Cold and Christmas

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Today was nasty, nasty. Cold, windy, raining, the clouds looked so heavy with snow it got me thinking about what was to come.

I found this article from the New York Times (December 18, 1898 edition) interesting and wanted to share it with all of you.

The weather prophets of all ages have done full justice to the Winter season. Some of the forecasts have been thrown into rude rhymes which the country folk have learned to rely on for generations. Some of them remarkable for their brevity and curious reading.

In Scotland, the writer says, that the snow of the coming Winter first makes

its appearance during the harvest in the large snow-looking

clouds that rise along the horizon;

and there is an old saying that,

"If the sun falls on the snow,

there will be snow, snow and snow yet again."

Pliny tells us that,

"a fair and dry autumn

brings in always a windy Winter,"

while a Greek proverb has it that

if the early Autumn is mild,

the sheep generally suffer from famine,

and also if the late Autumn is

unusually bright,

the Spring is cold as a general rule.

A Latin manuscript of the seventeenth century says that,

"a wet Autumn followed by a mild Winter,

is the forerunner of a cold, dry Spring."

A short jingle claims,

"Clear Autumn, Windy Winter;

Warm Autumn, Long Winter.

We are also told that

a wet Autumn indicates a cold and early Winter

and again,

"Much fog in Autumn, much snow in Winter"

In the farming populations,

If the leaves hang on in late Autumn,

"If on the trees, the leaves still hold,

The Winter coming will be cold."

and

"Onion's skin very dry,

Mild Winter's coming in,

Onion's skin, thick and tough,

Coming Winter, cold and rough."

In Scotland, if a robin redbreast appears

early in the Autumn,

a hard Winter is looked for.

I am not sure about all these old beliefs and sayings. I do remember my Mother always telling me, "if the squirrels tails are bushy, it is going to be a long, cold winter". The squirrels have been running around here (with bushy tails) frantically grabbing all the acorns and nuts they can for the coming winter. Will it be a long, cold winter as my Mother tells me? Time will tell.

With this cold weather, my nesting instinct has kicked in. I dream of long, dark evenings knitting a warm blanket with a cup of tea beside me in the glow of the light, and with this instinct comes Christmas! My favorite time of the year.

I have been working on 19 Christmas ornaments the last few days. Why 19 you say? Over at Frugal Village we are having a Christmas ornament exchange. There are 19 of us, each making our own designs. It should be interesting to see the 19 different ornaments that I will get back! Everyone is keeping it a big secret but I will share with you my design. So shhhhh, don't tell anyone!





They are miniature hats and mittens.




I used Christmas colored yarn and attached my name tag, along with the year.

It will be so much fun to see what the others are making. I might just need another tree in the house just to accomodate them all!

My Christmas tree is traditionally decorated with all Luke's ornaments and my snowmen. He has received a different one each year since he was born from both me and my Mom. He will take them with him when he has a home of his own. I love snowmen so hence the reason why they adorn my tree each year.




This is another design I was experimenting with. It is a metal shape of a Christmas tree and the beads are to represent the lights and decorations. I think that one is going to need some tweaking yet.

Cold and Christmas. Two words that go so well together and the anticipation of how cold and gifts at Christmas keep me all toasty inside.

Remember to give your loved ones a hug! =)