If you’re a fan of the Roman calendar, then December is considered the tenth month. Decem in Latin means ten and I’m quite confident the suffix –ber stands for the chill of winter. Decembrrrrrrr. However, if you’re more familiar with the Gregorian method, then December is the 12th and concluding month of the year.
December’s flower is - can you guess – Holly! Deck the Halls and all that mess. When I was a wee lass, a bully in school was named Molly. It soothed me to sing, “Deck the halls with bits of Molly, fa la la la la, la la la la.” However, my mother did not approve of my lyrical changes and pointed out the possibility she was bullied at home to be an aggressor on the playground. Mother firmly suggested I give her a Christmas card and show compassion.
Yes, I know, I’m just full of the Christmas spirit.
Would now be a good time to insert my weekly rant about clicking on the photos to enlarge them and then clicking the back button to return to the text, or should that be placed elsewhere?
Back to December, the theme of this week’s blog. In addition to a flower, the crowning month also boasts beautiful birthstones. Yes, plural, as in zircon, turquoise, lapis lazuli, and topaz. They seem to range in color between icy and blue, appropriate shades for the darkest month. 
When I think of December, I conjure up winter wonderlands, Hanukkah, Solstice, Christmas, nutcrackers, yulelogs, tinsel, fudge, presents, cards, hats and mittens, cocoa, warm fires, roasting chestnuts, gay apparel and men comprised of snow.
If you did enlarge, you’ll have already noticed that the snowman’s eyes are two aluminum cans (can you say “al-yu-min-ium?) and his mouth is constructed of nails. We call this one, Spitting Nails.
I think of ice and frozen things, of frost, shimmer, glitter and sparkle, and twinkling lights for the light deprived. As the earth rotates on its axis around the sun, we are spinning our way to the shortest stretch of daylight this coming Monday, the 21st. But then guess what? The days start getting longer, whoo hoo!
As I’m writing this, however, it occurs to me that all these images are relatable to those who live in the Northern Hemisphere while the earth’s tilt is most inclined away from the sun. But what about those occupying the Southern Hemisphere baking in the summer heat in Australia, India, Brazil, Thailand, Madagascar or Mozambique for example? Do they even have chimneys for Santa to get stuck in, or think of one-horsed sleighs to jingle their bells?
I’m trying to picture eating Christmas dinner as a picnic on the beach, watching Santa arrive on a surfboard, filling my stocking - hung by the hammock - with oranges and lumps of coal.
I was shocked the first time I learned that the United States was not the center of the world. Growing up, all the maps showed it that way, and I suppose some of that ethnocentricity still lingers as I celebrate the birth of a desert Child with turkey, pumpkin pie and a gift exchange.
And neighbors, speaking of pumpkins, Halloween is over!
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