Family Tree Frog

Thomas MacEntee of Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories says: If someone dropped out of the sky and was unfamiliar with the concept of Christmas, how would you explain it to them? Can you put the meaning of Christmas into words? What does Christmas represent to you and is it different than when you grew up or from the meaning it had for your ancestors? Tell us what Christmas means to you and your memories of Christmases past. If I wanted to be facetious I could say that the meaning of Christmas was Pudding. But of course it's so much more than that.  It is the power of an extraordinary story to still captivate people's imagination all these hundreds of years later. Even if they don't believe in the exact details of the story, I think they believe in the sentiments it expresses - love, peace, joy, giving and possibly above all, hope. Perhaps that is why Christmas can be so fraught - hopes are dashed, expectations aren't met.  It is, after all, jus...

Little Nell from Sepia Saturday introduces this week's post as follows:  "It is not enough to teach children how to read, write and count. Education has to cultivate mutual respect for others and the world in which we live, and help people forge more just, inclusive and peaceful societies."  UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; 100-day countdown message to the International Day of Peace This Saturday co-incides with the International Day of Peace and more specifically to Peace Education; this is too good an opportunity to miss. It is often said that we learn so much from Sepia Saturday , both as participants and visitors to each other's blogs, so now is our chance to embrace the theme and do our bit for this important day observed throughout the world. The splendid photo above comes from the archive of the Library of Congress and features  the American delegates to the International Congress of Women, held in the Hague in 1915. One of the delegates, Jan...