by Bernadette Nason | Dec 18, 2014 | Uncategorized
Given the frenzy of gift-giving that takes place around the holiday season, I’ve been researching the history of Christmas presents. I found the following in my thrift store almanack: Gift-giving at the winter solstice goes back to the Roman festivals of...
by Bernadette Nason | Dec 16, 2014 | Uncategorized
A WINTER WALK AROUND WINCHESTER, CHRISTMAS DAY 2012 Oh no, Santa’s lost his hat! We’d better come back this way later to see if we can help. Walking by St. Cross, just outside Winchester, St. Catherine’s Hill in the distance “Maybe Father...
by Bernadette Nason | Dec 15, 2014 | Uncategorized
CHRISTMAS DAY 1987 AT THE JEBEL ALI HOTEL, DUBAI Who’s this, arriving in a Rolls Royce all covered with balloons? When there are no chimneys to speak of, how does Father Christmas, a.k.a. Santa Claus, arrive? Well, when I worked at the Jebel Ali Hotel in Dubai,...
by Bernadette Nason | Dec 15, 2014 | Uncategorized
As I head out this morning to begin a week’s worth of school presentations of Charles Dickens’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL, I thought I’d share the little lexicon I distribute to help students understand the story a little better. This is also in the program...
by Bernadette Nason | Dec 14, 2014 | Uncategorized
KING ARTHUR AND CHRISTMAS DAY According to Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte d’Arthur, the fifteenth-century romance of the semi-mythical English king, Merlin the magician called the nobles together on Christmas Day for a sign as to who was their rightful king....
