Lunedi Lunacy

I've been looking at the lovely tradition of Christmas Carols of the past few Sundays and for several posts in 2011.  That wonderful tradition of wassailing from house to house enchanting your neighbours with your heartwarming rendition of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemenpersons (hey we are nothing if not politically correct in our household).  Yes those engravings and woodcuts do cast a special glow over the seasons.  Well not if our friends at Horrible Histories are to be believed - and frankly I never doubt them for a minute.

And that touching moment when you give and receive a gift that someone has given a great deal of thought to is nothing new.  In Medieval times gifts were both thoughtful and useful.  Much like those warm, colourful, itchy socks that Aunt Millie use to give you every year.

These are just two excerpts from their inspiring and spiritually uplifting Christmas Special from (I believe) 2011; should you wish to view the entire 30 minutes here it is.  Merry Christmas! 

Okay I lied about the inspiring bit...  and the spiritually uplifting thing too.  Does that mean no chicken poo in my stocking this year?


December 23 - 583: Maya queen Yohl Ik'nal is crowned ruler of Palenque.

The Traditions of Christmas - Gift Giving

We are very fortunate that we have established good friendships here in Roma. A few like our friend Robert are long-standing others such as Robert's talented partner Walter and Larry and Vincenzio are recent. We spent a good deal of my birthday weekend with these four wonderful men and other friends and acquaintenaces of theirs. I'll blog more about that tomorrow.

So what does this have to do with the Christmas tradition of gift giving. Well Larry writes about it today on his blog. The smaller children in the school where he teaches have found a wonderful way to reach out to children in Roma who live with HIV. Take a look - and the pictures of Larry are pretty damn fine too.

10 decembre - Nostra Signora di Loretto