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. ...

   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 ar...

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 s...

  I really liked this project when I was surfing around the net.  It comes from  www.flamingotoes.com .  I hope you like it as much as I have.  The mention of holidays get me going to do new projects and crafts for the coming year.  This would also be a great gift for someone (like a grandma or mom) who like signs, Christmas and loves country decor. Candy Cane Kitchen Sign Hello all!! I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving and are all ready to dive into Christmas! We have been listening to Christmas music and tonight we’re going to watch a Christmas movie and start decorating the house. I’m so excited. :) This is a re-post of my Candy Cane Christmas Sign that I posted over at Tatertots and Jello recently. I’ve added in a couple of pictures and instructions for more details – I tend to over-detail tutorials sometimes and I didn’t want to blast the readers over there with pictures. But I thought I’d add them back in for you (because you’re used to m...

    I have been seeing a great many Christmas articles lately and there is a question that should be answered at this time of year. What did the "Three Kings" see? A common Question to be sure and it does tickle the mind for Christians that believe something came to pass, that could not have been ordinary.     So where do we start on this small exposition? Let's start with the Kings. We know them as Kings however, they were not really "Kings", they were scientist priests, well versed in astrology and were most honored by the ruling class of that time and place. The word "king" was used by the Christian writer Tertullian in 120 A.D. when speaking of the priests as Magi. What made these men so important during the time of Christ's birth was their ability to interpret the celestial heavens, in particular, heralds.    Because the Magi found prognostic events within the night sky, the Hebrews of that time and place found this cons...