Christmas Mistletoe -- A Delicious Recipe for a Holiday Tradition

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It's a Christmas tradition -- Kissing under the Mistletoe just in case you didn't know!

Growing up in our household, Christmas was a favorite time of year.  A childhood tradition was to first find the perfect tree. Our living room had the perfect picture window for showcasing our decorated tree.  Last, but not least ... came the hanging of the mistletoe.  Hmmm, wasn't it funny that as a kid, you made a point NEVER to be caught "under the mistletoe?" As adults, we probably look for the Christmas Mistletoe!

Christmas bow

Christmas Mistletoe -- Yes or No? 

It's a delicious recipe for a holiday tradition!

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Ah, it's an under the Xmas Mistletoe Kiss 

Ah, a under the mistletoe kiss with Mr. Fox and Mrs. PB. This cute kiss captured by Tommy.Toast.

Forever Friends Mistletoe Kiss 

Ah, how very sweet -- a Christmas Kiss

ForeverFriends Mistletoe Kiss

ForeverFriends Mistletoe Kiss

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I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus ... Underneath the Mistletoe lyrics 

Jessica Simpson version

I Saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus,
underneath that mistletoe last night
didn't see me creep,
down stairs to have a peek!
She thought that i was tucked up
in my bedroom fast asleep.

Then I saw Mommy tickle Santa Claus,
underneath his beard so snowy white!
Oh, what a laugh it would have been,
If Daddy had only seen,
Mommy kissing Santa Claus last night!

I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus,
underneath the misletoe last night!
She didn't see me creep,
down stairs to have a peek!
She thought that i was tucked up
in my bedroom fast asleep!

Then I saw Mommy tickle Santa Claus,
underneath his beard so snowy white!
What a laugh it would have been
If Daddy had only seen,
Mommy kissing Santa Claus last night,
Mommy kissing Santa Claus last night!!!

Under the Mistletoe -- A Xmas Holiday Tradition 

Nowadays, mistletoe is commonly used as a Christmas decoration, though allusions to mistletoe as a Christmas green are rare into the eighteenth century. Viscum album is used in Europe whereas Phoradendron serotinum is used in North America. According to a custom of Christmas cheer, any two people who meet under a hanging of mistletoe are obliged to kiss. The custom is English, rather than Scandinavian in origin.

According to custom, the mistletoe must not touch the ground between its cutting and its removal as the last of Christmas greens at Candlemas; mistletoe might remain hung through the year, often to preserve the house from lightning or fire, until it was replaced the following Christmas Eve. The tradition has spread throughout the English-speaking world but is largely unknown in the rest of Europe.

In previous times the tradition was that the couple took away a fruit each time until they were all used up and at this point the mistletoe lost its vitality. The appearance and nature of the fruit's content (viscin) is very similar or suggestive of human semen and this has strengthened its pagan connections.

Using the mistletoe to kiss under has even become incorporated into various holiday songs.

--Photo Credit: How Stuff Works.

Kiss under the Mistletoe Shirts 

Coca-Cola Christmas Mistletoe Kiss 

Coca-Cola Christmas - Mistletoe Kiss

Coca-Cola Christmas Kiss

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Mistletoe Books 

Mistletoe DVDs 

Rugrats Holiday Celebration (Halloween/Turkey & Mistletoe)

Amazon Price: $16.49 (as of 12/18/2009) Buy Now

The Sights and Sounds of Christmas

Amazon Price: $4.98 (as of 12/18/2009) Buy Now

Mistletoe MP3s 

Check out my favorite songs! I've handpicked these MP3s from Amazon. Take a listen. If you like, you can click to buy them on Amazon.

Mistletoe Videos 

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Colbie Caillat - "Mistletoe"

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Mistletoe and Wine by Cliff Ri...

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Under the mistletoe

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Trish Stratus and Mickie James...

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Colbie Caillat - Mistletoe

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The world's largest sprig of m...

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Under the Mistletoe

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Libera --- Mistletoe and Wine

Runtime: 2:59 | 28890 views | Comments

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Pokemon Christmas Bash - 07 Un...

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automatically generated by YouTube"

Mistletoe and Holly Ties 

Under the Mistletoe Tie by Fun Ties - Black Silk

Amazon Price: $9.95 (as of 12/19/2009) Buy Now

Holly Tie by Wild Ties - Black Silk

Amazon Price: $19.95 (as of 12/19/2009) Buy Now

Holly Freestyle Bowtie by Wild Ties - Black Silk

Amazon Price: $19.95 (as of 12/19/2009) Buy Now

Holly Pretied Bowtie by Bowties Unlimited - Black Silk

Amazon Price: $24.95 (as of 12/19/2009) Buy Now

Ah, another Xmas Mistletoe Kiss 

It's the jingle bell rock

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Kissing under the Mistletoe -- A Christmas Tradition! 

What is Christmas?

ChristmasCanadian Heritage ? Public holidays ? Government of Canada. Retrieved November 27, 2009. or Christmas Day2009 Federal Holidays ? U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Retrieved November 27, 2009.Bank holidays and British Summer time ? HM Government. Retrieved November 27, 2009. is an annual holiday, celebrated on December 25, that commemorates the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.Christmas, Merriam-Webster. Retrieved October 6, 2008."Christmas," MSN Encarta. Retrieved October 6, 2008....

A Swinging Kissing under the Mistletoe 

Kissing!!~under the mistletoe~

Kissing!!~under the mistletoe~

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Drop me a line ... Love the Christmas Mistletoe? 

Are you a fan of mistletoe? Do you use it as a Christmas decoration? Been kissed under the mistletoe? Any fond memories?

submit

The buzz on Mistletoe 

Market Manila - Mistletoe / Dung-on-a-twig… :) - Flowers
?Everybody knows, a turkey and some mistletoe, help to make the season bright?? I figured some...
Why do we kiss under the mistletoe? (and other inane holiday ...
Why do we kiss under the mistletoe? The custom originated in the court of King Olaf XVI of Sweden in...
Mistletoe
Before mistletoe became an excuse to kiss people at Christmas parties, it was an important symbol in...
Kiss of death for mistletoe moth unless more cider is drunk
hmmmmm better get fecked off doon to the beer off for a few gallon of alchi white, i know i can coun...

Mistletoe pics 

Mistletoe by Julio B Esq

Mistletoe

The Mistletoe Tree by me'nthedogs

The Mistletoe Tree

IMG_3547.jpg by RichardAsh1981

IMG_3547.jpg

I Might Be Wrong by ibkod

I Might Be Wrong

You And Whose Army? by ibkod

You And Whose Army?

IMG_3551.jpg by RichardAsh1981

IMG_3551.jpg

automatically generated by Flickr

What is Mistletoe -- Mistletoe FAQs 

Mistletoe is the common name for a group of hemi-parasitic plants in the order Santalales that grow attached to and within the branches of a tree or shrub. Parasitism evolved only nine times in the plant kingdom;Job Kuijt, Biology of Parasitic Flowering Plants (University of California) 1969. of those, the parasitic mistletoe habit has evolved independently five times: Misodendraceae, Loranthaceae, Santalaceae (formerly considered the separate family Eremolepidaceae), and Santalaceae (formerly treated as the separate family Viscaceae). Although Viscaceae and Eremolepidaceae were placed in a broadly-defined Santalaceae by Angiosperm Phylogeny Group 2, DNA data indicates that they evolved independently.

The word 'mistletoe' is of uncertain etymology; it may be related to German Mist, for dung and Tang for branch, since mistletoe can be spread in the feces of birds moving from tree to tree. However, Old English mistel was also used for basil.

European mistletoe, Viscum album, is a poisonous plant that causes acute gastrointestinal problems including stomach pain, and diarrhea along with low pulse.

The name was originally applied to Viscum album (European Mistletoe, Santalaceae), the only species native in Great Britain and much of Europe. Later the name was further extended to other related species, including Phoradendron serotinum (the Eastern Mistletoe of eastern North America, also Santalaceae). European Mistletoe is readily recognized by its smooth-edged oval evergreen leaves borne in pairs along the woody stem, and waxy white berries in dense clusters of 2 to 6. In America, the Eastern Mistletoe is similar, but has shorter, broader leaves and longer clusters of 10 or more berries. In the United States, Phoradendron flavescens is commercially harvested for Christmas decorations.

The largest family of Mistletoes, Loranthaceae, has 73 genera and over 900 species.WS Judd, CS Campbell, EA Kellogg, PF Stevens & MJ Donaghue (2002) Plant systematics: a phylogenetic approach. Sinauer Associates, Inc., Sunderland Massachusetts, USA. ISBN 0-87893-403-0 Subtropical and tropical climates have markedly more Mistletoe species; Australia has 85, of which 71 are in Loranthaceae, and 14 in Santalaceae.B.A. Barlow (1983) A revision of the Viscaceae of Australia. Brunonia 6, 25-58.

Mistletoe -- Did you know? 

  • Mistletoe is being studied as a potential treatment for tumors. Although such use is not yet permitted in the U.S., mistletoe is prescribed in Europe.
  • Mistletoe figured prominently in Norse mythology: the god Baldur was killed with a weapon made of mistletoe.
  • The fruits of many mistletoes are poisonous if ingested, as they contain viscotoxins.
  • In Romanian traditions, mistletoe is considered a source of good fortune.
  • Mistletoe has sometimes been nicknamed the vampire plant because it can probe beneath the tree bark to drain water and minerals, enabling it to survive during a drought.
  • Mistletoe is the state floral emblem for the State of Oklahoma.

Mistletoe is a parasitic plant 

Category: File - :Cuscuta parasite plant.JPG|thumb|right|250px|Cuscuta Parasite Plant

A parasitic plant is one that derives some or all of its sustenance from another plant. About 4,100 species in approximately 19 families of flowering plants are known.Nickrent, D. L. and Musselman, L. J. 2004. Introduction to Parasitic Flowering Plants. The Plant Health Instructor. DOI: 10.1094/PHI-I-2004-0330-01 [http://www.apsnet.org/education/IntroPlantPath/PathogenGroups/Parasiticplants/] Parasitic plants have a modified root, the haustorium, that penetrates the host plant and...

Mistletoe is in the Order Santalales 

Santalales is an order of flowering plants with a cosmopolitan distribution, but heavily concentrated in tropical and subtropical regions.

Most have seeds without a testa, which is unusual for flowering plants. Many of the members of the order are parasitic plants, mostly hemi-parasites, able to produce sugars through photosynthesis, but tapping the stems or roots of other plants to obtain water and minerals; some (e.g. Arceuthobium) are obligate parasites, have low concentrations of chlorophyll within their shoots (1/5 to 1/10 of that found in their host's foliage)...

Mistletoe is also a Keystone Species 

A keystone species is a species that has a disproportionate effect on its environment relative to its biomass. Such species affect many other organisms in an ecosystem and help to determine the types and numbers of various others species in a community.

Such an organism plays a role in its ecosystem that is analogous to the role of a keystone in an arch. While the keystone is under the least pressure of any of the stones in an arch, the arch still collapses without it. Similarly, an ecosystem may experience a dramatic shift if a keystone species is removed, even though that species was a small part of the ecosystem by measures of biomass or productivity. It has become a very popular concept in conservation biology.

A keystone species is a species that plays a critical role in maintaining the structure of an ecological community and whose impact on the community is greater than would be expected based on its relative abundance or total biomass. The ecologist Dr. Robert T. Paine coined the phrase to explain the relationship between Pisaster ochraceus, a species of starfish, and Mytilus californianus, a species of mussel.

The news on Mistletoe 

Mistletoe: Why All The Kissing Under A Parasitic Plant?
Like other evergreens, mistletoe --a parasitic plant that attaches to other trees-- remained green i...
Myths, legends surround mistletoe
XCHNGThe berries mistletoe produces are toxic to people, but not to birds. The plant provides necess...
Kiss of death for mistletoe moth unless more cider is drunk
The beautiful Mistletoe Marble, whose marbled coloured wings resemble bird droppings, is in decline...
Quintessentially Lowcountry: Mistletoe is a holiday tradition that takes some work
A Lowcountry tradition will reveal itself: mistletoe, ready for the annual harvest. As a child in Bl...

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