Reference: http://thinkingmomsrevolution.com/2012/04/20/freedom-of-choice/

This week, I found out.

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.

• The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.
• Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.
• Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.
• The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.
• The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.
• The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.
• Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit–Prophecy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.
• The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.
• Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit–Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.
• The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.
• The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.
• The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles’ Creed.

So there is your history for today. This knowledge was shared with me and I found it interesting and enlightening and now I know how that strange song became a Christmas Carol.

Merry (Twelve Days of) Christmas Everyone

Find more information about this carol here: novareinna.com/festive/twelve.html

Christmas At Arlington Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery, Washington, DC

Rest easy, sleep well my brothers.
Know the line has held, your job is done.
Rest easy, sleep well.
Others have taken up where you fell, the line has held.
Peace, peace, and farewell…

Readers may be interested to know that these wreaths — some 5,000 — are donated by the Worcester Wreath Co. of Harrington, Maine.
The owner, Merrill Worcester, not only provides the wreaths, but covers the trucking expense as well. He’s done this since 1992. A wonderful guy. Also, most years, groups of Maine school kids combine an educational trip to DC with this event to help out. Making this even more remarkable is the fact that Harrington is in one the poorest parts of the state.

Now, NCTA is launching the “Great De-Myth-ification Campaign” with its 10 Biggest Myths About Christmas Trees, designed to provide straight-forward answers and facts in a simple, compiled list. The top 10 list is culled from emails received by consumers, plus questions by news media and messages on blogs and such. Each year, NCTA receives more than 2,000 inquiries from the public, so we have a pretty good feel for what people think about Christmas Trees. Here are the 10 biggest myths, in no specific order:

MYTH #1: Real Christmas Trees are cut down from forests.
BUSTED: Seriously, do people still believe this? To be completely accurate, in a few locations around North America, the Forest Service sells permits for people to harvest wild trees. They do this in places to create fire breaks. But it’s a very tiny percentage of all trees used. Most trees come from a farm where someone plants them. And each year, growers plant one to three seedlings for each tree harvested.

MYTH #2: You save a tree by using a fake tree.
BUSTED: This is obviously tied to Myth #1, and also directly attributable to the fake tree industry. We’ve got copies of ads for fake trees that say exactly that: “Save a tree." Of course, this is false, because trees are a crop. They are planted by farmers to be used specifically as Christmas Trees. Close to half a billion trees are currently growing on tree farms in the U.S. alone. The really ironic part of the ad for the fake tree is one of the selling points is that it comes in a sturdy cardboard box. Ummm, how exactly is that saving a tree?

MYTH #3: Real Christmas Trees aggravate allergies.
BUSTED: Often, we get emails and inquiries from news media asking if there is a type of Christmas Tree that won’t bother a person’s allergies. We’ve collected sources of information both about trees and allergies and share these with people.

Sources include the National Institute of Environmental Health Science (NIEHS) and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI). So it’s not just “the Christmas Tree people” saying that the farm-grown tree itself is not the culprit.

A quick summary of the sources we have found are that while it’s possible that a person may be allergic to tree pollen or even tree sap, it’s not as widespread as many believe. We have read that in rare cases, people can have an allergy to certain species of tree sap.

As for pollens, which certainly can be an allergen to people, a Real Tree itself is unlikely to produce pollen during December, and even if it did, pollens from pines are not a known allergen. According to the NIEHS of the 50,000 different kinds of trees, less than 100 have been shown to cause allergies. Most allergies are specific to one type of tree.

But being outdoors for years in the field, a Christmas Tree can collect pollens, dust, mold or other allergens. Of course, so can the artificial tree stored in the attic or basement. Whether you use a fresh Christmas Tree from a farm, or an artificial tree stored in a box, if you have sensitive allergies to dust, molds, etc., AAAAI recommends you spray the tree down in the yard with a hose before putting up. Let it dry completely before bringing indoors.

Resources we have found pertaining to holiday allergy prevention include: www.aaaai.org/media/news_releases/2004/11/111204.stm
www.hoptechno.com/book46.htm

MYTH #4: It’s better to use a fake tree because you can re-use it each year.
BUSTED: That’s a very short-sighted perspective. According to research, most fake trees are only used 6 to 9 years before they’re disposed. Even if you would use one for 20 years or more, it will eventually be thrown away and end up in a landfill. And unlike Real Trees, which are biodegradable and recyclable, fake trees are always a burden to the environment.

MYTH #5: Christmas Trees are a fire safety hazard and frequently catch on fire.
BUSTED: You’d certainly think so by watching the local “Action News” team on TV. Each year, many of them show a dramatic image of a tree bursting into flames, intending to scare people into watching the news. And the anchor/reporter will say, “If you get a Christmas Tree, this could happen to you …” The reality is, a tree being accidentally ignited is EXTREMELY rare. As in 0.0004%. And those images of trees burning? They’re often aided by gasoline or lighter fluid. Don’t believe it? Just watch this…

MYTH #6: Real Trees cost too much.
BUSTED: Like anything else, you can find a wide range of prices, and spend what you want to spend. It all depends on what you’re looking for in a tree. Prices vary by many variables including: location of retail lot, where the tree was harvested, species, size, grade, who’s selling it and even sometimes day of the week. The bottom line is, you can spend $15 to over $200 on a tree in many places.

My favorite part is when fake tree people try to use this as a selling point. “You can get your investment in a fake tree back in as little as 3 years…blah, blah.” That’s called “funny math” where I’m from. If I spend $20 on a Christmas tree from a farm each year and you spend $300 on a fake tree, you’d have to use it for 15 years (way past the average) before I will have spent the same amount as you.

MYTH #7: Fake trees are fireproof.
BUSTED: Um, no, they’re not. They catch on fire every year. According to a report from the National Fire Protection Association, 28% of home fires involving a Christmas Tree were a fake one.

MYTH #8: Real Christmas Trees have pesticides and chemicals on them.
BUSTED: Myths such as this often get a foothold due to the disconnect that most people have with agricultural practices. Christmas Tree farmers do not use chemicals in a "harmful" manner. Chemicals are used only when needed and only according to the specified instructions and regulations of the EPA, the USDA and the FDA. Christmas Tree farmers live on their land and raise their families there. They would not engage in an activity that would put their families, employees or the people they sell their product to in harms way. To suggest otherwise is at best uninformed, and at worst, offensive.

There has never been a scientific research article suggesting that harmful levels of chemical residue exists on Christmas Trees, and in fact there have been studies looking for it. On the flip side, there have been studies showing a potential health danger of lead dust coming from plastic trees. The state of California requires a warning label on fake trees and wreaths. Watch this clip

MYTH #9: Real Christmas Trees end up in landfills.
BUSTED: Christmas Tree recycling programs are available nationwide, and many are quite creative. A farm-grown Christmas tree is 100% biodegradable, so it can be used for all kinds of things in nature, from mulch to erosion control. Fake trees?….see Myth #4 above. People often lament the sight of Christmas trees at the curb after Christmas…but they don’t realize that many communities have curb-side pick up as part of their recycling program. They’re not "being thrown in the trash" or ending up in landfills. They’re waiting to be put into the recycling program.

MYTH #10: Real Christmas Trees are a hassle and a mess.
BUSTED: It’s all relative. The first thing to ask someone if they say “I don’t want a Real Tree because I might have to vacuum up needles” is this: Does that mean you don’t vacuum normally? I mean, vacuuming should be a regular household chore all year long. So what if the tree drops some needles – you’re going to vacuum anyway right?….RIGHT?

Second, who says it has to be a hassle? (Hint: the fake tree people.) There are many places to buy a tree and all offer something a little different. If you want to spend a lot of time with family or friends getting your tree and have some entertainment, go to a Choose & Cut farm. If you want a huge variety of trees, both species and sizes, go to a specialty lot. If you want to support your community organizations in the process, buy one from a nonprofit selling them as a fundraiser. If you just want a tree quick and easy, then go to a lot designed for that. If you want to just point and click and have your tree delivered to your front door, then buy one online. Bottom line, don’t let someone tell you it’s a hassle, because you can decide how much time to spend getting a tree.

Third, the hard goods used with a farm-grown tree have come a long way. There are many different styles and types of tree stands…pick one that’s easy for you, as long as it holds enough water. There are funnels, cleverly designed to blend into the tree, that make adding water easier. I have a round mat with a waterproof backing to put under my stand so any water drops don’t stain my floor …it cost me like four bucks or something.

You may often hear it’s a hassle to water a farm-grown tree every day. Really? That takes, what…an extra 25 seconds per day? Sheesh, get real, no pun intended. I spend more time than that making my picks in the weekly office football pool.

It’s all relative. The time invested in buying and maintaining a farm-grown Christmas tree is nothing compared to what you get out of it. A good feeling. Memories. A home that “smells” like Christmas. Knowledge that you made a good environmental choice. That’s not a hassle, that’s a blessing.

Source: http://www.christmastree.org

His lengthy report centred mostly on the oral history of Native American tribes of the area now known as Virginia. “It’s the logical place to commence,” he wrote in the foreword, “Since one of the nations endemic to the region were called the Catawba, which means ‘Feather as Long as a Tree’ in that language.”

Mr. Wimscott also points out that the Cherokee of pre-colonial times wore ceremonial costumes which included gourds dyed brown, tied together with long strings of deer sinew, and then worn around the neck to dangle “in the manner of giant wattles.”

His paper also recounts the Powhatan legend of KahYuhKeh, or Giant Dropping of Death, an ancient tribal story about the tribe’s first chief, who set off for the mountains to fast for fifteen days and fifteen nights to hear the gods’ suggestions for ending a drought, but was killed by a falling liquid bomb at dusk when running excitedly home and passing under the branches of a huge tree.

Professor Wimscott, whose research is pooh-poohed by Gobblesquatch doubters, ended his paper with a thoughtful contention that our modern Thanksgiving is actually adapted from Native American customs of the day, which included one day a year when the plumpest wild turkeys of the day were rounded up, butchered, and stacked as high as possible.

“Much as at Sun Foods today,” he wrote, “But the Virginia nations were more concerned with keeping the dreaded Gobblesquatch at bay.”

Sadly, his research is virtually impossible to access today. His paper was classified as Ultra-Secret by PHSSAW (Pending Verification), and Professor Wimscott disappeared in the Blue Ridge Mountains while searching for the Gobblesquatch in October, 2010. His last diary entry read, “Found a nest. Measured fourteen by twelve and a half feet. Will infiltrate. As an egg.”

Materials found later at his campsite included cuttings of half-inch white Styrofoam, which geo-engineers have calculated could not withstand more than fifty-three pounds of pressure from – say – a sitting bird.

Still, there are even better reasons to believe that a mammoth turkey somehow roamed the wooded hills of the Blue Ridge in the near past. A young settler named Ezekiel Fitzgerald was hanged in 1672. Surviving judicial records note that the unfortunate Ezekiel “hath overwrought heresy in Proclamation most dire; to wit: that his eyes layed upon a creature of wing-span greater than the throne of the Almighty.”

As a youngster in 1750, Thomas Jefferson was sent home from school with a note that read, in part: “…continuous usage of such non-existent words as Gobbledygook and inter-racial…”

Jefferson historians have pointed out that Gobbledygook was a local Virginian word referring to those who doubted the existence of a giant gobbler in the Blue Ridge Mountains. (They have no idea about the provenance of the other word the future president purportedly used.)

In the mid nineteenth century, the Virginia Lumber Company abandoned plans to clear-cut Mount Mitchell. An 1861 report from foreman Sid Sawer cited “frightening falsetto rumblings that set the men a-feared at night, constant thunder as of giant beating wings, and unclearable mounds of white-stained excrement beneath the branches of the most desirable trees.”

In 1901, Wilbur and Orville Wright were researching the airplane by studying birds in flight, and spent three months in the wild mountains of Virginia. Ignored by most historians, it is nevertheless an interesting fact that their first flying prototype was developed in 1903, and was named The Warbler. The ungainly aircraft featured an immense flapping wingspan and sepia-coloured gourds draped over the fuselage, and plans were soon abandoned.

Facts aside, however, fantastic stories of the Gobblesquatch persist until about the middle of the twentieth century.

- In 1927, European historian Dillard ‘Dullard’ Densemore published his seminal work ‘How Nations are Named’. While roundly discounted by experts, his theory that Mustafa Pashi was actually a very nomadic Cherokee who founded and named the sprawling nation of Turkey after a long stint in North America is an interesting part of the Gobblesquatch legend.

- In February of 1942, thirty-seven recruits sought to avoid war service by hiding in the hills of Virginia. In April of that same year, thirty-three of the AWOL soldiers finally reported for duty, all reportedly claiming that not even the German Air Force could drop anything “as vile as those birds do.”

- In May of 1967, a Virginia hippie commune became the first to swear off marijuana use. “We toke up on green tea now,” explained founder Zeke ‘Zapper’ Sternbaum to Time Magazine. “That stuff was making us see huge turkeys that pecked holes in our VW camper and swallowed our sleeping bags whole.”

It is not yet clear why Gobblesquatch stories have abated over the last forty years. Among believers, it is thought that a cataclysmic event may have chased the giant gobbler from its original haunts and towards the American northwest, where it may have aligned itself with the equally elusive Sasquatch; a pairing that may have been previously established in the early 1800′s. Thomas Jefferson’s fascination with the creature never abated and under the guise of an “expedition to study the area’s plants, animal life, and geography”, then President Jefferson commissioned a team led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to hunt the beast down, which they did all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

But it is clear that native Virginians maintain a wary respect of the giant bird that may recently have defaced its forests.

In previously censored transcripts from the Space Shuttle’s 2008 mission, Virginia native and NASA astronaut Leland Melvin is heard marvelling from space: “Geezum…look at the Great Lake from up here. Looks like a giant claw print from Gobblesquatch, and it’s heading west.”

More info and recent sightings at www.gobblesquatch.com

Dave DeAndrea from North Bend, OR

Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad news is that I had to take him down after 2 days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever. Great stories. But here’s what made me take it down.

First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by.

Second, a 65 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder and almost killed herself putting it against my house not realizing it was fake until she climbed to the top. She was not amused. By the way, she was one of many people who attempted to do that.

My yard couldn’t take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard.