‘TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS…..

Tonight! Christmas Eve! Santa Claus comes to town!

Love it!

Robert and Ally excited. Especially Ally. Just talked to them on the phone.

Dinner will be great! Seven fishes. Italian tradition. Last year, Lisa made it to five. Perhaps this year seven. In any event, what ever the number, Lisa’s cooking this special evening spectacular!

I started telling the story of Christmas in America yesterday. Not popular in the 1600s and 1700s. Banned in certain localities. Had to do with the pagan birth of the holiday.

This morning, three writings that had a decided impact on how we celebrate Christmas in America today. All three writings done in the first half of the 1800s.

Washington Irving one of our first great American writers. Most famous for the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle.

Many of Irving’s writings were in the form of short stories and essays. Written over a period of years and compiled over that period of time into the Sketchbook of Geoffrey Cooper. Three short stories written in 1809:  Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Christmas Dinner.

Wrote not as the holiday was, but as how he conceptualized it to be. A peaceful loving holiday. The work set the mood for present day Christmas. Not a pagan festival. Rather the beginning of Christmas as we know it.

In 1823 came ‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house / Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse….. The opening stanzas to A Visit From St. Nicholas. Written by Clement Clarke Moore.

‘A Visit From St. Nicholas was a poem. Really spelled out what our Christmas is today.

The third writing was an 1843 novel by Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol. Scrooge, Marley’s ghost, and crippled Tim Cratchet who as Tiny Tim touched everyone’s heart.

America was on its way to today’s Christmas! Not the entire country, however. Tomorrow, Christmas in the North and South, its Civil War impact, etc.

Made a Christmas visit to Donna and Terri yesterday. Sat outside and chatted.

Terri looked good and was on a high. She had chemo in the morning. Does not affect her the first day and leaves her feeling terrific. The second day, today, will be hell. All the adverse chemo effects will hit her.

Terri has thinned down. Thirty five pounds worth. Thin is good. Not the way she is achieving it, however.

Donna is hanging in there. Doing her loving spousal thing. Her tiredness obvious. She complains not, however.

Someday, I must meet Key West’s Roger Kostmayer. He writes letters to the editor. Expresses himself via that medium and any other he can. He shares his opinion. Sometimes I agree with him, sometimes not.

Kostmayer had an interesting right on Letter to the Editor in this morning’s Key West Citizen. He asked where is the outrage over Russia’s hacking?

His final paragraph crystallized his position: “When did it become acceptable to view your neighbor as the enemy because he or she belongs to a different political party, while admiring a brutal foreign dictator who is attacking our core American institutions?”

I close on this special day with the final line of A Visit From St. Nicholas: “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

2 comments on “‘TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS…..

  1. Thank you for sharing Roger Kostmayer’s sentiments. I agree with him on this. Why aren’t Americans… in fact the whole world… outraged over Russia’s hacking. I don’t care what political party you belong to, Russia’s (and probably Putin’s) should be universally condemned.

    On the other notes… I hope you have a very merry Key West Christmas. Wish I was there.

  2. 35 lbs. Chemo or radiation treatments are not a diet I would recommend to anyone. They sure raise hell with the ability and desire to eat. I found shakes/smoothies made from various things and Boost/Ensure do help, but, I’m sure she knows that.

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