On the 6th Day of Christmas...

Hi, I’m Bridget! I’m from the same story as Colm O’Reilly.
I am here to share a more New Years-y themed post!
Now, in Scotland, (Where I’m from. A Scottish Lass is what I am!) Christmas isn’t actually an official holiday. It’s currently the mid 1950’s.
It was actually banned in the 1600’s. It’s been 300 years since yule celebrations were made illegal.
But now that I’m living in Ireland, we are free to have all the Christmas we want!

Enough about that now, I’m here to talk about Hogmanay. (Or, New Years Eve.)
We have delicious traditions to celebrate.
One of my favorite traditions, besides the annual steak-pie dinner, is the tradition of First Footing!

Tradition goes that after the stroke of midnight, friends, family, and neighbors go around visiting each other bearing gifts! (Usually of the food and drink variety.)
The first person to cross the threshold of a friend or neighbor’s house is considered to bring good luck to that house.
But, there is a catch. It is preferred that the first-footer is a tall, dark haired fellow.
It is a jolly tradition that goes into the wee hours of the New Year.
Sometimes even longer! First Footing has been known to last for days!

But probably my favorite thing is when we sing “Auld Lang Syne”.
Now, amongst many things, I love poetry; and Robert Burns has always been a favorite poet of mine. It is one of his most poplar works.
It’s a beautiful poem, set to an equally beautiful tune.
It is commonly sung on New Years Eve to usher in the New Year.
Which we do every year!
And now, I would like to share the whole poem with you.

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

And surely you'll buy your pint cup!
and surely I'll buy mine!
And we'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

We two have run about the slopes,
and picked the daisies fine;
But we've wandered many a weary foot,
since auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine;
But seas between us broad have roared,
since auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

And there's a hand my trusty friend!
And give me a hand o' thine!
And we'll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne!

A few of the words were changed for ease of reading, but there you have it!
I hope you all have a wonderful New Years Eve! I’m off to celebrate with my family now.
Bye!

Thanks Bridget!
I hope all you readers had a great 2018. May your 2019 be filled with God’s blessings, and may His joy fill your hearts and homes this coming year!
Until tomorrow,

God bless!

Megan

poem written by Robert Burns, courtesy of Wikipedia.

On the 5th Day of Christmas...

Hello there, Aaron Rochester here.
Seems it's my turn to do a post, so here's what I've come up with. Hope you enjoy!

I looked at my twin, and grinned. “Ready?”
She nodded, and cracked her knuckles. “Oh yes.”
We both took a deep breath and started singing. Ivy took the melody, I chimed in with the harmony.
“We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!”
A blond head poked out the previously closed door. “What the heck are you two doing?”
We stopped singing as soon as the door opened.
I shrugged. “Why, caroling of course!”
He pushed his glasses up his nose, and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Since when do carolers go around inside their own house?”
Ivy clasped her hands behind her back innocently. “Since now. Come on, Caleb. Join us?”
Our twenty-three year old brother shook his head. “I’m busy.”
I crossed my arms. “Sorry, can’t back out. We’re all going caroling in town.”
Caleb narrowed his eyes at us. “Why wasn’t I informed of this trip?”
I grinned at my sister. “We just decided a few minutes ago. Mom and Dad agreed that it would be fun. You wanna come?”
Our tall brother sighed. “Ah, why not...”
He straightened. “Are we supposed to dress up?”
Ivy nodded the same time I shook my head. When she saw my answer, she nodded again. “Of course! Get a vest and coat, and your nicest hat too. It’s common knowledge that all carolers have to look like they’re from the 1800’s!”
Right then, Dad walked up behind us. “What’s this? Who’s from the 1800’s?”
Ivy looked at him and grinned. “We are! Don’t you agree that we should dress up to go caroling?”
He feigned shock at the idea of not dressing up for the occasion. “Why, of course!” Caleb groaned. “Not only are you making me sing, now I have to dress up too?”
I scoffed. “Ha! You’re the one in the house who always dresses up the most when going places, and don’t deny it, brother.”
Caleb shrugged; a grin spreading across his face. “Ah, tis true, little brother. Unlike someone—” he poked my chest. “—I care about what I look like in public.”

An hour and a half later found us in the middle of the old section of our little town, wandering through the town square singing Christmas carols and hymns that pertained to our Savior’s birth.
Dad played his squeezebox in accompaniment while we all sang.
“God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay...”
I normally didn’t care to sing in front of people, but if I had someone to sing with, it certainly made it easier. And my family was the best group to sing with, in my opinion.
Once we had our fill of singing in the cold snowy weather, we all shuffled into the local coffee shop and jumped into line to order something to warm up our frozen insides.
We decided to go easy on the baristas, and all ordered hot chocolates.
Dad took a sip of his beverage once we gathered around a circular table.
“Ow!”
We all chuckled and giggled at the expression on his face.
“Daaad,” Ivy giggled, cradling her paper cup. “It’s hot!”
He puckered his lips and stuck his burnt tongue out. “Ya could have warned me.” Caleb smirked. “The name wasn’t a dead giveaway?”
Mom carefully sipped her own. “It’s hot cocoa for a reason, dear.”
Dad grinned and took another sip. “I knew that. I was only joking.”
I reached for the basket on the table that held complimentary candy canes, and stuck one in my mouth. After a couple minutes, I pulled the cane from my mouth; revealing a sharp pointed end.
“My favorite Christmas treat is the peppermint candy sword.”
Ivy rolled her eyes. “They’re called candy canes, not—”
I waved it around in front of me. “Now once you’ve sucked on it a while!”
Dad laughed. “Who knew such a delicious treat could be so lethal...”
Caleb set his cup down, and drummed his fingers on the tabletop. “Certainly wouldn’t be a choice weapon. The strength of the peppermint would be easily detected.”
I scowled. “Brilliant deduction, Caleb. Way to ruin a good plan.”
My big brother flashed a grin. “Just keeping you from being dragged off to jail, dear brother.”
I popped the top off my beverage, and stuck my peppermint stick in.
“Well, I don’t plan on bumping anyone off right now anyhow. But thanks for the warning. I’m much obliged.”
After we had fallen silent for a couple minutes, Dad lifted his cup.
“I’d like to propose a toast.”
We all turned our attention to him, and raised our own drinks.
He cleared his throat. “To Christmas, family, and hot cocoa. God bless us!”
We all echoed his toast, and took a drink.
I grinned, and raised the cup to my lips again.
“God bless us, everyone!”

Thanks for the snippet, Aaron!
Have a lovely Sunday, everyone. I'm off to prepare for church!

God bless!

Megan

On the 4th Day of Christmas...

Greetings! Tis I, Joshua Peterson.
Merry (four days after) Christmas, everyone!
Well, I was going to write about my latest Christmas, but...Amy kind of beat me to that...so...
How about I just share my favorite Christmas drinks and foods with you?
Since my dream is to own my own pizza joint when I finish culinary collage, I have a handful of great recipies to share!
(Don't worry. They're not pizzas. Though...A turkey sandwich pizza sounds really cool right now...)

Drinks
A very important part of any day is drinks, am I right?
So two of my favorite things are Hot Cocoa, and Eggnog.

Hot Cocoa:
2 Tablespoons Cocoa powder
2 Tablespoons Sugar
And enough Milk to fill your favorite mug. (as long as it's not one of those ginormous cups...Then you'll have to add more cocoa and sugar...)
A half teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Mix those, and heat them up on the stove. Once it's hot, but not boiling, pour it back into your mug and add two big Marshmallows, and a Candy Cane.
Viola! Vuwalla!...V....phooey.
And there you have it! A delicious Hot Chocolate!

Eggnog:
6 Eggs
A Half Gallon of Milk
3/4 to 1 cup Sugar (depends on how sweet you like it. I suggest starting with 3/4 and working your way up.)
A teaspoon Nutmeg
And a half teaspoon Vanilla
Blend the eggs and sugar in a blender until totally mixed together, then add flavors, mix until completely blended, then add milk. Blend again. You can't overdo it. Always overblend than underblend your eggnog. Trust me on this one...
Once done, pour into a tall glass and add a tiny sprinkle of Nutmeg on top for decoration.
Enjoy!

Not Drinks:
Very important, this.
And by not drinks, I mean food.
Now these aren't my very own recipies, but I recommend them:

Peppermint Cookies:
https://preppykitchen.com/white-chocolate-peppermint-cookies/#

Chocolate Fudge:
https://foodieandwine.com/3-ingredient-easy-fudge-recipe/

You may not have known, but my father's side all comes from the Scandinavian countries, so we have quite a bit of Scandinavian influences on our Christmas meals!
The above recipies aren't Scandinavian...That I know of...
But here are a couple delicious things we enjoy during the Christmas season:

Spiced Cake:
https://www.redonline.co.uk/food/recipes/a501507/spiced-christmas-cake/

A Yummy Roast:
https://www.finecooking.com/recipe/roast-pork-with-crisp-crackling-red-currant-gravy

Mom isn't too into fish, so we don't have many of the fishy things that Scandinavians usually eat during most of their meals.

There! Now that I'm totally hungry from talking about all this food...
I think I'll go grab myself some fudge I think is still leftover in the fridge.
Hasta la Pasta!

Great recipies Josh, thanks for sharing.
Hope you enjoyed this post, and maybe will try out some of these tasty recipies!
(I highly recommend the fudge!)

Until tomorrow,

God bless!

Megan

On the 3rd Day of Christmas...

Hello there, my name is Colm O'Reilly. (pronounced; Call-um).
You haven't met me yet, but my story is still a work in process. It's quite long.
Megan has been working on it for a couple years, but not a lot, so it's coming along slowly.

Anyhow, I hope you all had a very lovely Christmas!
I decided to see what sort of post Miss Hyde wrote yesterday, (I found it enjoyable, I hope you did as well!) and I decided that I am going to share a different sort of post.
I thought I would share some of my Irish Christmas traditions.

Nollaig Shona Duit!

This is the Gaelic greeting for this festive time of the year. Though I normally speak English myself, I do like to use my native tongue on occasion!
Nollaig Shona Duit is, as you have probably already guessed, means Merry Christmas.
You pronounce it: "Null-ig hun-a dit."

Decorations

Since my family isn't much for expensive decorations or extravagance, most of our decorations are handmade.
Ever since I was a wee lad, I liked to make the annual Holly Wreath.
It is still my job to build the wreath every year, but I always let my ten year old sister, Sarah, help me gather the prickly greenery.
Holly Wreaths are a very common sight here in Ireland. Since holly grows wild, the richest even to the poorest of us can make a lovely bit of decoration for our front doors.

Besides our annual holly, we always have a large pillar candle in our front window that we keep lit from Cristmas Eve, all the way to what we like to call "Little Christmas", or, Epiphany. (January 6th).

A frosty holly wreath

Celebrations

We have a small family celebration on Christmas day, a lovely meal with a nicely roast goose, potatoes, a Christmas pudding, and sometimes a few delicious rolls.
I dearly love Christmas celebrations, rejoicing for the birth of our Savior and King!
My family and I, which consists of my father, mother, younger brother Jack, and little sister Sarah; gather in our living room and sing Christmas carols, then give each other our gifts.
January 6th is a special day for the mothers, sisters and wives in our lives. We like to give them a day off, so us men take over the cooking, dishes, and all their usual housework while they get to visit each other and just enjoy a full day of no worries or work. In my opinion, our ladies should have far more than one day vacation from work, they work so very hard to make our lives easy and enjoyable... But I digress.

At the end of the 6th, we take all decorations down. Nobody dares to take them down before, as it is considered bad-luck to take down our Christmas decorations before the 6th. Perhaps it's a silly superstition, but we treat it as tradition. The decorations are lovely, so I'm never in a hurry to take any of them down.

Goodness, I think this post has been long enough, I don't want to bore any of you with my dull writing skills!

I had better go, I have some wood to chop. It's rather nippy outside, and I don't want the cold to find its way in here...

Nollaig Shona Duit, readers!

Thanks for sharing, Colm.

Hope ya'll enjoyed reading my dear character's post!

Hope you come back for tomorrows post, too.

God bless!

Megan

On the 2nd Day of Christmas...

Hi, Amy from the Time Travelers here.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you!

Since Megan is apparently too busy to write these posts herself, she has enlisted the help of my friends and I.
A list of names were tossed into a hat, and my name was drawn first; so...
Here is what my Christmas looked like:

*knock knock*
“Miss Hyde?”
I sighed heavily, and lowered the violin from my shoulder.
Aaaand there goes violin practice for the rest of the day... “What, Saunders?”
My Grandmother’s stereotypical British butler stuck his head into my music room. “Miss Hyde, your presence has been requested in the drawing room. The guests have arrived.”
I raised the lid to my case, and gently laid my precious instrument in.
“Alight Mr. Saunders, tell Grandmother I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
The elderly butler nodded, and ducked back out of the room.
I loosened the hair on my bow, and slipped it in before closing and locking the case shut.
As I left the music room, I glanced down at the chain hung around my neck; attached were my late Father’s dog-tags.
My Grandmother didn’t think they were feminine, so frowned upon my wearing them. I lovingly ran my fingers across the raised words on the metal tags, then tucked the special necklace inside my cream blouse before entering the drawing room.

I entered the room and spotted Josh and his Great Aunt, my Grandmother, and a few of her old friends that I’m not too familiar with.
I waved nervously as my eyes scanned the room for a seat I could take.
“Merry Christmas everyone.”
Josh waved me over to where he sat on a couch. “Sit here!”
Grandmother cleared her throat as I padded across the plush carpet to my friend’s side. “Amy, you’re just in time, I was telling everyone about how well you play your violin.”
I stopped short on my brief trek to the couch. “What?”
All of the guests nodded.
Grandmother smiled primly. “Why don’t you fetch your instrument and give us a little recital?”
“B-but—”
Josh leapt up. “Come on Amy, just a little song?”
I felt my face getting red from the attention of everyone, but nodded slowly. “Oh, I guess...I’ll go get my violin.”
Josh jumped up and hurried after me as I left the room. “Hey Amy!”
I glanced over my shoulder and scowled. “Gee, thanks, now I’ve gotta play.”
He gave me his goofy grin. “But you’re real good at it.”
“I don’t like to play for an audience.”
He continued to follow me up the staircase. “Gosh, sorry...But...You’re still gonna play though, right?”
I scoffed. “Do I have a choice?”
Josh stopped his assent up the stairway, and frowned at the carpeted steps.
“Maybe—” He snapped his fingers. “Oh, I know! I’ll hide it, and you can say that you couldn’t find it!”
I laughed. “You’re a pal, Josh. But I don’t think that would work.”
He took the steps three at a time and reached the landing. “Oh, alright.”
We fell silent as we approached the music room door.
I was about to reach for the handle when Josh coughed. “Hey, would’ja like your Christmas present now?”
“Now? Why now?”
He followed me into the room. “I figured you wouldn’t want everyone to—” He pulled a package out of his back pocket and thrust it into my hands.
I gently pulled the wrapping paper off the package. Inside, I found what looked to be two small oval gold plated picture frame. I looked at my friend in confusion.
He grinned. “It’s for your Dad’s tags. They should fit perfectly inside, and they’ll be pretty, and maybe your Gramma won’t mind you wearing them.”
I clasped the golden frames to my chest, and smiled broadly at my friend. “Oh Josh, this is the sweetest gift! Thank you!”
He beamed. “I was hoping you’d like them.”
I opened my hands, and admired the intricate gold lining before hastily slipping them into the pocket of my jeans. “Thank you very much, Joshua.”
He shrugged and grinned. “Glad you like them. Now...better get that violin. Don’t want Gramma to get impatient.”
I sighed and reached for my instrument. “Yes, this is true. I shall play, but only one song.”
We both started back down.
Josh skipped a couple steps ahead of me. “Three songs!”
I gripped the handle of my case a little tighter. “One.”
“Four!”
I shook my head. “That’s not how you’re supposed to haggle.”
He turned and walked backwards; a grin on his face. “Five. That’s my final offer.”
I rolled my eyes, and chuckled in defeat. “Two. And that’s all I’ll do, or none at all.”

My bow slid over the strings of my violin, my fingers pressing and sliding to create the melodies of two of my favorite Christmas carols.
When I finished, and the small group applauded, I caught Josh’s eye and smiled.
“One final song.”
Josh’s face lit up and he settled back on his couch in glee as I played what I knew to be his favorite Christmas song:
“God Bless Us, Everyone”

Thanks for helping out, Amy.
Hope you all enjoyed!
Until tomorrow,

God Bless!

Megan

On the 1st Day of Christmas...

Salutations my readers!
I hope you all had a blessed Christmas!

I'm going to do a series of posts for the 12 days of Christmas!
"The 12 days of Christmas?? But those already happened, didn't they??"
Ah, that's what most people think, yes.
But!
While some folks assume the 12 days are the ones leading up to Christmas, they're actually the 12 days after, between Christmas Day and Epiphany, (or, January 6th.).

Epiphany is the celebrated day that the Magi brought their gifts to our Savior.

So in honer of the twelve days, I am going to write a new post every day, (or, try to anyway...life may get in the way...) but instead of "me" writing them, I shall inlist the help of my characters.
Each day you'll get a post written by a different character, and a tiny snippet of a Christmas story featuring them.

I hope you enjoy the upcoming posts!

Until tomorrow,

God bless!

Megan

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

A very happy Christmas to all!

It is a mere 11 days until the greatest day in all the year; December the 25th!

Lately:

I hope you had a fabulous last few months. I have been a bit MIA lately, I know, but I have an excuse.

I worked in Kentucky from Oct. 5th, to December 1st. It was the best job I could have ever asked for; working for the Ararat Ridge Zoo at the Ark Encounter, which is an attraction built by the Answers in Genesis ministry. An absolutely fantastic experience.

If you're ever in Kentucky, I highly recommend visiting the Ark!

And if you live nearby, and need a job...they're one of the best places to work for as well, I think. Super nice staff, all like family!

Anyways, after leaving, Tiffany and I drove back home (with our Dad and little sister) in 55 hours without stopping for more than an hour at a time to rest. It was fantastic, driving along the Route 66, (practically. It was route 40, but they crossed paths a few times.)

But, like they say: There's no place like home!

Now Christmas is coming...it's practically here!

It doesn't exactly feel like Christmas here yet; it's been wet and warm.

But I'm hoping for a good snow on Christmas Eve, like we were blessed enough to receive last year!

But to make up for the lack of Christmassy feeling outside, my family and I have decorated the inside of the house to look ever so festive!

Now we must bake some cookies, sing carols around the piano, continue our tradition of watching nearly every Christmas Carol filmed, (We own more than half a dozen of the known films. It's fantastic. If you need a recommendation, The Muppets Christmas Carol, and the musical; Scrooge, are my personal favorites, even if they do deviate a bit much from the book...They're musicals, so how can you go wrong?) ;-)

This post is long enough, I daresay. I must go off and play more Christmas music.

A very merry 11 days until Christmas, to all!

~What are some of your Christmas traditions?~

~Which is your favorite version of A Christmas Carol?~

~Are you dreaming of a White Christmas too?~

~Did you catch the two quotes from two Christmas movies I used?~

I'd love to read your answers!

God bless!

Megan