I like hearing the song 12 Days of Christmas, which generates imagery of a lot of interesting people and animals. While it is considered a nonsensical sort of song, it’s been suggested that it’s actually a secretly coded song of Christian instruction.

Christmas is probably the most tradition packed holiday there is, and over the years I’ve enjoyed chasing some of them down to find their origin. One I’ve gone after is the Christmas stocking, which in present day has become a large, usually ornate sock shaped bag that is hung up on Christmas Eve so Santa can fill it with small toys, candy, fruit, and such.

My church celebrated the beginning of Advent December 1st by carrying out the “hanging of the green” tradition of decorating the church sanctuary for the Christmas season. Our pastor explained the meaning of the Advent tradition, which was good because while I had heard of it, I didn’t really know what it about. I’m all about old traditions, and so it sparked my own research on the subject, which I thought I would share.

Those that hold to the tradition of using a real tree enjoy the smell and feel of a natural product that comes from a renewable resource. Buying one can also help support small family farms, so it has many positives. On the downside, a Christmas tree is a living thing that requires some extra care to be sure it doesn’t dry out and pose a fire hazard. Here are some tips from the National Christmas Tree Association on keeping your Christmas tree fresh and green as long as possible.
- When you get the tree home place it in water as soon as possible.

Thanksgiving is one of the high holidays of the US, involving traditions of being with family, eating a bountiful meal of traditional foods, and hopefully taking time to give thanks for what we have been given. You know the traditional story of the first Thanksgiving involving Pilgrims, Native Americans, feasting and all that, but history is always good to review occasionally, as you often learn something new.

I’m still studying a book called Smoky Mountain English, which is a dictionary of mountain dialect. I was blessed to be around my grandparents quite a bit growing up and heard a lot of phrases and word pronunciations that aren’t used much today. But some of it is still hanging around and I find myself using it without thinking about it, which my granddaughters find puzzling. So what follows is my latest list of words in the book that I personally have heard used sometime in my lifetime. I’m sure you will find many familiar as well if you’re from around here.

Wildlife feed on a variety of food sources: woody plants, weeds, herbs, grasses aquatic plants, and cultivated plants. How each plant is used by wildlife is useful information for hunters, farmers, or anyone interested in wildlife and their habitat.

Folks who would like a taste of some wild food ought to get out and hunt persimmons this time of year. They are abundant in our area and easy to find in fencerows and woodland edges.
There are many varieties of persimmon trees in tropical areas of the world, but only two in the United States. The one growing in our area is called "common persimmon" (Diospyros Virginiana), or "possum tree" by some.

With a nod to the season of Halloween, I would like to share a tale about something that has creeped people out for centuries. A superstition that came across with settlers from Europe and established itself here in the eastern U.S. It involves death and a bug.

Back in the early and mid-1800s the industrial age and a growing population created a demand for raw materials to make products, especially from wood and metals such as iron and lead. Our area had metal ore deposits to produce pig iron in locally owned furnaces fueled by charcoal and coke. Pig iron needed to be shipped to big cities like Chattanooga where it was refined and made into metal products such as tools and farm implements.