A Slightly Haunted Christmas

Did you know that people used to tell ghost stories at Christmastime?
You know, like the carol says:

There'll be parties for hosting,
marshmallows for toasting
And caroling out in the snow.
There'll be scary ghost stories
and tales of the glories of
Christmases long, long ago

I wanted to learn more about the topic, and the best (quickest info) I could find was this article in the Deseret News from last year. Here is a bit from it:

     As Lord Protector of England during the mid-17th century, Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell was perhaps not entirely without justification when he tried to abolish the celebration of Christmas. As he argued, nowhere in the Bible does it tell Christians to celebrate Christ’s birth on the 25th of December. Nor, in fact, does it mention any “holy day” other than the Lord’s Sabbath. 

     On top of that, the 25th of December was not an arbitrary choice for early Christians. Rather, it was selected because of its connection with pagan festivals like Yule and Sol Invictus (the birthday of the Unconquered Sun), both of which commemorated the winter solstice or the longest night of the year. These festivals celebrated the death of light and its subsequent rebirth the following day. It was for the obvious symbolic connotations that early Christians adopted dates significant to pagan Romans and Northern Europeans.

     In addition to being the longest night of the year, however, winter solstice was also traditionally held to be the most haunted due to its association with the death of the sun and light. It was the one night of the year when the barrier between the worlds of the living and the deceased was thinnest. On Christmas Eve, ghosts could walk the earth and finish unsettled business, as exemplified by the apparition of Marley in Charles Dickens' Christmas masterpiece.

     In short, the Victorian Christmas celebration, which drew heavily on pagan symbols like yule logs, holly berries and Father Christmas himself, also embraced the winter holiday’s associations with the supernatural to create one of its most popular annual traditions. Unfortunately, of all the traditions and rituals that have survived through the generations, the Victorian custom of recounting blood-curdling ghost stories with friends and family around the fire on Christmas Eve has been almost completely forgotten.

Let's keep this tradition alive; I think it's wonderful. Will you join me?

Actually, what really inspired this post was a certain song that I found. You can listen it on this podcast. The whole session is great, but go to 9:55 to hear a particularly bewitching version of "White Christmas" as interpreted by Ragtime Ralph. It takes a while to load, but it's worth it.



When I listen to it, I can't tell if it make me happy or sad. It leaves me somewhere in between, undecided. I love it.

The end of don Quijote

I took the final for my don Quijote class yesterday. It went all right. I did very well on my term paper though. It was about the cross-dressing women of don Quijote; their motivations and characteristics, how it connects with the traditional Spanish societal values. I'm quite proud of myself. Let me know if you want to give it a read. It's in spanish though.

I'm sad to leave don Quijote. I'm sad that our world today is so much like his was. Noble ideals, honor, and sincerity are not very trendy. At least in America, we like to applaud the smart, the snarky, and the cynical. The realists. There is little room for the don Quijotes of the world. We crush them.
So, he was crazy. So, he was foolish.
I really liked him.

This is the song "To Dream the Impossible Dream" from the Man of La Mancha, the musical that is based on don Quijote. The video is from the BYU Homecoming Spectacular back in October. Yep, that's Brian Stokes Mitchell. He is great. Since I was working at the event, I got to watch from the orchestra pit. It was incredible. I don't know who took this video, but it's sort of contraband, so watch it before they take it down.



This song has extra meaning now that I've finished the book. I can't hear it without tearing up.

Farewell don Quijote.

"Tuvo a todo el mundo en poco, 

fue el espantajo y el coco

del mundo, en tal coyuntura,

que acredito su ventura

morir cuerdo y vivir loco"

A time for JOY

I had my first glimpse of true, Christmas joy a little over a week ago. I had been all over Provo; paying rent, buying groceries, running around campus; and finally on my way to the car. I could feel it was going to start to snow, and felt a little excited. Suddenly, this kid who was walking towards the library stopped and sort of spasmed and shouted.
I was confused.
Then he said, "Oh my gosh. A snowflake hit me in the EYE!" But he said it like it was the best thing that could ever happen to him. He had the biggest smile on his face. He started to skip across the quad laughing and shouting. Did a little dance. I was thoroughly amused. I wouldn't be surprised if this was the first time he'd ever seen snow.
The next night was super busy. Around 10:00 pm after a bridal shower, and working all day, I went to the library. I was exhausted. Then a boy came up, put a rose and a candy on the armrest, and told me Merry Christmas. Lovely.

I am happy that BYU brings these sort of people together.

In that vein, here is one of my favorite Christmas songs of all time, five different ways. Watch now.

1. Macy's commercial! (Otherwise known as the Justin Bieber Mariah Carey collaboration)
You should read this while you watch. JAJAJAJA.


2. A real life "Buddy the elf"
How adorbs. His joy is contagious.


3. Royal Navy Edition!
Could you imagine being stuck on a ship for 7 MONTHS!? I think I would go insane. Glad they get to come home for Christmas!


4. "Real moves" version
That man has better moves then I could ever dream to have


5. Love Actually
I watched this movei last sunday for the bajillionth time. It always makes me tear up.

And Now For Something Completely Different...

Here's just one of the many ridiculous things I've had to sort through while studying for my Spanish classes:

I will NOT miss it.

Also, I learned today that catering is not for the faint of heart.
Our truck broke down
while I was driving it
on I-15, at point of the mountain
and we were already half an hour late
and it was FULL of food and tables and coolers
and there were no other vans available to come get us.

But my coworkers and I are very blessed with awesome family and friends. They all pitched in to help us on our way. A miracle.
We arrived there after the party has started, and two hours past when we were supposed to set up.
I made sure when the truck broke down, that we at least had cups at our location so that the guests could still have beer and wine while they wait. Neither I, nor those I cater with are partakers of alcohol.  But I sure appreciate it sometimes  in terms of the effect it had on our guests. They were in good spirits, so they didn't miss the late food as much.

In other news, I met a real live man with a hook for a hand while I was working at "Christmas Around the World".
It was awesome.

Set the World on Fire

I attended my last college class today.
.
.
.
.
.
My heart feels a little panic-attacky. Anxious.
A girl at work asked me tonight what I was studying.
"Well," I said. "Since I just had my last day of class, I guess I'm supposed to say that I studied Spanish." I have to change that part of my introductory monologue to past tense.
It made me feel very sad.
I think that that's a pat of taking classes based in the humanities or social sciences. Most of my friends don't wax poetic about their favorite organic chemistry courses, or miss their days in Econ 101. But I'm going to miss my classes. The way my perspectives have changed. The little communities we formed. The conversations we had. I think I will need a time of mourning.
Yes. I will continue learning and stretching my limits. But it won't be the same.
My college days are over.

Everything is lined up for my future...
so then why do I feel so unnerved?

Thank goodness for music.
It can solve most things.
Glee was weird this week, but I'm glad that it introduced me to this gem.



It is worth the jump to the YouTube website.
You can bet that this will be on our New Years mix.

December Mix: I'm right here

I am so glad it's December!
I am so excited for the holidays!
And I am so ready to be done with school!
I can't wait for everything Christmas. I've been sampling Justin Beiber's new Christmas album on Spotify, and have a Bing Crosby holidays station on Pandora. But, if you are like me, you cannot handle all Christmas music all the time. *(Unless you are listening to one of my top 3 Christmas albums ever. More on that later)* So here is a mix for that time when your ears need a break. Don't worry, it starts and finishes with Christmas songs, so you aren't a total Scrooge. I also made sure that many of the songs prominently feature bells and jingly Christmas noises, even though they aren't actual carols. And a lot of the themes in the songs are actually quite pertinent to Christmas, so there.

God bless us, everyone.


1. Father Christmas - The Kinks
2. Peter Pan - Jinja Safari
3. Junk of the Heart (Happy) - The Kooks
4. How Charming?! - Rizzle Kicks
5. Heatwave (feat. Martha & The Vandellas) - Cee-Roo
6. Odessa - Olenka and the Autumn Lovers
7. Les amours dévouées - Coeur De Pirate
8. My Body is A Cage (Arcade Fire cover) - Sara Lov
9. Skinny Love - Birdy
10. Five Minutes - Scattered Trees
11. I Will Be the One - Quiet American
12. Oh Yoko - John Lennon
13. Ivory Road - King Charles
14. Modern Drift - Efterklang
15. Edelweiss - The Honey Trees
16. Christmas Time Is Here - Sondre Lerche


Notes:
1. I debated whether to start this mix out with "Oi to the world". It is a favorite.
2. Peter Pan: Adorable in book form.

Not so adorable in real life.

Peter Pan syndrome. It's all the rage. Coming soon to a college campus near you!
3. <3
4. Rizzle Kicks. My love for you grows deeper everyday.
5. This song reminds me of watching American Dreams. I miss that show sooooo much.
10. So good. So, so good.
12.

13. "You're the fastest of the fish. You're the prickliest pear. You're a chameleon in the night. You're the sahara sun's glare."
16.

Nit-wit Twit-lit

Once upon a summer, I got on twitter. I became a twitterer? I tweeted? Anyway, it didn't stick. I think it's because I don't have a smart phone. But I think I'll start again. I don't know. I feel like I need to brush up on my social skills, and social media is the first step. Click here. You can follow me.
This is so weird.
Follow me? Whatever.

Anyway. I was glancing through people I "follow," and I found @Conde Elevator. I forgot how brilliant it was. And alas, short lived. Let's relive it together:

Guess someone at Conde Nast *cough*annawintour*cough* didn't like it that much.