Guest guest Posted November 27, 2004 Report Share Posted November 27, 2004 My holiday rituals revolve around volunteering. We pick a child's ornament off the tree at a local department store and purchase a completely fun toy and give it to the store to distribute to the child. There is also a local soup kitchen. My dh takes baskets of food to some old folks that live in a housing project here. We add tooth brushes, slippers and personal care items and the rest of the office adds canned goods. Churches and sometimes schools are a great place to find opportunities to reach out to those less fortunate than ourselves at this time of years. We also sometimes drive around and look at holiday lights in people's yards. We have a local park that was the recipient of a large scale home-made holiday display from a family of 14 children. It is now on display in the park after Thanksgiving for a while each night. Families can stroll through the park and sip hot cocoa and nibble on candy canes. We also have a large outdoor celebration the first Friday of December at a public place. It is huge and includes a big sing-along, the lighting of the city's trees and the arrival of Santa. If you look around, I bet you will find an abundance of things to do. Connie Bernard http://www.PandoraPads.com Organic Cotton Feminine Pads, Tampons, Nursing Pads, Natural Progesterone Cream, and Children's Supplements. On-line Discount Voucher: nn242g223 -----Original Message----- From: shawnalendzion So, I was thinking that it would be nice to start a new ritual on Christmas or Solstice morning. Something that will make the day special to us, without having to just open gifts. I want to start a new tradition, but not something so esoteric that we can't share it with my parents (who are a bit more conventional and don't really get into celebrating the Solstice), or share it with the children that we hope to be blessed with in a few years. I thought it would be fun to hear any traditions or rituals that you all share with your families in honor of the holiday, food-related or not. Thanks for sharing! Blessings, a Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 27, 2004 Report Share Posted November 27, 2004 Sharing a Christmas wafer, oplatek, is Polish Christmas Eve tradition. It is like a large rectangular communion wafer. You go around the dinner table before dinner and two people give each other a christmas wish and then break off a piece and eat it. If family moves far away, often the receive a piece of wafer in christmas cards. Irene At 05:17 PM 11/26/04, you wrote: >Hi all, > >I am looking to our Christmas/solstice celebration this year, and my >husband and I are pretty short on money since I am a full-time >student. We are travelling to spend the holiday with my parents, who >are also short on money. I know we will all do a bit of gift >exchanging, but I not as much as usual. This is really fine by >me...we have said for years that it would be nice if our holiday >wasn't focused on consumerism, yet we have never really put that in >action. > >So, I was thinking that it would be nice to start a new ritual on >Christmas or Solstice morning. Something that will make the day >special to us, without having to just open gifts. I want to start a >new tradition, but not something so esoteric that we can't share it >with my parents (who are a bit more conventional and don't really get >into celebrating the Solstice), or share it with the children that we >hope to be blessed with in a few years. > >I thought it would be fun to hear any traditions or rituals that you >all share with your families in honor of the holiday, food-related or >not. We have always just opened presents and sometimes my dad would >go buy us bagels or something like that (and I don't eat those anymore!). > >Thanks for sharing! > >Blessings, >a > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 27, 2004 Report Share Posted November 27, 2004 Make snowflakes! We do this at various points and keep adding, but that would be fun on christmas! we make snowflakes and hang them from the ceiling on ribbon. (We use masking tape to hang... it seemed to hold best. We hung both ornaments and snowflakes from the ceiling last year (then the kids and cats can't pull them down)... it was beautiful, like walking into a wonderland. We used really cheap wrapping paper, cheap rolls of ribbon, and a $10 container of plastic ornaments from Target. Very inexpensive, lots of fun, kid friendly, and beautiful results! I think this year we will add listening to christmas radio shows. L. On Sat, 27 Nov 2004 01:17:05 -0000, shawnalendzion <recon@...> wrote: > > Hi all, > > I am looking to our Christmas/solstice celebration this year, and my > husband and I are pretty short on money since I am a full-time > student. We are travelling to spend the holiday with my parents, who > are also short on money. I know we will all do a bit of gift > exchanging, but I not as much as usual. This is really fine by > me...we have said for years that it would be nice if our holiday > wasn't focused on consumerism, yet we have never really put that in > action. > > So, I was thinking that it would be nice to start a new ritual on > Christmas or Solstice morning. Something that will make the day > special to us, without having to just open gifts. I want to start a > new tradition, but not something so esoteric that we can't share it > with my parents (who are a bit more conventional and don't really get > into celebrating the Solstice), or share it with the children that we > hope to be blessed with in a few years. > > I thought it would be fun to hear any traditions or rituals that you > all share with your families in honor of the holiday, food-related or > not. We have always just opened presents and sometimes my dad would > go buy us bagels or something like that (and I don't eat those anymore!). > > Thanks for sharing! > > Blessings, > a Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 27, 2004 Report Share Posted November 27, 2004 Connie, I sincerely thank you! As a recipient of those presents you give to the " ornament " you pick, and the food baskets, I wanted to say a heartfelt thank you. it is because of people like you that my children had presents for Christmas last year. L. On Fri, 26 Nov 2004 19:34:09 -0600, Connie Bernard <cc-bernard@...> wrote: > My holiday rituals revolve around volunteering. We pick a child's ornament > off the tree at a local department store and purchase a completely fun toy > and give it to the store to distribute to the child. There is also a local > soup kitchen. > > > > My dh takes baskets of food to some old folks that live in a housing project > here. We add tooth brushes, slippers and personal care items and the rest > of the office adds canned goods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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