Just 10 Days to Saturnalia!

5 years ago, when I first started this JustJoeP endeavor after being prompted by my buddy Ron to do so, I incorrectly spelled "Saturnalia" as "Saturnaria" and wished everyone a "Joyful Saturnaria" as well as Merry Christmas, Blessed (late) Eid, Happy Hanukkah, and a Happy New Year (link here).  Well, this year, Hanukkah is already behind us, occurring at Easter (Nov 27th to Dec 5th).  Eid was WAY back in August (7th & 8th) - living in the medieval Arabian desert, and dictating calendars for holy days, with a strict sense of obedience to not change or modify that calendar when it tends to drift after a few 100 years is a hallmark of fundamentalist dogmatism.

But the Western calendar was handed down by the Romans, and embraced by the Roman Catholic church who propagated it globally, and Saturnalia begins December 17th ("the farmer should have finished his autumn planting") link here.  Since today is December 7th here in California (as I write this), there's just 10 days left before Saturnalia begins!  Hooray!

To celebrate the holiday season, we put out lights and wreaths around our very green & temperate yard. We had to adapt the Phoenix lighting scheme to our new environs, and had the addition of several sets of blue LED lights which we've found to be phenomenally bright (bought after Christmas last year, on massive mark-down). So while there are no more cacti, there are many more - and much larger - palm trees and street facing windows.



Happy Saturnalia to all!   And if you celebrate Christmas, then a Merry Christmas to you as well.