Well how about this one being about our favorite Christmas memories??? I have a few, but I'll start with this one...

OUR CHRISTMAS TREE

Back in the "olden days," when I was a child, it was a very exciting time, when my dad would go out in the woods, to chop down our tree...he would bring it back, smelling oooh so evergreeny...We never had a tree stand, but he'd make it stand up, by putting some boards criss cross, on the bottom of it...and then we'd all join in triming it, which was a ceremony in itself..it was so exciting to see it "come to life" with all the lights and decorations..We did not have TV in those days, but we did have a radio, and could get Christmas music on it, to add to the merriment...yes, dad's bringing home the tree was a magical time for me...as a "wee one."

Luv,
Rainbow

THE CHRISTMAS SCHOOL PROGRAM

Looking back, I remember with delight, the fun of the Christmas programs, we used to put on, in our little one room, country schoolhouse. (back in the 40's)....

The school consisted of students from Kindergarten thru the 8th grade, and it was up to the teacher to put together the yearly Christmas program for parents and friends.

Before we actually started working on the program, some of the boys would go out into the woods for a big Christmas tree, usually, with snow falling to add to the scene..and then all the students would become involved in decorating the tree, as well as decorating the whole schoolhouse, by draping red and green crepe paper streamers from the ceiling, and finishing the decorations with a big red folding paper bell in the center....we would then draw names, so that we could exchange gifts.

About a couple weeks before the program was to be presented, the teacher would close down all the classes and every student became involved in some part of it...

A stage (actually, a slightly elevated platform) was erected, in the front of the schoolroom, and stage curtains were hung, on a sort of a clothes line..so that they could be drawn between acts...

To the accompaniment of an old piano in the corner (usually played by the teacher), carols were practiced so that we might sound like a heavenly choir, by program time....special holiday poems were were learned and recited, by a variety of students...and I remember, at about five years old.....reciting...

My first poem:

If I were a snowflake
I'd have no soft bed,
But on the ground frozen
I'd lay down my hear,
I think I would find it
and bit cold and chill
to lie in a valley,
or on a high hill

...then there was the real biggy...."the play"...and one I remember in particular was Dicken's "Christmas Carol." Everybody had to learn their lines and know them by heart on the day the program was presented..it was practice, practice, practice...I remember one of my aunts, playing the part of Martha, who hides in another room to surprise her father Bob Crachit, when he comes home from work........and I also remember one rather stubborn boy (Bobby Barnes), who refused to learn and recite a poem, and the teacher became so exasperated by his lack of cooperation...she finally told him that he had to say at least something, as everyone had to participate, so he wound up saying.....I saw a mouse go up the wall..I saw it's tail, and that was all ......*sigh*

...and you know what the best part of all was, during all that hustle and bustle and excitement? (well at least it was, from a child's perspective)....The best part was not having to study during this magical time, of getting ready for our Christmas Program.....

And then, when the time came for us to present our program, we'd all get nervous, and jittery (first experience with stage fright), at the thought of having to perform in front of that "big" audience, as more and more parents started filling the schoolhouse, to watch their children do what they did best, each in their own way...some with musical abilities, some with poem reciting abilities, and some with "acting" abilities...and the schoolhouse seemed like a whole different place at night...much different from the daylight...but we had the glow of the lighted Christmas tree, and the buzz of the parents as they waited for the show to begin, and so there was a lot of excitement in the air as we the students of Jibson Scbool, got ready to put on our show! What fun...what memories...[yeah, and corny too, I know]

But I'm glad I have these memories...it was a different time...life was not so complex then....I was viewing it thru a child's innocent eyes...

Luv,
Rainbow~

I don't know if this is a true story, but it has been passed around a lot...children in school were asked to draw a picture of the nativity, as a class project....One little boy turned in a picture, with the three wise men, the animals, Mary, Joseph, Jesus, and some "fat" little man standing there....When the teacher asked who it was, the child replied, "Round John Virgin."

Luv,
Rainbow~

Ok silent night...up the stairs and tucked into bed by candel light.....

Well then we would be uder strict instructions to stay awake and listen for the raindeers slegh bells. Which of couse is the very fastest way to get kids to sleep on Christmas eve.

Come midnight...the older family memebrs would all take themselves off to mid ngiht mass. Santa would appear...not that I KNOW that for sure, because I was asleep like a good little faerie!!

We didn't have stockings, but we did have a huge sitting room where there whould be piles of presents laid out for each of us.

Now givent hat there were 11 childrena nd my mum and dad, and various asorted neighbours and family friends....these piles woudl be full of loads of small gifts.

Once the big ones got back from mass. My mum (a gemini with cancer rising...don't let that fool you, she cans till eb quite a dragon drawers )woudl eb so excited that she would insist on waking us litttle one up to get up and see what santa had brought us. OK she had some SERIOUSLY cool habits.

Then when everyone was awake and in the siting room, the unrapping began. So much wrapping paper and so many bodies.

My dad, a quiet man who has loads of Leo plantes (bit 7th houser) woudl go roudn witha rubish bag and collect all the wrapping paper up.

Meanwhile, us wee one would be playing with our new presnets and show each other what we got and who we got it from. Then after an hour or 3, we would get packed off to bed.

Much to all our amusmenet, Michael, my next eldest brother, a virgo and terribly pernickety, would then proceed to haul all his toys up the stairs and hide them uder his bed.

This made all of us laugh because he would do it EVERY year. His brainw as saying if I hide them under my bed and play with their toys, mine wont get broken. I've never figured out if he was wise or just a kill joy. Possibly a bit of both.

So there you have it...the full blown 12 hours of christmas.

Lov n hugs

Lis

Lindy....I'm still trying to figure out how you did it...sing that song with the chewing gum in your mouth...You were already nervous..poor girl...but..you did it!!!

Luv,
Rainbow~

(added 12/17/01)

DAH.....Lindy, forgive an "old soul" with a Pisces Moon, who sometimes gives a hit and a miss on these posts, by not giving enough attention......again dah!

You did NOT have the gum in your mouth, during your song ... you had it in your hands, behind your back....how can I be sooo goofy I shall try to be more careful from now on....you deserve better....give me 100 lashes with a wet noodle...*sigh*...(probably old age, settling in ) *BIG SIGH*

Lov it.

Raibow...Excellent thread!!! We need more Christmas cheer around here!!

Lov n hugs

Lis

"...the secret I treasured within most of all
was the mysterious surprise of one special Christmas Eve
when St. Raphael's smelled of cool green pine and spruce
while the nuns were singing, a capella...silent night, holy night

and Oh! little town of Bethlehem

...above the deep
and dreamless sleep
........the silent stars
...go by...

when I first walked into the fragrant warm, my nose freezing-cold
little snowdrops in my lashes and hair, glistening on my red wool scarf
wearing my new Christmas mittens, made of soft, white
imitation bunny fur - the christmasy feeling of deep mystery and joy
from the sound of chanted carols
and the mingled scents of sweet bayberry wax and pine
poured richly through me, like wine..intoxicating, yet also stilling
....my soul

I was standing in the chapel's vestibule
my cheeks damp with melting snow, mixed with glad-tears
staring in awe and wonder, at the life-like manger scene before me
the little Lord Jesus, asleep in the hay..real straw, smelling musty
Mary wearing a really-truly gauzy veil..and Joseph
dressed in a rough-woven, brown cloth robe, smiling down at the baby
wrapped in swaddling clothes...the hearlding angels
with their golden wings, nestled in the pine boughs all about

I could almost hear the shepherds shout!
...and the three kings, wearing sparkling crowns of jewels
oh! so real it was...all the animals seemed to move and nod
at the tall wise men
..sent there by a sign from God

timidly, I joined the other voices singing
as I leaned over the crib..and touched the tiny hand

...all is calm, all is bright
........holy infant so tender and mild
...sleep in heavenly peace...

then I looked up

high up..at the shimmering, five-pointed star
on the very tip-top of the Christmas tree
suddenly smelling cinnamon and oranges
........from somewhere in the air

and...

O! holy, holy, holy night

the soft spoken, gentle sister, smiling - glided up smoothly behind me
then, bending down, she whispered..'Merry Christmas, little one!'

'I have a small gift for you'

as she pulled out something from her billowing sleeve
with a swift flowing motion
like some oddly dressed magician, pulling forth a rabbit
or a never ending strand of colored ribbon
as I had seen them do on stage, at school, on special assembly days

...it was

a sparkling, blue and silver rosary
whe placed in my trembling hand
murming tenderly...so low and clear

'this is for you, my dear...
because you believe in miracles...
it is for you to keep, to always use
when you say your prayers
.....so you will never-ever lose
your love for Jesus
who believed in miracles too, like you'

Brownie-Honor, that's what she said!

and her smile, as she spoke, was so full of light
it made a sort of rainbow around her head
her eyes had the strangest, burning glow - she looked
well, she looked like an angel
...........O ! was she? I thought so...

that was, I shall always believe, the happiest, holiest Christmas Eve
I have ever known, or ever will - nothing could equal the magical thrill
of that shining strand of silver and blue beads
with its glittering crucifix at the end, given to me by my gentle friend
like a secret druid wand, with the mystical power
to bring me nearer to the one who said

.......'forbid them not - to come unto me'

...for such a simple gift of love

is rare

later, when I left the convent, and stepped outside
the snow was deep and crisp, and even like on the feast of St. Stephen

.....and I walked in the moonlight
...........through falling lacy snowflakes

as the nuns' sweet voices followed me
still echoing in my ear...so near...so clear

.......and gathered all above
while mortals sleep...the angels keep
...........their watch of wondering love..oh!

....morning stars together...
................proclaim the holy birth
...and praises sing to God, the King
........and Peace to men on Earth"

FROM GOOBERZ

Linda has more Christmas memories, she talks about in GOOBERZ..maybe I can get to them later...and we can re-live them with her...

Luv,
Rainbow~

"When I was fourteen-going-on-fifteen
I was a Full Grown Woman in every way
only, no one knew it besides myself - and that was lonely

I spent the Christmas holidays
of that particular standing-in-the-middle
....of-no-age year
in Charleston with my bright-eyed Aunt Peg.............

I was walking back to Aunt Peg's apartment
the apartment where Aunt Peg and Uncle Bill lived
while their new home was being built....which made me as sad
as they were glad..because I had so loved their old house
with its beamed ceilings and dormer windows
dozens of Christmas trees alive in the yard
and a balcony on the upstairs landing
where I could lean over the rail
look down on the enormous living room
and recite the lines to Romeo and Juilet..........

but anyway...

on this particular Christmas Eve

the snow was drifting down in little flurries of softness
piling mounds of whipped cream
....and powdered sugar
atop the roofs of houses and parked cars
and making the trees and plump bushes
look like giant frosted lollipops
the sparkling scene around me reminiscent of fairyland
....or the way, I believed, as a child
........fairyland would look
an image I still held, now that I was a Full Grown Woman

Mother Goose had been shaking her feather quilts
in a frenzied fury of falling flakes this way, all day

it had just turned dark, a black-velvet-winter dark
....and I was waking home through the baby blizzard
.......of snow feathers
to Aunt Peg's warm, pine smelling
tangerine and nut fulled apartment
where she was probably mxing an egg nog at this very moment
with extra cinnamon on top, the way I liked it
......wondering what was keeping me so long
...what was delaying me
was the way I was walking....for I was walking..so slow
through the snow
...this Christmas Eve
.....in the just turned-dark
...........and crying
crying very hard
and the tears froze on my cheeks

feeling like little slivers of ice

I had been in Charlston three days...and the first morning I arrived
somehow, someway, somewhere
either on the way to - or on way from town...or the store

I had lost my precious blue and silver rosary

three days now, it had been gone
my Christmas gift from the smiling, blue clad Sister
on that magical Noel, at St. Raphael's

the gentle Sister, who had, since, died of pneumonia
the previous April, just one week past my birthday
it had been...her funeral
I had watched that spring day, at St. Xavier's
........from across the street...............

OH, HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN SO CARELESS !

HOW COULD I, HOW COULD I ?

that rosary was so much more than just a sparkling strand
of silver and blue beads, with a crucifix at the end

it was a gift of love, from a precious friend
a part of the haunting sweetness
of those stolen, mysterious moments
of kneeling in the cool and quiet convent chapel
and the childish game of playing bride with Jesus
which had left a a christmas-Easter haze
of inexplicable, indefinable comfort
very personal, intimate - and private
I could sometimes hide behind, as behind a cloud of grace
when I was daydreaming
and the silver-blue beads had made it all real

but all that was gone, forever-and ever
with no more personal rosary ritual to make my dreams come alive
and all because of my awful, unforgivable Aries carelessness

and there was no hope of finding it now - no chance
I had been frantically searching, silently wild, these past three days
....................so pained
with everyone asking, what could be so wrong with the child?
she is so morose, they complained - so uncommumacative and glum

how can people who love you be so dumb - and so blind
when they believe they are being kind?
I was not a child but a woman- oh! why couldn't they see
................the woman in me?

I searched in silence, keeping my agony to myself
covering every square foot of snow patched yard
in the front of my aunts apartment building...every square inch
of sidewalk...from there to town...and back

perhaps it had slipped from my winter coat pocket
in some store, while I was Christmas shopping
or perhaps...but what was the use of wondering
how or where...or when I had lost it?
it was gone"

(to be continued)

"and so much was gone, that Christmas
along with my rosary

the blue beads
of dreams and illusions...
my trust in goodness and elves
and wishing stars
one by one, dropped along the way
from my pockets of faith

the silver beads of miracles
that never really happened
outside of books

and lost...along with the shining silver crucifix
dangling at the end of the beads
the most marvelous miracle of them all
the ressurection of gladness
from the Easter tomb of sadness
........gone forever too
because I had discovered
for certain
that the dead don't rise
....that the ressurection simply was not true

as I walked, and heard..and felt..my boots crunching
on the hard-packed snow, it seemed to grow
somehow...unearthly still
so still, so quiet, that I choked back my sobs

lest the sound carry
all the way inside Aunt Peg's apartment

.......so still it was...so very, very quiet
........................so unearthly still

whereas, moments before
there had been the noise of traffic
but now it was...so still
I shall never forget that strange stillness..and how very dark it was
..........the only sound

the crunching of my boots
in the snow

I looked up into the black-velvelt winter sky
and saw the stars, winking and twinkling at me
like teeny-tiny lights, peeking through the holes
....in the floor of Heaven
..........celestial pinpoints
..........of glittery glory

then..in that sudden, holy stillness of the street I walked along
the words of the angels' ancient caroling song
rose gently, from somewhere deep within me
till I began to sing them softly..in the darkness
to the pure, white night

and almost believed myself to be walking along another darkened street
in a far away place..and long ago time'when the herald angels sang to the shepherds
of peace on earth
and mercy mild
with God and sinners reconciled

..oh, little town of Bethlemem
.........how still we see the lie

and thought...
what a wonderful thing
to imagine one could
actually see stillness!

..above thy deep and dreamless sleep
the silent stars go by

yet in thy dark streets shineth
an everlasting Light
the hopes and fears
of all the years
are met in thee tonight...

Oh! please Jesus - little Lord Jesus
asleep in the hay
let your light on this dark street
shineth...now

Please, Jesus...some way, somehow
will you help me find my rosary?

it meant so much
I could never explain it - or make anyone see
but you know how much it meant

it was like a secret, that rosary
yes.....a secret between you and me

then suddenly, without a sound

the street lights turned on
not lit by the Old Lamplighter
but by some brighter angel, pulling a switch
back at the electrical Power plant of Heaven

and the soft glow
from those street lamps
made such a glorious transformation in the snow
at my feet...O! the snow!

the snow was shimmering and and shining and sparkling
like millions of glittering diamonds
millions of delicate snowflake diamonds
no two alike

oh! the shimmering-shining
sparkle of snow diamonds!

bathed in the soft glow of the street light
on that still and silent, holy night
was such a lovely, beautiful
breathtaking sight, all silvery-white...

OH! OH! OH!"

(to be continued)

"oh! oh! oh!

and lying there...lying in the snow
at the foot of an old oak tree, by the curb on the street
the kind of oak tree where druids like to meet
there at my feet - at the foot of that tree
on the frozen ground
sparkling among the snow diamonds

....was my blue and silver rosary !

The Lost Has Been Found!

O! JOY to the world!
let Heaven and Nature sing!

it was for all the world, for all of Heaven
as though Jesus had heard every word of my prayer
and told the Heavenly Host to shine a flashlight down there
on that spot - to make it glow and shineth
like the everlasting light
on Bethlehem's street
that other holy, starry night...when he was asleep, in the hay

to show me that the way
was to first
look up!
at the sky

then, with clearer vision, look down
to see how the lost can be found

maybe he even asked St. Anthony to help
the saint in charge of all things ever lost

and I sent up a quick rush of thanks
to Anthony..and the switch-pulling angel
but it was really Jesus to whom my heart poured out
its overflowing graditude - Jesus knew just what to do
to make it a bell-ringing, choir-singing Noel for me
at the foot of that Christmas tree
untouched by any tinsel
but the starry snow diamonds
sans gaudy trim

yes, it was him!
Jesus always knew exactly what to do

at just the right moment of Time
to make things rhyme

and I whispered, through my tears of pure joy
a childish prayer, for an already Full Grown Woman
of fourteen-going-on-fifteen

'thank you little Lord Jesus
wrapped in swaddling clothes, in a manger
with no room at the Inn
with no crib for your bed..I kiss
your sweet head' "

From the magical GOOBERZ

Luv,
Rainbow~

A most poignant Christmas memory for me, was the Christmas of 1995...my dad was in the hospital on that day...we had brought up a small decorated tree for his room, but he was not feeling too well, so the family decided to try and cheer him up by singing Christmas Carols around his bed, and I can remember how he joined in weakly, on "Silent Night," as we tried (without a lot of success)to hold back tears...

On February 5th, 1996, we lost him...

Getting back to Gooberz,Christmas and things!

I think Gooberz was a lot more personal than her other books
Before Gooberz was just proffesional explanetary sequences of Celestial and Metaphysical influences
Gooberz she brought you to her doorstep

At least that`s how I viewed it anyway

Funnily enough I`ve hardly picked up a Linda Goodman book this year,probably since joining the site there doesn`t seem so much need now

And besides,I know it all by now anyway...

Though Star-Signs would be the one I`d take with me

Yellow

....and she leaves such a big imprint on our own hearts and souls, with GOOBERZ....Magic Lady...

Luv,
Rainbow~

Luv,
Rainbow~

Merry Christmas everyone

I'm so glad you had....some happy Chistmases, Linda...*sigh*...

Luv,
Rainbow~

Kingdom now accessed
and Deity aware
This lady too was one
Suddenly I care
What part do I play
Why am I here
Well it seemed that
I was walking
through what she`d laid bare

My favourite bit though
Just had to be
a bit of the book
that indeed featured me
But of simlaer thingy
I prefer not to share
Some riddles and puzzles
When you`re ready
are there

So there are three Serpents
Only now do I know
A Good one,a bad one
a middle one
Oh Woe

Though it was just the title
and the riddles therein
that captured and held
My interest in most

The I and the O
Not once,but twice Over
Two I`s and two 0`s
At me did suddenly Glow

And then I realized what it was
Snake eyes it was,now staring right at me
Revealing something too
of the Egyptian duo
Isis and Osiris

And I thought How Cool

The letters of her name eternally held within the letters of his
Symbolic of Spiritual protection
And why the I sit`s in the 0 twice over
through Gooberz
Snake Eye

Isis too
penetrating through time and space in search of her missing mate
Osiris,The Egyptian Deity
of Underworld and afterlife
The Serpent eating it`s own tail
Symbolic of qualities eternal and everlasting

Spent more time
In likeliness
Decoding that title
than all the rest put too
But the title it was
what told me
that which I needed to know
---

I`d agree with you that linda brought us to her doorstep with Gooberz,Rainbow
Though it was you agreeing with me origonally,wasn`t it
like you said
Magic lady

Peace

AceYellow