CHRISTMAS TREES AROUND THE WORLD-

Christmas Trees Around the World-2015

Merry Christmas 

Well, It's getting toward the Christmas Season and I know
 There are many different faiths with all of YOU! 
My dear Friends & Followers

I truly believe that we are all children of many faiths. I truly wish

that we all could come together as one big Family! 

Since I have so many wonderful dear Friends and Followers, all over the World 

I thought I would show images that I found of Christmas Trees

Around the World.

For the first Christmas Tree 

We are in the 'City of Paris'

In the French Capital, the Galeries Lafayette

department store always has a sumptuous tree.

This Christmas Tree yearly is inspired by outer space

and hung with gold and silver meteors.  

Vienna

In tribute to the victims of the recent terror attacks

in Paris, the Christmas Tree outside of the city hall in 

Austria's Capital was lit in the blue, white and red 

colours of Frances national Flag.

Head to Trafalgar Square to see the tradition

Norwegian Christmas Tree, donated by Oslo to the people

of London, It was lit by Her Highness Princess

Astrid of Norway on December 3, 2015

In London this year was this pub, The 

Churchill Arms in Kensington, which is decorated it's

exterior with as many Christmas trees as it possibly could,

becomming a living forest.

 Washington D.C. Barack Obama and the First Family

flipped the switch to light the National Christmas Tree on 

Ellipse, near the White House, on Decmeber 3, of 2015.

President Calvin Coolidge lit America's first National 

Christmas Tree on a Balsam fir in 1923.

New York Stock Exchange in Manhatan, with an 

Beautiful spruce Christmas Tree. 

Bethlehem the place of Christ birth. A perfect place

to have a beautiful Christmas Tree and is a Tradition annual 

lighting ceremony which is always on the main 

West Bank town on December 5, 2015

Now were in Beirut where in the Middle East, a 

giant baubles line the base of the large festive

Christmas Tree

Well, were back in Europe in the Vatican with the

Pope with the annual lights that are lit on the Christmas Tree

As the Pope Francis is seen blessing the crowd from the window

How we have traveled to Berlin

The illumination of the Brandenburg gate is joined

by the glow of 2015's Christmas Tree in 

Berlin's Pariser Platz. 

Even in Bolivia, They have a Beautiful 

Christmas Tree. This one is in La Paz, the Worlds

Highest capital city.

Singapore

Beautiful Singapore where they have a eight-metre tall

Christmas trees so everyone can see it along the river banks

Christmas Tree in Texas

Carlsberg Beer Tree in Demark

Floating Christmas Tree in

 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil  

Christmas Ball Tree  in

 Central Manchester

An Huge Christmas Tree made by

Coca-Cola cans in Siam Square in

Bangkok

Swarovski Crystal Christmas Tree 

in Berlin, Berlin DE.

Now in Trafalgar Square of London Dec 3 2015

is a Norwegian Spruce Christmas tree which has been 

an annual gift since 1947 from the people of Norway for Londons

support during the support during the Warll

An 12 meter high Christmas Tree make of 121 

old windows that came from local old houses. It is

illumiated in Rakvere, Eastern Estonia on Nov 29 2015

 Just a fun Christmas Tree I found 

for the Holidays of 2015

 Here we have a giant eight branched Candelabrum Menorah that is

in front of a Christmas Tree the Jewish holiday of the lights of

the Hanukkah in Berlin.

Christmas Tree in old Town Prague, Czech Republic

Singing Christmas Tree

Christmas Tree at the White House 2015

I hope you enjoy the Christmas Trees 

around the world. I wish you all a happy 

Holiday and peace to the New Year

Your friend always 

WENDY 

Sandman the Urban Legend

Sandman-

The Sandman Of Legend that gave
Good Dreams

Good evening & Welcome my dearest Friends and Followers to my humble Blog. I have an interesting Urban Legend for you all today. I thought I had done this one, but I had a peek on my Labels and it seems that I haven't come across the 'Sandman' just yet---There seem to be many different versions of this popular western folklore legend that brings good sleep and dreams to children. However, there are other tales of the Sandman that aren't so nice and don't give good dreams.

The Sandman
of Legend that would
give Good Dreams

Originally the Sandman was a character in the western world who would give sleep & good dreams to all children by sprinkling magic sand onto the eyes of children. He was traditionally a character in many children's stories, invoked to help or lull children to sleep[Helping parents to get their children to go to bed then fall to sleep quickly]. It was said that he would sprinkle sand or dust on or into the eyes of the children at night to bring on dreams and sleep. The grit or 'sleep' in one's eyes upon waking is supposed to be the result of the Sandman's work the previous evening.

The Darker Sandman
That would take
and not give.

There was another creature that bore the name 'Sandman', but this creature they called Sandman was very different & quite creepy so have said. Its skin is that of a dead person, decayed and discolored. It has very long fingers and many sharp teeth. This Sandman hides just out of sight in the dark and whispers, "tik toc, tik toc'' to its unlucky victims. This strange chant quickly puts his victims into a deep sleep. Once asleep, This Creepy Creature of a Sandman will come out of hiding and devour the sleeping victim with its sharp teeth. It only needs to feast once per night, but it will sometimes choose to kill for fun. This creature can only come out in the dark. It is said to be the evil brother of the Good Sandman, but some disagree. So what do yu think?

 In the Sandman
origins in ancient
 Greco-Rome times
the God of Sleep

It is said that the sandman's origins can be traced back to ancient Greco-Rome and the God of Sleep.
Scandinavian Folklorist Hans Christian Anderson Danish folktale
is another of the earliest recorded tales of the Sandman.
There was another Sandman in Urban legends of German folklore that was quite horrific they say---some have said he would steal the eyes of children who don't shut their eyes while going to sleep & then feeds them to his children on the moon. It is a very stark contrast to the Has Anderson's Sandman story. The German Fantasy was written by author E.T.A Hoffman in 1776-1822. Hoffman's tale, known as the Der Sandmann of 1816 tells, of a more sinister sandman who comes into the children's rooms, only at night, of course, throw very coarse sand into their eyes which caused them to fall out of their sockets.

The Der Sandmann of Germany

After that, the Der Sandmann scoops the children's eyes up and places them in a bag. Then takes them back home to the crook of the crescent moon where he feeds them to his bird-like progeny. Yes, it's a terrifying tale, but can you image the European children of the 18th to 19th centuries being actually told this tale by their caretakers as a warning as to why they should go to bed when they were told!  As far as today, the Sandman is still an important figure in the western folklore and in pop-culture, appearing in films, books, and songs too.

As far as the Scary version of the Sandman, it seems that there are a few filmmakers that are still interested in making unusual plotlines and visuals with this scary creature. One of these Filmmakers is Dario Argento who is known for his Giallo Italian Horror movies.

I found this video of one person 

a version of the Sandman by

KingSpook 

-It's very interesting -

This is my favorite Sandman!

Brutus

Brutus-The K9 Military Congress Medal of Honor of Iraq-

Brutus the Military K9 of the
Iraq War

Welcome to my humble blog my dearest friends and follower once again---I have a lovely story that was given to me by a dear friend that lives in Quebec Canada. It is a delightful story of honor and curious of an Military K9 Dog doing his doing during the time in the Iraq war and coming home to a new mission to protect a new family member. I hope you find this story as touching as I. Brutus the Dog was nothing like Ceasar's the brute leader in the ancient Romans. His story is quite amazing from the being to his happy end. This wonderful K9 above in the photo is Brutus, a military k9 at McChord---He is enormous some might say. Beginning part Boxer and part British Bull Mastiff.  Brutus tops the dog scales at over 200lbs. The pictures provide are taken by his handler. The photo above is Brutus running toward his owner because he knows that he has some Milkbones treats, so he's always slobbering away for a treat! He had to duck around a tree just before Brutus go to him just in case he couldn't stop, but Brutus was able too.
Just last year from his tour in Iraq Brutus was the recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor...Brutus's handler and four other soldiers were taken hostage by insurgents in Iraq. However, Brutus and his handler communicate by sign language and he gave Brutus the signal that meant' go away but come back and find me'. The Iraqis paid no attention to Brutus. So when Brutus came back later and quietly he tore the throat out of one of the guards at the doors and another guard at another door. Brutus then jumped against one of the doors repeatedly --- the guys were being held in an old warehouse until it finally opened by Brutus continued jumping against the doors repeatedly. Once inside Brutus got to his handler untied him and they all escaped.  Brutus is the first k9 to receive his honor. If he knows you are ok, Brutus is very kind---a big old lug and wants to sit on your lap. He also enjoys the company of cats.
If you thought Brutus time in the military service as a k9 soldier and getting a Congressional Medal of Honor was interesting well there is much more to this amazing animal. Well, it seemed after the war Brutus had other talents; for example animal intelligence and bonding with humans! Remember that they can't do a lot of things for themselves and they depend on you to make their life a quality life!
How from a K9 Congressional Medal honor of saving his team in the war to instructions of properly hugging a new baby from Brutus point of view!

1-First, uh, find a baby-

2-Second, be sure that the object you found

is indeed a baby by employ classic sniffing techniques.

3-Next you will need to flatten the baby
before actually beginning the hugging process

4-The paw slide simply sides paws around
baby and prepare for possible close-up

5-Finally, if a camera is present, you will
need to execute the difficult and patented 
'Hug, Smile and lean so as to achieve the best
photo quality.

I hope that you will enjoy the 
lovely tale will warm your hearts
and souls for the heart of 
Christmas Holidays
Your Friend Always
~WENDY~

MERRY CHRISTMAS 

GRANDMA'S COOKIE GAME-

Grandma's Cookie Game-

~Christmas Games Too~

Good evening my Dearest friends & followers. Welcome to my humble blog. I thought I would put a fun game on my blog for you all to play through the Christmas holidays and year. 

It fun and very easy too. 

Love and Hugs WENDY

orteil.dashnet.org/cookieclicker/

newgamestore.net/uncategorized/bubble-sky/

www.alteredgamer.com/free-pc-gaming/91898-free-interactive-christmas-tree-dress-up-games/

agames.cc/puzzles/christmas-dreams-hidden-object/

www.gamesgames.com/games/christmas

www.miniclip.com/games/genre-1003/christmas/en/

www.primarygames.com/holidays/christmas/games.php

www.gogochristmasgames.com

www.girlsgogames.com/games/christmas_games

www.freeonlinegames.com/tag/christmas-games

onlineholidaygames.com

Well I hope that you all enjoy

the Christmas Holiday online

games. I checked before I put all this 

links and they all should be Free Games

but I would check before you start a game before

you start playing one just to make sure I also

checked on my Wot and they were all on sale sites

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Love you all my dears 

Your friend always 

WENDY

History of Mistletoe-

History of Mistletoe~

Mistletoe

Welcome my dearest friends & followers to my humble
blog, I hope you will enjoy this Christmas ancient legend of
the Mistletoe. In ancient times, the mistletoe was thought of as the plant of peace and friendship. If enemies met under a tree which mistletoe has grown, they would lay down under the tree lay down their arms and call a truce for the rest of the day. If friends met beneath a tree that bears mistletoe, they would consider their friendship to be blessed with good luck. Kissing under mistletoe has become a custom that was once founded only in England. Foreign visitors that would come to England in the sixteenth century were often surprised how often men and women would exchange kisses in greeting and in parting with the Mistletoe. Perhaps it was this practice, as well as the belief that mistletoe was a plant of friendship, that led to the Christmas tradition. An large bough of mistletoe would be picked to form the centre of a huge garland to be hung in the center of a room or hallway. So if any young woman who stood beneath the garland would expect to receive a kiss. It would also bring her luck and ensure a woman in her marriage to come. She also had the right to pluck a berry from the mistletoe for every kiss she received. Once the sprig had no more berries, it was no longer lucky to kiss under it. After the Twelfth Night Hour the mistletoe would be burned, otherwise the young men and women who kissed under it might never marry it was said. In some places, one sprig of mistletoe would be put away to be kept all year to bring luck to the household. If a newborn was brought into the world, a piece of the mistletoe would be placed in the cradle to keep the child from harm.[note that mistletoe is harmful if eaten so I wonder about this ancient tradition] Sometimes a sprig of mistletoe world be given to a cow that had calved to bring good luck to the herd. An ancient name for mistletoe was 'The Wood of the Holy Cross.'
Mistletoe was never taken into a church at any time. This was because of a legend that tells how mistletoe wood was used to make a cross on which Christ died. Afterwards, all mistletoe shrank to its present size in shame and anguish.

Mistletoe also is very important to the Druids. The Arch Druid is said to cut the mistletoe with a golden sickle every November for the coming holiday season. Lastly, mistletoe was put in a white cloth by four virgins and then utilised in the ritual sacrifice of white oxen, thought to be an alternative to human sacrifice.

There are probably other uses, but these were just

a few that I could find. Happy Holidays

YOUR FRIEND ALWAYS

WENDY