It has started! Anyone doing anything special to celebrate? I woke up early enough to see the pretty sunrise, and I'm starting my holiday baking(was gonna do it yesterday, but had to go to town to get rest of supplies).
Twelve days of Christmas, nice @VHestin . Well today was a lovely start to the 12 Days. I saw two shooting stars and started singing, When You Wish Upon a Star to my youngest. He got on the bus laughing and probably thinking Mom had lost her mind. Starting the day with laughter is good. Then I yelled I love you as my oldest walked out the door on his way to work. He responded in kind. That is the good stuff in life. The cheer and goodness of the season is starting and we have talked about doing something special. No real plans made yet but I feel confident that we will stumble upon something that will give us the true meaning of Christmas.
I like this thread because I get to share what my wife came up with last year. It worked so great that we're doing it again this year. So we have brown paper lunch bags numbered 1-12 hanging on our family room wall. In each bag is a picture to colour, a piece from the Fisher Price Little People nativity set and small treat for each person. Each day (my little daughter calls it Activity Day) we take down one of the bags. My daughter gets to reach in and pull out the picture which has a specific subject (Mary, Joseph, the donkey, etc.) and we colour the picture together while discussing the subject. We then hang the coloured picture back on the wall where the bag was. Each picture has a song name on the bottom and when we're done colouring we sing the song. Then it's back to the bag and my daughter picks out the play set piece which matches the subject of the picture. We then get to place the piece with the nativity and repeat the story we've discussed and perhaps act it out with the pieces that have been placed so far. Finally, it's back to the bag and the treats are pulled out which my daughter gets to distribute to everyone. We could have started today and done it for 12 consecutive days but instead we started December 1st and do it every other day. It gives my daughter so much to look forward to. On the non-Activity Days we have an advent calendar and on the Activity Days we do both. IMG_20161213_094845 by Imasham posted Dec 13, 2016 at 10:07
The tree and socks and house ornaments normally go up the day after Thanksgiving, definitely no later than 1 December. Christmas is celebrated normally with all the goodies and drinks however New Years is different. You see my wife being of Russian decent never celebrate Christmas until she met me as Christmas for them is a strictly a religious holiday (no gifts, etc.) on 7 January. And, being born into and lived in the Soviet Union, New Years sort of encompassed both Christmas and New Years due to the numerous religions within the Soviet Union (and the lack of religion under Stalin and others). It worked well and is a huge event and this is still the major holiday for Russia, damn place goes crazy. So, the nieces saw the arrival of me with my 25th December American Christmas and its presents as a great boon and they and the wife took to it like ducks to water...Woe is me having to pay for two Christmases! I finally put my foot down when the nieces got a bit older and revolted demanding that gift giving be only on the 25th. It was touch and go and a bit of political mastery on my part but I won...I think. LOL! New Years must be seen by staying up all night outside drinking vodka and hot spice wine (gluhwein, mulled wine) in the snow around a roaring bonfire (bigger the better) cooking marinated meat called Shaslik (sort of like a Turkish Kabob without the vegetables, think it originated from the Mongols, dunno) on the open fire, shooting fireworks. The tradition started in her family when they lived in Siberia before the war which they still carry out, don't know how long they've been doing this. We will Skype with them in Siberia and other parts of Russia and Central Asia from around the fire to wish everyone well with a toast of the traditional glass of vodka. One must see the sunrise before you can find your warm bed...it's a memorable night to be sure.
Like bandit, The Wife and I are of Ukrainian (Russian, and they get pizzed if I forget the differences ) decent, we do a sort of combo of traditional Christian Christmas, and Dyed Moroz translated, Grand Father Frost! Like Bandit points out, Russian Christmas is sort of a messed up collection of different things, so we chose to combine the better traditions into one Great Big Party! We start on the first of Dec.and run right through the new years. Christmas Eve, we do Mass, and then stay up all night and celebrate, then we open presents and all that ( and the kids LOVE that part) and then a traditional breakfast with Black Sea Bread and fillets of fish and butter cream, and obviously Russian Coffee ( sort of like Turkish ) but liberally flavored with Vodka! Yea, Vodka goes in every thing, except I made the mistake of introducing my Father in Law to American Bourbon, so now we have to add bourbon to every thing too! LOL The Women spend a great portion of the holidays cooking and baking and preparing for the Great Feast of Christmas dinner, which runs all day long, and then the big Breakfast that follows. New years eve is story night, and one of the elders has to tell the tall tail Legend story of Anastasia for all the kids! We stay up all night drinking and eating, and then pass out for the next day! FYI, In the Ukrainian Districts, there are many many different traditions for the holidays, so picking and choosing is a real challenge, but a ton of fun none the less! AND, Northerners have yet more differences to play around with, BUT, one thing is always the same, YUP Vodka!
The day is only half over. So you can still do something. @Imasham what a wonderful way to celebrate the season. That is such a creative idea.
