Monday Musings

Hello!  Magical Monday to you!

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  My daughters had five days off from school in a row and I had four.  I have to confess that we spent much of that time snuggling with dogs and watching Netflix or reading.  Sometimes it's nice to be a little bit lazy.

Friday night was the Holiday Hoopla in Cedar Falls.  I hinted on Friday that Angelle was going to be a character, but I didn't say which.  I think it's okay to tell you now that she was the "Grinch". KD and I went to the Hoopla and found her right away.  She was hanging out with this snow princess (actually Cinderella in a gorgeous winter dress) and having lots of fun and giving lots of high fives. From what I could tell, she was fairly popular among the photo takers.  Someone made the comment that she "was shorter than she thought the Grinch would be, but that that was okay because she liked little people".

Here is a picture of the Grinch, Cinderella and KD enjoying her hot chocolate.

As Holiday Hoopla's go, this one was warm in comparison to other years.  KD and I enjoyed hanging out together.  We went into the basement of the Caboose Stop Hobbies store and discovered they had the most amazing model trains set up. They took up the whole room.  I really enjoyed that part of our evening.

We liked looking at the store window displays, enjoyed hearing our friend, Kylie Jean sing, and could not see Santa when he arrived because of the crowd.  This year Santa arrived by giant "Panther" and marching band.  Pretty cool! Especially the marching band part.  I held my phone up above the crowd to try to videotape his arrival and that seemed to work pretty well.  Then KD and I did our best to get ahead of the crowd to get to the river where the tree was lit and the fireworks were shot off.  I love taking photos of fireworks.



















The Grinch and Cinderella enjoyed leading the procession to the river.  You can see them here crossing 1st street with Santa and the band following close behind.


















And here is a better picture of Santa on the giant Panther.  Go UNI!!




















After the Hoopla fireworks were over we met up with the Grinch and Cinderella, then had pizza at Tony's.  It was a great ending to a really fun night.

We discovered a new place that night as well.  Cedar Falls now has a "Chocolaterie Stam" store on Main Street.  KD and I had some chocolate samples and tried samples of their gelato.  Yummmmmy! On Saturday I took Angelle there and she had the tiramisu gelato and I bought truffles for KD and me.  I have a feeling we will treat ourselves there quite often.

My daughters have been asking me why I'm so obsessed with Krampus, so I decided to turn my attentions to Befana.  Do you know who Befana is?  She is from Italian Christmas folklore.  Befana was an old woman who spent most of her days baking and sweeping.  When Jesus was born she provided shelter for a night to the Magi.  The Magi asked her where they could find Jesus, but she didn't know.  They invited her to go with them but she replied that she was too busy with her housework (she had the cleanest and most pleasant home in the village).  Later, she had a change of heart and went looking for Jesus, flying through the sky on her broom, because, after all, magic was in the air.  To this day she is searching for the baby Jesus and leaves all the good children toys and candy as she makes her flight.  Naughty children get coal, onions and garlic instead.  There are many versions of this story, but I liked this one.  I especially like that she flies on her broom.

As many traditions and stories, Befana does have pagan roots.  Some say she is the goddess called Strenia, who presided over the gifts of the new year.  The Befana tradition is still celebrated in some parts of Italy.

I have seen the poster for the "Lamppost Theatre" putting on a play called "Befana" as their Christmas dessert theatre.  It is this Friday evening and I am hoping to go.  Since the girls say it would not be a good idea for me to dress as Krampus next Holiday Hoopla and chase the children, perhaps I could dress as Befana.  A kindly old woman with a broom who hands out gifts.  Why not?

When our dream coffee house/book and gift store "Witches Brew, Books and Beyond" opens, I hope to have special days celebrating the unusual characters of the season, such as Krampus (Krampus tea party?) and Befana (special treats for children?).  What fun!

Do you know of any unusual Christmas celebrations or tales?  I would love to hear them.  Please share below and check back tomorrow to see what your holiday season future holds on Tarot Tuesday.