Monday 2 December 2013

The month of December

December in the UK can be either quite miserable with very short dark days or bright sunny and cold days but getting dark early.

Find out more about December here.

I love this site that lists all the bizarre celebrations for each month.  Here is December's list.  What is a noodle ring?  National Noodle Ring Day.    Or what about National Bicarbonate of Soda Day?  I think we should all join in with Look on the bright side day!

This year Advent started on December 1st.  Find out more here.

Our Flower of the Month is Holly.

There are many Christmas related songs but I really love this one.


A poem for December
The Journey of the Magi by T S Eliot

A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The was deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter."
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires gong out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty, and charging high prices.:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we lead all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I have seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.



Here are some extra items on Pinterest: Advent    Christmas     Christmas Tags

And just for fun: an origami Christmas Tree

Here's your December checklist.

Art Challenge
Make a page inspired by the information or inspiration you have found here.  Don't forget to share it with us.