On the Eleventh Day of Christmas...

... My true love gave to me 11 Pipers Piping, 10 lords a-leaping, 9 ladies dancing, 8 maids a-milking, 7 swans a-swimming, 6 geese a-laying, 5 golden rings, 4 colly birds, 3 French hens, 2 turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree.

As it turns out this song has been influenced by the Scots! Traditionally music would be provided at the twelfth night celebrations. As it turns out, the French had incorporated bagpipe music into their own Franco culture, even though we usually associate the bagpipe with Scotland. Also, after Queen Elizabeth I the Stuart Kings of Scotland took rule over the British Monarchy. AND ALSO, the French and English nobility commonly married. SO with all these links to bagpipe music, it is no wonder that bagpipes would be played as the celebratory music for all the Christmas festivities. I read about this here.

Merry Christmas Eve :)

On the Tenth Day of Christmas...

... My true love gave to me 10 Lords a-leaping, 9 ladies dancing, 8 maids a-milking, 7 swans a-swimming, 6 geese a-laying, 5 golden rings, 4 colly birds, 3 French hens, 2 turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree.

The last half of the song I find to be less interesting than the first. Dancing, leaping, piping, drumming, all seem straight forward, and less cryptic. All the birds in the first half of the song seem to be symbolic in some way, or carry some amount of significance to the song (in a secular sense and/or religious sense). It seems to me that the first half of the song refers to what may be served at the Twelfth night celebration, and the second half seems to be a description of the actual celebration. It does seem like quite a jolly party, if I do say so myself.

Religious people would say that the 10 lords a leaping represent the 10 commandments. I think it is a description of the noble males participating in the festivities. That's just me though.

On Wikipedia it says that one theory for the song is that each verse represents a month of the year, and either identifies a food that is common in that month or a sport. I guess October (the tenth month) must be a great month for leaping. I'm happy to hear that, since I'm an October baby myself, and I consistently find myself leaping around October-time each year ;)

On the Ninth day of Christmas...

... My true love gave to me 9 ladies dancing, 8 maids a-milking, 7 swans a-swimming, 6 geese a-laying, 5 golden rings, 4 colly birds, 3 French hens, 2 turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree.

9 ladies dancing most likely refers to the celebration of the the 12 days. "Ladies," during the time period that the song originated, referred to woman of noble birth, and these nine ladies were not entertainment, but most likely guests enjoying themselves at the party.

KJ fact: Whenever I go out dancing I get a side-ache. The only other person in the world that I know this happens to is my bestest friend Mandy Mather Spencer :) When we go dancing we always have a moment where we look at each other, start laughing, and say I have a side-ache! It's funny :D

On the Eighth Day of Christmas...

... My true love gave to me 8 maids a-milking, 7 swans a-swimming, 6 geese-a-laying, 5 golden rings, 4 colly birds, 3 French hens, 2 turtle doves, and partridge in a pear tree.

So I guess the 8 maids a-milking are representative of the 8 beatitudes of the Catholic faith. I'm not real sure what a beatitude is, but according to this, it is the 8 required times of the year that a Catholic must receive Holy Communion.

I have no idea why the original song would say "8 maids a-milking", if in fact it did. It seems likely that maybe once upon a time this verse was filled with some sort of bird, but I have no evidence of that, and only suspicions! Perhaps, milk is what was traditionally drank on the twelfth night, but once again I'm only guessing at this particular verse's significance.

KJ Fact: I use to only drink skim milk, now I only drink whole milk; it's so much better!

On the Seventh Day of Christmas...

... My true love gave to me 7 swans a swimming, 6 geese-a-laying, 5 golden rings, 4 colly birds, 3 French hens, 2 turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree.

In the medieval ages swans were domesticated, and commonly served at Christmas dinner. In England, around this time, swan breeders would mark their swans' beaks by carving a symbol. Any unmarked birds belonged to the British Monarchy. Swans were considered a generous gift from the British Monarchy for Christmas dinner, 7 swans as a gift could be considered much more than generous, maybe even graciously generous :)

For Catholics, the seven swans represent the Seven Sacraments. This interpretation of the song mostly likely developed in the 1700's.

I learned this here.

On the Sixth Day of Christmas...

... My true love gave to me 6 geese-a-laying, 5 golden rings, 4 colly birds, 3 French hens, 2 turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Geese were among some of the first domesticated birds, and a traditional Christmas meal in England. BUT I bet it is a traditional meal in France first (continuing with the theory that the song *probably* originated in France). I mean, hello, FOIE GRAS!?! Geese are totally a French food :)

Well, something interesting about Geese, they mate for life, BUT they are also polygamous! The males mate with multiple females -for life- So I guess it makes sense that in the song 6 female geese are given. (Male geese are called Ganders).

I learned some of this post's information here. Anything else that isn't cited, I just made up :D

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas...

... My true love gave to me 12 drummers drumming, 11 pipers piping, 10 lords a-leaping, 9 ladies dancing, 8 maids a-milking, 7 swans a-swimming, 6 geese a-laying, 5 golden rings, 4 colly birds, 3 French hens, 2 turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree!!!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Some of you may think today is the twelfth day of Christmas, but actually it is the FIRST! Somewhere along the way we all thought the last day of Christmas should be Christmas itself, but originally it was the first day, with January 6th being the final day of Christmas, and twelfth night! So if you wanted to celebrate the twelve days, but thought you were too late to the game, well good news, you can start today! As for me, I'm signing off on this topic, of which I only skimmed the surface. I hope you all learned a little something along with me. Merry Christmas y'all

Xoxo,
Kjersti

On the Fifth Day of Christmas...

... My true love gave to me 5 Golden Rings, 4 Colly Birds, 3 French Hens, 2 Turtle Doves, and a Partridge in a pear tree.

The piece of trivia I learned today is that originally the 5th day's "Golden Rings" referred to Golden-Ringed Neck Pheasants, but somewhere along the way was interpreted as 5 pieces of jewelry. And really, I can see why the meaning changed ;) After all, what girl doesn't love jewelry especially when she's already received 10 birds at this point! Wanna know for yourself?... Here's my sources: 1, 2.

Supposedly, these are really tasty birds, and were likely served as part of the the twelfth night feast long ago. I think I'd rather just look at them than eat them :)

Quite Frankly, I'd rather receive a ring like this, Chanel No. 5 Ring in Golden

Or maybe this Golden Ring, plus 4 additional others of course ;) They don't all have to be "golden".

On the Fourth Day of Christmas...

...My true love gave to me 4 calling/colly birds, 3 french hens, 2 turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree.

In the brief research I just did on the fourth day of Christmas, I found out that the "4 calling birds," as I grew up singing, should actually be "4 colly birds," which is a type of black bird.

How did we go from colly birds to calling birds? Well, I don't really know, but one clue I found is in the intent of the song. It is believed that originally the 12 days of Christmas was a secular song that reflected the gifts a young woman was receiving from her true love (she must have loved birds!). Later on it is believed that the song was adapted as a catechism for young Catholics. The purpose of the song was to learn the surface meaning of the song in relation to a deeper religious meaning. I learned this HERE.

The 4 calling birds was adapted from colly birds to represent the 4 gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I'm sure 4 colly birds could represent the 4 gospels just as well as 4 calling birds, so there must be another reason for the change. All the same it's a pretty interesting evolution of the song, I think.

On the Third Day of Christmas...

My true love sent to me…3 French Hens, 2 Turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree.

As you all know I’m a big fan of all things French! So this may be my favorite part of the song ;)

Did you know that when this song was written there were three varieties of chickens associated with France? They were the Crevecoeur, the La Fleche, and the Houdans. Also, It is not known where the song originated from, but this may be a clue that it *probably* originated in France! I learned this HERE. And verified that here.

Three French Hens Card

Here's another handmade card that would be cute to buy for Thank You cards for any gifts you get for Christmas. It belongs in the same collection as yesterday's post :) Both cards are by Olivia Bossy and found on Etsy.com. I'm loving her style!

On the second day of Christmas...

...My true love gave to me 2 turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree.

The Turtle dove is a bird that in mythological texts, represents devoted love. To learn more about the turtle dove read here.

If the turtle doves represent devoted love, then they must personally represent this guy,

and this pup,

and this turtle!

I love them sooooooo much!

Aren't these handcrafted cards adorable? Two turtle doves in turtlenecks :) These would make great thank you cards for any Christmas presents you might receive this year. I might have to buy them!

Two Turtle Doves Card

On the First Day of Christmas...

These partridge pendants and earrings would make any vintage-loving, hip girl happy on the first day of Christmas.

A Partridge Pendant and a Little Good Fortune

A Partridge In A...

Partridge In a Pear Tree --1960's Children's Reader Illustration Pendant

That last one, the 1960's Children's Reader Illustration Pendant...Consider that added to my Christmas Wishlist :)

Scarf-it!

Last week, I practiced my sewing skills by making Garbanzo some scarfs to wear. For Halloween I had made a scarf with skeletons on it, and for Thanksgiving one with turkeys. So I spent last Saturday morning sewing a Christmas scarf and two general use scarfs! They looks so cute on Garbanzo! Check it out:


Fashion Show:

"Blue Steel"

My friend Mabel makes clothes for her shih tzu, and has a fashion show posted here that makes me laugh so hard!

Hey, I can make these scarfs in different sizes...small, medium, or large if you want one email me. I charge $6 for small, $7 for medium, and $8 for large :)

ZumoDrive

Hey y'all! I've been meaning to blog about ZumoDrive for a while now! Just today Walter S. Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal gave his review of ZumoDrive and I think you all should read it! It explains how ZumoDrive works via cloud storage. If you are looking for even more information on ZumoDrive you should check out Greg's blog.

My friends, I have personally used ZumoDrive and twice in the past month it saved my life! The first time being when I had to do a powerpoint presentation for school. I didn't need a flashdrive, I didn't need to wait through a long download, I didn't need to contact media services to hook up my macbook, I was able to access my powerpoint within seconds in front of the entire class! Man, that really helped calm my nerves! There is nothing worse than getting in front of a group of people just to have whatever technology malfunction at the point of no return.

The second lifesaving moment happened when I forgot to print out a document I needed for work and didn't remember until I was AT work! Thanks to ZumoDrive I was able to access the document while at work both on my iphone and the work computer! A total lifesaver!

As an MFT in training I'm planning on keeping all my logged hours (I need 3000 hours) saved on ZumoDrive so that I never lose them, and can have access to them at any time! I mean, what would I do if I lost those hours!?! I'd have to start all over, and we all know that could mean years of lost time and work!

There are lots of uses for ZumoDrive that you'll just have to check out for yourself. You can get up to 2GB for free :) I've actively used ZumoDrive to have access to my iTunes music collection wherever I am, and I do lots of photo sharing. The possibilities are endless. The days of hard drives are over, cloud storage is IN!