DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

Christmas in Wrocław, Poland                                   I’d been watching the city municipal workers assemble the rows of wooden stalls and the three-story Christmas tree in Wrocław’s town center since the middle of November. The outdoor Christmas market seemed like it was going to be a huge event. Sprawled across two lengths of the square, the builders worked just as hard at assembling as they did at shoveling the continually on-coming snow heralding the beginning of the Polish winter.    I knew the day the market opened by the smell. Fried  kielbasa,  baked gingerbread, and the distinct linger of hot mulled wine invited me in as I walked from my bus stop toward the building where I work. Luckily, the town square is positioned so that a detour through the market was, actually, right on the way.    I spent my first walk through the market hovering around the rows of stalls, and couldn’t resist the one selling warm mugs of spiced wine. The drink fu

   In  Brazil , Christmas is one of the most important festive days, or "dia de festas". It is celebrated on 25th December.    Having a multicultural population, the festivities in the country are influenced by ethnic ways. As a former Portuguese colony, they have retained some of the Christmas customs of their former masters. Notable among these is creating a nativity scene or "Presepio".  The word  "Presepio" comes from "presepium" meaning the bed of straw in which Jesus first slept after birth in Bethlehem. This custom is common in places of north eastern Brazil like Bahia, Sergipe, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraiba, Maranhao, Ceara, Pernambuco, Piaui and Alagoas. A Franciscan friar named  Gaspar  De Santo Agostinho is believed to have first introduced the tradition in the city of Olinda (in the state of Pernambuco) in the 17th century. The practice of setting up presepios continue to this day. Every December, presépios are cr

This comes from  www. showtellshare.blogspot.com  . These would look really great on your Chirstmas buffet and dessert table. Good luck! Peppermint Topiary Trees by  Lor Last week Stephanie Lynn over at  Under the Table and Dreaming  invited us to be part of her  Handmade Holidays  series using  STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam.  We were super excited to be featured with several other talented bloggers! Here is the project and post I shared with them: Some of my special childhood memories of Christmas center around holiday candy. Peppermint sticks and marshmallow Santas and those creamy bits of heaven called Lindt balls were stocking standards in our home. I would savor my stocking candy for weeks, trying to prolong the magical taste of Christmas. Santa always left Starlight mints for us among the cookie crumbs on his plate, and although I enjoyed them year round, those enchanted drops touched by The Man Himself always tasted special and different on Christmas morning.