Interesting.

Interesting facts were from these interesting sites. I have pruned them to only include the one's I found interesting
http://www.corsinet.com/braincandy/xmastrivia.html
http://www.kencollins.com/Holy-02t.htm
http://www.pubquizhelp.34sp.com/christmas/xmasfact.html

In the beginning

The cross so overshadowed the manger—and the resurrection so overshadowed the incarnation—that neither scripture nor tradition has passed down a firm date for Christmas.

The origin of the date

There is a very widespread theory that Christmas began in Rome as a response to pagan festivities centering around the winter solstice, which was locally considered to be 25 December. The pagan celebration, which was first established by the Roman emperor Aurelian in AD 274, was called The Birth of the Invincible Sun. However, there is evidence that, some years earlier, Christians had made a sincere attempt to calculate the actual date of Jesus’ birthday. People commonly believe that Christmas was instituted on the date of a pagan holiday to supplant it, but it was actually the other way around. Christmas was there first.

In ancient Judaism, there was a common belief, which ancient Christians inherited, that the prophets of Israel died on the on the same date as their birth or conception. This may be behind the long-standing Christian custom of referring to the date of a martyr’s death as their “birthday in heaven.” According to ancient western calculations, Jesus was crucified on 25 March, so they assumed that 25 March was the date of Jesus’ conception. The Annunciation is still commemorated on that date to this day. Nine months after 25 March leads to 25 December, which would be the birthday of Jesus Christ if all those assumptions and calculations were correct. They aren’t correct, but the fact remains that the date has a Christian origin. footnote

In AD 354, Philocalus wrote a Christian martyrology that dates the nativity of Jesus Christ on December 25, and cites an earlier work as backup. From this we can deduce that Christmas was celebrated on the present date at least as early as AD 335 in Rome.

The origins of Saint Nicholas, Santa Claus, presents, and trees

English Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell banned Christmas between 1647 and 1660 because he believed such celebrations were immoral for the holiest day of the year.

Saint Nicholas Day (December 6) was the traditional day for giving gifts to children. It is still the day on which children receive gifts from St. Nicholas in the Netherlands. Epiphany (January 6) is, in the western Church, the commemoration of day on which the three kings presented the baby Jesus with gifts.

The definition of a white Christmas in the UK is for a single snow flake (perhaps amongst a shower of mixed rain and snow) to be observed falling in the 24 hours of December 25th.

Popular belief holds that 3 wise men visited Bethlehem from the east bearing gifts. However there is no mention in the bible about the number of wise men who visited. Three gifts were brought - gold, frankincense and myrrh, but names commonly attributed to the wise men - Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar were added some 500 years later.

The first Christmas card was designed in 1843 by J.C. Horsley

The 26th of December is traditionally known as St Stephen's Day, but is more commonly known as Boxing Day. The reason it was called this is either alms boxes in church were opened and the money distributed to the poor, or alternatively it was named from the practice of servants receiving boxes of gifts from their employers on this day. Boxing day is NOT named after the practice of throwing out large numbers of boxes after Christmas!

Christmas trees become popular in the UK from 1841 when Prince Albert erected a tree in Windsor Castle following a German tradition. Fir trees have been decorated at Christmas time in Germany since the 8th century.

Saint Nicholas was the bishop of Myra in Lycia, which is in modern Turkey, sometime before AD 350. Nothing is known of his life except for the legends that have built up around him, but he was associated with kindness to children. He was a widely admired saint throughout the eastern and western churches. The Dutch custom of giving presents to children on St. Nicholas Day was brought to America by early Dutch settlers in New Amsterdam, which was renamed New York when the British took over the colony. Santa Claus is the American pronunciation of Sinter Klaas, which was colloquial Dutch for Saint Nicholas.

In the US, gifts are now exchanged on Christmas Day in a sort of compromise of Dutch, German, and British gift-giving customs. The Christmas tree is a Christianized pagan custom that originated in Germany. German settlers introduced it in America. It became popular during the nineteenth century, and then later spread to Britain and Japan from the US.

The word Christmas comes from Cristes maesse, or "Christ's Mass." There is no set date for his birth in scripture and it wasn't celebrated on any particular day. However Christmas was first celebrated on the 25th of December in Rome in 336AD with an aim to replacing the popular pagan winter solstice celebrations

A Christmas club, a savings account in which a person deposits a fixed amount of money regularly to be used at Christmas for shopping, came about around 1905.

A traditional Christmas dinner in early England was the head of a pig prepared with mustard.

According to a 1995 survey, 7 out of 10 British dogs get Christmas gifts from their doting owners.

According to historical accounts, the first Christmas in the Philippines was celebrated 200 years before Ferdinand Magellan discovered the country for the western world, likely between the years 1280 and 1320 AD.

After "A Christmas Carol," Charles Dickens wrote several other Christmas stories, one each year, but none was as successful as the original.

Alabama was the first state to recognize Christmas as an official holiday. This tradition began in 1836.

An artificial spider and web are often included in the decorations on Ukrainian Christmas trees. A spider web found on Christmas morning is believed to bring good luck.

Christmas trees are edible. Many parts of pines, spruces, and firs can be eaten. The needles are a good source of vitamin C. Pine nuts, or pine cones, are also a good source of nutrition.

During World War II it was necessary for Americans to mail Christmas gifts early for the troops in Europe to receive them in time. Merchants joined in the effort to remind the public to shop and mail early and the protracted shopping season was born.

Electric Christmas tree lights were first used in 1895. The idea for using electric Christmas lights came from an American, Ralph E. Morris. The new lights proved safer than the traditional candles.

There are two Christmas Islands.The Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean was formerly called Kiritimati. Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean is 52 square miles.

It is estimated that 400,000 people become sick each year from eating tainted Christmas leftovers.

Santa's Reindeers are Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen.

The "Twelve Days of Christmas" was originally written to help Catholic children, in England, remember different articles of faith during the persecution by Protestant Monarchs. The "true love" represented God, and the gifts all different ideas:

The "Partridge in a pear tree" was Christ.
2 Turtle Doves = The Old and New Testaments
3 French Hens = Faith, Hope and Charity-- the Theological Virtues
4 Calling Birds = the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
5 Golden Rings = The first Five Books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch", which relays the history of man's fall from grace.
6 Geese A-laying = the six days of Creation
7 Swans A-swimming = the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments
8 Maids A-milking = the eight beatitudes
9 Ladies Dancing = the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords A-leaping = the ten commandments
11 Pipers Piping = the eleven faithful apostles
12 Drummers Drumming = the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed

I came across this entirely by accident. I was randomly looking at someone else's blog. (Which I don't do very often.) I found this and I thought you all might like to see it.

This took a long time to fix.

Who needs a title.

Well. I suppose I could blog today.

I watched the 5th Harry Potter movie today. I quite enjoyed it actually. Weird. Better than the fourth one I think. I don't remember what happened in the fourth one. Darn.

I got a whole bunch of new music yesterday. I am truly excited about some of it. Others not quite so much. I "borrowed" it from Eric. Switching topics. Or not. Nightfist is amazing. The Epic is their only album but it is freaking awesome. Freaking Awesome I tell you.

I am intesely bored. Really intensely bored. How do you spell intesely?

When Kyle gets back from Mexico he said he might be able to give me his old crappy bass. I am stoked. I already have a specific song picked out to learn. It will be neato.

We went to Joey's Only for dinner last night. It was for my Dad's birthday. I enjoyed myself.

I going to try and find something to do.

Merry freaking Christmas!

Merry freaking Christmas everybody! Hope you all enjoy this uh... joyous day... crap, that sounded/read kinda lame.

Quite possibly more to come. I will show you all how much crap I get this year. Like I needed more crap.

Huh.

I have never been fully satisfied with my eyes.

Your Eyes Should Be Brown

Your eyes reflect: Depth and wisdom What's hidden behind your eyes: A tender heart

What Color Should Your Eyes Be?

What Your Handwriting Says About You

You are sometimes a very energetic person, but you are sometimes quite lethargic. You're moody, prone to ups and downs, and you don't have a lot of endurance. You are very extroverted and outgoing. You are loving, friendly, and supportive. However, you are also manipulative and controlling at times. You are balanced and grounded. You know how to get along well with others. You need a bit of space in your life, but you're not a recluse. You expect people to give you a small amount of privacy, and you respect their privacy as well. You are somewhat traditional, but you are also open to change. You listen to your head and your heart. You are a poor communicator. No one really knows exactly what you're getting at.

What Does Your Handwriting Say About You?

Your Personality is Very Rare (INTP)

Your personality type is goofy, imaginative, relaxed, and brilliant. Only about 4% of all people have your personality, including 2% of all women and 6% of all men You are Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

Didn't do to much today. Shoveled the driveway. Played some guitar. Should have played some flute.

I want to be back at camp right freaking now. Right now. Shoot.


Anyways, I should be off to bed now.

Goodnight.

Hot sauce

At camp a couple of buddies and I found some amazing hot sauce. This hot sauce helped us survive some of the nastier camp foods. It was awesome. I found some today.

It was a thoroughly exciting discovery.

I am beginning to feel the inklings that it is indeed Christmas time. Decorations, presents, a disgusting lack of appropriate snow. It is good times all over again.

I am disappointed in myself. Yesterday on the bus, I saw a kid intentionally sexually assault one of my friends. I didn't do anything. I really wanted to just walk up to him and put my foot in his face but I was too sissy about it. So now I feel weak and pathetic. Also and the worst part is I feel useless to Siobhan. I should have done something. I should have broke that kid. I still might. I don't know what to do.

Anyways, I found a very enjoyable band (For me anyways, don't actually look at any of their other songs. They are pretty bad.) They are called Mindless Self Indulgence. This is my favorite song of theirs. It is called Shut me Up. It has a little bit of language, but it is kind of disguised.

Hopefully that clip will work. By the way, the guy who directed this video is one of my heroes. His name is Jhonen Vasquez.

Talk more later.

Im gonna try something new

I am not going to post about the bad stuff in my life at the moment. Besides the fact that I just about threw my cat into the other wall. Not important.

Now I am not saying that I have anything more interesting to say, so bear with me.

Guitar was good today, Cadet band sucked as usual. My friend Devin got a speeding ticket on the way home from band. It was quite comical. He gave me a ride.

I found some drive somewhere deep inside my body and I should now be able to pass math with a decent grade. We shall see.

I am going to reconcile myself with mine mother now.

At least you can hide from your problems.

Mine follows me everywhere I go. I definitely need a monkey. It would probably be easier to deal with than my sisters. Also I would be able to talk to it without it talking back, and the screaming would be justified. I think Mum is going to try putting me through counseling. Wonder how that is going to work.

I had decided to post some pics of me in my new jacket. However I seem to have pulled a Hannah and my connection cord thingy has gone missing. Maybe later.

By the way, you should check out Forever Train on Youtube by Frame. I quite enjoy it.

Church was good this morning. We sat in the front. Spite unto you Josh and Cade, you back sitters. Anyways, good message. I had already kinda figured out what Pastor Dan was talking about. Meh, whatever.

I'm going to go mope now.

Exciting things

My braces are coming off sometime in the beginning of 2008. Maybe that will be my resolution this year. Get my braces taken off. Hey, just because it is happening no matter what doesn't make any difference. At least I will be able to hold to this resolution. Also, I will be getting contacts next time I see my optometrist. I am quite serious about it this time. Numerous occasions before I have attempted to obtain the darn lenses. So far it has been a no show though.

I got a new jacket and some jeans and a shirt this week. All of them are awesome. I might even get some pics of them up this weekend.

I take my leave now.

I have a box of Oreo's on my desk.

I also have no idea how that relates to anything... oh well. By the way, the oreo's are mine and only I get to eat them. My sisters were so confused when they couldn't have any. That isn't mean is it? They got something too. I feel so much like I am justifying something bad here.

I feel lost, not bad, but lost. I feel like there is something more than what I have right now. Some great adventure waiting patiently to take me from the mediocrity of life. Now I understand the whole "life is an adventure" crap, but this is different. Also less lame. I can't shake the feeling that I am missing out. The daily grind of modern society just doesn't seem like an adventure to me. I don't get it.

Maybe I just need to give it some time. I'm worried though, sometimes I look around and think to myself some not so god like thoughts. Usually stuff about how this world is the pits. Don't get me wrong, I don't harbor suicidal thoughts but I do wish that this transitional stage in our existences could be forsaken. I think to myself that this world isn't worth the time and that it would be better if I could just speed my voyage to Heaven along a bit. Or a lot.

I just reread what I wrote above. Amazing how quickly God can work in someones life. I realized just how much influence Satan had on the above paragraph. How much selfishness was pumping through my heart. I was thinking solely on my own journey with God, however the truly important thing on this earth is to bring others to The Lord.

Meus cruor flows per vestri vena