WASHINGTON–On this night in 1776, General George Washington, along with 2,400 troops and artillery, began his historic crossing of the Delaware River in preparation for a surprise attack on British and Hessian soldiers during the American Revolutionary War. Today, the United States Mint (Mint) is unveiling a new design depicting this pivotal moment in history which will be displayed on the reverse (tails) of the quarter-dollar coin beginning in 2021. The design will begin circulating following the issuance of the final coin in the America the Beautiful Quarters® Program.
The new design depicts General Washington commanding his troops through the overnight crossing of the ice-choked Delaware River prior to the Battle of Trenton during the American Revolutionary War. Inscriptions are “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,” “E PLURIBUS UNUM,” “CROSSING THE DELAWARE,” and “QUARTER DOLLAR.” Artistic Infusion Program Designer Benjamin Sowards created the design which was sculpted by Medallic Artist Michael Gaudioso.
In accordance with the authorizing legislation, the obverse (heads) of the quarter dollar will revert to renowned designer John Flanagan’s design featuring President Washington that appeared on the coin before the 50 State Quarters Program.
Washington Crossing the Delaware quarters will be released into circulation by the Federal Reserve Banks on April 5, 2021.
First Lady Melania Trump departed the White House for Palm Beach, Florida on Wednesday in a sleek ensemble with knockout thigh-high leather boots.
Melania Trump strutted alongside President Trump as they head to their Mar-a-Lago resort for Christmas, wearing a pair of Eleonor Alta thigh-high black leather boots by Christian Louboutin. The boots, which retail for $2,195, features a four-inch heel and all the allure that Mrs. Trump has become known for.
Paired with the boots is a double-breasted cascading black wool coat by Azzedine Alaïa which retails for $6,610. Mrs. Trump matched the coat’s notched collar and sculptural volume with a pair of jet black rectangular sunglasses, similar to those made by Balenciaga.
Christmas is the global festival and is most widely celebrated as it is observed as the birthday of Lord Jesus. Apart from traditions, significance, customs and rituals, there are some of the exciting different icons and merry Christmas symbols that are allied with Christmas. In fact, these things have become an essential part of the Christmas celebration, through these symbols the feeling of the commencement of Christmas comes into existence. Emblematically, this is what Christmas mean to masses.
There are many traditional symbols of Christmas. Some of the popular Christmas symbols pictures are Christmas Candles, Christmas Carols, Christmas Star, Christmas tree, Christmas Ornaments, Christmas Flower, Christmas Angels, Santa Claus, Three Wise Men, Yule Log, Saint Nicholas, Rudolf; Gift giving they all are traditional symbols of Christmas.
Every Christmas symbols have meaning as the Stars of all sizes symbolize the divine Christmas Star that made its appearance when the Christ was born and Christmas angel ornaments are symbolic of divine angels.
These symbols have their own significance that makes them an important part of Christmas. A compiling list of few of the Christmas symbols and custom are noted below.
Christmas symbols:
Wreath – Wreath comprises of four candles. Each one is lit on every Sunday before Christmas in welcoming Christ’s birthday. Angel – shepherds came to know about the birth of Jesus by an Angel. Bells – These bells proclaim the birth of Jesus and is believed to alarm away the evil spirits.
Christmas Lights – The lights represent Christ as being the “Light of the World.” Manger – The manger represents the Jesus place of birth. Evergreen Tree – The evergreen coniferous tree was decorated by the pagans on the occasion of the winter solstice. Jesus – Christmas is recognized as the birth of Jesus. Christians believe Jesus is the son of God and the savior of the world. Joseph – Joseph is the husband of Mary. Mary – The mother of Jesus. Santa Claus – The Santa Claus is certainly one of the most essential and admired Christmas symbols, known to give gifts on Christmas. Christmas Stocking – The Christmas stockings are used to receive gifts from Santa Claus by children.
Music is one of the greatest gifts of God to human being.
It changes your mood to good mood very quickly. It adds to the spirit of Christmas.
Singing Christmas songs give immense pleasure and peace to mind.
People have been singing Christmas songs and Christmas carols for hundreds of years.
This is a part of Christmas celebration.
Actually music gives a different and unique flavor to the Christmas celebration.
People enjoy Christmas songs a lot.
I know someone who reads my blog that loves music…here’s to Vicky T.
this blog is dedicated to you on Christmas Eve.
Feel better and listen to Christmas music.
Christmas songs are for everyone like Christmas songs for kids, Christmas songs or young, Christmas songs for children. These songs are of several kinds like the traditional Christmas songs, modern Christmas songs, religious Christmas songs, funny Christmas songs . The Christmas songs lyrics specially written by expert writers and are quite heart touching. The Christmas songs are sung by various famous singers and there are several Christmas songs’ albums. These albums have become very popular among the listener and some of the Christmas songs of these albums are sung on every Christmas. The Christmas songs are sung in many languages besides English. These are also sung in many regional languages.
Below is the Christmas songs list for you to listen this Christmas season:
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus by Jimmy Boyd Little Saint Nick by The Beach Boys Rockin Around the Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee Santa Claus is Comin to Town by Bruce Springsteen Jingle Bells by Frank Sinatra Its the Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Andy Williams I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus by Jimmy Boyd
My Notes:
Of course, my favorite Christmas album, ELVIS, playing above.
AMERICA’S MOST POPULAR FLOWERING Aside from the Christmas tree itself, no plant symbolizes Christmas quite like the poinsettia. More than 2 million of them are sold each year, making it the largest potted flower crop grown in the US.
There are over 100 varieties of poinsettias available in shades of red, pink, white, and yellow—solids, streaked, marbled, and multicolored. It makes it hard to pick just one!
WHY ARE POINSETTIAS THE CHRISTMAS FLOWER? The story of poinsettias as an unlike Christmas flower begins with an old Mexican legend and, later, a major American business venture.
Poinsettias are native to a region of southern Mexico where they flower during the winter season. It’s a perennial shrub that was once considered a week and will grow 10 to 15 feet tall in the wild. The Aztecs used the poinsettia bracts to make a reddish-purple dye for fabrics and used the sap medicinally to control fevers. The colored “flowers” are actually specialized leaves called bracts, while the true flowers are inconspicuous beads found in the center of the bracts.
According to Mexican lore, there was a young child, Pepita, who did not have a gift for the baby Jesus at a Christmas Eve service. She was very poor so all she could do was pick a bouquet of weeds to offer. The angels felt compassion for her plight. So, after Pepita set the flowers at the crèche of the nativity on Christmas Eve, the angels transformed the weeds into beautiful red flowers. This is why red and green are the colors of Christmas today.
THE NAMESAKE OF THE POINSETTIA Now, the reason blazing red (and now pink, white, orange, plus combinations of these colors) poinsettias are the Christmas flower in the United States is an accidental discovery by Joel Roberts Poinsett (1779–1851), an American statesman and the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico in 1828.
An amateur botanist, Poinsett saw the red flowers when visiting the Mexican town of Taxco in the state of Guerrero, shortly before he was thrown out of the country for trying to buy Texas from the Mexicans for a million dollars!
Poinsett was so impressed by the beauty of these plants that he sent cuttings back to his plantation near Georgetown, South Carolina, where they were propagated and called the “Mexican Fire Plant.” The plant was shared with botanical gardens and growers across the country.
Soon, the plants became popular across the U.S. and were renamed for Mr. Poinsett.
But the reason poinsettias became so popular is due to Paul Ecke and his inventiveness. Ecke, who lived in California, discovered a technique which caused seedlings to branch, resulting in a fuller plant. He began growing the plant in the tens of thousands for the Christmas season, when other flowers were scarce.
To promote poinsettias as a Christmas plant, he sent the crimson-leaved plants to TV studios across the country, including “The Tonight Show” and Bob Hope’s holiday specials.
The rest is history. Today, Poinsettias are not only the most popular Christmas plant, but the best-selling potted plant in the United States and Canada, contributing over $250 million to the U.S. economy at the retail level. California remains the top U.S. poinsettia-producing state.
For over 150 years, December 12 was considered National Poinsettia Day to honor the day of Poinsett’s death in 1851.
In 2002, an Act of Congress made it official.
My Notes: Almost every year, I receive a Poinsettia plant from a neighbor
or a good friend. Sad to announce, I have not received my plant this year…but I look
on the bright side, I have 2 more days until Christmas.
I’m making my wish and I hope Santa will hear me. I’ll keep you posted.
Tis the season for the Christmas cactus! Never heard of it? These drooping cacti with their weeping willow-like flowers in red, pink, white and orange look like clusters of jingle bells, making them the perfect plant with which to decorate your mantel during the holiday party season. But is their bell-like appearance the only source of the schlumbergera’s holiday-inspired name?
There are a number of heartwarming tales around the internet that claim to tell the true origin story of the cactus. Larry Hodgson, the man behind the Laidback Gardener blog, for example, writes that the story comes from Brazil, the cactus’ native land. Apparently, a young boy prayed to God, asking for a sign of Christmas as a reprieve from the heat and humidity of the jungle. On Christmas Day, when he emerged from his hut, he saw that the jungle had filled with the flowering cacti overnight.
Another version of the story, which appears on the Flower Meaning site, claims that Father Jose, a Jesuit missionary, tried to teach the jungle natives of Bolivia about the Bible but struggled to gain their trust. On Christmas Eve, overwhelmed by the enormity of his task, he prayed to God for guidance. Suddenly, he heard the villagers singing a hymn he had taught them. When he turned, he saw the village children marching into the church with armfuls of bright flowers they had gathered for the Christ Child. These flowers became known as the Christmas cactus.
According to a piece published by the University of Illinois Extension, however, the name has more to do with the time of year in which the cactus blooms than anything else. In fact, similar-looking cacti from the schlumbergera family are also referred to as Thanksgiving and Easter cacti. The Thanksgiving cactus tends to bloom in late fall, about a month before the Christmas cactus, and the Easter cactus begins blooming in February.
My notes: I was given a couple of clippings of this CHRISTMAS CACTUS by my neighbor JEANNIE
when I moved into my place 6 years ago. They never produced flowers, I’m sorry to say until my
other neighbor Jerri Hillman repotted my plant last Spring and then …
call it a CHRISTMAS Miracle… it bloomed for the first time this Christmas!!!
I’m so happy to finally see my beautiful cactus blooming.
In fact, I’m featuring it as the star of my HOLIDAY WINE PARTY
Well-known singer-songwriter Willie Nelson wrote a Christmas song that has become a classic which many other artists have covered. The Blaze reveals the moving story behind Willie Nelson’s Christmas song ‘Pretty Paper’.
The refrain of “Pretty Paper” says: Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue Wrap your presents to your darling from you Pretty pencils to write I love you Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue
The back story to this song is very moving. The Dallas News reports that in the 1960’s Nelson was walking around the streets of downtown Fort Worth, Texas when he saw a disabled street vendor hawking his wares of colorful papers, pencils, and ribbons.
“Pretty papers!” the man called out. “Pretty ribbons!” Nelson was struck by the sad scene of the vendor, whose legs were amputated above the knees,
calling out his wares to no avail. The song continues:
Crowded street, busy feet, hustle by him Downtown shoppers, Christmas is nigh There he sits all alone on the sidewalk Hoping that you won’t pass him by
The scene inspired him to write the popular Christmas song,
but now Nelson is again using this experience as inspiration for a creative project.
Listen to Willie Nelson’s Christmas song ‘Pretty Paper’ below:
Nelson is working on a novel titled Pretty Paper which provides further background to the story of the disabled street vendor. The novel also includes Nelson’s own story of being a struggling musician in the 1960’s in Fort Worth.
My notes: Christmas is a special time of year…especially this year. I wanted to share this song and story because it’s reminds us that CHRISTMAS IS WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT…
The Twelve Days of Christmas. We all know how it goes. . .a lot of different birds and such are lavished on the singer by “My true love”. But did you know who that ‘True Love’ actually is? Read on, this is so cool!
The song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas” is an old English Christmas carol. From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England weren’t allowed to openly practice their faith. So someone wrote this carol during that era so they could sing publicly to the Lord without non-believers knowing.
The song on the surface held one meaning to those who heard it. But for members of the Church, there was a much deeper, hidden meaning known only to them.
Each number in the carol stands for a different item of spiritual significance!
The “True Love” one hears in the song is not a smitten boy or girlfriend but rather, it’s Jesus Christ, because Love was truly born on Christmas Day. The partridge in the pear tree also represents Jesus, because partridges are willing to sacrifice their lives to protect its young by faking an injury to draw predators away.
Here’s a rundown of the rest of the numbers in the Twelve Days Of Christmas:
2 turtle doves – the Old and New Testaments 3 French hens – faith, hope and love 4 calling birds are the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John 5 golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of …the Old Testament 6 geese a-laying – six days of creation
7 swans a-swimming – sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit–Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy 8 maids a-milking – the eight beatitudes 9 ladies dancing are the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit–Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control 10 lords a-leaping are the ten commandments 11 pipers piping stand for the eleven faithful disciples 12 twelve drummers drumming symbolizes the twelve points of belief in the Apostles’ Creed.
MY NOTES: Who knew this? I didn’t.
I will now view this Christmas favorite in a whole different way.
A special thank you to, GAIL HANSEN, who introduced me to a website
President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump are seen December 10, in their official 2020 Christmas portrait, on the Grand staircase of the White House in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)
Melania Trump posed alongside President Donald Trump for the official White House Christmas photo in a sleek Christian Dior tuxedo that features a traditional cummerbund and black satin along the lapel and pant legs.
Mrs. Trump paired the tuxedo with black leather Christian Louboutin stilettos.
The look harks back to Mrs. Trump’s photoshoot from January 2016 where she posed in a feminine tuxedo and Christian Louboutin stilettos in Trump Tower in New York City, New York. In those photos, Mrs. Trump wore an oversized bow tie.
I must say…BEAUTIFUL outfit and fitting for what is going on in our great country.
MERRY CHRISTMAS to all and may PEACE be the prize.
We as women have a choice…wear red lipstick under our mask
or not to wear red lipstick under our mask.
What choice do you make?
ME?
I wear RED lipstick and proud to say it and do it !!
Ask virtually any woman—especially any New York woman—what irks her most about wearing a mask, and she’ll tell you: lipstick stains.
Legions of us are still applying the stuff devotedly, masks be damned.
“People are dying to still wear lip color,” says Jessica Richards, owner of chic beauty boutique Shen in Brooklyn. “They all say how annoying it is, as it gets everywhere, but that doesn’t stop them.” And if they’re not buying lipstick, “they’re booking lip blushing treatments,” in which mineral pigment is used to stain lips for six to 12 months, “like crazy.”
What is the point, one might wonder, of painting a mouth that’s covered up? For a start, there’s something inherently fortifying about slicking on a coat of war paint. Think of Holly Golightly in the back of a cab saying, “Hand me my purse, will you, darling? A girl can’t read that sort of thing without her lipstick.”
(Got to love Holly)
“I can’t imagine getting up in the morning and not putting on red lipstick,” says Rachel Felder, the New York–based author of Red Lipstick: An Ode to a Beauty Icon. “I don’t feel myself without it. There’s been a certain mindset this year about letting yourself go and just living in sweatpants, which I find defeatist. I think it’s easy to get sucked into a swirl of non-motivating energy. And when you put on lipstick, it’s the opposite of putting on sweatpants. It makes you feel empowered, ready to conquer.”
(I like Rachel’s thought process)
Lipstick also has a long history as a symbol of defiance, something that’s particularly resonant in New York, where it’s a sort of visual manifestation of the city’s mouthiness—or, as Felder puts it, “that kind of resilient, sassy, don’t-fuck-with-me lip.” It has been a metaphor for women’s voices ever since Elizabeth Arden handed out red lipsticks to suffragettes marching past her Fifth Avenue salon in 1912. They adopted it as part of their uniform, a tradition carried on today by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose crimson lips have become a symbol of her vocal political swordsmanship.
Lipstick has been overtly favored by the regal as well as the rebellious: think Queen Elizabeth I, who believed lip color could ward off evil and reportedly had a half-inch-thick layer on her mouth when she died. Or Coco Chanel, Diana Vreeland, Katharine Hepburn, Madonna. “It’s the anti-wallflower beauty statement,”Felder says. “And one of the reasons lipstick is such an impactful symbol of feminine strength is that it is inherently a woman’s item. It’s not a navy blazer or a pantsuit, which are men’s items refashioned for women. Bold lipstick is a pay-attention-to-me women’s item. Thus it expresses confidence both in who you are and in what you are saying.”
This legacy is surely one of the reasons beauty brands are not giving up on it. Sales have dipped, yes, but not as dramatically as some industry watchers predicted, and the proliferation of major launches coming this winter—including Posh, Victoria Beckham’s elegant new range of creamy high-impact shades; Hermès’s collection of optimistic pinks, which arrived just in time for winter; and Dior’s pending relaunch of its iconic Rouge Dior range in January—proves that no one expects women to put down their (magic) bullets for good. In fact, we might expect a wild embrace of vividly colored lips on the other side of this. Flappers went mad for lipstick in the aftermath of the Spanish flu; just think of the delight with which we will wantonly lacquer our mouths when once again we can walk the earth unmasked.
During World War II, wearing lipstick was an act of patriotism (given added impetus by the fact that Hitler hated it). It was seen as such a morale booster that factories were instructed by the government to keep it in ladies rooms, and Arden was given the exclusive right to sell it on military bases. For a female populace with an enemy to face, lipstick was, in its own way, a weapon. And during the whiplash year that was 2020, continuing to wear it similarly carried an element of saying: We will not be diminished by this. Lipstick under a mask may be like the proverbial tree falling in a forest—but who cares?
It truly is the superhero cape of cosmetics.
We simply feel invincible with it on.
So, go buy that tube of RED lipstick, because we are women after all!!!
Le Rouge Parfum Scented Satin LipstickKilianSephora$55.00
sagasandstoriesat821lane 