{Chocolate Letter LOVE}

In my previous post: {Since 1896 Dutch CHOCOLATE LETTERS - Have YOU Tried Them?}, I did mention towards the end that we gave two years ago a package with the word LOVE to a very special extended family member... It meant so much to him. And there was not much more we could give him, other than true LOVE and this symbol written out in CHOCOLATE...

Great idea for Santa Claus!

LOVE

Sweet Chocolate LOVE... to a dear extended family member.

The son of my dear friend Natacha, who is like a younger sister, and her sons are like our own.

Sadly they moved away and we managed to visit still; Miami is not the end of the world!

Below this post you find a story about: Our EVERGLADES ADVENTURE with friend NATACHA.

In that EVERGLADES ADVENTURE post you will see photos of their cute sons.

The sad  thing is that their eldest son lost the battle of brain cancer, just last month.

Young; just turned 30 and only married for a couple of years.

Such a tragedy and it did hit hard.

It was Natacha's son that received the word: LOVE in chocolate...

Because otherwise we both were at a loss for words. What to say? What to do?

He fought the battle for more than two years but he lost it.

Now he is in heaven, a new Angel that probably is even closer to all of us as before.

Christmas is a happy time of the year; sure.

But with the loss of several loved ones, it also is a melancholic time of the year...

Certainly there are others that feel like I do.

May we all find the strength to open our hearts again and to trust the Angels for guiding us on our earthly journey. 

For the same reason I do love those silver alphabet Angels from Giovanni Raspini, Italy | they can express so much sentiment.

Chocolate can be bittersweet and I even like it that way.

Life can be bittersweet but we never like that part.

Together  we can do it.

LOVE heals...

Related links:

{Our EVERGLADES ADVENTURE with friend NATACHA} a previous post by me

{Since 1896 Dutch CHOCOLATE LETTERS - Have YOU Tried Them?} a previous post by me

{Chocolate and Silver Alphabet Letters for Saint Nicholas} a previous post by me

Mariette's Back to Basics my Zen Cart powered on line boutique for Giovanni Raspini Angels in silver

{Saint Nicholas | Sinterklaas}

For 3 years and 1 month, I have done free lance writing and features for our local newspaper The Courier Herald, Dublin Georgia. So why not share one of my articles with you here today, as it is the perfect time. 

In many countries, tomorrow is the 'big' day for children. By MARIET(TE) VEDDER (read below the story WHY I changed my name)...

The wooden shoe with the red heart is actually my personal shoe when I was 3 years old...

Below this post you find a link: {Our Living Room} where you can see those wooden shoes in front of the fire place.

In the Netherlands, families decorate their homes for Christmas and have Christmas trees just like in the United States. The big difference between the celebration of the two countries is in the gift–giving. In Holland it is not done on Christmas day, but on Dec. 5, Saint Nicholas Day. This is the name day of St. Nicholas who was the Bishop of Myra in Turkey. As legend goes, he bathed and fed and gave each of the 500 poor children of Myra a gift on his day. 

See video about the true history below post — The Origine of Santa Claus

Now Saint Nicholas Day is celebrated in many countries. In Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Germany and Belgium, as well as in the Netherlands, this is the day when gifts are exchanged among family members, and for the children in particular there are all sorts of other rituals connected with Saint Nicholas.

Every night from Dec. 1 on, Dutch children put in front of the fireplace a wooden shoe filled with hay and a carrot for the bishop's horse and cookies and candy for Saint Nicholas and his helper, Peter.  They also write a letter to Saint Nicholas wherein they mention their 'wishes' for the 5th of December. To make sure that it gets his attention, it goes in the wooden shoe, too.

Every morning the children find the wooden shoe empty, which means to them that Saint Nicholas, who rides on his white horse over the rooftops, sent his helper, Peter, down the chimney to pick up the goodies. Saint Nicholas always used a Moorish 'Peter' as a helper because he had to go down the chimney, for this is a 'black' job. 

Then on the evening of the 5th of December, Saint Nicholas personally visits the families and Peter hands out the gifts from a big burlap sack.

If the children behaved all year, they are praised. But if a child has misbehaved, Peter threatens to put him or her in the burlap sack and take them back to Spain. The children sing a song for the charitable duo, and Peter throws little cookies (pepernoten) at them -- not to hurt them but to reward them for their sweet serenade. 

And the nice thing about all this is, that when Christmas Day finally comes, there is another little present under the tree.

Could it be that the expression 'Double Dutch' comes from this?

For those that don't read English I have typed the entire text again, so they can translate it.

Funny is that in 1985, December 4, was also on a Wednesday...

My writing at that time got edited by the editor of the news paper.

So now you know the story of Saint Nicholas. It were the Dutch that brought Sinterklaas to the New World, to New Amsterdam. Present day New York in The New Netherlands. The Dutch word Sinterklaas morphed into Santa Claus... See link below about the origin of Santa Claus.

Lots of people seem to be searching for TRUE HISTORY! 

Related links:

LinkedIn Mariette VandenMunckhof-Vedder scroll down for reading: Free lance writer and features 

{Our Living Room} previous post where you can see my wooden shoes in front of the fire place
The Origin of Santa Claus Video about history, listen till the end to hear how Sinterklaas morphed into Santa Claus...
{# 148 and my blog is 1 year old today!} previous blog post where I explain WHY I changed to  Mariette

{First Week of Advent 2012}

We already have started in our First Week of Advent for 2012... On Sunday morning the 1st candle got lit at Church and this brings us into the Advent mood; leading towards Christmas.

Traditionally the mood of Advent is expressed in the liturgical color of violet but I used red...

In its earliest form, beginning in France, Advent was a period of preparation for the Feast of the Epiphany. 

Fresh rosemary twigs emit a lovely fragrance...

Candle is French from Point A La Ligne.

Red rose ribbon is also French.

Vase is French, by Baccarat

Pineapple doily is hand crocheted by my sister-in-law Elly.

Wishing you all a meaningful First Week of Advent for 2012.

Related link:

{Point A La Ligne the Rolls Royce of Candles} my previous post