Puzzeled

There is one Christmas Carol that has always baffled me. What in the world do leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won't come out of the pear tree have to do with Christmas?

Today, I found out.

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.

-The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.
-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.
-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.
-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.
-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.
-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.
-Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.
-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.
-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.
-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.
-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.
-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

So there is your history for today. This knowledge was shared with me and I found it interesting and enlightening and now I know how that strange song became a Christmas Carol...so pass it on if you wish."

Merry (Twelve Days of) Christmas Everyone!

Redecorating 101: How not to do it!

Well, we decided to redecorate our house, except that God was ready to start before we were!

On Monday, 12/3/2007 at 5:30am, we were awoken by this super load crashing noise. I jumped out of bed and flipped on the bathroom light. There was a limb from a tree laying at the foot of our bed. We ventured into the living room with a flashlight and a 40 caliber handgun. What did we see, well take a look.......

Yep, hanging through my roof was 30' of a 100' hardwood tree. The top of the tree broke off in the wind and decided it wanted to live in my house. The right end of that tree ended up in Morgan's cage. Thankfully, no one was injured, just tons and tons of damage to the house.

In case you couldn't tell, this is my sectional sofa under all that sheet rock, roof shingles, insulation and limbs.

Yep you guessed it, it's ruined.

We have a great contractor! They are going to replace everything structural that is damaged, including the floor and the ceiling fan.

Then, we get to pick out new furniture, which we have already been looking at. We decided that we are going to go with a sofa and two nice over sized recliners instead of a sectional this time around. We picked out black tables this time, which is so against what we normally do. I think we are even considering putting ceramic flooring down in that room instead of laminate flooring. Never can tell what we may do...lol.

Right now, we are staying in the Best Western Motel with four dogs in one room. It's slightly crowded in here...lol. We may be here for 4 - 8 more weeks depending on when inspectors can be arranged to sign off on the work as it is done. They are having to work on the gas line that ran through the attic and the electric wires that were going through the truss in the attic. Two of the trusses have to be replaced up there. We get to pick out new colors for the walls and ceiling and get the boards on the outside of the house replaced that were rotted. We also get a new chimney too.

So, think about us when you look out in the yard when the wind is blowing and those tall trees start swaying back and forth.....lol!