Holiday Cheer
I suppose I'm a bit of a holiday snob. The overplayed tunes in stores make me mutter to myself. Giant inflatable snow globes in your front yard? What the hell! Why don't you just where a t-shirt that says "I'm tacky".
I feel strongly about the way things should be done. Actually I strongly believe in everyone's right to their own opinion, but I have a delicate aesthetic sense which is easily offended.
The number one all time trashy, un-informed holiday offense is "counting down the 12 days of Christmas". The 12 days of Christmas don't go down. They go up. They start on the 25th and go until the end on the 6th with Epiphany or 3 Kings Day. Technically, Christmas lasts 12 days, just like Hanukkah lasts 8. I don't require people celebrate all twelve, just please don't put them before the 25th!
I was yelling at the radio on just this subject in the car on the way home today, wishing for a way to educate people on this finer point, and then I remembered the blogosphere.
OK so that was not very cheery and arguably a little intolerant. Here's a Christmas Meme I nabbed from Marisa
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Hot Chocolate for snow days, Eggnog for the hols. I love the extra thick store bought kind right from the fridge. Hot eggnog is too rich. Alta Dena makes a honey sweetened nog that is quite tasty but even sweeter than the original!
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree?
Most of our presents were wrapped under the tree as kids, although occasionally a showcase item was sitting on the hearth under the stockings. When we got older, the wrapping slagged a bit and my Mom would sometimes use grocery bags. Every so often we'd be sitting there in the sea of ripped paper and she'd look around and realize something was missing and run out of the room, returning with said item behind her back.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
White. No contest. One year I did real candles on the tree. I loved that, but I also just like to be able to turn on the lights a moments notice.
4. Do you hang mistletoe?
I love the idea of mistletoe, but we never had it growing up and I have sadly never been caught under it. Who doesn't like an excuse for kissing?
5. When do you put your decorations up?
Never before the beginning of Advent. Usually little by little, building the anticipation!
6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
Food was a HUGE part of childhood Christmases. Christmas eve was shrimp cocktail and fettucini alfredo with a white Pepperidge Farm cake for dessert, a dime slipped into it somewhere for good luck or dish duty or both. Christmas morning is controversial in our family. We always used to have sausage and the stollen (German Christmas bread) that one of my Dad's business associates gave him every year. Then one year we had eggs benedict. That was the year my sister's memory kicked in and that is what she feels the traditional breakfast must be. There have been tears over these two meals on more than one occasion!
7. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
Uh, if I reveal to you my true opinions about Santa, I may find myself institutionalized. I don't remember the year I found out he wasn't responsible for the presents we got, but one year I got dolly bunk beds and exclaimed to my mom "Now I know Santa is real because you wouldn't let us get these!"
8. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
I love it if there's enough to force me to stay home and watch movies and drink hot chocolate, and its not going to cancel anything fun. I consider myself an awesome snow driver and get really irritated when other people wimp out about snow travel.
9. Can you ice skate?
I did a few times when I was a kid, but I am guessing it probably wouldn't go well these days. Too bad! I love the idea of it!
10. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Singing to the cows. Ever since my mom went into the barn at Seven Stars Farm and discovered the Advent wreath hanging there, we have gone to sing carols with a few other families from the community. It is an absolutely sacred experience. You enter from the cold outside to the building warmed by breath, lit only by the candles held by the singers. The barn smells sweet and earthy and by the candlelight, you can see the child in every face, young or old. It is holier than any church service I have ever been to.
I hope everyone is enjoying their own way of marking the season. Just don't count down!
I feel strongly about the way things should be done. Actually I strongly believe in everyone's right to their own opinion, but I have a delicate aesthetic sense which is easily offended.
The number one all time trashy, un-informed holiday offense is "counting down the 12 days of Christmas". The 12 days of Christmas don't go down. They go up. They start on the 25th and go until the end on the 6th with Epiphany or 3 Kings Day. Technically, Christmas lasts 12 days, just like Hanukkah lasts 8. I don't require people celebrate all twelve, just please don't put them before the 25th!
I was yelling at the radio on just this subject in the car on the way home today, wishing for a way to educate people on this finer point, and then I remembered the blogosphere.
OK so that was not very cheery and arguably a little intolerant. Here's a Christmas Meme I nabbed from Marisa
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Hot Chocolate for snow days, Eggnog for the hols. I love the extra thick store bought kind right from the fridge. Hot eggnog is too rich. Alta Dena makes a honey sweetened nog that is quite tasty but even sweeter than the original!
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree?
Most of our presents were wrapped under the tree as kids, although occasionally a showcase item was sitting on the hearth under the stockings. When we got older, the wrapping slagged a bit and my Mom would sometimes use grocery bags. Every so often we'd be sitting there in the sea of ripped paper and she'd look around and realize something was missing and run out of the room, returning with said item behind her back.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
White. No contest. One year I did real candles on the tree. I loved that, but I also just like to be able to turn on the lights a moments notice.
4. Do you hang mistletoe?
I love the idea of mistletoe, but we never had it growing up and I have sadly never been caught under it. Who doesn't like an excuse for kissing?
5. When do you put your decorations up?
Never before the beginning of Advent. Usually little by little, building the anticipation!
6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
Food was a HUGE part of childhood Christmases. Christmas eve was shrimp cocktail and fettucini alfredo with a white Pepperidge Farm cake for dessert, a dime slipped into it somewhere for good luck or dish duty or both. Christmas morning is controversial in our family. We always used to have sausage and the stollen (German Christmas bread) that one of my Dad's business associates gave him every year. Then one year we had eggs benedict. That was the year my sister's memory kicked in and that is what she feels the traditional breakfast must be. There have been tears over these two meals on more than one occasion!
7. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
Uh, if I reveal to you my true opinions about Santa, I may find myself institutionalized. I don't remember the year I found out he wasn't responsible for the presents we got, but one year I got dolly bunk beds and exclaimed to my mom "Now I know Santa is real because you wouldn't let us get these!"
8. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
I love it if there's enough to force me to stay home and watch movies and drink hot chocolate, and its not going to cancel anything fun. I consider myself an awesome snow driver and get really irritated when other people wimp out about snow travel.
9. Can you ice skate?
I did a few times when I was a kid, but I am guessing it probably wouldn't go well these days. Too bad! I love the idea of it!
10. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Singing to the cows. Ever since my mom went into the barn at Seven Stars Farm and discovered the Advent wreath hanging there, we have gone to sing carols with a few other families from the community. It is an absolutely sacred experience. You enter from the cold outside to the building warmed by breath, lit only by the candles held by the singers. The barn smells sweet and earthy and by the candlelight, you can see the child in every face, young or old. It is holier than any church service I have ever been to.
I hope everyone is enjoying their own way of marking the season. Just don't count down!
posted by Eiren at 5:55 PM
1 Comments:
Your auntie shares your feelings and concerns over the "count down" -- which shouldn't be.
I wish you a very blessed holiday, Erin.
Much love,
Auntie A.
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