December 25: Christmas Day

Merry Christmas! I hope this day brings with it joy and blessings and happiness as the light returns, no matter what form the light takes in your life. I hope that as we have counted the days towards Christmas together, you have had some time to think about the darkness and the coming light. I hope you had time to revel in the darkness, to sleep and rest, to wonder and be in awe, to feel sadness and grief if those things come to you in the deep of winter. Solstice was a few days ago and the days are getting longer by a minute or two each passing day. Today is Christmas, my culture's most holy day as we celebrate the birth of light in the dark of winter.

For many people this story, the story of a baby literally born in the dark of winter, the dark of night, the dark of a stable, is the ultimate story of Christmas.

For many other people there are many other stories of light being born in the dark. Here's another of my favorites - wherever you find love, it feels like Christmas.

Merry Christmas, friends! What stories are important to you on this day of light in a season of dark? How do you celebrate our culture's most important holiday? What brings you joy on this winter morning?

December 24: Christmas Eve Mac and Cheese

It seems that most everyone has a special food tradition for Christmas Eve.

In Eastern Europe most Christian families prepare a large feast, usually with twelve meatless dishes representing the twelve apostles. Pickled mushrooms are popular in Poland and a sweet wheat and poppy seed porridge is necessary in the Ukraine. Serbs insist that a round of unleavened bread and a dish of salt are present at that meal while in Bulgaria they make pastries with fortunes in it for the year ahead.

Italian and Italian American families also make a meal with a large number of meatless dishes, a tradition called The Feast of the 7 Fishes. Baccala (salt dried cod), fried scallops, oysters and cod fish balls in tomato sauce are some of the well loved dishes.

In Colombia it is traditional to eat ajiaco, a potato soup, and buñuelos, a sweet pastry, while waiting up until midnight to wish everyone a merry Christmas. Christmas in Puerto Rico wouldn't be complete without a spit roasted pig, lechon asao. All over Latin America families gather to make tamales during the holiday season, a tradition I wish I could marry into sometime soon.

Some American families do their big Christmas meal on the 24th with lamb, ham, beef or even boring turkey. Not in my family, though. The beef is saved for December 25th and Christmas Eve is a time for macaroni and cheese. You may not think it holds a candle to Puerto Rican pig, Italian cod fish or Polish pickles, but my holiday wouldn't be complete without it. And yes, the potato chips and frozen peas are vitally important.

Merry Christmas!

A Modern Broderick Family Macaroni and Cheese

Salt 1 pound elbow macaroni
6 T butter
1 medium pressed garlic clove
1 t dry mustard
1/4 t cayenne pepper
6 T flour
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
3 1/2 cups whole milk
16 ounces colby jack cheese, shredded (about 5 1/3 cups)
8 ounces extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (about 2 2/3 cups) plus 1/2 cup more for the topping
Ground black pepper
2 cups frozen green peas
1 bag of kettle style potato chips, possibly the aged cheddar flavor

 1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat to 400 degrees. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a dutch oven over high heat. Stir in 1 T salt, the macaroni and the peas; cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente, about 5 minutes. Drain the pasta and leave it in the colander; set aside.

2. Wipe the pot dry. Add the butter and return to medium heat until melted. Add the garlic, mustard, and cayenne; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until golden, about 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the chicken broth and milk; bring to a simmer and cook, whisking often, until large bubbles form on the surface and the mixture is slightly thickened, 5 to 8 minutes. Off the heat, whisk in the cheeses gradually until completely melted. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

3. Add the drained pasta and peas to the cheese sauce and stir, breaking up any clumps, until well combined. Stir in about 2/3 the bag of potato chips and pour the mixture into a 9 x 13″ baking dish and top with the rest of the potato chips, slightly crushed, and the reserved cheese. Bake until golden brown and bubbling around the edges, approximately 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated and my father's age old recipe. Seriously, don't knock the potato chips until you've tried them.

December 23: Dickens' Christmas Carol

``A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!'' cried a cheerful voice. It was the voice of Scrooge's nephew, who came upon him so quickly that this was the first intimation he had of his approach.
``Bah!'' said Scrooge, ``Humbug!''
He had so heated himself with rapid walking in the fog and frost, this nephew of Scrooge's, that he was all in a glow; his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again.

``Christmas a humbug, uncle!'' said Scrooge's nephew. ``You don't mean that, I am sure.''
``I do,'' said Scrooge. ``Merry Christmas! What right have you to be merry? what reason have you to be merry? You're poor enough.''
``Come, then,'' returned the nephew gaily. ``What right have you to be dismal? what reason have you to be morose? You're rich enough.''
Scrooge having no better answer ready on the spur of the moment, said, ``Bah!'' again; and followed it up with ``Humbug.''
``Don't be cross, uncle,'' said the nephew.
``What else can I be,'' returned the uncle, ``when I live in such a world of fools as this Merry Christmas! Out upon merry Christmas. What's Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer; a time for balancing your books and having every item in 'em through a round dozen of months presented dead against you? If I could work my will,'' said Scrooge indignantly, ``every idiot who goes about with ``Merry Christmas'' on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!''
``Uncle!'' pleaded the nephew.
``Nephew!'' returned the uncle, sternly, ``keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mine.''
``Keep it!'' repeated Scrooge's nephew. ``But you don't keep it.''
``Let me leave it alone, then,'' said Scrooge. ``Much good may it do you! Much good it has ever done you!''
``There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,'' returned the nephew: ``Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round -- apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that -- as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!''

And so begins one of the best loved and most wonderful Christmas story ever told. A very early Christmas memory of mine is watching the Mickey's Christmas Carol, an animated version of the classic starring Mickey as Bob Cratchitt, Goofy as Marley and Jimminy Cricket as the Ghost of Christmas past. Today, my favorite Christmas movie is the Muppet's Christmas carol starring Gonzo as the Narrator, Kermit, Piggy and Robin as the Cratchitt family and the wonderful Michael Caine as Scrooge. In addition to staying true to the story, going so far even as to use Dickens' original prose in some scenes, there are wonderful musical pieces and great Muppet comedy. These musical pieces are one of my favorite parts of the Muppet version in that they bring to life the secular values of generosity, cheerfulness and good will towards men that Dickens was really aiming for with his story. Where ever you find love, it feels like Christmas.

Like my other favorite Christmas movies (It's a Wonderful Life and White Christmas), Dickens' story taps into the secular beauty of the holiday season. Dickens wrote his story in a time when the echos of the Puritan restrictions of the Cromwell era were still the main influence on how the English celebrated Christmas. The festive and joyous celebrations shown in A Christmas Carol reflect older, more pagan customs and were very attractive to the Victorian era English people so desperately looking for a way to cement their national identity and move into the modern era. Prince Albert had just introduced the Christmas Tree and Christmas cards were gaining popularity - our modern Christmas was invented by the Victorians and Dickens' story was a huge influence on that process. He actually coined the phrase Merry Christmas!

At it's core, A Christmas Carol is a morality story about being good to each other. I encourage you to re-read or re-watch a version of it this holiday season. Here it is in full text online, but your library will have copies of it as well. What are your favorite versions of this classic story? What inspires you to be good to other people in this season?

Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.
He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!

December 22: Fourth Sunday: Awe

Standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon or the top of a mountain. Looking at a new baby sibling, daughter or nephew. Walking through a grove of cherry
blossoms in March. The power and destruction of a winter storm and the compassion and generosity of individuals helping rebuild afterwards. Images of nebulae, the concept of geologic time, the understanding of the interconnectedness of biologic life on Earth. These things bring us the experience of awe, of that heady mix of wonder, admiration, surprise and fear.

Awe inspires us. It inspires us to create, to live better lives, to help others and to protect.  Nicholas Humphrey who has written The Biological Advantage of Being Awestruck says “being enchanted by the magic of experience, rather than being just an aid to survival, provides an essential incentive to survive.”

Religious communities have known this since the dawn of time. One of our earliest spiritual impulses is to be in awe of the universe, of creation as we experience it. God has often been seen as awe-ful, something which inspires fear, awe and and overwhelming sense of connection. Cathedrals, standing stones, ceremonies and even simple candlelight have been used to produce and
maintain awe in religious contexts. These days, science is backing up what we have known about awe since prehistoric times. One study out of Stanford found that regular incidents of awe leave residual benefits to the individual and are residual including an increased sense of empathy, compassion towards other increased altruism and general well being.

That Stanford study defined awe as a experience of such perceptual expansion and vastness that you literally have to upgrade your mental schemata just to take in the scale of the experience. Paul Pearsall defines awe as an "overwhelming and bewildering sense of connection with a startling universe that is usually far beyond the narrow band of our consciousness."

 

A thundering waterfall. Frost on the grass and the crescent moon bright in the sky. Friends coming out of the woodwork to help you through rough times. A rose window. The Earth from space. A baby in a manger. What brings you awe?

December 21: Winter Solstice

This is a story of the year and the seasons and of creation. It is not The Story, I don't think humans can know The Story, but it is A Story. May it bring you joy, peace and wonder. 

Long, long ago in a time before there was either time or ago, all there was was the Darkness of the Divine. Out of this Darkness the Goddess formed herself and for almost as long as there had been just Darkness there was just the Goddess. Eventually, she came to realize she was alone, and then realized that she was lonely. Out of the one that was The Goddess became the Two, the Goddess and her consort the God. And they were happy.
 
Out of their happiness and their love sprang the myriad things. Out of their love sprang the stars and the earth, the water and the stones. Out of their love sprang the plants and the grass, the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea and the beasts of their land. Out of their love sprang rain and snow and the light of dawn and the still of twilight. All these myriad things were beautiful and rejoiced in their love of the Goddess and the God. And they were happy.

As time passed the God and the Goddess watched the drama of life play out on Earth. They watched plants grew and deer eat them. They watched deer grow and wolves eat them. They saw the vultures and flies eat the wolves' flesh after they died and the plants grow out of them again. The Goddess and the God watched this cycle, and the countless other cycles of birth and death and rebirth and saw that something else was needed in this world they had created. Just as the mouse sacrificed its life for the life of the snake and the minnow sacrificed for the perch and the fruit for the monkey, something or someone needed to sacrifice their life so that all the life of the myriad things could continue. And they were not happy, but they were at peace.

The God, the Goddess's consort, lover and partner, knew that it was his role to sacrifice himself for his creation. As he grew into the full strength of his power he prepared for his own sacrifice. Finally, despite the Goddess's sorrow, he chose his moment and sacrificed himself in a blaze of color and light. And they were not happy, but they were at peace.

The Goddess mourned his death and plant life seemed to die back in the face of her sorrow. The world grew colder and darker but the God's sacrifice had worked. Like autumn leaves mouldering under the snow to produce the next years light spring soil, his life force permeated all of creation. His sacrifice gave all things a chance at rebirth and renewal. And, miracle of miracles, like the cow elk in the early winter The Goddess found herself pregnant; pregnant with the God himself. And she was happy.

She grew larger in her pregnancy as the world sunk deeper into a winter hibernation. When it felt like the Earth could not be colder or darker, or the Goddess any greater with her child she gave birth. She gave birth to a son, to the God, to light and warmth and growth. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and held him close to her as he grew. And they were happy.

The Goddess was so happy with her child, with the birth of light and of summer to come that she wanted to celebrate. In her joy she created humans to help her celebrate, to keep watch over the year as the God is born, grows, becomes strong and fills the world with growing green and warm thing. The Goddess and the humans she created watch and celebrate as The God reaches his full strength, realizes his destiny and sacrifices himself in light and color. The Goddess and the humans she created watch and celebrate even as the Earth sinks into restful dark and cold, renewing and waiting. And again, we celebrate at the birth of the new year's Light. And we are happy.

  These images are created by AlicePopkorn. Please check out all of her amazingly beautiful and spirit filled work on her flickr stream.

December 20: The Cosmic Calendar and Land Plants

On Carl Sagan's Cosmic Calendar, where the history of the universe is condensed into a calendar year, the first land plants emerge around December 20th. Since we last checked in on the Cosmic calendar on December 5th, simple and then more complex animals had evolved including insects, fish and even

The Rainforest I Live In

early amphibians. But all of that diversity of life existed in the seas. The planet had been in existence for 3.5 billion years already, that's thirty five thousand million years, with almost nothing living on the land. The oxygen level in the atmosphere was very low and there was no ozone layer, making the terrestrial environments bathed in UV light that destroys living tissues. Right around 500 million years plants like mosses and lichens started to be seen in the shore line environments at the edge of coastal waters. They had probably been colonizing the intertidal zones and estuaries for a long time, evolving adaptations to survive being dried out by the sun and the wind. Then, 425 million years ago in the Silurian Period, a totally new kind of plant evolved. These plants had special structures that helped them manage and transport water in their tissues like xylem and waxy coverings on their leaves and stems.

Spring in Portland

With these new pioneers the whole of the Earth's surface was opened up to colonization by the animals that ate plants and in turn by the animals that ate other animals. We are terrestrial creatures who would not have evolved, all those hundreds of millions of years later, if it were not for the amazing advances in water management devised by these early plants.

I live in an ecosystem dominated by large plants. Parts of Western Oregon are actually designated temperate rainforests and all of it is heavily covered in trees, grasses, ferns, shrubs and weedy herbs. My mother, who grew up in Southern California, still sometimes complains about "all this damn green!" At times you literally can not see the forest for the trees where I live. As a teenager I had an epiphany moment in a forest near my house when I gazed up at a young alder tree next to a creek and really processed what my science teacher had been lecturing about xylem, phloem and water transport in trees. This tree is moving water dozens of feet, and that one over there hundreds of feet, with simply water tension, evaporation and magic! It blew my mind then, and it blows my mind now. It blows Derek Mueller's mind too so he made this amazing video to tell us why trees can get so tall. Enjoy!

What blows your mind about plants, or about anything else outside? What is your favorite plant? Spend a moment to thank a vascular plant today, we depend on them for a lot.

December 19: Axial Tilt, the Reason for the Season

We moved to Portland OR from San Francisco when I was 10 years old and I distinctly remember feeling that the summer sun didn't set until so very late in the evening. It seemed like the days stretched on forever. The memories of a dreamy 10 year old are not necessarily to be trusted, but my observations were based in reality - the summer days in Portland really ARE longer than those in San Francisco. At the Summer Solstice in late June, Portland has a full hour more sunlight and the difference between an 8:30 sunset and a 9pm sunset is a very big one, especially when you still have a bed time. We also have a distinctly shorter winter day, with the sun setting here well before 5pm on the Winter Solstice.

The reason for this difference in the sunrise and sunset times is due to a quirk of our planet called the axial tilt. Remembering back to our middle school earth science, you know that there is an imaginary line running from the north pole to the south pole of our planet called the axis. Every day the earth spins on this axis once, giving us a sunrise, daylight, sunset and another sunrise. By some accident of planetary formation our Earth's axis is about 20 degrees off perpendicular to our orbit - the poles point a little bit towards the sun at some times of the year and a little bit away at others. As the earth revolves around the sun, the north pole points towards the sun in June and the south towards the sun in December causing the sun's rays to fall unevenly on the earth. When we in the northern hemisphere are pointing towards the sun we get longer daylight and more intense solar heat while the opposite happens when we point away. We call these changes in daylight and average temperature winter and summer. The closer to the poles you happen to be, the more pronounced this change in daylight over the course of the year is. My northernmost Facebook friend is in Barrow, Alaska this winter and when the sun set on November 19 has stayed below the horizon and won't come back until January 22nd. Other friends in Fairbanks Alaska will have 3 hours and 45 minutes of daylight today, here at the 45th parallell in Oregon we will have 8 hours and 42 minutes while my southernmost Facebook friend in Honalulu will have almost 11 hours of daylight.

It blows my mind that we live on a planet that is set up this way. If we lived on Mercury we wouldn't experience seasons because that planet has virtuallly no axial tilt. Venus also doesn't experience seasons, but it's tilt is close to 180 degrees, with a rotation opposite that of any other planet. Another planet with wacky seasons is Neptune, but with an axial tilt of 90 degrees one of it's poles faces the sun for about 40 years before the seasons shift and it gets 40 years of darkness. Totally crazy!

I love living in a place where I can experience a change in daylight over the course of the year. I love watching the sunrise and sunsets shift north and south on the horizon over the course of the year. A marking point of every autumn is when the sunset matches up with the one mile of directly west running freeway by my house and there are "inexplicable" traffic jams there every afternoon for a week. I enjoy the cozy dark evenings of winter, when the sun has set by the time most folks are home from work, and I revel in the long sunlight afternoons of summer where you can get hours of socializing in between work and sunset. I daydream about living in a place where I can mark the locations of those solstice sunsets on the land, like Ada Monroe did towards the end of Cold Mountain, seeing a physical representation of the link between the earth and the sky as the seasons shift. The shift in the seasons is a rhythm I can fall back on, it happens no matter what. And this week, the rhythm reaches it's dark point. Soon we'll climb back towards summer.

For more images and other explanations of the seasonal changes on Earth check out this great post at Skeptic's Play or this fun video at Brain Pop. Knowledge is power, so get some!

Holiday Giving: My Favorite Non Profits

The holidays are often a time when people feel more free to give to charities and non-profits. One of the best ways to move on this impulse during the holiday season is to give money to charities in the name of your friends and family rather than giving them a tangible present. An interesting way to do this is to give your loved one a gift certificate to a donation gift site, many of which are listed in this article and blog post. 

If you are needing some ideas on non-profits to support this year, here are some of my favorites. Many are local to Portland, but many are not.

I love my dog more than anything and feel compelled to help animals whenever I can. The Pongo Fund is an emergency pet food bank in Portland doing amazing work to help pets stay with their people during times of economic crisis. I tear up when I think of all they are doing for people and pets in the area. The Oregon Humane Society is another organization I whole heartedly support. They have been serving the needs of homeless and neglected animals in Portland since 1868. In addition to rehoming pets, OHS has a technical rescue team that will help pets stuck out in the mountains or woods, an amazing Humane Education program and a veterinary teaching hospital. No doubt there are organizations just as amazing as these serving dogs, cats and their people in your local area, too.

I care very much about people, too, and support a number of organizations working towards bringing self reliance, dignity and escape from poverty to people all over the world. Shelter Box is an amazing organization that provides emergency shelter relief to people after disaster strikes. Each shelter box contains a roomy tent, blankets, a water filter, a tool kit, a stove and usually some special gifts for children like coloring books and crayons. Another program I love is the Empower Kits available through Glad Rags and donated to Empower Women in Africa. Buying one of these kits sends 5 high quality, reuseable cloth menstrual pads to a teenage girl in Africa. Lack of access to these important personal hygeiene tools causes many young women to miss days of school and maybe even eventually drop out.

Other local groups I love include, but are not limited to, the Oregon Food Bank, Friends of Outdoor School, Neighborhood House, Street Roots, Sisters of the Road Cafe and so many others. Which charities do you support this time of year? How do you give them your support?

December 18: The Caganer

Nativity scenes in Catalonia include a special character not found in nativity sets elsewhere. This guy is known as the caganer and is a beloved part of a Catalan Christmas. The caganer is traditional a Catalan peasant with a red hat and vest or sash doing his business in some outlying part of the scene. Modern times have brought us pooper figurines depicting anyone reasonably famous from the Pope to President Obama to Albert Einstein and the Queen of England. Why would anyone want a dude taking a dump in their nativity scene? Well, traditional interpretations say that it is a recognition of the fertilizer needed to make a successful new year's growth and harvest. He also reminds us that at some level, everyone is equal, no one is immune to the trials and tribulations of the physical body. Ultimately, the caganer reminds us that the cycle of growth, elimination and decay continues - a very earthy message in this sometimes all to celestial time of year.

Secret Forest

For more information and a fantastic drawing check out Paul Bommer's 2010 Advent calendar or this Spanish website or the Secret Forest blog, where I got these awesome images. Bring a caganer into your own life with any one of these awesome paper cut outs. My favorite is the simple paper doll like one at the very bottom. Bon Nadal!

December 17: Full Moon

Winter is here! Yesterday I was at the nature park I spent the summer at and noticed just how much further I could see through the parking lot and on the trails. So much foliage has died back but the woods are still full of life. The newts have migrated up into the forest and winter flocks of birds were everywhere. Today, the Full Moon day in December, the sun rises at 7:46 am and sets at 4:28 - compared to a 7:31 sunrise at the beginning of the month. What does winter look like where you are? Here is some poetry and song for a long full moon night. Enjoy!

Long Winter

by Tim Nolan

So much I've forgotten

the grass

Winter

the birds

the close insects

the shoot - the drip - 

the spray of the sprinkler

freckles - strawberries - 

the heat of the Sun

the impossible

humidity

the flush of your face

so much

the high noon

the high grass

the patio ice cubes

the barbeque

Winter

the buzz of them - 

the insects

the weeds of them - the dear

weeds - that grow

like alien life forms - 

all Dr. Suessy and odd -

here we go again -

we are turning around

again - this will all

happen over again-

and again - it will -

*** **** ***

And also:

Be sure to check out ALL of Vi Hart's recreational mathematics videos. They will rock your world as much as they rock mine.

December 16: Window Stars

Decorating for the holidays is a natural and beautiful tradition. In addition to a Christmas tree and a nativity sets, window decorations are a major part of my winter decorating scheme. Most of us remember making paper snow flakes as kids and I still love to make them. I recently discovered another equally beautiful project involving folding and gluing translucent paper to make window stars. These easy crafts simply transform a room, bringing highlighting the brief light of a winter day. 

Window stars are traditionally made with a product called kite paper, a plastic coated 'wax' paper that comes in brilliant colors. I found a stack of kite paper locally at a Waldorf oriented store but you can order it online for a very reasonable price (Amazon, or Bellaluna Toys, or a few others as well). Some people will recommend tissue paper but I find it tears too easily and gets ruined in the condensation so common on our winter windows. Last year I discovered that tracing paper colored with crayons makes a wonderful paper for window stars. The colors are more subdued which is nice in some designs and you can't beat the price.

Making window stars is not difficult and the results look much more complicated than they really are. It basically involves folding squares or rectangles into pointed shapes and then gluing them together. If you can do simple origami, or if you ever folded a note in middle school into a shape you can make window stars.Here is a link to my favorite online tutorial with instructions for five basic shapes. As you understand how the pieces fit together to make the different shapes you will be free to mix and match colors, shapes and sizes to make an army of different, beautiful stars. Here is a link to my flickr set with photos of stars I have made as well as links to more instructions. Here are more flickr photos of window stars by other people. Once you understand how they are made you will be able to recreate most of these designs. 

 
There are two competing impulses within us in these dark days of winter. One is the curl up and hibernate like little woodland creatures. We want to watch movies or read, nap and eat carby foods that keep us sleepy and warm. The other impulse is to fight the darkness with light - overhead lights, Christmas lights, full spectrum lights, sugary and alcoholic foods that keep us up up up. I think window stars are a gentle way to celebrate what little light is around, while also honoring the need to stay in, do homewoven handicrafts and have some quiet time. Or maybe they are just beautiful and need no other explanation  :)

Christmas Carol: Joy to the World

The words to this most popular Christmas carol were written by the Englishman Isaac Watts in 1719 and set to the tune we use today in 1839. The lyrics are about Christ's second coming but they have broad appeal to all kinds of people. The Bing Crosby version is my childhood favorite, but Aretha Franklin sure can rock it. For a smile, check out this flash mob version in a mall in Minnesota. Joy to the world!

December 15: Third Sunday - the Shepherds

Today is the third Sunday of Advent. In the Godly Play story this is the Sunday of the Shepherds, who were visited by the Angel bringing news of the Christ child's birth. It is a moving story - people minding their own business, going about their daily work when the Angel of the Lord shows up in all its terrifying splendor and asks them to get up and move. Go, the Angel says, don't be afraid, just go.

I wonder, is there anything you are afraid of going to do in these dark days of winter? What would the Angel of the Lord say to you, if it found you out in the fields at night? Would you be willing or able to go?

Christmas Carol: Rise Up Shepherd and Follow

Merry Christmas!

December 14: Merry Christmas to All, and to All a Good Night!

This poem is one of my very favorite things about Christmas. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

A Visit From St. Nicholas, By Clement Moore

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap—

When out on the lawn there rose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter,
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon, on the breast of the new-fallen snow,
Gave a lustre of mid-day to objects below;
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny rein-deer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On! Comet, on! Cupid, on! Dunder and Blitzen—
To the top of the porch, to the top of the wall!
Now, dash away, dash away, dash away all!"
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So, up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With a sleigh full of toys—and St. Nicholas too.
And then in a twinkling I heard on the roof,
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack;
His eyes how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry;

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face, and a little round belly
That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.

He was chubby and plump—a right jolly old elf;
And I laughed when I saw him in spite of myself.
A wink of his eye, and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle;
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

December 13: Winter PB & J

"At every moment of every day, morning or midnight regardless of the season, there are birds aloft in the skies of the Western Hemisphere, migrating.  If it is spring or fall, the great pivot points of the year, then the continents are swarming with billions of traveling birds -- a flood so great even the most ignorant or unobservant notice the skeins of geese or the flocks of robins."
- Scott Weidensaul, from Living on the Wind

As winter settles around us, we find ways to deal with the darker days and colder weather. We have sweaters and central heating, stored food and electric light. Wildlife doesn't have the same tools that we have, but they must deal with this season just the same. Animals deal with winter in one of three ways; migration, hibernation or adaptation. All three provide great fodder for stories that highlight what Bill Nye calls the PB & J of science - the passion, beauty and joy.

Did you know that grizzly bears hibernate in a completely unique way? Their heart rate drops to 25 beats per minute and they drop their body temperature by about 10 degrees, a considerably more shallow hibernation than that of say the marmot (who drop their temperature by close to 60 degrees to just 5 degrees Celsius!). This shallow hibernation, though, allows grizzlys to do something a marmot could never dream of doing - giving birth while hibernating.  They also are able to re-synthesize 

Pacific Tree Frog

urea from their urine into protein so they actually gain muscle mass during their winter nap. How cool is that?

Grizzlys are not common in my particular part of the country, but Pacific chorus frogs are. These are tiny little frogs with giant voices that breed near still water all over the Pacific northwest. In colder parts of the country many amphibians will burrow underground or under deep leaf litter and snow to hibernate through the coldest times of the year, but not here in Oregon and Washington. Our winters are mild enough that not only are our chorus frogs active, they're starting to breed in the late winter! They have special anti-freeze like compounds in their blood that keep them alive despite being cold blooded and may start singing for mates as early as February. Getting this jump start on the breeding season means those hardy frogs' babies will be able to out compete other, later hatched tadpoles and have a better chance to grow up to breed themselves the next winter. They play a tight balancing game between the rigors of winter with it's cold temperatures and lack of insects to eat and the benefits of breeding early. It's a frog eat frog world out there!

Sauvies Island

If you live in Portland, this time of year is wonderful for winter birding at Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge or Sauvies Island. In addition to the mallards, coots and cormorants we see all year round in Portland, you are likely to see buffleheads, wood ducks, or wigeons or any number of other more exotic birds. Local birders have seen up to 65 species in a single day at Oaks Bottom, including the Bald Eagles that prey on the ducks. Many of these birds have migrated south to Western Oregon for the winter, as improbable as that seems to those of us who get bummed at the rain. As long as it's not freezing and snowing these birds are happy to spend their winter vacations here. One winter day I was up on Sauvie's Island and had to stop in my tracks as the sky filled with Snow Geese, honking and flapping overhead. Talk about passion, beauty and joy!

What animal feats inspire you in the winter? What crazy stories or observations fill you with passion for the natural world? What is beautiful and joyful in the winter woods or fields near your house? If you were a wild animal who had to survive the winter, which would you like to be, a hibernating bear or a migrating duck? 

For more on Grizzlys, check out this article. 
For more on Pacific chorus frogs, go read this.
And for information on winter birding in Portland, see this one here.  

Decenber 12: Our Lady of Guadalupe

In 1531, ten years after the capture of Mexico City, peace allowed the mission fathers to teach the Catholic faith among the Indians and to baptize their children. At the beginning of December, a poor Indian named Juan Diego left his house one Saturday morning to attend divine service. On the way, as he passed the hill of Tepeyacac ("Hill of the Nose," in Nahuatl), he was startled by a song coming from the summit. The sweet, tender singing surpassed the trilling of the most exquisite birds. Juan Diego stopped, entranced, and mused, "Is it my luck to be worthy to hear such music? Is it a dream perhaps? Did I get up from my bed? Where am I? In Paradise, in heaven perhaps? I don't know." The singing ceased and a heavenly sweet voice called him from the hill-top, "Juan, my little one, Juan Diego." Filled with joy, Juan Diego was not at all frightened, but climbed the hill in search of the mysterious voice.

Juan Diego's Vision

When he reached the top, he saw a lady who bade him approach. It was a wonderful lady of superhuman beauty. Her raiment shone like the sun; the rock on which she set her foot seemed to be hewn from precious stones and the ground red like the rainbow. The grass, the trees and the bushes were like emeralds; the foliage, fine turquoise; and the branches flashed like gold.

Juan Diego bowed before her and the lady spoke: "Juan, my little one, the humblest of my children, where goest thou?"

"My lady, my child, I go to listen to such divine matters as our priests teach us," he replied.

"I am," said the wonderful Lady,"the Holy Mary, the eternal Virgin, Mother of the true God. I wish a shrine to be built here to show my love to you. I am your merciful mother, thine, and all the dwellers of this earth. To bring to pass what I bid thee, go thou and speak to the bishop of Mexico and say I sent thee to make manifest to him my will."

"My Lady," answered Juan Diego, "I go to fulfill thy command. I bid thee farewell, I thy humble servant."

 
This first vision of The Lady occured on December 10th and the next morning, as Don Juan got ready to go back to the hill he was greeted with news that his uncle was sick. He spent the day trying to find a doctor but to no avail. On the morning of December 12, 1531 Don Juan put on his tilma, his traditional cloak, for warmth as he set out to find a priest to give last rights to his dying uncle. He tried to go around the hill so as not to be waylayed by The Lady but she met him at the bottom and asked why he was so sad. When he told her about his uncle she told him not to fear and reassured the sorrowful Juan Diego by declaring her motherhood and promising that his uncle was already healed. Hearing this, Juan Diego asked for the sign for the bishop and was told to go to the top of the hill.  He brought an armful to The Lady who arranged them in his cloak and then set off to see the Bishop.
 

Our Lady with Roses

In the bishop's palace he had a long time to wait. The servants, suspecting from his attitude that he was hiding something in his arms, began to bait him. Seeing his refusal to show them what he was carrying, they began to tug at his cloak, in spite of the tearful petitions the poor Indian put up. Terrified the flowers would fall to the floor, he lifted a corner of his cloak to placate his tormentors. But a miracle! the blooms, fresh and fragrant before, to the gaze of the servants seemed as if stuck to Juan Diego's cloak. Then it was that the head steward and the servants rushed to announce that the Indian had come with the sign. The Lord Bishop commanded at once that he should be brought before him. Juan Diego prostrated himself before him and said: "Sir, I have done thy command. I went and told the Lady of Heaven thou wast asking for a sign that thou mightest believe me."

The Indian related what the Holy Mother of God had told him and described the glory in which she had lately appeared to him. Then he unfolded his white cloak and, as the lovely blooms were strewn on the floor, the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe suddenly appeared on the cloth just as it is to be seen today, painted by a divine hand on the cape of Juan Diego.

The bishop and all the onlookers knelt down. Immediately thereafter the cape was hung in the chapel.

The Basilica in Mexico City

Our Lady of Guadalupe, as The Lady who visited Don Juan that winter day so long ago came to be known, is one of the most well known religious image in the Americas. She is considered the Patroness of Mexico and the Americas and her shrine in Mexico City is the most visited Catholic pilgrimage site in the world. Her image graces everything from devotional jewelry and prayer candles to battle flags and countless tattoos. 

Miraculous apparitions of holy women have occurred to Christians since shortly after the life of Christ. There is a Biblical basis for the veneration of Mary, the Mother of Christ, but to me, these are not the appearance of some new religious figure but extensions of the worship of the feminine divine that is one of the oldest spiritual impulses known to humans. The neolithic carved figures, Isis nursing her son Horus, Asherah the Semitic mother goddess, Gaia the mother of all the Greek gods, Tonantzin Tlalli the ancient Mexican earth mother, Durga in India and Nuwa in China and even Bhumi, the embodied earth that Guatama Buddha called to witness when he achieved enlightenment - humans have venerated a mother goddess throughout history.

It is no surprise to me, or to many scholars, that when the Nahuatl culture was going through such upheaval as they were after the fall of the Aztec empire, that a new permutation of this ancient goddess would appear. A new culture calls for new gods, but not so new as to be unfamiliar, and every culture needs a mother goddess. All over the world, where the male god dominated monotheistic religions have gained prominence, a female saint or deity has sprung up to meet this deep human need for a Great Mother. Our Lady of Guadalupe is a Great Mother to so many in the Americas and beyond. She spoke to Juan Diego in his native language and asked for veneration in this specific, native place. Along with the indigenous goddesses like Grandmother Spider, White Buffalo Woman and Pachamama, she is an important American deity. She is Our Lady.

With A Candle

How do you celebrate the feminine divine? Do you burn a candle for Our Lady or address prayers to Our Mother as well as Our Father? How has Our Lady of Guadalupe, or other goddesses, shown up in your life? Would you be as quick to serve Her when she shows up as Juan Diego was?

God of power and mercy,
you blessed the Americas at Tepeyac
with the presence of the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe.
May her prayers help all men and women
to accept each other as brothers and sisters.
Through your justice present in our hearts
may Your peace reign in the world.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with You
and the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever.

Amen.

December 11: Peggy Fistmas and Trimming the Tree

Over the years I have thought a lot about what traditions I want to keep from my childhood Christmas and what traditions I am happy to see go by the wayside. Some many years ago my older sister was explaining to her then 4 year old son why different families did different things around the winter holidays. She said there were some things about Christmas that she really liked and other things that she didn't like as much. She explained that the things she liked were generally Pagan Christmas things. My nephew proceeded to spend the rest of the holiday season asking if this or that were Peggy Fistmas. In my family we still greet each other with a rousing Merry Peggy Fistmas :)

Of the traditions I have kept my favorite is the Christmas tree. It is truly Peggy Fistmas as there ain't nothing in the Bible about no fir tree in the barn. Christmas trees are a wonderful, ancient tradition of sympathetic magic. During these dark and cold times we bring a tree that is still green (!) into our houses, decorate it with lights and shiny objects and put presents under it.
By completing these acts we are hoping that whoever is in charge of the trees outside will do the same - keep them green, decorate them and bring us gifts. It is, after all, only a couple dozen more weeks until spring!

 Does your family put up a Christmas tree? Do you have special ornaments that it just wouldn't be Christmas without? Do you prefer Peggy Fistmas Christmas or some other kind of Christmas?

Christmas Carol: O Tannenbaum

The music to this carol is based on a German folk song and the original words contrasted the fir tree's ever green needles with an unfaithful lover. It wasn't until the 20th century that the English lyrics became associated with Christmas. Now that's Peggy Fistmas if I ever saw it! My favorite version is an instrumental version by the Canadian Brass, arranged like a fugue. Festive, without being overbearing. Enjoy!

December 10: Winter Constellations

The other night I helped lead a wonderful evening nature program for elementary school aged kids at the Tualatin Hills Nature Park. We did a craft, 
ate pizza, walked in the woods at night and listed to a story by candlelight. Talk about exposing kids to the PB and J of nature! My favorite part of the evening, though, was conversations I had with one of the older girls in attendance. She was a 7th grader and very into stars and astronomy. Together we looked up at the abnormally clear Portland night and pointed out constellations to each other. She found the big dipper and I showed her Cassiopeia. She asked me about Orion, if it was visible tonight. When we walked in the woods it was not visible but as we came out heading back to the interpretive center she spotted him. With a gasp she grabbed my arm and pointed. "Look! There it is!" We both stood and looked together at his belt, at the giant red star in the constellation and even tried to spot his dog, Sirius, close to the horizon. Talk about the PB and J of science! We were both, literally, in awe.

Winter can be such a fantastic time for stargazing because it is dark for so darn long each day. In Western Oregon the almost ever present cloud cover can get in the way, but there are many nights when you can go outside and see a few bright stars. Most people can find the Big Dipper, usually about midway between the horizon and the zenith in the northern sky this time of year. These seven bright stars never go below the horizon in Oregon, and are visible all year round. The Big dipper is a great constellation to start out with both because it is so visible and also because it helps you find so many other constellations like the Little Dipper with Polaris, the north star, and all the other cirucumpolar constellations (like Draco, my favorite constellation!). 

My little friend's favorite constellation, Orion the hunter, is another one you should look for on clear winter nights. It is visible in the eastern sky in the early evening hours in December and is recognizable most easily by the three stars in a line that make up his belt. Orion is an amazing constellation for the budding astronomer to get to know because there are so many fun astronomical phenomenon to discover in this one constellation. Many of the stars in this constellation are actually double stars or star clusters. The star we call Meissa, Orion's head,  is actually a cluster and the right-most star in the belt is a double star easily seen in binoculars. The middle star in the belt is actually a nebula, a cloud where stars are being born. It helps to have a telescope to see the Orion Nebula, but you can observe the redness of one of the stars in Orion even with your bare eyes on some nights. Betelguese, the right shoulder of the hunter, is a red giant and one of the largest stars known in our visible universe. It is 600 times wider than our sun, but the surface temperature is only 6,000 degrees F compared with 10,000 degrees for our sun's surface. It is a star in its twilight years as it reaches the end of it's hydrogen fuel. Soon it will collapse soon and explode into a supernova which will be visible by daylight. Unfortunatley, soon in astronomical terms means anytime in the next million years - and since it's 430 light years away, even if it exploded today none of us alive would see the supernova. Like the Big Dipper, Orion is helpful for finding other constellations. 

The two stars of his shoulder point to Procyon, or Canis Major, and his belt points downwards to Sirius, Canis Major, his two hunting dogs. 

Like my friend at the Nature Park and I,  you too can be in awe of the night sky. Many of these stars can be seen even from the suburban areas of a city like Portland, and if you find your way out into darker skies you will see so many more. A pair of binoculars will help you see some of the cool stuff in Orion, but you don't need them to enjoy the constellations. If you are a science buff there is so much to learn about the different sizes of stars and types of nebulae but if literature is more your style then you are in luck, too. Our modern constellations are mostly named after ancient mythologies and the stories are as thrilling as any modern block buster (saving a princess from a sea serpent? Giant scorpions and heroes fighting for eternity? Tracking a bear for a whole season and the underground railroad? Does it get any more thrilling?) All you need is a dark sky and the clouds go go away for a few hours, which happens occasionally even here in Portland, Oregon.

When was the last time you went stargazing? What is your favorite constellation? Can you point out Orion or at least the big dipper? What winter PB and J of Science are you celebrating this week?

The images in this post are holiday cards created with images from the Hubble telescope. Learn more about what amazing things Hubble is observing and download the cards for free by checking out Hubblesite.org. 

December 9: Gingerbread

Two years ago I hosted my fist Gingerbread cookie making party. I made up a double batch of this dark, fragrant dough the day before and collected together my cookie cutter collection, a bottle of cinnamon candies and as many rolling pins as I could find. As my friends gathered, we put on Christmas music, drank hot cider and started rolling out the dough. The oven warmed the house and so did our laughter. Isn't this what Christmas is about in some deep fundamental way?

Gingerbread

Gingerbread became popular in Europe when spices became more available in the 11th century and was very popular fair food throughout medieval Europe. There is a great range in taste and texture throughout Europe, ranging from dense cakes to stuffed cookies or a spiced paste pressed into wooden molds. The typical American gingerbread, a dense molasses sweetened cookie, came to this continent with immigrants from Germany and Scandinavia. Making gingerbread houses became popular in Germany after the publishing of Grimm's story Hansel and Gretel and making shaped gingerbread cookies is a Christmas tradition in Sweden and Norway. This recipe originally comes from Martha Stewart, but don't hold that against it. It's the best, most interesting flavored gingerbread cookie recipe I've ever used.

Spicy Gingerbread Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup light brown sugar

1 cup molasses

2 egg yolks

2 tsp grated fresh ginger

4 1/4 cups flour (any mix of white and whole wheat you would like)

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp allspice or nutmeg

2 tsp cloves

2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp finely ground black pepper

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

more flour for rolling out

*Combine butter and sugar and cream until fluffy and well combined. Add molasses, egg yolks and grated fresh ginger and stir until well combined. I recommend using an electric mixer.

Gingerbread Hedgepig

*Stir the spices, salt and leavening with the first cup of flour with a fork. Using a wooden or metal spoon stir the flour into the molasses mix one cup at a time. You will probably need to knead the last half cup in with your hands.

*Lay the dough ball onto a piece of plastic wrap or parchment paper and spread into a thick disk. Wrap completely in plastic wrap or put the parchment wrapped disk in a plastic bag and refrigerate for at least three hours.

*When ready to shape cookies cut or pull baseball sized hunks of dough off the disk and using flour and your hands or a rolling pin roll the dough out into 1/4 inch thick slabs. Use cookie cutters of your choice to shape the dough, place at least 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. I found that drier dough makes sharper edges on your cookies. Decorate with cinnamon candies or sprinkles before baking or icing after baking.

I usually make a simple frosting by combining cream cheese and powdered sugar. I place this in a zip top bag and snip a tiny bit off one corner to squeeze the frosting out. Cinnamon candies are the other indispensable decorating tool.

To Do Around Town:

The Grotto

Check out The Grotto! This is a Catholic shrine and sanctuary in North East Portland that puts up a beautiful light display and choral concert series during the holiday season. Throughout the month of December visitors can walk through the lighted gardens and listen to school and church choirs sing. The theme of the display is not secular but is still popular with thousands of visitors each year. "Our goal is not to be the biggest and the brightest light display in the area but to blend the joy of the season with the reflection of the season," Event Coordinator Peter Mott said.

For more about the festival check out this recent Oregonian article. Check out the Grotto's website here, and the concert schedule here for details.