Do you want to be the one to tell Henry VIII that this meme is over?

I sure don’t!

Feeling festive? I hope we all are, by now! So that you can enjoy the holiday season and keep our favourite historical family in mind at the same time, I give you my Tudor-inspired toastmakers to enjoy* during the Christmas season, for New Years, for the third Thursday in January, or for whenever you like. (Yes, there are generalisations of each Tudor’s personality in this piece and I realise that we can’t pigeonhole them with just a few words; please allow the descriptions for the sake of the post. Thanks!)

The Henry VII (dependable and non-extravagant) Mix a bottle of shiraz with 1 cup of orange juice, 2 cinnamon sticks, 1 sliced orange, 1 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of cardamom pods, and about 5 whole cloves. Simmer and serve very warm.

The Henry VIII (big and charismatic) Drop 2 big scoops of dark chocolate ice cream into a frosty mug and top with cold Guinness.

The Catherine of Aragon (long-lasting and loyal) For white sangria, mix 1 bottle of white Rioja with 1/4 cup sugar, 1 sliced peach, 1 sliced mango, 1 cup sliced strawberries, 2 sliced apples, and 1 sliced lime in a large punch bowl. Add ice.  

The Anne Boleyn (spicy and spirited) In a martini glass, pour 2 oz vodka, 2 0z ginger brandy, and 1/4 cup lime juice; mix.

The Jane Seymour (low-key and family-oriented) For non-alcoholic eggnog, slowly heat 1 cup of milk and a 1/4 cup of condensed milk with a pinch of cloves and cinnamon in a saucepan. In a separate bowl, whisk 2 egg yolks with 1/3 cup sugar. Very slowly, whisk some of the the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture drop by drop, then add it all back to the saucepan with a sprinkle of nutmeg and 1/2 cup heavy cream, whisking constantly.

The Anne of Cleves (pleasant and barely noticeable) Pour a tall wine glass of cold riesling and garnish with a lemon wedge

The Katherine Howard (light and bubbly) Add just a drop of peach nectar to a Champagne flute, top with Champagne or sparkling wine, and float a few fun raspberries at the top 

The Catherine Parr (a strong ending) To a cup of hot coffee, add  1/2 cup Frangelico or other hazelnut liqueur. Top with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkling of ground cocoa.

The Edward VI (small and a bit salty/sour!) Make a mini-margarita by combining 1/2 cup of lime juice with 1 oz tequila and a splash of triple sec, over ice. Be sure to salt the rim! 

The Lady Jane Grey (over in an instant!) Mix 1/2 oz of amaretto with 1/2 oz of Kahlua, add a splash of cream, down as a shot, finished!

The Mary I (old-fashioned and staunch) Pour a dash of Angostura bitters and an equal amount of water over 1 tbsp sugar, add 1 1/2 oz  whiskey and set a twist of lemon peel on top.

The Elizabeth I (the center of attention) Pour 1 1/2 oz peppermint schnapps into a heat-proof glass, add 1 1/2 oz of Bacardi 151 and a splash of pomegranate juice, stand well back and carefully light with a long match or lighter, blow out after a few seconds.**

*Enjoy responsibly and if you’re of-age, of course.  **Obviously, do not drink this whilst it is still flaming and I have no responsibility for complications that come from this process. ***Silly that anyone needs to add disclaimers such as these but at the present time it seems the norm.

So I had a bit of fun this morning with the famous Henry VIII portrait, as you can see above. You’ll need to click on the image for the full effect.

Okay, okay, back to work for me!

See that pic above? I took it last weekend in Philadelphia, when I was home for Thanksgiving. Doesn’t it give you that sense of joy and holiday cheer?

This is the finale of a Philly-area tradition, the Wanamaker’s Light Show which began in 1956. Having grown up in South Jersey, I’ve seen this show about a zillion times. This old-fashioned department store in Center City used to be John Wanamaker’s but became Macy’s in 1995. I’m still calling it Wanamaker’s, so there.  

The tradition goes like this: You drop by the store between the day after Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, and you hit the floor. Literally. Just stop on the big red carpet in the center of the main floor, where the famous eagle statue is (visible above), throw your coat down, lounge around, and wait for the next [free] show to start. Don’t worry about having to sit on the floor; everyone does it. The show starts every hour on the hour for most of the day, and runs about 10-ish minutes.

More details on the show can be found here. If you simply can’t make it, there are videos on YouTube but it’s not the same as sitting on the floor of a beautiful old department store with tons of other people who are in the Christmas spirit.  

Anyway, what’s this have to do with the Tudors? Not a whole heck of a lot, but it just makes me happy to look at that picture and think of the joy of the season that the Light Show brings. And as it is now December (and I finally dragged in all the decorations from the garage this morning, to start decking our halls today), I was thinking how super it would be if Facebook and Twitter (which I use profusely for the blog) would jump on board with my Comfort-and-Joy Challenge.

What is the Comfort-and-Joy Challenge? It’s the promise to stick to positive thoughts, posts, tweets, comments, and so on, At this time of year we are surrounded by so much beauty: the lights, the magic, the miracles, the sense of peace and good will, the cheery songs. Well, then there’s “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” and that’s kinda mean. And of course “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” which is a tad ‘sexual harassment’ by some modern standards, although I love it for its mid-century stylish cheek. Anyhoo…

So if you’re on-board, “like” the FB page I created on the topic, or make a promise — silently or via a post, tweet, whatever ya got – that you’re taking the Comfort-and-Joy Challenge this month. No fighting, no drama, no complaining, just sticking to comfort, joy, lightness, and warmth in your social network communications this month.

(We’ve always got January to get grouchy again, what with Seasonal Affective Disorder in full swing and all by then! No, just kidding.)

Being a former teacher, I like to mull around the education section of the bookstore, which is exactly what I did this morning at Barnes & Noble (after having sat down for a while with my hazelnut latte and a pile of magazines). I flipped through an interesting book by Ron Clark called The End of Molasses Classes: Getting Our Kids Unstuck — 101 Extraordinary Solutions for Parents and Teachers  and came across a tidbit I just had to share with my fellow Tudorphiles:

Whilst teaching a roomful of 6th graders about Anne Boleyn’s demise, Clark asked the class what we would call a person who did what Anne was accused of having done. When met with silence, he emphasised that Anne had been accused of being unfaithful to the king and therefore betrayed her country, so she would be a ….  (nope, nothing but silence again).

Clark asked once more tried but tried a bit of spelling help: ”C’mon, she would be a T – R – A …” 

A little light went on for the whole class as they finally responded in unison, “Tramp!!”

Copyright: The Tudor Tutor

What can you expect from the Tudor Tutor in the social networking world?

If you “like” my Facebook page, you’ll hear from me once or twice per weekday, on average (and sometimes on weekends). I’ll link you to the latest blog post, share a Tudor-related newsstory with you, commemorate “this day in Tudor history,” or ask open-ended questions on the time period and its players, starting up a discussion among those who “like” the page.

If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll get lots of Tudor-related news, video, facts, and photos during the day (mostly on weekdays). I’ll also link you to the latest blog post, reflect on “this day in Tudor history,” and go off on occasional tangents about coffee, food, Harry Potter, and current events. I love to retweet, so I’ll put interesting tweets I see right in your path as well.

Join me on the Tudor Tutor Facebook page, Twitter account, or both and I promise to keep you in the loop on the “latest” from 500 years gone by!

* Like those awesome cupcakes in the pic above? They’re from this Etsy page.

Image by pj_in_oz via Flickr

Ideally, history (and literature, and science, and all the Veddy Veddy Serious Subjects) should only be taught using heavy, dull textbooks, quoting the most stuffy experts, no fun allowed.

… If you have read my blog at all before this, you know this is the opposite of how I feel. I respect academia, obviously, but see no reason why the facts (which do not include “revisionist history,” by the way) can only be approached in a dry manner.  

Take, for instance, that great Tudor entertainer William Shakespeare. I’ve read his works and I’ve taught his plays to high schoolers. But before I ever cracked open a Shakespearean play as a student myself, I learned — and still remember – part of “Romeo and Juliet”‘s famous “Queen Mab” monologue from this trippy Duran Duran video. True story. The monologue-bit starts at 1:15.

It’s not how you learn your Veddy Veddy Serious Subjects. It’s that you remember the details, even years later. And the bonus is when you have fun getting there!

One Deriana, of DeriDolls, had created adorable felt Tudors!  The detail is outstanding. If you don’t believe me, note that Felt Henry is complete with codpiece. Henry and his gals are for sale on this page at the Anne Boleyn Files.

She’s also made cutie-pie Jack the Ripper, if the Victorian era is more your speed. There are many more dolls here, some historical (Marie Antoinette, Cardinal Richelieu, Eleanor of Acquitaine), some literary (Peter Pan and Wendy, Eponine), even some from TV and pop culture (“Blackadder”‘s Baldrick, Wolverine, Holly Golightly, Edward Scissorhands).

These  teachers in Hawaii have made some fantastic videos to drive home their educational points on Mary Queen of Scots, Marie Antoinette, The Spanish Inquisition, Anne Boleyn, and many more. Check out their entire catalog of history hits on their YouTube channel!