Who's asking: Many recent visitors to this blog, according to my site meter
The site meter on this blog gives me the search strings that bring people here, which is not always a good thing. To the person who landed here looking for "how to seduce your mother," I say: Seek professional help now. To all the various Googlers hunting for girls of one kind or another, I say: Your chances will improve if you take a shower and step away from your computer once in a while.
People looking for Jesse tree decoration hints get sent to this entry from last year, in which I explained that the Jesse tree is Christianity's answer to the Christmas tree, a pagan symbol. (By the way, this distinction strikes me as a little silly. If all things glorify the Lord, why shouldn't we borrow customs from pagans?)
Anyway, the Jesse tree is supposed to be decorated with Chrismon(TM) ornaments, "Chrismon" being short for "Christ monograms." You can buy them online, but if you're sincerely putting up a Jesse tree to honor the Nativity (rather than to impress your friends with your Pharisean piety), you should make your own.
The traditional colors for these ornaments are white and gold, and they are meant to be symbols of faith: crosses, the star of David, the fleur-de-lis (representing the Trinity), doves (representing the Holy Spirit), etc. Catholic Jesse trees often have ornaments marked with the pyx (the Greek letters chi and rho, superimposed on each other, standing for Christ) and the Constantinian monogram IHS (in hoc signo vinces, under this sign victory).
In one of my closets is a big plastic bin of Christmas decorations that hasn't been opened since I got to Maine. It remains to be seen whether I'll open it this year. I am not feeling terribly Christmasy at the moment, especially since the temperature here is spiking to nearly 60 today.
3 comments:
Chick, Christmas came and hit me over the head like a yule tide 2x4. The whole freakin' house is bedecked with horrific amounts of Christmas goo. The tree is up. Eve put doo-dads outside...
What the hell?
It was 60 here yesterday but 22 this morning with a foot of snow due tomorrow. It was 'decorate or die' time.
It's a frigid 50 degrees here in sunny So Cal -- does that help you feel more Christmassy? Winds at 20-30 miles per hour (Tim's grounded, poor Flyboy). Picture Bobby the Lizard Boy shivering -- shoot, even Tim and I (hardy Midwesterners born and bred) are feeling the chill.
Linda
Jen, I admire your industry... maybe the Spirit of Christmas Present will visit me over the weekend. At the moment I just feel like I want to bite people. Your weather's coming our way tomorrow, and it's supposed to snow over the weekend, so maybe that will restore me.
Linda, that explains why so many people have come here in the last couple of days looking for the answer to that question about snow in Los Angeles. 50 degrees is nothing, though I remember how cold that feels there...
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