are quite happy when they go out of the city to smaller towns that are not so expensive, congested, or where the crime is so high. I completely understand.
For the first time in years, I decided to bake gifts. I toyed with a few recipes to make them my own and the results were quite pleasing. I hand delivered on the Winter solstice.
My dog is also very into the holidays. I'm sure that the smells of the earth and the leaves have changed as they became wet and fell and those trees waiting pick up have been interesting for her to do her business near too. My precious little one, who likes to stay under the warm covers when its cold outside! She is such a California girl that she does not know how to deal with the rain and thunder scares her. I get her out onto the front lawn, but she wants to make it fast, and run back into the house!
The Rose Bowl Parade is interesting to me (while football is not) because of all the creativity and hard work involved. I must say it was great fun to see that Lucy Pet Foundation surfing dogs float! What a talented surfer that one bulldog was, in particular.
So, slowly, I am gearing up for another year of challenging and rewarding genealogy research, so very slowly, for I too like to spend some extra hours under warm covers when it's cold and wet outside. I watched some films that I think would be of interest to my readers as well, so I think I'll start out this year's ANCESTRY GENEALOGY BLOG by covering some of them.
Happy New Year 2017!
It's been raining and the weather people say this is the wettest season in years, and that's a good thing because of the terrible drought we've been having. But I lived in Southern California for years without using an air conditioner or a heater, and the leaves changing color and falling from the trees is rather new too. My fairy lights have continued to twinkle in the dark and the rain, and I think they are safe, because I took care to wrap the electrical connections in plastic.
This year I met some Russians and Armenians, as well as Ukrainians, who are celebrating their traditional Christmas season, and who have not been here long enough to know that what they are experiencing is exceptional weather for Southern California. Coming from colder climates they seem quite happy for the relief of too high temperatures and dryness that characterized another rather insufferable summer. Also, they are quite happy when they go out of the city to smaller towns that are not so expensive, congested, or where the crime is so high. I completely understand.
For the first time in years, I decided to bake gifts. I toyed with a few recipes to make them my own and the results were quite pleasing. I hand delivered on the Winter solstice.
My dog is also very into the holidays. I'm sure that the smells of the earth and the leaves have changed as they became wet and fell and those trees waiting pick up have been interesting for her to do her business near too. My precious little one, who likes to stay under the warm covers when its cold outside! She is such a California girl that she does not know how to deal with the rain and thunder scares her. I get her out onto the front lawn, but she wants to make it fast, and run back into the house!
The Rose Bowl Parade is interesting to me (while football is not) because of all the creativity and hard work involved. I must say it was great fun to see that Lucy Pet Foundation surfing dogs float! What a talented surfer that one bulldog was, in particular.
So, slowly, I am gearing up for another year of challenging and rewarding genealogy research, so very slowly, for I too like to spend some extra hours under warm covers when it's cold and wet outside. I watched some films that I think would be of interest to my readers as well, so I think I'll start out this year's ANCESTRY GENEALOGY BLOG by covering some of them.
Happy New Year 2017!
25 December 2016
22 December 2016
POLAR VORTEX FREEZES ME INTO PLACE
Here in Southern California, few people actually have the appropriate outer wear for cold, rain, or snow. So it's kind of funny to be having coffee at a coffee house near a transportation hub, nice and warm inside, see the rain pouring down outside, and watch all the people who have used plastic trash bags to fashion rain-coats of sorts or who are holding plastic bags over their heads, racing down the streets.
Umbrellas are sold here, particularly by enterprising street venders who buy some wholesale downtown and head out. They are mostly made in China and good for one storm, one blast of cold air. Then they turn inside out or break off and go into the trash bins.
It's been raining off and on for a couple days, and I'm seeing men outside without hats or umbrellas, without sweaters or jackets. I'm seeing women who have matching hats and scarves; they must have them stored away for years for the opportunity to wear them!
Maybe you can appreciate that we endured weeks of above average temperatures - in the nineties and the hundreds - this past summer, and that means that when it goes down into the forties or fifties we've experienced a temperature crash. I'm OK with the outside temperature in the 60's but one recent morning at five, I needed to take my very patient dog outside already, and it was thirty seven degrees and windy. There was black ice on the street. I was creaking. Steam came up from under the dog as she went.
THAT'S COOOOLD.
But I promised I wouldn't complain about the cold when it was too hot out.
On the news, the POLAR VORTEX, the reason for this FREEZE. I looked at the map and long underwear sales must be fierce in much of the United States.
I think of our ancestors who came to the states from the cold and remained living in the cold, as if cold was their heritage and their inheritance. Seems like many of these people were bodily acclimated to cold weather. Did they really not notice it? Not mind it? Were they just sturdier people? I think of Native Americans. I think of Colonials. I think of dwellings without insulation or central heating. Hovering near a fire place.
For me, this stretch of rain and cold just makes me want to burrow in. If I could, I'd be cabin bound. Instead I'm doing a little more decorating, baking, sewing, and crocheting, than usual.
Happy Holidays to All My Readers!
Umbrellas are sold here, particularly by enterprising street venders who buy some wholesale downtown and head out. They are mostly made in China and good for one storm, one blast of cold air. Then they turn inside out or break off and go into the trash bins.
It's been raining off and on for a couple days, and I'm seeing men outside without hats or umbrellas, without sweaters or jackets. I'm seeing women who have matching hats and scarves; they must have them stored away for years for the opportunity to wear them!
Maybe you can appreciate that we endured weeks of above average temperatures - in the nineties and the hundreds - this past summer, and that means that when it goes down into the forties or fifties we've experienced a temperature crash. I'm OK with the outside temperature in the 60's but one recent morning at five, I needed to take my very patient dog outside already, and it was thirty seven degrees and windy. There was black ice on the street. I was creaking. Steam came up from under the dog as she went.
THAT'S COOOOLD.
But I promised I wouldn't complain about the cold when it was too hot out.
On the news, the POLAR VORTEX, the reason for this FREEZE. I looked at the map and long underwear sales must be fierce in much of the United States.
I think of our ancestors who came to the states from the cold and remained living in the cold, as if cold was their heritage and their inheritance. Seems like many of these people were bodily acclimated to cold weather. Did they really not notice it? Not mind it? Were they just sturdier people? I think of Native Americans. I think of Colonials. I think of dwellings without insulation or central heating. Hovering near a fire place.
For me, this stretch of rain and cold just makes me want to burrow in. If I could, I'd be cabin bound. Instead I'm doing a little more decorating, baking, sewing, and crocheting, than usual.
Happy Holidays to All My Readers!
12 December 2016
04 December 2016
19 December 2015
HOLIDAY CAROLS THEY USED TO SING - MUSIC HISTORY is PART OF YOUR FAMILY HISTORY
You may think that Holiday music or the Christmas Carols you know - the classics - have been around so long that just about everyone has heard them, maybe even knows the words by heart, and has sung them. The truth is that "classic" Christmas songs are not the same songs that churchgoers and door to door carolers sang decades ago and in the future, someone living in 2050 may have never heard of say, Adam Sandler, singing the funny Hanukah song or understand the references to Captain Kirk. They may have changed or dropped religion and not even understand who or why "Come oh Come Emanuel."
So, this year, when your family is gathered, keep the lyrics and if possible the sheet music to the songs they sang and include it in your genealogy project so that that your descendants can try out these songs, listen to them, think about the lyrics and the times they were sung in.
Searching the web I located this site
WHY CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS CAROLS
EXCERPT :
"This was changed by St. Francis of Assisi when, in 1223, he started his Nativity Plays in Italy. The people in the plays sang songs or 'canticles' that told the story during the plays. Sometimes, the choruses of these new carols were in Latin; but normally they were all in a language that the people watching the play could understand and join in! The new carols spread to France, Spain, Germany and other European countries.
The earliest carol, like this, was written in 1410. Sadly only a very small fragment of it still exists. The carol was about Mary and Jesus meeting different people in Bethlehem. Most Carols from this time and the Elizabethan period are untrue stories, very loosely based on the Christmas story, about the holy family and were seen as entertaining rather than religious songs. They were usually sung in homes rather than in churches! Traveling singers or Minstrels started singing these carols and the words were changed for the local people wherever they were traveling. One carols that changed like this is 'I Saw Three Ships'.
When Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans came to power in England in 1647, the celebration of Christmas and singing carols was stopped. However, the carols survived as people still sang them in secret. Carols remained mainly unsung until Victorian times, when two men called William Sandys and Davis Gilbert collected lots of old Christmas music from villages in England.
Before carol singing in public became popular, there were sometimes official carol singers called 'Waits'. These were bands of people led by important local leaders (such as council leaders) who had the only power in the towns and villages to take money from the public (if others did this, they were sometimes charged as beggars!). They were called 'Waits' because they only sang on Christmas Eve (This was sometimes known as 'watchnight' or 'waitnight' because of the shepherds were watching their sheep when the angels appeared to them.), when the Christmas celebrations began..."
Fascinationg!
So, this year, when your family is gathered, keep the lyrics and if possible the sheet music to the songs they sang and include it in your genealogy project so that that your descendants can try out these songs, listen to them, think about the lyrics and the times they were sung in.
Searching the web I located this site
WHY CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS CAROLS
EXCERPT :
"This was changed by St. Francis of Assisi when, in 1223, he started his Nativity Plays in Italy. The people in the plays sang songs or 'canticles' that told the story during the plays. Sometimes, the choruses of these new carols were in Latin; but normally they were all in a language that the people watching the play could understand and join in! The new carols spread to France, Spain, Germany and other European countries.
The earliest carol, like this, was written in 1410. Sadly only a very small fragment of it still exists. The carol was about Mary and Jesus meeting different people in Bethlehem. Most Carols from this time and the Elizabethan period are untrue stories, very loosely based on the Christmas story, about the holy family and were seen as entertaining rather than religious songs. They were usually sung in homes rather than in churches! Traveling singers or Minstrels started singing these carols and the words were changed for the local people wherever they were traveling. One carols that changed like this is 'I Saw Three Ships'.
When Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans came to power in England in 1647, the celebration of Christmas and singing carols was stopped. However, the carols survived as people still sang them in secret. Carols remained mainly unsung until Victorian times, when two men called William Sandys and Davis Gilbert collected lots of old Christmas music from villages in England.
Before carol singing in public became popular, there were sometimes official carol singers called 'Waits'. These were bands of people led by important local leaders (such as council leaders) who had the only power in the towns and villages to take money from the public (if others did this, they were sometimes charged as beggars!). They were called 'Waits' because they only sang on Christmas Eve (This was sometimes known as 'watchnight' or 'waitnight' because of the shepherds were watching their sheep when the angels appeared to them.), when the Christmas celebrations began..."
Fascinationg!
15 December 2011
THE BATTLE FOR CHRISTMAS : STEPHEN NISSENBAUM : ANCESTRY WORSHIP BOOK REVIEW
Stephen Nissenbaum takes wassailing, an English custom, to the early American colonies where Christmas was a day for reversing roles, and the gift giving was more like a Halloween trick or treat. Perhaps the idea was to let off resentment?
Christmas as we know it to be was invented by New Yorkers who leaned on a myth that the holiday was from the Dutch heritage of early residents of Dutch New York. In early new England the day was not celebrated because the festivities were not considered to be Christian behavior.
Perhaps no better a day of the year existed for slaves. A good portion of this book by Stephen Nissenbaum, a Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts, is devoted to the relations between slaves and their masters.
Genealogists will learn more about the Freedman Bureau too!
Maybe you'll want to read this one after the holidays?
Book is C 1996 by the author Stephen Nissenbaum and published by Borzoi/Alfred A. Knopf.
Christmas as we know it to be was invented by New Yorkers who leaned on a myth that the holiday was from the Dutch heritage of early residents of Dutch New York. In early new England the day was not celebrated because the festivities were not considered to be Christian behavior.
Perhaps no better a day of the year existed for slaves. A good portion of this book by Stephen Nissenbaum, a Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts, is devoted to the relations between slaves and their masters.
Genealogists will learn more about the Freedman Bureau too!
Maybe you'll want to read this one after the holidays?
Book is C 1996 by the author Stephen Nissenbaum and published by Borzoi/Alfred A. Knopf.
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