Lady of the Mote's shared items

Friday, December 5, 2008

National Tinstel,AND Rubber Duckie Day

National Tinstel Day

According to legend, tinsel came about as a Christmas tree decoration due to a sad tale of a woman whose husband had passed away. She was left with several children to raise and worked very hard to support them. She worked hard on a tree to greet the children on Christmas day, but during the night, spiders spun webs through the limbs of her tree. According to legend, the Christ child witnessed the webbing and knowing the woman would be devastated to find all her work ruined, he changed to webs into silver.

Tinsel was first used in Germany in 1610 and was originally made of silver. Machines were invented to stretch out the silver into thin strips soon afterward and inventors tried unsuccessfully to create tinsel from a mixture of lead and tin. However, the mixed tinsel tended to be too heavy and prone to breaking, so people reverted to the use of silver until the mid-20th century.

And......

it's also National Rubber Duckie Day!!!




Rubber Duckies
History(Wikipedia)
The origin of the rubber duck is not known, but its history is inevitably linked to the emergence of rubber manufacturing in the late 1800s. The earliest rubber ducks were made from harder rubber and lacked squeakers. The yellow rubber duck has achieved an iconic status in American pop culture and is often symbolically linked to bathing or bath tubs and bubbles and to babies and toddlers.
Jim Henson popularized rubber ducks in 1970, performing "Rubber Duckie" as Ernie, a popular Muppet from Sesame Street. The song had two follow-ups, "Do de Rubber Duck" and "DUCKIE," and Ernie frequently spoke to his duck and carried it with him in other segments of the show. The song "Rubber Duckie" and many of the characters of the show were done by Jim Henson.
As the rubber duck has grown in popularity over the years, many variants are sold, including "devil ducks," "dead ducks," and "bride and groom" ducks.
In 2001, The Sun, a British tabloid newspaper reported that Queen Elizabeth II has a rubber duck in her bathroom that wears an inflatable crown. The duck was spotted by a workman who was repainting her bathroom.[1] The story prompted sales of rubber ducks in the United Kingdom to increase by 80% for a short period.
Rubber ducks are collected by a small number of enthusiasts in countries including the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Japan, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, United States, and the Netherlands. The 2007 Guinness World Record for World's Largest Rubber Duck Collection numbered 2,583 unique rubber ducks was awarded to Charlotte Lee of Duckplanet.com.
The rubber duck can be referred to informally as a "rubber duckie" or a "rubber ducky." Amongst collectors of rubber ducks, the spelling "rubber duckie" has achieved prominence, but both spellings are considered acceptable.

So float your ducks and throw your tinstel about and have a very blessed day,
Lady of the Mote

7 comments:

Shelley said...

Interesting stories of the origins of both! I remember when I was kid and we had tinsel on the tree and the cat ate some and tinsel was hanging out of his behind -
:-o

Dawn Marie said...

How sad about the tinsel story--I just hate that any human being EVER has to be sad. I sure pray one day--all smiles we be returned!

The rubber duckie--oh how cute he is--I have one! Its a white one. I like the ones with the Santa hats. I sure miss Ernie singing that song. When our kids were little-it was on in our house all day long. Nothing better...oh and Fred Rogers!

Gwendolyn said...

I am not fond of tinsel, but rubber ducks are the coolest! :o) I will float one in my bathtub tonight to celebrate. LOL

Mimi said...

I've never heard that about tinsel, thank you.

I am intrigued by the name of your blog, as Mote is a family last name.

Linda@ Lime in the Coconut said...

well...who knew?!

We'll be hanging our tinsel tonight...happen to love old fshioned tinsel!

One Shabby Old House said...

That was very interesting lady of the Mote. Thanks for sharing.
Becky

M.L. @ The House of Whimsy said...

Every time I hear about tinsel, I think of my childhood when my mom made sure we put it on one strand at a time so as to look perfectly beautiful. I also remember one time when my brother and I (just for the thrill of it) took a handful and threw it at the tree. My mom had gone out of the room (of course). After the awful deed, we looked at eachother and laughed with pure delight at what we had gotten away with. What a couple of goofs.
I loved your wreath and slideshow below.