Jingle Bells

The History of 

We all grew up singing this "Christmas song", but do you know the true meaning behind the song and where it came from?  

The song Jingle Bells was written in 1857 by James S Pierpont and was originally titled "One Horse Open Sleigh".  

Jingle Bells was not written to be a Christmas song, but was actually written for a Thanksgiving program for a local Sunday School group.  James was inspired by the one-horse open-sleigh races that took place in his town around this time of year. 

The song "One Horse Open Sleigh" was not popular at first. Even though is was republished in 1859 as "Jingle Bells", it did not become popular until several years later. Sources say that the song became popular with the spread of the first phonograph records, which allowed people nation wide to hear the catchy song. 

The verse below is usually left out of the song, but it is the third verse of the original piece.  Some versions of the song do include it, but not many. 

Now the ground is white

Go it while you’re young,

Take the girls to night

And sing this sleighing song;

Just get a bob tailed bay

Two forty as his speed.

Hitch him to an open sleigh

And crack, you’ll take the lead.

References

http://1019litefm.cbslocal.com/2011/12/21/the-story-behind-jingle-bells/

http://www.americanmusicpreservation.com/jinglebellssong.htm

Tornado

Tornado

With our recent severe weather, I decided to look into tornadoes and what exactly causes them.  I know that cold front mixing with a warm front cause severe weather, but why?  While researching on google, all sites confirmed that in order to have a tornado, you must have instability (warm and cold temperature) and high wind in the lower atmosphere. There are many instances where a tornado can form, so we must stay alert and listen to the warnings that the weather channel gives out.

Tornadoes can cause a lot of damage to houses, buildings, cars, trees, power lines, and pretty much anything that gets in their way!  Severe weather can bring tornadoes, but also heavy rain, high winds, hail, and lightning.  These can all cause major damage!

There are different types, or levels of a tornado based on how fast the wind was blowing and the amount of damaged caused.  This is measured on the Fujita-Pearson Scale.  Tornadoes can be rated from an F1-F6, with F6 being the worst.  A tornado's intensity cannot be told by the size of it, but by the strength.  Small tornadoes can cause a lot of damage, while sometimes bigger tornadoes aren't as strong.  

Holiday Traditions

Holiday Traditions

Each family has their own unique way of celebrating the holidays.  Religion can play a big part of how some of these holidays are shaped, but each family adds their own special touch to it.

Thanksgiving is a holiday, in which we celebrate the people, events, and things that are special to us.  In my family, my mom wakes up very early (with some help from my sisters) and cooks all kinds of food.  Turkey, stuffing, pies, salad, several kinds of potatoes and more! Our family usually spends the day at my parents house and our grandparents usually come over too.  We have a pretty quiet day of eating, playing board games, watching football and resting.  It's fun, but low key.

Black Friday is pure madness and I refuse to leave my house on this day.  My mom used to always go when my sisters and I were little to get good sales on the toys that we really wanted.  Now, my mom just goes out for fun to see what kind of deals she can get and to laugh at the people who take it way too seriously.  My mom convinced me to go with her when I was around 12 years old...NEVER AGAIN.  I hate crowds and rude people.  I stay in my house and get the same good deals online! 

Christmas Eve day is pretty calm around my house.  We do any last minute present wrapping and just have a relaxing day while my sister Gabriella stalks Santa on the "Where's Santa" app on my phone.   On Christmas Eve, my family goes to church together and then we usually eat dinner at Japanese Steakhouse.  When we get home, my two sisters (11 years old) get to unwrap one present.  It's usually a movie, which we hope will put them to sleep to Santa can come. Yes, we are lucky enough that one of them still believes in Santa. :)  

On Christmas morning, my 21 year old sister instigates and wakes up my two 11 year old sisters very early in the morning! We pull ourselves out of bed and open presents.  After this we usually eat breakfast (some go back to bed for a little bit) and then we relax the rest of the day and enjoy family.

My husband and I are quite boring on New Year's Eve.  We like to spend it when my 11 year old sisters.  We play games, build gingerbread houses, do fire works, and eat.  They love it and feel so cool when they drink their sparkling grape juice of their "fancy cups" as they call them.  We like to hang out with them and talk about all of the great things they achieved in the past year and find out what their goals for the future are.  

Lupus

What is lupus?
Lupus is an auto immune disease that can damage any part of the body.  Basically, your body attacks itself because your immune system can no longer tell the difference between foreign invaders (bacteria, virus) and healthy tissues.  Lupus is different for anyone and can attack any part of your body including organs, muscles, and joints.

What are the common symptoms of Lupus?

• Extreme Fatigue
• Headaches
• Painful, or swollen joints
• Fever
• Anemia
• Swelling
• Pain in chest
• Butterfly shaped rash on face
• Sun, or light sensitivity 
• Hair loss
• Abnormal blood clotting
• Fingers turning white, or blue
• Mouth, or nose ulcers

http://www.lupus.org/answers/entry/explaining-lupus

I was diagnosed with lupus 3.5 years ago, although the doctors seem to think it started about 5, or more years before the actual diagnosis. My Lupus flares up severely when the weather changes quickly.  It's a very frustrating disease because there is really nothing the doctors can do except try to keep you "comfortable" and handle new symptoms as they appear.  The most frustrating part of all of it is the fact that I don't "look" sick, even though I am in unbearable pain everyday.  People have no idea how much it takes for me to do "normal" things such as balance school, work, and everything else that I do.  Friends don't always understand why I don't want to go out and would rather stay home and relax.  It's not that I don't want to, it's that I'm exhausted and don't want to feel worse than I already do.

The Lupus is attacking my joints and muscles, so I am on strong anti imflamatories to help with the joint swelling and I still swell. I have pleurisy about 80% of the year, which is the swelling of the tissues that line your lungs and chest wall.  It's causes severe pain when I breathe. It has also given me severe fatigue.  I never have any energy and am constantly exhausted.  I sleep about 12 hours every night and I still force myself out of bed and feel tired.  The only hope for energy I have is steroids and I currently cannot take them due to a digestive issue I am having.  I have to have an endoscopy in a few weeks, which the doctors are assuming will show stomach ulcers and swelling in my esophagus, which makes it painful to eat. I also have horrible blood circulation, which causes my fingers and feet to always be funny colored and numb, even if I'm hot.  It's very painful and annoying. With Lupus, it's always a never ending battle.  I get one issue taken care of and my body decides to go after something else. My doctors have told me that the cartilage in my knees and hips are gone and that at this point, it's bone rubbing bone.  They predict that I will need both knees and hips replaced by the time I'm 30 years old.  

I think Lupus is very misunderstood disease.