Advent Calendar 2010:Maria's Pastelles!

One of Maria's lovely and delicious pastelles. You can like Maria's Pastelles on Facebook by clicking here.

As promised during the Advent calendar this year in between The Christmas Adventures of The Purple Elephant and the Little Mouse we will be breaking for a treat or two or well sometimes three! :) So keeping to our promise today the Purple Elephant minus the little mouse talks about a recent visit to a friend of the Production House...Maria! The visit was to hear all about her lovely and delicious pastelles. Why minus the little mouse? Well...you see...the Purple Elephant had to explain to the little mouse at length about the stigma society continues to have about little mice and their presence near food...in terms of the health of humans etc. But the little mouse argued he thought such a stigma was cleared up by now...he knew Mickey Mouse did little for mice everywhere in this regard but of recently there was Ratatouille and in particular the Tale of Despereaux would no doubt have done wonders for removing this stigma! But the Purple Elephant said no...despite there being many clean, well behaved, disease free mice like the little mouse humans still didn't like them near their food. And so it was...so it was...and so the Purple Elephant journeyed off on his own to interview Maria about her lovely and delicious pastelles and here is how it all unfolded!

The beautiful Maria of pastelles fame!

The Purple Elephant did his own version of Q&A on Maria and so from here on in we refer to the Purple Elephant as PE and Maria as well Maria! Also writing in brackets () under Maria's answers are things the Purple Elehant jotted in for explanation or just his thoughts:

PE: So when was the first time you made pastelles?

Maria:I've been cooking with my mother and grandmother since I was allowed to use a knife at age 6...pastelle making is a tradition in our family...we made pastelles at our home and my grandmother's home every November and December. My first memory of making pastelles was probably around age 6. When I moved to my own home in 1995 we moved the pastelle making to my home. The entire family would come over and help to make the two household's pastelles for the season.

PE:And did they come out perfect then or is the product you have today...tried, tested and honed over the years?

Maria: My grandmother's and mother's pastelles were always perfect...the recipe has been handed down and tweaked by myself but I've never had a bad pastelle making experience.

PE: When did you first realise you had something here that was great...like was it you just knew it from your own taste and smell of it...or was it from the response you got from friends and relatives on their tasting it? And when you realised your pastelles were a hit what was your first reaction to this? Or do you remember say the first Christmas when you realised perhaps..."Hmmm...Maria you can really make a mean pastelle girl! :)"

Maria:Friends came to our home our first Christmas in 1995 (in our own house i.e. my husband's and I). And I'd have to send pastelles home with them(as they liked them so much). I also took my pastelles to my husband's family in New York in 1995 and they loved them...they all agreed they were the best they had ever had. They shared them with others there...who said the same. I love pastelles...my family love my pastelles...and if I can say so...they are pretty darn good. I love to cook and feeding people makes me happy so I was so happy that people enjoyed the pastelles. We make pastelles maybe twice a year when the supply runs low...not just for Christmas.

PE: Do you have a secret ingredient?

Maria: It wouldn't be secret anymore if I told you! I believe in using Promasa cornmeal, good fresh seasoning, prime meat (the Purple Elephant does not eat meat and so for that there is soya) and a lot of love! (that the Purple Elephant can handle!)

PE: OK...OK...but then is there one thing that makes your pastelles special...that would make them bear your signature? For example the way you wrap them?

Maria: I've been told by restaurant owners , chefs and family members that my corn is absolutely superb...the texture and flavour is unique and amazing! My husband is the wrapper here...he does a great job of folding them and sealing them.

PE: What was the thing that finally inspired you to take your pastelle making to the next level i.e. move from making it for family and friends into a made to order business-Maria's Pastelles?

Maria: My dream is to own and operate my own restaurant/diner. I have been told so many times that I should market my best skill...cooking! I decided to get into the business of selling my pastelles because I knew we could make a superior product at a very good price and to start building my experience toward my dream. I wanted to share a good thing with others who don't have the time to make them also.

PE: And is Maria's Pastelles just pastelles or do you bake other holiday treats for order? Or can you see yourself doing so in the future?

Maria: Right now I'm just doing the pastelles but I hope to add to my products in the very near future.

PE: Do you have any special kinks in making your pastelles...like one particular place where you get your ingredients...or like their must always be this way or that?

Maria: It's a very exact process for making them and we never deviate from that. Locally grown pimentos are a necessary ingredient...they make a huge difference. And they must be wrapped in banana leaves...the flavour that comes from the leaf and the moisture it keeps in...very necessary.

PE:And before I leave you Maria...other than pastelle making what makes the Christmas holidays or Advent special for you?

Maria: Christmas has always been for us a time for family and enjoying each other. My family business never closed for any period of time other than Christmas...it became a time for us to be together and enjoy the holidays...the food, the decorations, the gifts and just being together. We are also Roman Catholic so for us...the celebration of the birth of Jesus is extremely important to us...reminds us of new beginnings and the importance of the family.


And then the Purple Elephant thanked Maria for giving him such a detailed Q&A session on the thoughts behind the making of her tasty treats! He explained to her about how sad he was to have had to leave behind the little mouse and she was very empathetic about it but explained about how it was with the regulatory bodies and all of that!

The Purple Elephant then tasted a bit of her soya pastelle and trumpeted for they were that good! And they he wished Maria the best of sales for the rest of the year and for many years to come. And again trumpeted as he then proceeded to sing this parang tune by way of trumpets and wished her and her family and friends a Merry Christmas and Bright and Prosperous New Year from all at the Production House but in particular on behalf of the little mouse!

If you need to find out how you can order Maria's tasty pastelles go to her Facebook page and be sure to order before Wed 15 Dec 2010 if you need them for Christmas this year!

The Grand Opening of Meady's Musings Advent Calendar 2010!

Nanowrimo is done and we are pleased to say we were declared a winner (look to the left for our banner) and have come out of the process with some very key and critical learnings about the writing process, procastination, self discipline and how writing can be done effectively and not so effectively but still the words be done! You see Nanorwrimo is about getting the word out...sure you might have a heck of a task editing after but it sure does get the word out but more so your creative juices get kicked out of you! We were so glad that with the kick we were able to cough up a cast of lovely characters-one of them this gorgeous little four year old girl on whose dress we got a grip of and flew to a parallel world with. You will be sure to hear more from her when we're done with the book and be sure that some of the topics in the book are normally discussed on Tumultuous Thursdays and vice versa! Also the book might even turn into a set of chronicles now since our creative juices are so flowing! So thank you Nanwrimo for giving us the big kick we needed to let her (the four year old in my book) come forth!

But guess what as nanowrimo is through guess what we have to do?

Well open the Advent calendar of course! Now the seamstress is a bit slow and she promises us she is working on lovely new clothes for the animals this year but for now they have donned last year's things because they are so lovely still and they know that the lovely seamstress will be done soon and make them even more aglow!

Brother Greg couldn't come to say an opening prayer over on UCP so we will say one of our own and declare the Advent calendar open there too. But we are sad to say that this year we will not be opening the calendar on the Books and Films Corner...

Here is how our Advent calendars will run this year. We will instead this year run it as a real bonafide Advent calendar in that is will start today 1 Dec 2010 and end on Christmas Day! And it will run only on Meady's Musings and UCP as follows:

-Meady's Musings

As we have so been inspired by Nanowrimo to stories and stories, write and write and last year we really did have fun telling Christmas stories in a sense when we had the monkeys over and this and that...so this year each day we will feature a story about the Purple Elephant and the Little Mouse and how they are preparing for Christmas. In the stories they may talk about specific things they like to use, eat, cook, read, watch or listen to but it will always be a story about them and what they are up to and whoever chooses to drop by the production house. And as last year I suspect they will have many guests!:)And who knows at the end of it we may even compile their adventures into a little e-book for you to have a constant continuous look! :)

-UCP:Universal Collective Prayer

We will keep it true to the name of the blog and explore the spiritual themes and meaning of the Advent each day on UCP's Advent calendar. Of course expect too to see Christmas Carols...good ole John Denver and all the angels and earthlings you love to join in UCP with during the Advent and all year through! And of course expect Brother Greg to join us for a special prayer on Christmas Eve night! :)

Now we ordered our lego calendar last minute so we don't have it delivered as yet...you can sure grab one last minute if you like too at Amazon as it sounds so exciting to build a Lego a day until you get to Christmas day!


And we also can't wait to get our copy of the deluxe edition dvd Peanut's Holiday Collection


So on that note...here's a tune from one of those classics!


But that Charlie Brown can be so depressing...come to think of it he ranks right up there with Melvin the depressed robot from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh! We know how it is as this feeling down thing happens to lots of us around the production house and sometimes more so at Christmas time. But hey you gotta cheer up too so here is a funner tune bringing in the Advent too!

Advent Calendar:The Last Day of Christmas!

Oh well...here it is...here it is...Christmas comes to an end and so too does my Advent calendar...my animals are about to take off their Santa hats which they had donned and they seem to wear a bit of a frown...but chin up my friends as we join Brother Greg in Universal Collective Prayer and then look towards this here new year! :)

Dear God:
Christmas and Epiphany have passed but the spirit of generosity, light and love go on. May we enter into the story of the Magi bearing gifts. Bless us with the wisdom to honor you with gifts. May our gifts include the essence of who we are. May we never fail to offer the gift of our time, our attention, our care, our compassion, our love, especially to the marginalized among us. The star still shines, leading us to peace and truth. The star shines within us, it is the light of our deepest truth and self. Lead us to realize this Truth, this Self. May we never be parted from your light and your love.
Amen

Now taking off from Brother Greg's prayer I've been thinking about this here new year...

In fact ever since Google blessed me with awakeness on Mon by having that apple drop on my head...when F had equalled to ma courtesy the dead Sir Isaac and the F then equalled to me being awakened for the first time into 2010 and so there I went! :)

Wondering and wondering...and it made me think had I just been chasing my tail? Now this is not always a bad thing mind you...I mean we were in the dream state just before and well didn't Kelkule dream up the benzene ring by seeing in a dream a snake chasing its tail and catching it? Indeed he did! So perhaps it's not a bad thing...but I've been wondering as I step forward into 2010 as it unfolds as it should...Have I really moved forward or simply just come full circle again? In fact how I've been feeling is perfectly summed up in R.E.M.'s "Stand"...funny thing I found the perfect song to explain my feelings and it was also sung by a band whose named was R.E.M...yep you got that right the same R.E.M. used to describe the rapid eye movement stage of sleep where we do the most vivid dreaming! :)

So here it that vid of the song "Stand" while I contemplate its lines written by Michael Stipe who on this MTV video stated that he considered the lyrics inane but hey sometimes weird creative types hate their very own creations or what can I say or maybe just fresh out of the dream state we enjoy a lot of things others consider inane! :) But I really did think:

"Stand in the place where you live
Now face North
Think about direction
Wonder why you haven't before
Now stand in the place where you work
Now face West
Think about the place where you live
Wonder why you haven't before"




So as I "Stand" I've been thinking what to do in this new year...hopefully I've not just come full circle in vain just to start all over again...perhaps it is more I've completed a circle and now I shall go off on a tangent from it to create an even bigger circle! As one of my friends pointed out on facebook perhaps if I weren't just being an observer and I took things into my own hands...now I told her but yea but you see I'm not the dancer just the dance...and Shiv is the dancer you see! :) So perhaps I should go to he and ask him what dance he plans to do this year so I can prepare to be part of his wake! (A wake is the region of recirculating flow immediately behind a moving solid body, caused by the flow of surrounding fluid around the body.) So off I go again to sit at my guru's feet...but heading into the meditation cave these are the things with which I shall enter:

-Plans to blog at least twice a week on all three of my blogs.

-So yep indeed it means I will be reviving the Books and Films Corner fully! :)

-Plans to go even further into this thing I call UCP-Universal Collective Prayer which means less and less I will cover actual rites and rituals since I'd have accumulated quite an archive of those by now...so you will continue to see more questioning...and I will be trying to get more povs (point of views) as much as I can get...but don't lose heart it will still continue to be my journey into this thing I call Universal Collective Prayer and I will always surrender unto the Divine Mother! :)

-Plans to perhaps another garden grow? (blogs about it will appear on Meady's
Musings)

-Plans to explore Veganism some more... (blogs about it will appear on Meady's
Musings)

But all these things will be Shiv willing and I will be heading into the mediatation cave with him tomorrow...When I come out I will tell you what things go and what if any stay and if things on the list above stay they should be better honed and planned by the end of tomorrow!

But after talking about going to see such a serious being let's come back to the matter at hand and close this calendar with a bang! :)

Those magi three they have as always come to sing for me...and I am with gifts as today is the official olden calendar's Epiphany when children are given gifts to commemorate the gifts those gentlemen three gave to the Christ child. However often in modern day times the Epiphany is celebrated on the Sun before which was Sun last Sun 3 Jan 2010 but unfortunately I was in the dream state then and did not blog it! But Bro Greg did come and left my three gifts for me(as I'm but a 4 yr old you see!)He said my three gifts were:

Peace

LOVE :x

and tan tana!

JOY!

So until Advent 2010 take care my friends my Purple elephant and little mouse tip their Santa hats to you and the bears send their love...of course we will blog on! As all the elephants just trumpeted and the monkeys continue to stay reformed!
But of course it will now be in a different light us you will see! :)

Don't forget to take those Christmas decorations down after all we must move on! And come on wipe off those frowns as we sing and dance one last time here!:

Advent Calendar:11th Day of Christmas-The Gift of Dreaming! :)

Here at Meady's Musings Production we love to dream...not just the day dreaming,inspirational kinda thing...although we love that too! But I'm talking about the kind you have when the scientists say you are in the REM part of your sleep cycle...the time when you tend to have the most memorable and vivid dreams! :)

The purple elephant and little mouse are indeed very tired after all the Christmas rush, activities and fun and indeed can do with some sleep and the dreaming always makes it just that more fun!:)So throw us a pillow and let's go!

So today on the Advent calendar we celebrate the 11th and penultimate day of Christmas with the Gift of Dreaming! :) As we also apologise for missing quite a few days of Christmas on here but as we said on Old Year's day we all had had great, big colds so could really have done with the rest and dreaming. In fact we only woke up from the dream state yesterday when Google did the lovely apple animation to honour Newton and F was equal to ma and the force of the apple hit us on our heads and we woke up for the first time into 2010...the apple fall for us was our equivalent of the ball drop in Times square! So thankfully we are here in the New Year! :)


And here is how we'll do it on each blog:

-On Meady's Musings: We will discuss some of the science and metaphysics of dreaming and perhaps where both of them cross paths! We will also recall past talks this year on Meady's Musings about the topic of dreaming!

-On UCP: In all the great religions of the world divine revelation often comes to the mortal coil during the dream state! We will recall some of our favourite such moments!:)

-On Books and Films Corner: We will recall some of our favourite movies out there that involve dreams and explore the line between that world and the waking state! :)

So grab those pillows and let the dreams begin!

THE SCIENCE AND METAPHYSICS OF DREAMING

Well there is that famous quote about the butterfly and the dream state!

"We imagine that waking-life is real and that dream-life is unreal, but there does not seem to be any evidence for this belief. Chuang Tzu, in the third century B.C., put it in an amusing way; having dreamed that he was a butterfly flitting from flower to flower, he stated that he was now wondering whether he was then a man dreaming he was a butterfly or whether he was now a butterfly dreaming he was a man." - Wei Wu Wei in Fingers Pointing Toward the Moon

And really can we ever know? Just the other day I wondered if I was in the movie Vanilla Sky and I always recall my friend from Intent-Dana Shields when I think of lucid dreaming. And I always wonder if I'm in the Matrix! I've also wondered earlier in 2009 just under one year ago...

Do the Blind See in Their Dreams?

And with 80 comments on the post...people sure did get into their dreaming! And I began then to realise just how much Dana Shields and Mr. Phillip Zeuner were into this dreaming business! :)

It still amazes me how much work people put into this lucid dreaming thing! I mean to me I prefer to dream like in the Never Ending story...I just grab my pillow and use it as a float as I soar and sink through the air pockets of my dreams or imagination! :)Or perhaps I take a ride on the Luck Dragon-Falcor that is so sweet and friendly in that movie I recall from my 1984 childhood days! :)He really was like a great big fluffy pillow! Ride wherever the winds will take me! :)

Advent Calendar:7th Day of Christmas and Old Year's Day-Reflections!

Meady’s Musings Production apologizes for not keeping up with the calendar and the twelve days of Christmas from the 4th to 6th days of Christmas. However she (Meady herself), the Purple Elephant and even the little mouse have all caught some great big colds! The Purple Elephant believes we got it from Rudolph’s red, runny nose as we were nursing sick reindeer while Santa used our donkey with cart instead this year!

However with a whole house full of sick it’s hard to figure out who should nurse who? And so we were all very unclear as to what to do! Also in an attempt to keep bread on the table for all at the house Meady still had to go out to her full time job so it was near impossible to put up gifts of blog posts. Most of the house guests will be gone by the end of today as the 7th Day of Christmas and Old Year’s Day is here…and all are excited to usher in the New Year!

So, on the today calendar we have made it here, to give you a gift of a blog post olé! As we present…Reflections!

Here is how it will be presented on all three blogs our Reflections on 2009:

-On Meady’s Musings: Our favourite blog posts we shared with you or things we did!

-On UCP: Some of our most profoundly divine and moving moments in UCP!

-On Books and Films Corner: We recall some of the movies we enjoyed this year!



OUR FAVOURITE BLOG POSTS OR THINGS FOR 2009!

Before I look at the details in general I'd like to say this was the year new life was breathed into my Meady's Musings logo and my Purple Elephant and the little mouse really came to life thanks to my friend Adriana Ochoa! :)


JAN: In Jan things manifested as we followed our heart and we had Gone Gardening!

FEB:In Feb we took a jab at our reincarnation series again and heard of the works of Dr. Brian Weiss. Be sure we will be taking further jabs at that series in 2010!

MAR:We asked American President Obama How Does His Garden Grow? Enjoyed the beauty of our Sunflowers aka Suraj Mukhi and discovered our (Primary) Theme Song!

APR:We asked To Be a Leader? as we rolled over in laughter at the antics of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his wing men Evo Morales and Daniel Ortega as they attended the Summit of the Americas here on our island under the watchful eye of US President Barack Obama who was all smiles and charm as he received arepas...ahem...we mean that infamous book from Chavez!:) As we asked that question we discovered we not only had a theme song but we had two! So from then on one would be called our primary theme song and the other sub-primary theme song! We also had those lovely refinery walks and saw a butterfly!:)

MAY: We volunteered at the Red Earth Eco-Arts Festival 2009 and made some new friends...

JUN-JUL:We left on a jet plane and toured a certain cavernous place i.e. the Grand Canyon via Route 66, engaged in UCP in New Mexico and walked the Santa Fe Trail of the old wild west! On the whole we also hung out in the American Southlands...confederacy anyone? We didn't blog much though as even on return we had this flu perhaps not swine but nasty all the same! Here are some more pics from that trip to make up for it though!







AUG:We explored Parallel Lives and Parallel Worlds and be sure to hear more about that in 2010 as we continue to follow, contemplate and discuss the works of Dr. Kaku and others!

SEP: Some say we may have slipped off into a parallel world during this month but we didn't blog here then! ;)

OCT: In October despite the busyness of the Diwali festivities we took part in Blog Action Day 2009 and wondered about our Carbon Footprint or was it about The Existence of Bigfoot instead!? We also saluted the beautiful Sarah Maria's book!

NOV: In Nov all month long we tried to be semi-raw again but realised if we couldnt do that we could be Vegan for Sure! We may have lost some weight and for sure gotten a bit healthier especially with use of our steppy thingy!Expect us to try a vegan diet again soon in the New Year!:)

DEC: Christmas was here and it again was time for our Advent calendar which takes us back to here! Ole! Bro Greg said the prayers and Adriana helped my animals don their Santa hats and it has been Christmas fun all the way! :)

Advent Calendar:27 Dec 09-The Third Day of Christmas: These are Some of My Favourite Things!

copyright Meady's Musings Production 2009

Most of the animals and people are now dispersing from Meady's Musings Production house catching their respective flights, donkey backs or simply on foot like the monkeys heading back to the streets...hopefully reformed especially after witnessing miracles! The purple elephant and little mouse have helped them secure jobs in some tea shops and other places...One of them learnt to be a barber while in the house (trained by a bear). And one decided to go off with the shepherds to help them herd their sheep! So the house is getting quieter and quieter...the baby that was born is still with us but word has come through the shepherds that they too should be on the move soon since people are looking for them!

So things are winding down here on the calendar but we are still celebrating the twelve days of Christmas as promised! So on today the third day of Christmas I share with you three of my favourite things that I've discovered this year relevant to each blog...

-On Meady's Musings:Three things to eat!
-On UCP:Three of my favourite carols/bhajans/chants!
-On Books and Films Corner:Two Books and a Movie!


THREE THINGS TO EAT!


1. Awfully Chocolate!- I found out about this as I got it for a birthday present yesterday! It was bought in Shanghai but seems that the store originates from Singapore! And it was awfully nice! You see I love dark chocolate...the one I got is a tin of tartlets it seems...see pic below...What I also like about the chain when I checked out their site is how they originated...nice story...or innovation! Check their site out on http://www.awfullychocolate.com

copyright Meady's Musings Production 2009


2. Lady Grey Tea- Now I'm yet to taste a cup but some friends have and say it is simply delicious...I was just pleased to find out about its existence this year! I had always heard of Earl Grey tea but never knew there was a lady to it! :) But with hints of orange in there some how I know I'll love it! Might have to wait for March to get a cup out of the UK but know it will be well worth it! :)


3.Vegan Foods!- And one of the last but not least important lovely things I learnt to eat this year are vegan foods! It was great to find out how easily I could live on them...and plan to be vegan again in Jan 2010 I think! :)

Advent Calendar:26 Dec 09-My Birthday and the 2nd Day of Christmas!

So it's my birthday! What I adore about the Purple Elephant and the little mouse is although they were so busy with all the Christmas celebs and preps and our umpteen house guests of all shapes, sizes and species they found the time to bake me a cake and get me an additional separate birthday gift other than my Christmas one! :) They are such caring animals and friends...a girl can wish for none better than those two! :)

Today is also the 2nd day of Christmas according to the old Twelve Days of Christmas traditions and we will be keeping it up on the Advent calendar. So we won't close until the Epiphany on Wed 6 Jan 2010 when we will celebrate with the Magi for the last time this Advent season! :) And it's been a busy one for me so I've not been able to dance with them as much as I'd have liked this year but I will try at least on that day!

However seeing as it is my birthday and I'm at that landmark that I personally consider to be middle of the road (since average life expectancy is 70)...tethering at the top of the hill...trying for it to not to go all down hill too fast at 35! Aah that thing call time...but it's fictional anyway just ask my metaphysics mentioning friends! :)

But the Purple elephant and the little mouse insisted that I relax today...so I'm going to try...but if I had left my calendar bare...they shan't have existed today you see...since they are imaginary...Oh dear! So I had to blog even today so you could see them appear! :)

So today on the calendar I'm not going to be as presumptuous as on last year's calendar and assume you want the gift of me on my birthday! Although to me that is what it is when you mark your birthday and friends cheer...it is that they are celebrating your entry into existence on the earthly plane and so like on that day you are the gift to them...no?

But instead this year I will just with you share some of the things that define me or are important to me...since I should be relaxing I might mostly reference blogs I've written in the past but with a new slant...so here is how we'll have it!:)

-On Meady's Musings: I will recall my primary and sub-primary theme songs! :)
-On UCP: I will recall my relationship with Shiv and pinch my cute Ishq Devata-Ganesh!
-On Books and Films Corner: I will list my top ten fav books ever and show some clips of some of fav films too! :)

So here it is Happy Happy to me! :)

MY PRIMARY AND SUB-PRIMARY THEME SONGS:

I would have spoken about them on this blog in April:

To Be A Leader?-My Primary and Sub-Primary Theme Songs! :)

And here now are the Youtube clips of them cued again for you here !:

I am the One and Only by Chesny Hawkes (Primary Theme song)

and

Wonder by Natalie Merchant (Sub-Primary Theme song)

Advent Calendar:Christmas Day!-The Gift of the Christ Child!

Christmas Bread copyright Meady's Musings Production 2009

Well you can just imagine the chaos at Meady's Musings Production house last night! I can say though that all my animals pitched in and it was the most loveliest thing all the same! My donkey (now magical) and his cart went off with Santa and a few of the smaller bears to do the gift giving. My purple elephant and little mouse were busy running a virtual hospital. A lady showed up saying she was the wife of Santa Claus...Mrs Claus if you'll have it...but she was the loveliest thing and she baked us the most delicious bread and other treats for dinner and to have today on Christmas Day!

For Christmas dinner we had invited Deacon Greg Kirk to give the prayers and bring Christmas greetings and that he did and even left us something to say today here on the calendar to ring in Christmas day! We also had some unexpected guests in you guessed it the three 'wise' men! They said they were following a star that had settled just above our tree grove where the animals had set up a carrat (leaf) shed. However my purple elephant had the spare porta camps so they had a place to stay but they kept being agitated about the star and what was to come...

Then just around midnight...we got word that a cousin of our very own donkey of Santa gift giving fame had a cousin in town...some of the monkeys and a few bears (to police them in case they got out of hand again) went out to find him! And that they did but he wasn't alone! He had with him a lady with child and her husband was leading the donkey (our very own donkey's cousin!) They also said they were following the star...and when they got to our house all the animals and people welcomed them and insisted they stay in our tree grove that seemed auspicious in some way! It had this presence about it with the brightest star up above! And we some how felt it so fitting that the lady with child stay at the roots of the great tree...so we made it very comfy as could be! And they really liked the space! Then just after midnight the baby was born...delivered in the loving care of my nurses...the Purple Elephant and little mouse...

All the animals came to see...the three shepherds...the three 'wise' men...all of them...

So today on Meady's Musings Production's Advent calendar we celebrate Christmas Day with just the one big blog post...same on all three blogs...I give you the great prayer by my Brother in UCP Deacon Greg Kirk, Christmas Bread baked by my mom in reality (but Mrs Claus virtually) and Joy to the World! The Lord is come...

Christmas Bread copyright Meady's Musings Production 2009

THE CHRISTMAS PRAYER By Deacon Greg Kirk

The Season of Light

Christmas is Light, the darkness has been overcome by one who came to love. Christmas is more than decorating trees, exchanging gifts and gathering with loved ones. Christmas is an opportunity to embrace the Light - to open to the power, bliss and peace the Light brings.

Jesus of Nazareth desired to know the Light and live within its embrace so deeply, he became one with the Light. He left a path, a way, for you and I to share in this bliss. "Love God with all your being and love your neighbor as you love yourself." Jesus assured us that we are loved completely, unconditionally. He encouraged us to root our lives in the hope and promise of this Love.

My prayer this Christmas is for people everywhere to experience the Light and Love within them, to know more deeply of their beauty and dignity, to experience the Essence or True Self within and to find the freedom to be the people they were created to be.

Darkness abounds in our world, in many circumstances and ways. Embracing the Light -being open to every person's truth, daring to love others, especially the vulnerable and marginalized, causes the darkness to recede and the Light to shine more brilliantly.

Dare to be Light, dare to be Love. Dare to be one with the One who is Light and Love as Jesus did. You will find new possibilities and power. You will find yourself. And you will find yourself within the heart of God.

Love, Greg

Advent Calendar:24 Dec 09-The Gift that is Santa Claus!

Today the bears went out to the market on their own. They are my house guests and I would not have let them go shopping for food...which I consider myself obliged to supply but they sneaked out! A grizzly kept watch while a Canadian black bear and Polar bear took me to see some supposedly newly installed gadgetry in each of the tricked out mangers where the three shepherds and their lambs sleep. While I was on my way there...a Winnie the Pooh like bear, an Indian sloth bear (supposedly descended straight from the line of Jambhavan the bear king) and two other polar bears left in a donkey cart for the market! I was minorly irritated by the incident but then reconciled with myself that they were after all bears and so ate as such! They were all nice and apologetic about it when they returned and so I accepted the bouquet of sunflowers (two bouquets now) and their apologetic words!

But their whole sneakiness also seemed minor compared to the rest of the story! You see the Purple elephant and the little mouse saw when the bears left and knowing I'd not like it decided to follow them. When the bears realised it they agreed to all shop together in the market...and while they were having fun they heard big screams! They all ran to the spot where the screams came from to find a batch of ladies in tears complaining about a batch of monkeys of varying size, origin and nationality attacking them and taking their bags!

This really got the purple elephant and little mouse mad and the elephant used his towering size and big strides to quickly comb and survey the areas and dispatched the bears to find the monkeys. They were all found and the Indian sloth bear was asked to judge over them. He was chosen based on his royal lineage and the fact that some of the monkeys were also descended from Indian monkeys who were related to Lord Hanuman and other monkeys who worked on the Setu bridge alongside bears! So some of the monkeys felt him a fair choice. In the end all monkeys were found guilty but in tears agreed before all the animals and the ladies to reform their ways! They agreed to return all their stolen goods by going to homes all day long and to come back to the house tonight Christmas eve and to stay with the other animals for Christmas! The animals agreed to build a few tree houses so that they could be accommodated. So there you have it Meady's Musings Production house will now be housing monkeys of every shape and kind as well! :)

So my bears and others have been working on those tree houses since they came back from the market. While they were all busy I decided to take a break under one of the marvelous Samaans that reside in my yard. When at the edge of a nearby pond I heard and saw an old man sobbing! I went up to him to ask him what was wrong and it was then he explained to me that he was indeed (as I had suspected in my magical land this could happen)Santa Claus! But he was sobbing because all of his reindeer including Rudolph were sick...he suspected it could be swine flu but he really didn't know what to do!

Now I was really strained for accommodations at this point and I couldn't put my bears on more projects so the purple elephant agreed to go out and buy a few Porta Camps! In there we agreed to isolate and nurse the ailing reindeer and guess what!?

Santa Claus and I conceived that we could use his magic dust to make my donkey magical and able to fly! And so all the gifts to kids world over this Christmas Eve night are going to be delivered by my donkey! And will be stored in his donkey cart you see! :)

When the Purple Elephant came home with the porta camps an hour ago he said he had spotted the three big camels with the transformed men sitting on them (from yesterday's sighting)and he decided to buy an extra porta camp as he had a strong sense of Elephantitis that they were headed to our house! Hmmm...

By now you must realise Santa Claus is here! And also the Magi are possibly heading our way...so to celebrate the great saint and on the whole the loveliness of gift giving here is how we will give our salutes!:

-On Meady's Musings: I reminisce on the Santa poll that we ran last year on the UCP blog and ask you again to comment or vote in this year if you like.
-On UCP: We re-publish the post we did last year on the great saint...Saint Nicholas...
-On Books and Films Corner: We link to Youtube clips from our all time favourite Santa flicks! :)

SANTA POLL-Do You Believe in Santa Claus?

We asked it last year and this is the re-published results from that poll. Feel free to write in and tell us again this year how you feel...and perhaps some of you have changed your minds?

"I asked the question:

"Do You Believe in Santa Claus?"

to my readers allowing them to choose one response only of the following:

-YES
-NO
-MAYBE

I created the poll on Sat 6 Dec 2008 to compliment my post 'Do You Believe in Santa Claus?- Saint Nicholas Day' which I posted to commemorate Saint Nicholas Day and to join in Universal Collective Prayer with the great Saint who acted out his Universal Collective Prayer by giving gifts to children. I wanted to make his name unsullied from the commercialism that had done so while still embracing the fact that many American traditions that may have gone on to sully his name had also made him into the image he now is and perhaps preserved him so long too. So not all is bad in Americana and commercialism cause perhaps not for that the saint would be dead to our brain's memory although perhaps still in our superconscious hearts or soul...but as the American iconography keeps him so real it also reminds us of him much like iconography in Hinduism and in so doing perhaps opens us up a bit more to his spirit than if he had no form. You see giving him a form keeps him real to us on this material plane as much as an image of Baby Krishna stealing ghee does for opening up the heart of the Bhakti Yogi...one who practises pure love to reach enlightenment. So for this I salute the American Santa Claus! And in so doing I give you the results of the poll:

Out of 11 persons casting their vote here on Universal Collective Prayer...cause others did vote on Intent. Here is the break down:

Yes = 7 votes (63%)
No = 1 vote (9%)
Maybe = 3 votes (27%)

So the 'I s' have it! YES WE BELIEVE IN SANTA CLAUS! :)"

Come on tell us what you think this year! ;)

Advent Calendar: 23 Dec 09-The Gift of the Magi

A Shopping Centre in Spain (as taken in 2007 from Wikimedia Commons)

"The tradition in Spain and some Latin American countries is that the Three Wise Men are who bring gifts to children at Christmas. In recent years, as an assimilation of the Anglo-Saxon tradition of Santa Claus, they often appear at gift shops and shopping malls, where children have the opportunity to take a picture sitting on their knees and deliver the letter with their demands."



The purple elephant and the little mouse had gone off to the market to stock up on food for all the many house guests that Meady's Musings Production House has been accumulating over the last few weeks when the most funniest thing happened! So funny the purple elephant is rolling on the floor in laughter appearing as if he is in some circus stunt (God forbid he should ever be entrapped in one of those!) as he retells the story with the little mouse...

Apparently the little mouse sat on his shoulder as they went through the market and hid behind his ears every time they noticed a passerby that wouldn't understand that they could be 'clean' mouses in markets. They always do this...and the little mouse advises the purple elephant by whispering into his ear what looks good and what does not...what is too pricey...what is a deal!

So using that tried and tested approach they had already procured honey for the bears (we have since had to buy honey outside our contract after the bee colony strikes earlier on especially to prevent any further Winnie the Pooh impersonations!), bread for the shepherds and even a bouquet of sunflowers for me! :) When that most funniest thing happened!

They saw three men arguing in the middle of the market square! They all had come out of their SUV-sports utility vehicle...each with a smart phone in their hand...arguing that the tallest one who was the driver and the owner of the SUV did not know where he was going as each of their phones gave different directions and that for sure he must have mis-programmed his SUV's GPS! What made it so funny for the purple elephant and the little mouse was the whole scene and antics! The SUV had grinded to a halt right in the middle of the market square kicking up a considerable amount of dust and screeching! And the three men immediately exited from it popping out like if they were compressed hot air inside of there! And all three congregated in a circle pointing at smart phones and then the sky and each trying to out voice the other! But that was not all...

As they argued three large camels seem to appear from no where and used their long necks to scoop a man each up into the air and onto their backs! The expression on each of the men's faces as they all of a sudden grew beards and donned long silky robes is what still has the purple elephant rolling on the floor and I have to tell you my floor tiles are not faring well!

As you might have guessed from that little story the Three Wisemen or the Three Magi or the Three Kings whatever you like to call them are in town! :) And here on the calendar we wish to salute them! :) We had a lot of fun all of last year's Advent calendar long with them and must now again bow to them! And shall do it in this format:

-On Meady's Musings: Who were the Magi? as described on the New Advent (Catholic encyclopedia)and that lovely song with Hugh! ;)
-On UCP: The Time and Circumstances of Their Visit again as described on the New Advent (Catholic encyclopedia).
-On Books and Films Corner: A glimpse of them in the 2006 film The Nativity Story.

So here we go!:

WHO WERE THE MAGI?
As taken from the New Advent
"who the magi were
Non-Biblical evidence

We may form a conjecture by non-Biblical evidence of a probable meaning to the word magoi. Herodotus (I, ci) is our authority for supposing that the Magi were the sacred caste of the Medes. They provided priests for Persia, and, regardless of dynastic vicissitudes, ever kept up their dominating religious influence. To the head of this caste, Nergal Sharezar, Jeremias gives the title Rab-Mag, "Chief Magus" (Jeremiah 39:3, 39:13, in Hebrew original — Septuagint and Vulgate translations are erroneous here). After the downfall of Assyrian and Babylonian power, the religion of the Magi held sway in Persia. Cyrus completely conquered the sacred caste; his son Cambyses severely repressed it. The Magians revolted and set up Gaumata, their chief, as King of Persia under the name of Smerdis. He was, however, murdered (521 B.C.), and Darius became king. This downfall of the Magi was celebrated by a national Persian holiday called magophonia (Her., III, lxiii, lxxiii, lxxix). Still the religious influence of this priestly caste continued throughout the rule of the Achaemenian dynasty in Persia (Ctesias, "Persica", X-XV); and is not unlikely that at the time of the birth of Christ it was still flourishing under the Parthian dominion. Strabo (XI, ix, 3) says that the Magian priests formed one of the two councils of the Parthian Empire.
Biblical evidence

The word magoi often has the meaning of "magician", in both Old and New Testaments (see Acts 8:9; 13:6, 8; also the Septuagint of Daniel 1:20; 2:2, 2:10, 2:27; 4:4; 5:7, 5:11, 5:15). St. Justin (Tryph., lxxviii), Origen (Cels., I, lx), St. Augustine (Serm. xx, De epiphania) and St. Jerome (In Isa., xix, 1) find the same meaning in the second chapter of Matthew, though this is not the common interpretation.
Patristic evidence

No Father of the Church holds the Magi to have been kings. Tertullian ("Adv. Marcion.", III, xiii) says that they were wellnigh kings (fere reges), and so agrees with what we have concluded from non-Biblical evidence. The Church, indeed, in her liturgy, applies to the Magi the words: "The kings of Tharsis and the islands shall offer presents; the kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring him gifts: and all the kings of the earth shall adore him" (Psalm 71:10). But this use of the text in reference to them no more proves that they were kings than it traces their journey from Tharsis, Arabia, and Saba. As sometimes happens, a liturgical accommodation of a text has in time come to be looked upon by some as an authentic interpretation thereof. Neither were they magicians: the good meaning of magoi, though found nowhere else in the Bible, is demanded by the context of the second chapter of St. Matthew. These Magians can have been none other than members of the priestly caste already referred to. The religion of the Magi was fundamentally that of Zoroaster and forbade sorcery; their astrology and skill in interpreting dreams were occasions of their finding Christ. (See THEOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF THE AVESTA.)

The Gospel narrative omits to mention the number of the Magi, and there is no certain tradition in this matter. Some Fathers speak of three Magi; they are very likely influenced by the number of gifts. In the Orient, tradition favours twelve. Early Christian art is no consistent witness:

* a painting in the cemetery of Sts. Peter and Marcellinus shows two;
* one in the Lateran Museum, three;
* one in the cemetery of Domitilla, four;
* a vase in the Kircher Museum, eight (Marucchi, "Eléments d'archéologie chrétienne", Paris, 1899, I 197).

The names of the Magi are as uncertain as is their number. Among the Latins, from the seventh century, we find slight variants of the names, Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar; the Martyrology mentions St. Gaspar, on the first, St. Melchior, on the sixth, and St. Balthasar, on the eleventh of January (Acta SS., I, 8, 323, 664). TheSyrians have Larvandad, Hormisdas, Gushnasaph, etc.; the Armenians, Kagba, Badadilma, etc. (Cf. Acta Sanctorum, May, I, 1780). Passing over the purely legendary notion that they represented the three families which are descended from Noah, it appears they all came from "the east" (Matthew 2:1, 2, 9). East of Palestine, only ancient Media, Persia, Assyria, and Babylonia had a