You know her, you love her, she loves you. My guest this week is the lovely and fashionable, Mireille. In honor of the holiday season, Mireille has written this definition:
Mistletoe, n. A semi-sanctioned means of snagging some unsanctioned snog.
Mireille also offers the following Mistletoe history:
Mistletoe lore (with many thanks to Jonathan Briggs and The Mistletoe Pages):
• Hanging mistletoe and kissing loved ones, or complete strangers, beneath it is the pervasive Christmas custom defined above
• "The Ballad of the Mistletoe Bride" in which a Christmas bride plays hide and seek and gets suffocated in a trunk. *festive!*
• The 1948 Alfred Hitchcock film classic Rope uses the ballad as a plot base.
• Catching 'em and kissing 'em may be a remnant of an ancient fertility tradition: "European mistletoe, a parasitic plant growing on deciduous trees, can be seen as a symbol of the continuing 'life-force' -- vitality/fertility -- of the tree through the winter ... a fertility image completed by mistletoe’s shape and form: forking paired branches, paired leaves and berries full of white sticky juice hint of sexual imagery." *Have a Christmas cookie under that one*
• Druidic priesthood valued mistletoe as a peace symbol and in medicine. They harvested it with a golden sickle, never letting it touch the ground. Mistletoe on oak, the druids sacred tree, was especially valued.
• In Greek myth, Aeneas must search for his father Anchises in the abode of the dead. The Sibyl advises he must first seek and pluck the 'golden bough' (mistletoe) in the forest. Guided to the bough by doves sent by Venus, his mother, he found the branch, successfully visited his father, and returned.
• BUT WHAT DOES IT SMELL LIKE? *It's a stretch, but the word is from the Middle English mistilto, which has some relationship to basil ... so, like an herb? I doubt it.*
About Mireille: First, what's obvious- that Mireille alone is the reason that Seattle and not Saint Augustine is the warmest place in the United States. Mireille grips more people in a day on the blogs than the flu will all winter long. Let's see how many of us can hug her back just today. Mireille can handle it.
Her blog, C'est Chic is a place for five senses in a visual medium. Filled with scents and sounds and textures and memories, every post is an embrace. I suspect I'm not alone in admiring Mireille's eloquence, elegance and enthusiasm. For a guy who has a mnemonic that reminds him to use the pointy side of the comb, the perfume and make-up are just platforms for following Mireille's message that beauty belongs everywhere. xoxo.
How to be a future guest in this site: Just send an email to dpascover at mac dot com. On a future Wednesday, after posting that week's guest, I'll send you an email with a word to define. You'll be expected to return your definition along with a graphic representing either your definition or yourself by the following Saturday. The only rules are no profanity and no novels, please. And whatever I make up at the last minute.
39 comments:
Mireille is the perfect person to do a Christmas Mistletoe definition! I love it!! One of my favorite mistletoe scenes is from While You Were Sleeping.
Mireille - Loved your definition and Mistloe write up. You are one of the sweetest people I have not had the good fortune to officially meet yet. I'm going to make it a point to visit your site and also use the word snog today. :)
Doug - that was one of your best write ups, so kudos to you too.
XOXOXO, Mireille :))
Sockso Mireille! I already know and love Mireille. Good write up.
Mistletoe is romantic, yes. But it's a parasite that damages the tree it grows on. Kinda like, ummm...romance is the word I'm looking for.
But M. can make anything smell good.
Mistletoe: Oh I thought it was the toe that your neighbor hurled at you after your dog bit it off.
Great write Murielle, I certainly can’t top it so I went for silly.
Mireille -- great definition! And thanks for the info.
Doug, I do love Mireille. How could you NOT love such a sweet soul?
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX zockso to you, babe!
I've MET Mireille and she is indeed a totally warm, genuine person. Good job describing her.
:-)
Dddragon, I couldn't agree more except I don't know that movie.
Thanks, Sar!
XOXO, Karma.
Hahaha, TLP. Agreed.
AHHHHHHahaha! Alice. And you did it well. Silliness is welcome.
AP3, I have no idea how to not love Mireille, but it hardly seems worth the effort.
Welcome, Kate. I bet that was a hoot. Please, tell us: She was in blue jeans with a rubber band in her hair, wasn't she?
Kate, how did he know? Was he that guy in the car? xoxo
Zockso we love you! And I'd love to get Bucky under the mistletoe! Woof lick lick woof!
awwwww, Bucky thinks you're HOT, Icy. xoxo
Mireille, I'm just suspicious by nature.
OK, get a room, you two.
no one has ever kissed me under a mistletoe. in fact, i've never been under a mistletoe. in fact, i've never seen even one, in real life :(
I always confuse mistletoe with holly. I never know which sharp-little-green-thing I should buy and hang; why some berries are white and some red. I know I've confused them forever. Probably the reason I get handshakes instead of juicy smacks during The Season! Happy holidays to all of you who do know the difference (and warm hugs to those who don't)!
*I like Doug's Mama a lot*
Happy Holidays to you, Mother-of-Doug. He's a good kid. And very smart. Nice to his dogs. Possessor of a prime gene pool in his own right. If you know what I mean. ♥ xoxo mireille
Would someone please send Karma a sprig of mistletoe and a dozen male exotic dancers, please? ASAP!
It's the one with the red berries, Mama.
Zockso, Mireille. I'm sure I don't know what you mean. Maybe mom does, but I suspect I hope not.
Mireille's definition is just fantabulous! Who doesn't crack a smile at the idea of an unsanctioned snog? The mistletoe gives anyone an opportunity to steal a quick peck.
If you hang mistletoe, you're opening up the snogging floodgates.
Doug! Why are you lying to Yo Mama?
The berries of misteltoe are usually white, and they're toxic.
In more ways than one.
Actually mistletoe literally means "dung-on-a-twig."
Great definition Mireille! Captivating and dangerous... just like love I'm afraid...
All my senses are in a tizzy!
Doug, quite a poetic writeup. Bohemian like!
I agree, Jamie D. Let that be a warning. And thanks.
TLP, I'm pretty happy with my mother getting her hand shook on Christmas eve.
If athletes get athletes foot, then what do astronauts get?...
Missile toe.
That joke was hilarious when I was a kid. :)
Ah, so, Doug. Okay then.
I think it's still funny tlm.
misletoe - What someone gets when they shoot themselves in the foot with guided weapons.
I hear those toe-to-toe missles are the worst.
What a great write up! Our Mireille is kind of a smarty pants :-)
I'm one of the lucky ones to have met her in person and she is a fabulous IRL as in the cyber world.
hugs to you missy.
Laura
thanks Doug!
How long ago was that, TLM? You don't look a day over 13!
Thanks, TLP.
Yup, Poobah, and the afterburn is bad too.
Kyahgirl, you're among the blessed! It's absolutely my pleasure.
Misteltoe - Utilizing a parasite to facilitate parisitic activies...
hmmmm....I don't know...just came to me that way...ahhhhhh...my mind has left the building
Do think Mirelle's definition was untoppable
Yeah. I've thought it over. Mireille has the most aesthetically pleasing definition. She's into pretty and nice and that stuff. So it's not surprising.
Rumor has it that she gives out a few kisses too.
So, XXXXOOOXXX to you Mireille. You're Queen for the Day!
Fine definition, Spiritdancer and I like the new look.
Pretty darn good, wasn't it, Pia?
Thank you, TLP, for sharing the tiara.
Nice, Actonbell. You write purty, too. Don't know about smelling, though. Tell us.
Doug, being possessor of a prime gene pool means you can ask for a lot of money for the mating.
See, Ariel, I thought it meant I could swim whenever I wanted.
What a perfect association --Mistletoe, Kisses and Mireille!
xxxooo
I loved the parade. *MWAH* to all of you and Happy Holidays ... Merry Christmas ... Happy Chanukah ... and a festive Festivus for the rest of us! ♥ xoxo
Hi, Still Life and welcome! Yes, it was the harmonic convergence of sweetness.
And to you, Mireille. Thanks for doing this. CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT FESTIVUS IS?????
Don't let the picture fool you. I'm many days over 13, doug. :)
I think Festivus was this non-sectarian holiday made up by George on the Seinfeld show ... not Christmas, not Chanukah ... BUT A FESTIVUS FOR THE REST OF US! XOXO
Well, TLM, you must be taking good care of yourself.
Thanks, Mireille. I'm so uncool.
Mireille is the definitiion of *MWAH* and no one does it better then she does.
That feeling when I bump my bare foot on our new bed frame. Oh, that's missile toe (sorry).
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