Tell Me a Christmas Story?

You never know what you’re going to find at the library.  Stick with me, it's worth it... I recently checked out a book called The Solstice Evergreen: History, Folklore, and Origins of the Christmas Tree, by Sheryl Karas. (1)  It has been quite an enjoyable read!  My favorite story is a little gem called ‘The Two Pine Cones’.  The story comes from from Finland.  

Photo by Me and used with my own permission

The tale is seasonally appropriate and would be lovely to share with any miserly type one may come across *cough* Mr. Trump *cough*.  Perhaps he can find some young apprentice to read it aloud to him.  

And it summarizes a bit like this… 

An old weary traveling wizard needs a place to rest for the night.  He passes a small log hut thinking to himself that he couldn’t possibly ask the poor family for anything, since they have so little for themselves.  He proceeds to a large ‘well-kept’ home instead and knocks on the door.  He is insulted, threatened, and turned away.  He returns to the log hut to humbly ask for a place to sleep.  He is invited in, fed, and given the only bed in the household.  To repay the kindness the next morning, the wizard gives the woman of the house a pine cone, telling her it will help her prosper in her first task of the day.  The woman’s first task is to measure the linen she had woven the day before.  It took her three days to measure all she had, as it kept multiplying.  She had enough to last the rest of their lives.  

The story of the poor family’s luck spread and the well-to-do family anxiously awaited the wizard’s return.  When he did in fact pass through town again, the rich family invited him in and treated him luxuriously.  In the morning, he offered a pine cone in gratitude and the woman of the house accepted it.  Her plan was to count her coin purse and reap the magic benefits.  Unfortunately, she sneezed first, and went to retrieve her handkerchief.  She spent the next three days sneezing and running to her handkerchief.  

Bless you, Mr. Trump, if you get my meaning…  And a Merry Xmas to the rest of us!

(1) Karas, Sheryl. The Solstice Evergreen: History, Folklore, and Origins of the Christmas Tree. Boulder Creek, CA: Aslan Pub., 1991. Print.

4 Random Things I Miss

1)  Notebook Paper:   Uh-oh pop quiz!  Can I borrow a sheet of paper?  That 3 ring binder double click at the desk behind you just saved the day.  How many sheets of paper do I owe to my dear old high school classmates anyway?  I miss handwritten notes and letters indeed.  Not to mention paper airplanes, fortune tellers, and tiny triangular paper footballs...  Notebook paper has what texting lacks.

2)  Incandescent Light Bulbs:  I'm green, I swear!  I understand the wonderful benefits of curly fry light bulbs and LED's I do.  But try those in an old school vanity bar and you'll swear you're having an alien encounter.

3)  Telephone Mystique:  I miss the days when I had no caller ID or Contacts List in my phone.  The phone would ring and I would haphazardly decide whether or not to answer.  Who's behind curtain number 3?  It could be anyone from my mother to a telemarketer.  Or perhaps even a telemarketer calling for my mother...  Who knows?  I sometimes wish I didn't.

4)  The Video Store!  Prepare yourself.  We are going to go to the video store!  This was not a disc dispensing automated ATM transaction.  This is an outing.  I miss the generically categorized boxes standing on shelves in stores decorated with cheesy Hollywood-ish carpet and cutouts.  I miss the browse, the find, the desperate hope that the new release you missed in the theater and isn't on the shelf, has just been returned and is waiting for you at the counter up front.  The production values of the movies were made glaringly obvious by the front cover of the box or the rental price.  And let us not forget the beloved FIVE DAY RENTAL!!!  You can spend quality time with this movie.  You can memorize the lines.  You can loan this rental to your best friend who will most certainly return it for you, on time.  To the clock I say 'be kind, rewind'.  Why does all the good stuff go away?  I'm asking...