Christmas Carol Trivia

How well do you know your history and Christmas Carols?


1.This song was written in 1984 when a pastor asked Mark Lowery to write a program for the living Christmas Tree choir presentation.



2. This carol was first published in Carols Ancient and Modern (1823)


3. Santa believers presents in Australia with what?


4. What went "Zip when it moved and Pop when it stopped, Whirr when it stood still"?


5. This carol's original manuscript was lost but was re-found in 1995 and was dated to ca 1820


6. This carol originally was told the tale of a swallow flying into a house to proclaim the plentiful and bountiful year that a family will have


7. Is a traditional Yuletide/Christmas and New Years Carol


8. Was featured in the Lemon Drop Kid


9. Victor Herbert describes a land for Boys and Girls, what land is this?


10. "Go tell it on the _________, over the hills and everywhere;"

11. At the age of 29, English writer William Chatterton Dix was struck with a near fatal illness and wrote several hymns including this popular one 

12. What was the name of the horse in Jingle Bells?

13. Why do I want my two front teeth for Christmas?

14.This is an English- language oratorio in 1741 and has 3 parts to it

15. Who was the only reindeer mentioned in "Here Comes Santa Claus"?

16. K.K Davis' song was first recorded by the Trapp Family Singers in 1955 

17. This song is a tongue in cheek look at a Christmas wish list sung by a woman who wants extravagant gifts

18. Which song is considered a lullaby?   

19. What colour was Elvis Presley' Christmas?

20. This Christmas carol was written by Rev John Henry Hopkins Jr


21. Bob Geldof saw this as a report on BBC and wanted to raise money for it with this song

22. In "O' Little Town of Bethlehem" where do stars go by?

23. ____________ is a Christmas carol of German origin


24.This carol was composed by Adolphe Adam to the French poem "Minut, Chretiens".


25. This carol was based on Psalm 98.


26. Charles Wesley envisioned this song being sung to the same song as Christ the Lord is Risen Today


27. Chris de Burgh was reading Chariots of the Gods and came up with this song


28.___________! Merrily on High In Heav'n bells are ringing


29. This carol was published in 1833 by William B Sandys though the author is unknown


30. Who is cuddly as a cactus and charming as an eel?

3 Years already? Crazy!

A few days ago I "celebrated" my third year on Twitter. I can not believe how fast that time has gone by already! It feels like just yesterday I was signing up on a website that no one really have heard of. Since then I have meet some of the most amazing people and gave some opportunities that I think I would have never had at all. 
I can't wait to see what the next three years brings me.

Government...

I can honestly say I truly hate dealing with government people. Whenever I have to deal with them it makes me so frustrated.
Calling, then having to navagate their crappy telepromot system, then sitting on hold for 40 mins, listening to the crappy elevator music with breaks in it saying ' thanks for your patience, your call is important to us.. Blah Blah Blah', then finding out that you called the wrong dept/place/person. Then your put through to the right person only to find out they aren't there. All the while you ran up your phone bill and killed your phone battery. All for nothing.
Oh not quite nothing, you know have a headache from beating your head against the desk from frustration.
And I thought the government was suppose to help?

Learning to Square Dance

While I was walking around Downtown catching some of the sights around Stephan Avenue and on my way to the all important Flour Square Pancake Breakfast yesterday I got stopped by another Calgary Stampede volunteer who asked me if I wanted to learn how to square dance 

A Royal Parade

I had the pleasure of walking this year's Stampede Parade (9 years of doing so!) and one of the Calgary Stampede volunteers took some video and pictures along the Parade Route.
Here is the video:

Video By: Ashley Proceviat 

One Facebook Trend I won't follow..

Lately, I have been noticing a lot of my friends and other people doing this trend on Facebook. The message goes: "Change your profile picture to a cartoon from your childhood. The goal? To not see a human face on FB till Monday, December 6th. Join the fight against child abuse. CHILD ABUSE IS UNACCEPTABLE!! Copy and paste to your status to invite your friends to do the same."

Health Canada, in the Child Maltreatment Section states child abuse as: "Child maltreatment can be categorized into several broad types including: physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect/failure to provide, and emotional maltreatment.

Some child abuse stats from around the world:

- Worldwide, approximately 40 million children are subjected to child abuse each year (WHO, 2000).

- A Canadian child abuse statistics survey done by Bibby in 2000 (2001)revealed that 56% of adolescents rated child abuse as their top societal concern.

- Adolescents experience maltreatment at rates equal to or exceeding those of younger children (Council on Scientific Affairs, 1993, p. 1850).

- Sexual abuse statistics vary between countries and reports, but are consistently alarming: One country's research indicates that up to 36% of girls and 29% of boys have suffered child sexual abuse; another study reveals up to 46% of girls and 20% of boys have experienced sexual coercion (The 57th session of the UN Commission on Human Rights).

- Each year, approximately one million more children around the world are introduced into commercial sexual exploitation (Casa Alianza, 2001).

- In a study of runaways presenting at an emergency ward who reported a history of maltreatment, 83% had disabilities as compared to 47% of the non-maltreatment runaways. Using information collected from schools, 34% of the maltreated had disabilities as opposed to 17% of the non-maltreated runaways (Sullivan, et al., 2000).

- Close to one-third of teens between ages 14 and 19 who participated in a Canadian study had experienced some kind of childhood abuse or neglect (Wolfe, 2001).

- Girl victims reported emotional distress, post-traumatic-stress related symptoms and acts of both violent and non-violent delinquency. Boy victims of child maltreatment reported far less emotional distress and delinquent behaviours; however, they were far more likely to assault their dating partners (Wolfe, 2001).

l won’t buy into this until someone explains to me how, exactly, changing ones facebook profile picture to a childhood memory will magically stop violence against children. Promoting awareness does nothing but make you feel good. Action is what creates change. Instead of using that money that you were going to spend on the DVD/Blu Ray box set of your favourite childhood that you rediscovered today by looking at all your friends pictures and looking on Ebay today? Give it to your local YWCA, shelter or this group called Little Warriors. Little Warriors is a sexual abuse education charitable organization that focuses on the education and prevention of child sexual abuse and also provides information to those people who need it. www.littlewarriors.ca

What is "Normal" really?

I was watching day time TV the other day which is really odd for me to do because I don't really have the time usually but this week I did for some reason. I was flipping channels and came across this one preview about on of Oprah's new show that she was doing What is Normal? She was going to discuss it with her audience, viewers and with her 2 favourite doctors that she helped along with their own TV careers: Dr Phil and Dr Oz. I can say that I am not a big fan of Oprah, Dr Phil or Dr Oz.Everyone has to be on the Oprah bandwagon (for example: I read an author way before Oprah discovered this person and once she 'discovered' him everyone had to read him. A few of my friends went oh this author is so good.. I am so glad Oprah found him. I went his been writing for years..good to know that you are on the bandwagon like everyone else.)

Oprah has a 'test' to on her website to see you are normal on her website: http://www.oprah.com/showinfo/Are-You-Normal-Take-the-Test_1 (I'll leave you a min or two to check out the website)

I find it a little odd that you can find out if you are 'Normal' by taking a test on Oprah's website. What happens if you answer a question differently is it going to say that you aren't normal at all?

The dictionary defines Normal as: 1. Conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; not abnormal; regular; natural. 2. serving to establish a standard 3. Psychology. a. approximately average in any psychological trait, as intelligence, personality, or emotional adjustment. b.free from any mental disorder; sane.

Normal is often perceived by society and social norms. But even that is flawed because it is influenced by how we are raised in groups we associate with. And with our own personal belief structures that we grew up with.

My one Professor asked as once to define for ourselves what we thought was normal but we couldn't because it was all different. Our definitions was all different and was influenced on how we grew up in society and the group we associated with as a group.

My friend said this as to the question "What is Normal":

It is a question that can be casually dismissed, or treated with philosophical rigor. The answer can be assumed self-evident, or open to an exhaustive debate. In truth, there are as many responses as there are people. Culture, race, gender, religious belief, age, status, genetics, income, education, and experience all have a say in what we perceive as normal. Where we find consensus, we find community.

I can say that there is no such thing is normal at all. We are all different in our own ways and that is what makes as special and human. What is so bad about being different?