SIMPLE CHRISTMAS

Please vote in the anonymous poll at right, based on the December 4th blog.

Joelene was the guest speaker today at the NEW VIEW'S SIMPLY CHRISTMAS event. She talked about keeping Christmas -- well -- SIMPLE. Simple decorating, simple entertaining, focus on the simple message, keeping the main thing the main thing. It was great to be able to sing again with her --- we don't do that much these days. Funny how nervous you get now that you're not singing all the time.

I noticed the COLOR theme for today's SIMPLY CHRISTMAS gathering was PINK. It sure goes with lady-stuff, but honestly, I hadn't associated PINK with Christmas before today, but there it was.

So, because i'm naturally inquisitive about things like these, it caused me to ponder how we came to associate certain colors - most notably green and red - with Christmas in the first place. Here is what I found:

Conventional Christmas colors weren’t inspired by holiday characters or festive decorations. Red didn’t come from candy canes or Rudolf’s nose or Santa Claus’s suit. And green wasn’t inspired by Santa’s elves, holiday wreaths or sprigs of holly.

There are two generally accepted beliefs about the origin of traditional Christmas colors, one based on Christian faith and the other on historical fact.

Link to Christianity --- the color green is a natural representation of eternal life, specifically the evergreen tree and how it survives through the winter season. That’s why, in Christian belief, green represents the eternal life of Jesus Christ. The color red symbolizes Christ’s blood which was shed during His crucifixion.

Link to historical fact --- back in the 14th century, churches presented religious plays to educate the illiterate public. Traditionally on December 24, the church presented 'The Paradise Play,' the story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden. In place of an apple tree — since they weren’t available in winter — they fastened apples to the branches of a pine tree. Using a pine to represent the Tree of Good and Evil became a common practice among churches and they began incorporating the tree into their Christmas displays each year. But it didn’t stop there. Following the church’s example, people began assembling pine trees in their homes and decorating them with red apples. This act introduced two modern traditions: the Christmas tree and our seasonal colors, green for the pine tree and red for the apples.

So - now you know a COUPLE of explanations. Enjoy the season. And, oh yeah, while you're at it -- throw in a little PINK too.

And be blessed.