ANCIENT KINGSFrom StoryPeople here and here.
My grandmother kept a box of old
photos in her attic & we used to go up
there on rainy days & sit on the floor in
the dusty light & go through them & she
would tell about witches & broken
hearts & how we came from royal blood
& it was all there in the pictures, she
said & then we'd lose the light & we'd all
go downstairs for dinner & in our secret
hearts we sat taller knowing once we
had ruled the world.
SEASON OF JOY
She asked me when the season of joy
was supposed to end & I said I didn't
really think there was an exact date, so
we left the tree up till June that year.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
TWO STORIES OF THE DAY
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This is where tradition is helpful. The season of Christmas begins on Christmas Eve (all Jewish days begin at sundown) and ends with the burning of the greens on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6. I've heard that, if you don't take down the tree at Epiphany, you must leave it up till Candlemas (February 2). After that? June seems extreme. Keep the trunk in water.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas, Mimi. I have taken the liberty of quoting you once again on my blog; I hope you don't mind. Your comment expresses so well tonight an apropos thought in context that otherwise I could state only very clumsily:
ReplyDeletehttp://bluetruckredstate.blogspot.com/2011/12/merry-christmas-pardners.html
Joyeux Noël à vous et aux vôtres.
Murdoch, thank you. I know the seasons. If you read the stories allowing for humor, irony, hyperbole, and a bit of playful nonsense, you may find that the stories are often 'sermons in a phrase' as one of my friends put it.
ReplyDeleteRuss, the honor is all mine.
A Blessed and Happy Christmas to you both.
We actually did leave our tree up once till the end of February. It was in the cold room, unheated all the time in a house that had only fireplaces and that room had bees living next to the chimney. My mother claimed it was waiting until my Uncle Bob came from Mississippi to see it. It actually was fun to walk in and see it there in the corner. We kept watering it, but I think it stopped drinking by the end of January.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas, Mimi!
Susan s., what a wonderful Christmas story. I'll have to remember the relative from Mississippi (or somewhere else) when I'm late taking down my tree.
ReplyDeleteA Blessed and Merry Christmas to you.
It's Christmas Day here in the UK now ... Merry Christmas Mimi! And Merry Christmas all the lovely commenters who haunt this blog too :)
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas, Cathy, but not too merry. As I said at Facebook, go easy on the single malt. ;-)
ReplyDelete