MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!!!!!!

I Wish You A Merry Christmas !!!!!!!!!!

Here is that Christmas posting that I promised. I was expecting to get it posted earlier but our granddaughter, who spent the night, was up early and wanted to see what Santa had brought. If I hadn't been up until 2 am "playing" Santa, I would have posted this earlier................... Anyway..................Merry Christmas and ENJOY..................PEACE..................Scott






PEACE and HOPE
by Maria Cristina Azcona - ARGENTINA

Peace needs hope to grow.
Hope is an open window.
Through it, pain breaths.

A sorrowful heart
Needs a mouthful of air,
Nothing more than that.

The North and the South
The West, the East and the rest
To be only one.

An emerald sea,
A golden sun reflected.
Humanity hand by hand.
____________________________________________________________________

irenic \eye-REN-ik; -REE-nik\, adjective: Tending to promote peace; conciliatory

With an irenic spirit they join the debate, at times ugly and vicious, about the historicity of the Bible (by which they mean the Hebrew Scriptures, also known as the Old Testament). -- Phyllis Trible, "God's Ghostwriters", New York Times, February 4, 2001 Indeed, for Cozzi -- as for several scholars -- the Interdict controversy of 1606-7 became the emblematic struggle that defined the Venetian Republic as tolerant and open, free from the tyranny of the Counter Reformation Church, animated by an aristocracy steeped in the values of civic humanism and evangelism, and committed to commerce and an irenic diplomacy. -- John Martin (Editor) and Dennis Romano (Editor), Venice Reconsidered Taylor was always irenic by temperament and desire, and his sensitivity to others enabled him to bring together and work with people of very diverse views. -- "The Right Rev John Taylor", Times (London), February 1, 2001

Irenic comes from Greek eirenikos, from eirene, "peace."

____________________________________________________________________

wassail \WAH-sul; wah-SAYL\, noun:

1. An expression of good wishes on a festive occasion, especially in drinking to someone.
2. An occasion on which such good wishes are expressed in drinking; a drinking bout; a carouse.
3. The liquor used for a wassail; especially, a beverage formerly much used in England at Christmas and other festivals, made of ale (or wine) flavored with spices, sugar, toast, roasted apples, etc.
4. Of or pertaining to wassail, or to a wassail; convivial; as, a wassail bowl.
5. To drink to the health of; a toast.
6. To drink a wassail.

Christmas often means plum pudding, fruitcake, roast goose and wassail.
-- Florence Fabricant, "Recipes to Summon the Holiday Spirit", New York Times, December 21, 1988
But have you ever tried to spear a buffalo after a hard night at theold wassail bowl?
-- Gore Vidal, The Smithsonian Institution


Wassail is from the Middle English expression of festive benevolence, wæs hæil!, be well!, from Old Norse ves heill, be (ves) well (heill).

____________________________________________________________________

Click here: Santa's Jigsaw
____________________________________________________________________

December 25:
1914 : The Christmas Truce

Just after midnight on Christmas morning, the majority
of German troops engaged in World War I cease firing
their guns and artillery and commence to sing
Christmas carols. At certain points along the eastern
and western fronts, the soldiers of Russia, France,
and Britain even heard brass bands joining the Germans
in their joyous singing.

At the first light of dawn, many of the German
soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached
the Allied lines across no-man's-land, calling out
"Merry Christmas" in their enemies' native tongues. At
first, the Allied soldiers feared it was a trick, but
seeing the Germans unarmed they climbed out of their
trenches and shook hands with the enemy soldiers. The
men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings
and sang carols and songs. There was even a documented
case of soldiers from opposing sides playing a
good-natured game of soccer.

The so-called Christmas Truce of 1914 came only five
months after the outbreak of war in Europe and was one
of the last examples of the outdated notion of
chivalry between enemies in warfare. In 1915, the
bloody conflict of World War I erupted in all its
technological fury, and the concept of another
Christmas Truce became unthinkable.

history.com/tdih.do