A couple of days ago I read the following description of two types of people:
Reflective - people who take things in
Radiant - people who beam light out
Since the Christmas season is filled with shiny things, this thought captured my attention. Wouldn't it be wonderful to do both?
1) Your outward behavior is a direct reflection of the state your inner being
2) The people you tend to surround yourself with are a reflection of you
3) People may forget what you said or did, but they will always remember how you made them feel.
Christmas time seems to be a perfect time to reflect on what's most important and then let that shine to those around us.
Now on to a more serious topic. Do you like tinsel? I, for one, do not care for tinsel on the tree. Being a person who prefers things to be orderly, tinsel simply does not cooperate. Tinsel is not orderly! It manages to follow you everywhere, stuck to your clothing with static electricity. Naturally you find stray pieces of tinsel long after Christmas is over.
Maybe tinsel is trying to remind us of something important. Something to do with being both reflective and radiant in our lives.
Merry Christmas!
Reflective - people who take things in
Radiant - people who beam light out
Since the Christmas season is filled with shiny things, this thought captured my attention. Wouldn't it be wonderful to do both?
1) Your outward behavior is a direct reflection of the state your inner being
2) The people you tend to surround yourself with are a reflection of you
3) People may forget what you said or did, but they will always remember how you made them feel.
Christmas time seems to be a perfect time to reflect on what's most important and then let that shine to those around us.
Now on to a more serious topic. Do you like tinsel? I, for one, do not care for tinsel on the tree. Being a person who prefers things to be orderly, tinsel simply does not cooperate. Tinsel is not orderly! It manages to follow you everywhere, stuck to your clothing with static electricity. Naturally you find stray pieces of tinsel long after Christmas is over.
Maybe tinsel is trying to remind us of something important. Something to do with being both reflective and radiant in our lives.
Merry Christmas!
For those wondering about how tinsel came to be added to a Christmas tree....
The addition of tinsel as decoration comes from a legend about a poor old woman who was unable to provide decorations for her children's Christmas tree. During the night, spiders lodged in the tree and covered it with their webs. The Christ Child, seeing this, realized that the woman would be sad to see her surprise spoiled. He turned the spider webs into silver, and the next morning the poor family was dazzled by the brilliant "tinsel" that shone on the tree.
Tinsel was invented in Germany around 1610. At that time real silver was used, and machines were invented which pulled the silver out into the wafer thin strips. Though it was durable, it tarnished easily, so some attempt was made to make tinsel with lead and tin. This proved too heavy and breakable, so silver was actually used until the mid 20th century. Today, the tinsel we use is made generally of plastic.
1 comments:
Thank you for the history of tinsel and the memories it brought back. Single strands, hopefully made of aluminum and not lead, were the ones I remember on the tree during childhood. Also, I appreciate your guidance from item #3 - things you've shared with me in the past. Best wishes to you, Howard, and the family in 2009!
mary c.
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