With just a few days left until Christmas Day I know everyone is probably like me, your brain is zipping in a hundred different directions. Actually, I am ready for the big day. All my gifts are wrapped and I?ve purchased the ingredients for my pumpkin bread. With that being said I thought I?d share a little holiday cheer with some old sayings? wives? tales if you may.
My Christmas cactus is to blame for this blog. Close to twenty years ago, while visiting with a dear lady named Connie I was admiring her beautiful Christmas cactus. It was bursting with blooms and the color was of the purest pink. I asked her if it would root and she assured me it would and proceeded to tell me to pinch off a few sprigs. So I started to do just that and Miss Connie all of a sudden said, ?No.?
Oops, I thought. Maybe she was kidding and didn?t want me nipping at her flower. ?Sorry I said.?
?No, no.? Miss Connie said, and started to share an old wives tale with me. She said that she couldn?t watch me pinch off the sprigs. I was supposed to do it when she wasn?t aware of it, steal it so to say. I said okay, and as Miss Connie made herself scarce I pinched off a few pieces. She said that if she just gave them to me that they would not sprout and grow. I guess she knew what she was talking about because after all these years the cactus is thriving. It is just beginning to bloom this year. Every time I glance upon it I think of not only the tale that Miss Connie told, but of her. She is missed beyond measure this first Christmas season without her.
Another old tale I heard this year was that if you split open a persimmon seed and there is something that looks like a shovel inside you would have a bad winter, the shovel represents all the snow you?ll have to move. I split several seeds open and there was a shovel imprint on every one. I?m a little weary of this tale since there is no bad weather in sight.
Here?s a few other saying I thought were interesting:
*Cutting your nails on Friday or Sunday is bad luck. Fingernail clippings should be saved, burned, or buried to prevent bad luck.
*If you catch a falling leaf on the first day of fall, you will not get sick that whole winter.
*Dropping a pair of scissors means that your lover is seeing someone behind your back.
(This one could come in handy ladies, the saying, and the scissors.)
*The lines on the palm of your right hand that show an ?X? represent the number of children you will have.
(Believe it or not there is only one ?X? on the palm of my right hand, and I only have one child.)
*You shouldn?t jog. It jumbles up your insides. (I live by this one.)
Who knows about such things as these old sayings? I, for one don?t believe you have to leave a home by the same door you entered. And, I don?t think I?ll have seven years of bad luck if I break a mirror. But there are a couple of old, old sayings, prophecies if you will that I do believe in.
I believe this prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled over two thousand years ago.
Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
I also believe with all my heart that there is one old tale yet to come to pass. As told by the apostle Paul, two men dressed in white apparel made one of the most profound predictions of our lives. Jesus once came to earth as a little babe. He lived in this land until we murdered Him. Then He arose from the tomb and later ascended to heaven to sit by his Father. But the story is far from over. HE WILL COME AGAIN!
Acts 1: 9-11
9) And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
10) And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel.
11) Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
I recommend you be weary of some old wives tales but the above prophesy from the book of Luke is one that you can bank on. What better time of year than Christmas than to believe the inspired Word of God? I don?t know if this is an old wives tale or not, but isn?t it better to believe, than to not believe and it really be so? Something to ponder on, don?t you think?
May you always carry an acorn for good luck and your palm be itchy and ready to receive lots of money. From my family to yours, Merry Christmas, and may God bless you all.
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Mom would scold Dad for cutting his nails on a Sunday, but I’ve never heard the old wives tale about that anywhere else till now.