DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

   Where did tinsel come from?  Its origins are murky, but it was apparently first made in Germany during the 1600's.  It was made by hammering out a paper thin silver alloy and then cutting that into strips.  It's unlikely that this first version was as thin as what it is today.  It was used, not only on Christmas Trees (which were just catching on in Germany) but also on any other decoration that needed a little shine from statues to fireplace garlands.  Since candlelight, lanterns and fireplaces were the primary method of lighting homes, reflective surfaces were often used to maximize the light.a    The early stuff was meant to be reused, carefully gathered from the trees and decoration to be used again the next year.  Unfortunately, silver-based metals tend to tarnish when they aren't used or aren't kept next to the skin (some claim it was the candlelight that tarnished them, but simple disuse could do the same).  Cheaper all...

   Popcorn is considered a junk food but if it is it is one of the healthiest junk foods around.  It actually has some things in it that are good for you like fiber.  You can eat a lot of popcorn before it adds up calories.  four cups of popcorn has only 92 calories and only 1 gram of fat if it is popped with hot air.  These numbers are more if you pop your popcorn in oil.  The nutritional value of popcorn is 71% starch with other carbohydrates, 10% protein, 3% fat and there are a trace of vitamins and minerals and 14% of the kernel is water.  If you pop your popcorn with a hot air popper it has much less fat than if you use oil methods.    Popcorn has a hard kernel and when the kernel dries a little water is sealed inside the popcorn kernel so when the kernel gets heated up to a certain temperature the water inside the kernel actually boils and the pressure causes the kernel to pop into popcorn.  It literally turns itself inside...

   Are you a trivia buff?  If so, perhaps you'd be interested in knowing a little bit more about the poinsettia plant you buy every Christmas season.  This knowledge should really impress your friends and family at the holiday dinner table.    Did you know that the poinsettia's main attraction is not its flowers, but its leaves?  The flowers of the plant are the yellow clustered buds in the center.  The colored leafy parts are actually bracts or modified leaves.    Red is the most popular color, accounting for roughly tow thirds of all sales nationwide, followed by white, pink, marble and peppermint candy.   Poinsettia's also come in a variety of other shades of salmon, apricot, yellow and cream.  There are also unusual speckled or marbled varieties like "White Glitter".  New varieties are introduced yearly with even more variation in height and colors.    How many poinsettias do you think are sold ea...

   I finally got around to getting the pictures from my  camera onto my computer.  I always took pictures in the day time, but this year I decided to take them at night with just the lighting I used on them.  Some didn't turn out like I planned, it might be time for me to upgrade my camera.  Everything was hand made, the windows were covered with styrofoam boards, the ground breaker coffins were also made from styrofoam.  So without further ado here they are:   The vacancy sign blinked on and off        This is the front door where the trick or treaters would come    The ravens eye blinked on and off  

\    It's simpler than you think. Years ago, it was red wine with beef and perhaps a robust pasta and white wine with chicken and fish.  This is fine to use as a general guideline but the main thing to re member is to drink what you like.  Having said that, here are some good pairings.    It's fun to pair wine with food to make a meal more enjoyable.  The light-bodied wines go best with lighter foods and the heavier wines with heavier, very flavorful foods.  The body of a wine is how powerful and weighty it feels in your mouth.    As you pair wine with beef, wild game, barbecued meats, and/or pastas in a heavy red sauce select a heavy-bodied, flavorful red wine.  Consider there wines-a Syrah, Merlot or a Cabernet Sauvignon.  If you're serving light seafood dishes, poultry, ham and mildly flavored cheeses look to the lighter wines.  For a red wine, these would be Beaujolais, burgundy or a Pinot Noir...

   With Thanksgiving a little less than a week away, it means that alot of us start to think more about Christmas.  We start to think about what theme or decorations that we're going to put up and how its all going to look.  Also we've got to start thinking about putting the lights up onto the house and anywhere else that you want them to go.  Just think of how many trips we're going to take up into the attic to bring down all of the boxes filled with Christmas decorations (by yourself most of the time, because everyone else disappears during this fun filled time).    One of the main items that we ponder on the most though, is the Christmas tree.  Whether it's an artificial tree or a real one.  The Christmas tree is usually the focal point of your inside the house Christmas decorating. Most of what we decide to do with the tree and how it gets decorated, coinsides with  what the rest of you...

   Christmas in Ireland includes several Christmas traditions that have been adapted around the world.  The hanging of holly, candles in the windows, and whitewashing the house are a few Christmas traditions involved in celebrating Christmas in Ireland that go back to the early years of Ireland.    Using holly growing naturally in Ireland during Christmas time.  Because of the availability, even the poorest of families could deck their homes to celebrate Christmas in Ireland.    To this day although Christmas trees decorated with tinsel and ornaments are common, the tradition of using holly at Christmas still stands and the Christmas tradition has spread around the world to include many parts of the world having "Hanging of the Greens" festivities prior to Christmas.    A candle in the window is another Christmas in Ireland tradition seen around the world.  The single candle placed in the window of homes originated to welcome...