TRIVIA TODAY - Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Greetings Infomaniacs,

I am feeling accomplished because I got my Christmas tree up this weekend! It wasn't an easy battle going against my 7 footer fir, but both the tree and I survived - barely.

First, I had a heck of a time getting all the lights on the tree without tangling them into one big mess. Then, the garland kept getting wrapped around the trunk of the tree and somehow around my leg one time (how does that even happen??).

I came thisclose to throwing the whole thing off the balcony and putting up my Charlie Brown tree instead. However, now that it's all said and done, I have a beautiful tree to look at every night and that makes me happy!

Enjoy!
Melissa

Questions? Comments? Email Melissa


WHO SAID IT?
QUOTE: "Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall."

HINT: (1928-), standup comedian, television and stage actor, motivational speaker, university instructor and publisher.


RANDOM TIDBITS
Long before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people in the winter. Ancient peoples hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows. In many countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness.

The ancient Egyptians worshiped a god called Ra, who had the head of a hawk and wore the sun as a blazing disk in his crown. At the solstice, when Ra began to recover from the illness, the Egyptians filled their homes with green palm rushes which symbolized for them the triumph of life over death.

Early Romans marked the solstice with a feast called the Saturnalia in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture. The Romans knew that the solstice meant that soon farms and orchards would be green and fruitful. To mark the occasion, they decorated their homes and temples with evergreen boughs.

Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it in the 16th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if wood was scarce. It is a widely held belief that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree.

Most 19th-century Americans found Christmas trees an oddity. The first record of one being on display was in the 1830s by the German settlers of Pennsylvania, although trees had been a tradition in many German homes much earlier. The Pennsylvania German settlements had community trees as early as 1747. But, as late as the 1840s Christmas trees were seen as pagan symbols and not accepted by most Americans.

By the 1890s Christmas ornaments were arriving from Germany and Christmas tree popularity was on the rise around the U.S. It was noted that Europeans used small trees about four feet in height, while Americans liked their Christmas trees to reach from floor to ceiling.

(www.history.com)


*** Weekly Mind-Scrambler ***
What type of cheese is made backwards?

Submit your answer by clicking: HERE

Answer will be posted in Friday's Trivia Today. Good Luck!

If your name appears in Friday's newsletter, EMAIL MICHELE your complete name and address to be shipped your prize. Be sure to put "Winner" in the subject line.


WHO SAID IT?
QUOTE: "Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall."

ANSWER: Larry Wilde.

***
Missed an Issue? Visit the Trivia Today Archives