Merry Hanukkah, Happy anti-disestablishmentariansm*, Greetings of the Winter Solstice. Good Yule, too.
* Massachusetts was the last state (1832) to end an 'established church' subsidy from taxpayers. It was when the Unitarians captured Harvard Divinity School--then the jig was up! Tax money for non-trinitarians was too awful.
We have a very pretty balsam fir tree for Winter Solstice celebration. It looks remarkably like a Christmas tree, but is non-biblical, and without crosses or angels. Nor are other xmas trees-- Karl Follen, from Germany on the lam, introduced these pagan, heathen trees to Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1836. We always buy our tree (grown in Maine) from the Follen UU church in Lexington.
With burning candles! (I have actually burned candles, each about 4 inches, using some clever German candle holders, in Pittsburgh and it is very pretty, and burning down the house is easy to avoid if attentive. An occasional tuff branch will catch fire, sputtering, and quickly snuffed out. (This is illegal, but if the tree is fresh it is a small risk. The neighbors and friends in the Shadyside section of Pittsburgh were impressed!)
We† hope you have a fun Christmas Day.
Hugs,.....
†Pearl, the cat, also wishes you all the best, esp. if you bring catnip down the chimney.
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