Here We Come A-Wassailing

(As with most carols, there are several versions)

Here we come a-wassailing
Among the leaves so green;
Here we come a-wand'ring
So fair to be seen.

REFRAIN:
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail too;
And God bless you and send you a Happy New Year
And God send you a Happy New Year.

Our wassail cup is made
Of the rosemary tree,
And so is your beer
Of the best barley.

REFRAIN

We are not daily beggars
That beg from door to door;
But we are neighbours' children,
Whom you have seen before.

REFRAIN

Call up the butler of this house,
Put on his golden ring.
Let him bring us up a glass of beer,
And better we shall sing.

REFRAIN

We have got a little purse
Of stretching leather skin;
We want a little of your money
To line it well within.

REFRAIN

Bring us out a table
And spread it with a cloth;
Bring us out a mouldy cheese,
And some of your Christmas loaf.

REFRAIN

God bless the master of this house
Likewise the mistress too,
And all the little children
That round the table go

REFRAIN

Good master and good mistress,
While you're sitting by the fire,
Pray think of us poor children
Who are wandering in the mire.

REFRAIN

Here We Come A-Wassailing (or Here We Come A-Caroling) is a Christmas carol and New Years song. It refers to 'wassailing', or singing carols door to door.[1].

An old English wassail song, or song to wish good health, which is what "wassail" means.
According to Readers Digest; "the Christmas spirit often made the rich a little more generous than usual, and bands of beggars and orphans used to dance their way through the snowy streets of England, offering to sing good cheer and to tell good fortune if the householder would give them a drink from his wassail bowl or a penny or a pork pie or, let them stand for a few minutes beside the warmth of his hearth.

The wassail bowl itself was a hearty combination of hot ale or beer and spices and mead, just alcoholic enough to warm tingling toes and fingers of the singers"

info found at wikipedia

Spiced Wassail

Ingredients

* 1 quart unsweetened apple juice
* 3 cups unsweetened pineapple juice
* 2 cups cranberry juice
* 1 navel orange, sliced
* 1 medium lemon, sliced
* 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 3 whole cloves
* 1 (3 inch) stick cinnamon, broken

Directions

1) In a large saucepan, combine all of the ingredients.
2) Bring to a boil.
3) Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
4) Discard the orange and lemon slices, cloves and cinnamon before serving.

The Legend of the Christmas Spider

On Christmas eve, a long time ago, a gentle mother was busily cleaning the house for the most wonderful day of the year... Christmas day, the day on which the little Christ child came to bless the house. Not a speck of dust was left. Even the spiders had been banished from their cozy corner on the ceiling. They had fled to the farthest corner of the attic.

The Christmas tree was beautifully decorated. The poor spiders were frantic, for they could not see the tree, nor be present for the little Christ child's visit. Then the oldest and wisest spider suggested that perhaps they could wait until everyone went to bed and then get a closer look.

When the house was dark and silent, the spiders crept out of their hiding place. When they neared the Christmas tree, they were delighted with the beauty of it. The spiders crept all over the tree, up and down, over the branches and twigs and saw every one of the pretty things.

The spiders loved the Christmas tree. All night long they danced in the branches, leaving them covered with spider webs. In the morning, when the little Christ child came to bless the house, he was dismayed! He loved the little spiders for they were God's creatures, but he knew the mother, who had worked so hard to make everything perfect, would not be pleased when she saw what the spiders had done.

With love in his heart and a smile on his lips, the little Christ child reached out and gently touched the spider webs. The spider webs started to sparkle and shine! They had all turned into sparkling, shimmering silver and gold.

According to legend, ever since this happened, people have hung tinsel on their Christmas trees. It has also become a custom to include a spider among the decorations on the Christmas tree.




A version of this story can be found in Shirley Climo's picture book "A Cobweb Christmas".




Super Simple Spider Cookies

Ingredients:
• 2 chocolate wafer cookies (another wafer like cookie would also work ...you can also just use a sandwich cookie but it doesn't work quite as well)
• white icing (another color would work it depends on the look you want)
• shoestring licorice
Redhots or other small candies for eyes

Directions:
1. Place one wafer upside down on a plate; cover with icing.

2. Place either 4 long stripes of shoestring licorice or 8 short, (for legs)

3. Place the remaining wafer on top.

4. Use icing to attach 2 candies for eyes.




Second Simple Spider Cookies

Ingredients:
• 2 Tbsp Peanut butter
• 2 Tbsp Powdered sugar
• 2 Tbsp Graham cracker crumbs
• 2 Tbsp Coconut
• Licorice
• Raisins

Directions:
1. Mix peanut butter, sugar and crumbs together and form a ball.
2. Divide the ball into 2 parts to form 2 balls, 1 slightly smaller than the other.
3. Roll balls in coconut and place smaller ball on top of larger one.
4. The smaller ball with be the head and the larger 1, the abdomen.
5. Add 8 licorice legs
6. Use raisins for eyes (8 eyes would be accurate but creepy)

Check out the crafts related to this story at my StorytellingCraftsAndKids.blogspot.com site