Christmas Special!

     Hello! This week I wanted to do a Christmas Post since ITS ALMOST CHRISTMAS! Yay!!

History of Christmas
(Info found on: Christmas Wikipedia)

     Christmas is a christian religious holiday celebrated all over the world. It is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Except his actually birthday is unknown. So we aren't sure when exactly he was born. Christmas is a public holiday in many countries. Some countries there aren't even that many Christians! Periods of former colonial rule introduced the celebration in some Non-christian countries. Santa Claus, a very popular Christmas character, is based on Saint Nicholas who was known to give out gifts.

        There is a long history for decorating on Christmas. In the 15th Century, in London, at was a custom that at Christmas every house and all the parish churches were to be "decked with holm, ivy, bay, and whatsoever the season of the year afforded to be green." The heart shaped leaves on the ivy represented the coming of Jesus Christ, the holly was for protection from pagans and witches and the thorns and red berries represented the Crown of Thorns worn by Jesus on his crucifixion and the blood that he shed. The colors of Christmas, red and green, are popular too. The red symbolizes the blood that Jesus shed, and the green represents eternal life, like the evergreen tree, the trees that are used on Christmas. All around the world people celebrate Christmas differently. Here, we celebrate by visiting family and friends and giving gifts. Even here many families have special traditions like how I go to a family-friends house and we call out peoples names for gifts every year!

Christmas Songs

Here in the US, many artists have Christmas albums. Some songs are original and others are covers of traditional songs. For example Justin Bieber has a Christmas album called Under The Mistletoe Most of his songs like Christmas Love and Mistletoe are originals. Songs like The Christmas Song (Chestnuts roasting on an open fire) is a cover of a traditional. Other artists like Michael Buble and Mariah Carey have Christmas songs too. More artists that have Christmas albums include: Colbie Calliat, Blake Shelton, and Christina Perri. One popular song is Mariah Carey's version of All I Want For Christmas Is You. 

During this time of year, many radio stations start playing christmas carols like Jingle Bells and Winter Wonderland. There are many traditional Christmas carols that people sing during Christmas. Here are some of the most popular:

I hope you enjoyed this weeks blog post! 

What are some of YOUR family traditions during Christmas?

Do you have any favorite Christmas songs?

-Johanne(:

     

Artist: Taylor Swift

Hello! I wanted this week's blog post to be about an artist. Lately I have been very fond of Taylor Swift. So, I want this post to be about her! Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13th, 1989 and was raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. She moved to Nashville, Tennessee when she was 14 to pursue a career in country music. She was signed to an independent label Big Machine Records. She was also named the youngest singer/songwriter ever hired by Sony/ATV Music Publishing House. She became the youngest person to single-handedly write and perform a number one song in the country chart after she released her third single, "Our Song" Another acheivment was that she was nominated for Best New Artist Grammy award and won.

Taylor is now 23 (her birthday was yesterday) with 4 studio albums. Her recent album is Red which was released on October 12th. On a gossip show a few days ago I saw that she was the second most rich female artist with 57 million dollars. I really like Taylor Swift because her songs have so much meaning to them since she writes her songs herself. Some of her songs are co-written. Taylor is also a very down-to-earth and sweet person. I recommend you listen to her songs and listen to her latest album Red! Thank you for reading this weeks blog post!! :) -Johanne

Song Of The Week (Week 3)

Hello! I decided I would do a song of the week every few weeks then do other posts(: This week I want to talk about the song Red by Taylor Swift. This song was released on October 2, 2012. Very recently. Red is also the name of her latest album which was released October 22,2012. It was written by Taylor herself and was actually recorded in Blackbird Studios (Nashville, Tennessee) The genre is country pop and pop rock. Here is a video for the song:
(Info found on: Red By Taylor Swift Wikipedia)

I think this song has a really deep meaning to it. Unlike most of her songs, this actually isn't referring to any exes.
"Remembering him comes in flashbacks, and echoes
tell myself its time now, gotta let go
but moving on from him is impossible
when I still see it all in my head"
I think these lyrics means like she has to let go, but she really doesn't want to and can't just forget him. Here is another set of lyrics:
"Losing him was blue like I've never known
missing him was dark grey all alone
forgetting him is like tryin' to know somebody you've never met
loving him was red"
Now, these lyrics mean that she doesn't want to lose him, misses him a lot, and it is really hard to forget him. 'Loving him was red' i think means that loving him is hard, but she really loves him too much to let go. Taylor's songs really have deep meanings to it, such as this song. I suggest you listen to Red and also listen to her album!
(Full lyrics:http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/taylorswift/red.html)

THANK YOU for reading this weeks blog post! QUESTION: Do you like Taylor Swift? What are some of your fave songs by her? COMMENT BELOW! :D -Johanne