Category: Holidays

7 Hats of Christmas: Day 1

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Hello and welcome! We have a lovely surprise for you, and so right for this festive season.

Starting today, Monday, December 19th, we are posting a Christmas hat every day, through Sunday December 25th. Seven straight days of charming, yuletide hats. Let’s get started.

To kick off the festivities we chose this golden classic hat embellished with a trio of jolly white jingle bells.

Gilda Hattingdon

The Jingle Bell song

The song ‘Jingle Bells’ was written by James Lord Pierpont. His nephew is J.P. Morgan. Yes, that J.P. Morgan.

Originally named “One Horse Open Sleigh” when written in 1857, Pierpont later copyrighted it as “Jingle Bells, or the One Horse Open Sleigh.”

‘Jingle Bells’ was not meant to be a Christmas song. The song was actually first performed at a Thanksgiving church service and was never intended to be a Christmas staple.

Read the lyrics, and you will notice there is actually no mention of Christmas, Thanksgiving, or any holiday for that matter.

The song became associated with Christmas only decades after it was performed on September 15, 1857, on Washington Street in Boston, according to a researcher at Boston University, Kyna Hamill.

» Source: CNN

See you tomorrow.

Hattingdon H Logo in her signature brown.

Updated 9:18 am EST.

Created by ©Vivian J Grant. All Rights Reserved.

Stars and Stripes Classic

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We wanted to post Liberty Hattingdon today . . . . which we did. About 10 minutes ago. We also wanted to post a classic hat being it is Monday. So, we are double posting today!

Classic

Without further ado, here is Gloria —with a coordinating firecracker . . . . naturally.

Gloria Hattingdon with firecracker.
Gloria.

Firecrackers

Many historians believe that fireworks originally were developed in the second century B.C. in ancient Liuyang, China. It is believed that the first natural “firecrackers” were bamboo stalks that when thrown in a fire, would explode with a bang because of the overheating of the hollow air pockets in the bamboo. The Chinese believed these natural “firecrackers” would ward off evil spirits. Source: American Pyro.

Thunder Over Louisville Fireworks. WKRB TV.

Fireworks

The very first fireworks were used as early as 200 BC. However, the tradition of setting off fireworks on the 4th of July began in Philadelphia on July 4, 1777, during the first organized celebration of Independence Day.

The Farmer’s Almanac tells us, “It is also said, that fireworks displays were used as morale boosters for soldiers in the Revolutionary War. At the time however, fireworks were the same type of explosives used in war and were called rockets, not fireworks. And so colonists celebrated the fourth even before they knew if they would win the war.”

Signing

The Declaration of Independence was announced on July 4th, though the formal signing didn’t occur until August 2nd, and the colonies actually voted to accept it on July 2nd.

There’s all kinds of cool stuff at the Farmer’s Almanac. Have a safe and happy 4th!

Hattingdon H Logo in her signature brown.

©Vivian J Grant. All Rights Reserved.

Happy Flag Day

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In keeping with the Flag Act of 1777, Betsy Ross, an upholsterer from Philadelphia, created the earliest design for the national flag of the United States. It had red and white stripes outermost with thirteen white stars arranged in a circle against a dark blue background in its upper left hand corner.

Flag Day in the United States, now called National Flag Day, is a holiday commemorating the date in 1777 when the United States approved the Betsy Ross design for its first national flag.

First US flag, the original Stars and Stripes, created by Betsy Ross.
First US flag, the original Stars and Stripes, created by Betsy Ross.

Pres. Woodrow Wilson proclaimed June 14 as the official date for Flag Day, and in 1949 the US Congress permanently established the date as National Flag Day. The resolution read: “Resolved, that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field representing a new constellation.”

Each star represented a state and each stripe represented the 13 colonies that declared independence from Great Britain. The colors of the flag were inherited from British flags and have no official meaning.

Betsy Hattingdon.

We celebrate National Flag Day with our “Betsy” hat inspired by and in homage to Betsy Ross. Our design tribute has six red stripes, five white stripes and 21 stars.

Hattingdon H Logo in her signature brown.

©Vivian J Grant. All Rights Reserved.

Happy Cinco de Mayo

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Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for “Fifth of May”) is a yearly celebration which commemorates the anniversary of Mexico’s victory over the French Empire at the Battle of Puebla in 1862, led by General Ignacio Zaragoza.

Fiesta Hattingdon.

Cinco de Mayo celebrations began in California, where they have been observed annually since 1863.

More popular in the United States than Mexico, Cinco de Mayo has become associated with the celebration of Mexican-American culture.

The day gained nationwide popularity beyond those of Mexican-American heritage in the 1980s due to advertising campaigns by beer, wine, and tequila companies.

Today, Cinco de Mayo generates beer sales on par with the Super Bowl.

Hattingdon H Logo in her signature brown.

© Vivian J. Grant.

Happy Valentine’s Day

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Let’s celebrate Valentine’s Day 2022 with a sweet hat, quotes on love and romantic poetry.

The Hat

Heidi's x's and o's hat in gorgeous pink.
Heidi Hattingdon Pink.

And now . . . words of love to go with it.

Poetic Quotes

“Drink to me only with thine eyes, And I will pledge with mine; Or leave a kiss but in the cup, And I’ll not look for wine.” – Ben Jonson, Song: To Celia

“And the sunlight clasps the earth, And the moonbeams kiss the sea – What are all these kissings worth if thou wilt kiss not me?” Percy Bysshe Shelley, Love’s Philosophy

“If certain, when this life was out, That yours and mine should be, I’d toss it yonder like a rind, And taste eternity.” – Emily Dickinson, If You Were Coming in the Fall

“O, my luve’s like a red, red rose, That’s newly sprung in June.” – Robert Burns, My Luve Is Like A Red Red Rose

The Brownings

The poet Robert Browning evokes the thrill of the chase in the beginning lines of “Life in a Love”. Robert Browning was successful in the pursuit of his beloved Elizabeth Barrett with whom he began a secret courtship, exchanged hundreds of love letters and eventually eloped. Their love story is one of the most romantic ones in literary history. He writes:

Escape me?
Never—
Beloved!
While I am I, and you are you,
So long as the world contains us both,
Me the loving and you the loth,
While the one eludes, must the other pursue.

Life in a Love, Robert Browning

There’s no joy as fulfilling as reciprocated love. Elizabeth Barrett Browning returned Robert Browning’s affection wholly and truly. In one of the most famous sonnets ever written. In it she expresses the depth and intensity of her love for her soon to be husband. The poem depicts an ideal love that’s powerful, all-encompassing, pure, passionate and enduring and that even transcends death.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Sonnets from the Portuguese 43, Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Hugs and kisses and millinery blisses,

Love, Hattingdon

Hattingdon H Logo in her signature brown.

By © Vivian Grant

Nat’l Plum Pudding Day

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Hello there. Not sure why we are celebrating plum pudding in February, except it is listed on the National Day Calendar!

Hattingdon’s not complaining. She adores her plum pudding hat. Here she is, modeling it for us.

Plum Pudding Hattingdon.

The name Christmas pudding is first recorded in 1858 in a novel by Anthony Trollope.

What’s in it?

Plum pudding is usually made up of nutmeg, raisins, nuts, apples, cinnamon, and dates, along with other ingredients.  In England, traditionally every person in the home holds onto the wooden spoon together to help stir the batter. While they are stirring, they also make a wish!  Plum pudding is also called plum duff.

See you again soon.

Hattingdon H Logo in her signature brown.

© Vivian J. Grant