Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

LISTEN TO MUSIC HERE

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
From now on our troubles will be out of sight
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the yuletide gay
From now on our troubles will be far away

Once again as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more

Through the years we all will be together
If the fates allow
Hang a shining star upon the highest bough
And have yourself a merry little Christmas now

Once again as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more

Through the years we all will be together
If the fates allow
Hang a shining star upon the highest bough
And have yourself a merry little Christmas now

 Jingle Bells

CLICK HERE FOR MUSIC



Bark, bark, arf
Bark, bark, arf
Bark, bark, woof, woof, arf

Bark, bark, bark,
Arf, bark, bark, bark
Bark, woof, woof, woof, woof.

Bark, bark, arf
Bark, bark, arf
Bark, bark, woof, woof, arf

Bark, bark, bark,
Arf, bark, bark, bark
Bark, bark, bark, woof, woof.

[Instrumental interlude]

Bark, bark, arf
Bark, bark, arf
Bark, bark, woof, woof, arf

Bark, bark, bark
Arf, bark, bark, bark
Bark, woof, woof, woof, woof.
Bark, bark, arf
Bark, bark, arf
Bark, bark, woof, woof, arf

Bark, bark, bark,
Arf, bark, bark, bark
Bark, bark, bark, woof, woof.

Bark, bark, arf Bark, bark, arf Bark, bark, woof, woof, arf Bark, bark, arf
Bark, bark, arf
Bark, bark, woof, woof, arf

Bark, bark, bark,
Arf, bark, bark, bark
Bark, bark, bark, woof, woof.

Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)
The Chipmunks & David Seville


(all right you Chipmunks! Ready to sing your song?
-I'll say we are!
-Yeah!
-Let's sing it now!
Okay, Simon?
-Okay!
Okay, Theodore?
-Okay!
Okay, Alvin? Alvin? ALVIN!
-OKAY!!!)

Christmas, Christmas time is near
Time for toys and time for cheer
We've been good, but we can't last
Hurry Christmas, hurry fast
Want a plane that loops the loop
Me, I want a hula hoop
We can hardly stand the wait
Please Christmas, don't be late.

Okay fellas get ready
That was very good, Simon.
-Naturally.
Very good Theodore.
-Ahhh.
Ah, Alvin, you were a little flat, watch it.
Ah, Alvin. Alvin. ALVIN!
-OKAY.

Want a plane that loops the loop
I still want a hula hoop
We can hardly stand the wait
Please Christmas, don't be late.
We can hardly stand the wait
Please Christmas, don't be late.

Very good, boys
-Lets sing it again! Yeah, lets sing it again!
No, That's enough, lets not overdo it
-What do you mean overdo it?
-We want to sing it again!
Now wait a minute, boys
-Why can't we sing it again?
-[chipmunk chatter]
Alvin, cut that out..Theodore, just a minute.
Simon will you cut that out? Boys...

IN WRITING NEWS:
I finally finished revising my manuscript. YAY! I can't believe I managed to trim nearly 400 words. 
It was a valuable lesson in making each word count :<)
If you please, good vibes sent my way would surely be appreciated.
Even if the manuscript isn't picked-up, I think it's evolved into a much stronger story. 
So thanks, Mrs. Editor, for asking me to do that ;>)

IN OTHER NEWS:
In keeping with my holiday-celebration-mood, the next twenty-five days of my blog will feature Christmas fare. I hope you'll take a couple of minutes when a song, accompanied with music, is featured. Listening to it really picks-up the ol' holiday spirit!

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas


TO LISTEN TO THE SONG
CLICK HERE

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
Don't want a doll, no dinky Tinker Toy
I want a hippopotamus to play with and enjoy



I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
I don't think Santa Claus will mind, do you?
He won't have to use our dirty chimney flue
Just bring him through the front door,
that's the easy thing to do



I can see me now on Christmas morning,
creeping down the stairs
Oh what joy and what surprise
when I open up my eyes
to see a hippo hero standing there



I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles, no rhinoceroses
I only like hippopotamuses
And hippopotamuses like me too



Mom says the hippo would eat me up, but then
Teacher says a hippo is a vegeterian



There's lots of room for him in our two-car garage
I'd feed him there and wash him there and give him his massage



I can see me now on Christmas morning,
creeping down the stairs
Oh what joy and what surprise
when I open up my eyes
to see a hippo hero standing there



I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles or rhinoceroseses
I only like hippopotamuseses
And hippopotamuses like me too!

 Over the River

(Thanksgiving Day)

Over the river and through the wood
To Grandmother's house we go.
The horse knows the way
To carry the sleigh
Through white and drifted snow.

Over the river and through the wood
Oh, how the wind does blow!
It stings the toes
And bites the nose,
As over the ground we go.

Over the river and through the wood
To have a first-rate play.
Hear the bells ring,
Ting-a-ling-ling!
Hurrah forThanksgiving Day!

Over the river and through the wood,
Trot fast, my dapple gray!
Spring over the ground
Like a hunting hound,
For this is Thanksgiving Day.

Over the river and through the wood,
And straight through the barnyard gate.
We seem to go
Extremely slow~
It is so hard to wait!

Over the river and through the wood~
Now Grandmother's cap I spy!
Hurrah for fun!
Is the pudding done?
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!

By Linda Maria Child 


                            

Song of the Pilgrims

By Nancy Sue Krenrich

Across the rolling, wind-swept sea
For months we've sailed along,
I see a land that's new to me
Against the blue horizon.

Oh, beautiful land of freedom born,
I've come across the sea
To reap your fruits and build my home,
And make my people free. 

An editor responded to my submission by asking me to shorten it. Is that a revision request?

If so, woot-woot!!! That would make it my first one!!!

Little Pilgrim  Original Author Unknown

Sung to: "Twinkle Twinkle "

Little Pilgrim dressed in gray
on that first Thanksgiving Day.
Little Indian dressed in brown,
Came to visit Plymouth Town,
They both came to eat and pray
on that first Thanksgiving Day. 

~~~~~~~~~

Mr. Turkey Original Author Unknown 

I have a turkey, big and fat.
He spreads his tail and walks like that.
His daily corn he would not miss.
And when he talks, it sounds like this:
Gobble Gobble Gobble 

~~~~~~~~~

I Am Thankful Original Author Unknown

Sung to: "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain."

I am thankful for my doggy and my cat
And my teddy bear so furry, soft and fat,
I am thankful for soft kittens
and my nice warm woolen mittens
And my swing set and my baseball and my bat

I am thankful for my crayons and my books
And the way our brand new baby smiles and looks,
I am thankful for potatoes
and for juicy ripe tomatoes
And for all the tasty food that mommy cooks.

I am thankful for my mommy and my dad,
They both love me whether I am good or bad,
I am thankful for the flowers
and refreshing summer showers,
All the pretty things around me make me glad.
Amen!

A Proclamation Signed in Script Type by George Washington
Appearing in The Massachusetts Centinel of October 14, 1789 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This historic proclamation was issued by George Washington during his first year as President. It sets aside Thursday, November 26 as "A Day of Publick Thanksgiving and Prayer."

Signed by Washington on October 3, 1789 and entitled "General Thanksgiving," the decree appointed the day "to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God."

While there were Thanksgiving observances in America both before and after Washington's proclamation, this represents the first to be so designated by the new national government.

After their first harvest, the colonists of the Plymouth Plantation held a celebration of food and feasting in the fall of 1621. Indian chiefs Massassoit, Squanto and Samoset joined in the celebration with ninety of their men in the three-day event.

The first recorded Thanksgiving observance was held on June 29, 1671 at Charlestown, Massachusetts by proclamation of the town's governing council.

During the 1700s, it was common practice for individual colonies to observe days of thanksgiving throughout each year. A Thanksgiving Day two hundred years ago was a day set aside for prayer and fasting, not a day marked by plentiful food and drink as is today's custom. Later in the 18th century each of the states periodically would designate a day of thanksgiving in honor of a military victory, an adoption of a state constitution or an exceptionally bountiful crop.

Such a Thanksgiving Day celebration celebration was held in December of 1777 by the colonies nationwide, commemorating the surrender of British General Burgoyne at Saratoga.

Later, on October 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for the observance of the fourth Tuesday of November as a national holiday.

In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday to the third Thursday of November (to extend the Christmas shopping season and boost the economy). After a storm of protest, Roosevelt changed the holiday again in 1941 to the fourth Thursday in November, where it stands today.

Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds.  ~Theodore Roosevelt

Thanksgiving is the holiday of peace, the celebration of work and the simple life... a true folk-festival that speaks the poetry of the turn of the seasons, the beauty of seedtime and harvest, the ripe product of the year - and the deep, deep connection of all these things with God.  ~Ray Stannard Baker (David Grayson)

What we're really talking about is a wonderful day set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets.  I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving?  ~Erma Bombeck

For flowers that bloom about our feet;
For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet;
For song of bird, and hum of bee;
For all things fair we hear or see,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee!
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day.  ~Irv Kupcinet

Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare.  They are consumed in twelve minutes.  Half-times take twelve minutes.  This is not coincidence.  ~Erma Bombeck

Thanksgiving Day, a function which originated in New England two or three centuries ago when those people recognized that they really had something to be thankful for - annually, not oftener - if they had succeeded in exterminating their neighbors, the Indians, during the previous twelve months instead of getting exterminated by their neighbors, the Indians.  Thanksgiving Day became a habit, for the reason that in the course of time, as the years drifted on, it was perceived that the exterminating had ceased to be mutual and was all on the white man's side, consequently on the Lord's side; hence it was proper to thank the Lord for it and extend the usual annual compliments.  ~Mark Twain

 

~~~~~~~~~


 First Thanksgiving

Margaret Hillert

Come ye thankful people come,
Raise the song of harvest home!
All is safely gathered in,
Ere the winter storms begin;
God our Maker, doth provide
For our wants to be supplied:
Come to God's own temple, come,
Raise the song of harvest home. 


All the world is God's own field
Fruit unto his praise to yield;
Wheat and tares together sown
Unto joy or sorrow grown;
First the blade, and then the ear,
Then the full corn shall appear;
Lord of the harvest! grant that we
Wholesome grain and pure may be. 

Thank You
     for all my hands can hold ---
          apples red
               and melons gold,
                    yellow corn
                         both ripe and sweet,
                              peas and beans
                                   so good to eat!

Thank You
     for all my eyes can see ---
          lovely sunlight,
               field and tree,
                    white cloud-boats
                         in sea-deep sky,
                              soaring bird
                                   and butterfly.

Thank You
     for all my ears can hear ---
          birds' song echoing
               far and near,
                    songs of little
                         stream, big sea,
                              cricket, bullfrog,
                                   duck and bee!

Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire.
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don't know something,
for it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations,
because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge,
because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes.
They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you're tired and weary,
because it means you've made a difference.

It's easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who
are also thankful for the setbacks.

Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles,
and they can become your blessings.

~~ Author Unknown ~~

I snatched some pics from Sabrina's myspace.
I'd like to share them with you, if I may....


This is the newly married Sabrina and Justin Williams:

                                     



Here is baby Chloe who will be THREE next month! OY!



As soon as I have some wedding pics, I'll post them :-)

The President's Pardon        

Late in 1863 a live turkey was sent to the White House for the Lincoln family to feast on during the holidays. Tad Lincoln, age 10, quickly befriended the bird. Tad taught the turkey to follow him as he walked around the White House grounds. The turkey was named Jack, and Tad fed him as a pet. When the time neared to prepare the turkey for the Christmas meal, Tad burst into one of his father's Cabinet meetings. He was crying loudly.  Tad told his dad that Jack was about to be killed, and that he had obtained a temporary delay from the "executioner" so he could put Jack's case before the president. Tad said, "Jack must not be killed; it is wicked." President Lincoln replied, "Jack was sent here to be killed and eaten...I can't help it." Tad, still sobbing, said, "He's a good turkey, and I don't want him killed." Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States of America, paused in the midst of the Cabinet meeting. He took out a card, and on it he wrote an order of reprieve. Jack's life was to be spared, and Tad raced out of the Cabinet meeting to show the presidential order to the "executioner."

On Tuesday, November 8, 1864, Abraham Lincoln was elected to a second term as president. A special polling place had been set up right on the grounds of the White House especially for soldiers who chose to vote. Jack the turkey actually strutted in front of some of the soldiers and broke in line. Seeing this, the president looked at Tad and asked whether Jack would vote. "He is under age," was Tad's reply. The "holiday turkey incident" may have revived youthful memories for the president. When young Abraham was about 8, a flock of wild turkeys approached the Lincolns' Indiana cabin. Thomas Lincoln, Abraham's dad, was not home so Abraham asked his mother if he might use his dad's gun. Nancy Hanks Lincoln gave permission, and Abraham shot and killed one of the turkeys. However, when the boy saw the beauty of the bird whose life was ended, he was very distraught. In Lincoln's own words, he never again "pulled the trigger on any larger game." Down deep Abraham was known to love animals generally. He treated them kindly.

Abraham Lincoln
1861 -1865
16th President

Abraham Lincoln was born in Hodgenville, Hardin County, Kentucky on February 12, 1809. He was the first President to be born in Kentucky.

He had no church affiliation.

Abraham Lincoln lost two sons during his lifetime: Edward 4, in 1850 and William 11, in 1862.

President Abraham Lincoln failed at many things before he became president. He failed

- as a business man.
- as a shopkeeper.
-as a farmer
-at his first attempt for a political office.
-when he sought the office of speaker.
-in his first attempt to go to Congress.
-when he sought appoinment to the U.S. Land Office
-in his running for the U.S. Senate.
-when his friends tried to get him nominated for Vice President.

President Lincoln was the tallest president -- 6 ft. 4 in., weighing about 180 pounds.

President Lincoln had two Vice Presidents Hannibal Hamlin (1861-1865) and Andrew Johnson (1865).

Abraham Lincoln patented his floating drydock on May 22, 1849, patent #6469. He was the first U.S. President to receive a patent.

The Lincoln-Douglas debates centered upon a Senate seat from Illinois. Lincoln won national prominence, but Douglas got the job.

Abraham Lincoln grew a beard because a little girl wrote him a letter telling him that he would look more handsome with a beard.

Mud Slinging- In the campaign of 1860 his opponents said Abe was homely and an ignoramus.

Called two-faced by a rival, Lincoln responded, "If I had another face, do you think I'd wear this one?"

He liked wrestling.

His son Tad owned a pair of goats. The goats were named Nanny and Nanko. He also made a pet of a turkey that was sent to the Lincoln's for Thanksgiving dinner. He named the turkey Jack. Tad begged for Jack's life and Lincoln gave the turkey a presidential pardon.

Abraham Lincoln lead the US in the US Civil War, from 1861-1865

The second child, at the age of 12, became the only child of a president to die in the White House.

President Lincoln was shot at twice before John Wilkes Booth killed him. Both times were while he was on his way to the Soldier's Home and Lincoln joked about them and ordered that they not be publicized.

Abraham Lincoln was the first President to be assinated.

He was shot by John Wilkes Booth on Good Friday, April 14, 1865 at the Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC. He as watching a play called "Our American Cousin."

President Lincoln died on April 15, 1865 in Washington, D.C. He was 56 years and 62 days old. He is buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Ill.

On November 7, 1876 thieves tried to steal Lincoln's body from his tomb. They wanted to get $200,000 to return the body, but they failed to get his body out of the casket.

Quotes from Abraham Lincoln:

"If I am killed, I can die but once; but to live in constant dread of it, is to die over and over again."
President Lincoln1864

"A woman is the only thing I am afraid of that I know will not hurt me."
Abraham Lincoln Prairie Years, 1829

" Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safegaurd of our liberties." April 27, 1856. Kalamazoo, MI.

Count Your Blessings

 About Thanksgiving

The first Thanksgiving in America was celebrated less than a year after the Plymouth colonists settled in the New World. The corn harvest brought celebration and Governor William Bradford decreed that a three day feast be held.

Thanksgiving Day is a day set aside in the United States and Canada for giving thanks. People give thanks with feasting and prayer for the blessings that they have received during the year. The first Thanksgivings were harvest festivials, or days for thanking God for plentiful crops. For this reason, the holiday is associated with fall - a time of harvesting the crops.

In the United States, Thanksgiving is usually a day celebrated with big dinners and family reunions. Thanksgiving is also a time for religious reflection, church services and prayer. The last Thursday in November was proclaimed the National Thanksgiving holiday by Abraham Lincoln in 1863. He proclaimed it "a day of thanksgiving and praise to the beneficent Father." Thanksgiving was celebrated on that date for 75 years until President Roosevelt set the day one week earlier in 1939. He wanted to lengthen the shopping period between Thanksgiving and Christmas to help businesses. Congress finally ruled in 1941 that the fourth Thursday in November would be the legal National Thanksgiving Day holiday.

After Apple-Picking

By Robert Frost

My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still,
And there's a barrel that I didn't fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn't pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.
I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight
I got from looking through a pane of glass
I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough
And held against the world of hoary grass.
It melted, and I let it fall and break.
But I was well

Upon my way to sleep before it fell,
And I could tell
What form my dreaming was about to take.
Magnified apples appear and disappear,
Stem end and blossom end,
And every fleck of russet showing dear.
My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.
And I keep hearing from the cellar bin
The rumbling sound
Of load on load of apples coming in.
For I have had too much
Of apple-picking: I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.
There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.
For all
That struck the earth,
No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,
Went surely to the cider-apple heap
As of no worth.
One can see what will trouble
This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.
Were he not gone,
The woodchuck could say whether it's like his
Long sleep, as I describe its coming on,
Or just some human sleep.

Thanksgiving

For all true words that have been spoken,
For all brave deeds that have been done,
For every loaf in kindness broken,
For every race in valor run,
For martyr lips which have not failed
To give God praise and smile to rest,
For knightly souls which have not quailed
At stubborn strife or lonesome quest;
Lord unto whom we stand in thrall
We give Thee thanks for all, for all.

For each fair field where golden stubble
Hath followed wealth of waving grain;
For every passing wind of trouble
Which bends Thy grass that lifts again;
For gold in mine that men must seek,
For work which bows the sullen knee;
For strength, swift sent to aid the weak,
For love by which we climb to Thee;
Thy freemen, Lord, yet each Thy thrall,
We give Thee praise for all, for all.

Margaret Sangster
Kauffman, Donald T. The Treasury of Religious Verse.
New York: Revell, 1966.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
-The Bible Phil 4:6 NKJV 

"Let's be grateful for those who give us happiness; they are the charming gardeners who make our soul bloom.” 
-Marcel Proust

“Saying thank you is more than good manners. It is good spirituality.” -Alfred Painter

"At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us." 
-Albert Schweitzer

Thoughts of Thanksgiving

(Charles Frederick White)

Thanksgiving day is coming soon,
That long remembered day
When nature gives her blessed boon
To all America.

On that glad day, in all our land,
The people, in their wake,
Give thanks to God, whose mighty hand
Deals blessings good and great.

The roast goose, steaming on the plate,
The sweet potato cobbler,
The cranberry sauce, the pudding baked,
The seasoned turkey gobbler,­

All these delights and many more,
From north, south, west and east,
Do all the nation keep in store
For this Thanksgiving feast.

Alas, for those who are denied
This blessed boon of God!
May all the needy be supplied
Like Israel by the rod.

Nov., 1895