IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME IN THE DESERT

We don't have the snow or the cold in Scottsdale although as I'm blogging at 8:03 this morning, I see neighbors walking their routes wearing parkas and ear muffs. The other night I started to light a fire in the fireplace and saw while channel surfing that it was 58 degrees so decided against it. But it must be Christmas time because we have 26 Sunday School class members coming to our Christmas party tonight. So as soon as this blog entry is done, I'll be marching to the orders (I've already been told two) of the Missus who will have this party go off without a hitch.

Not to take a page from Derek's Fun Facts, but forever being the educator, I wanted to blog on the candy cane. Some factual, some stretching, some symbolic. But all unknown by me until recently.

The candy cane was invented by a choirmaster in 1670 in Cologne, Germany. They were sugar sticks with a curve or crook in them to resemble shepherd's staffs. They were given to his choir members to quieten them during a long Christmas service.

The J that an inverted one makes stands for Jesus, of course, and He, again, of course, represents the shepherd. The white on the candy cane represents His perfect life, His purity, white as snow. The red, you're catching on now, His atonement for sin, His blood.

Not quite like taking communion, but I think I'll never look at the candy cane again without thinking of the Reason for the Season.

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.