5 More days. What does it mean to you?

I know to a lot of you (ok maybe not) Christmas is the holiday in which you commemorate the birth of Jesus... by purchasing gifts for everyone else... because isn't that what Jesus would do? Yeah well, I am a firm believer in the pretty basic knowledge that Jesus was not born in December. Christmas is actually a holiday that was created to outshine the Pagan celebration of the Winter Solstice. Brumalia was an ancient Roman solstice festival honoring Baccchus (I had a dog named Bacchus once, he was awesome), generally held for a month and ending December 25. The festival included drinking and merriment. The name is derived from the Latin word bruma, meaning "shortest day" or "winter solstice". The festivities almost always occurred on the night of December 24.


I remember reading somewhere that a person said that Christmas was a time to be thankful for your friends, and family. Another person said "No, you have that confused with Thanksgiving. Christmas is a time for greed and resentment." That made me laugh, because it was funny... and true. Christmas has become a holiday of how much you can buy, or how much you can get. In all honesty I don't care what I get for Christmas (though I will be pleased no matter what it is). I told my husband I did not want anything, I did not need anything... I have everything I want and need. When pressed to make a decision I stated I wanted a new camera, a big girl camera. But in all honesty I just want the time together as a family, to be happy, to make good memories since you never know what will happen in the next year (aside from the hubby being gone for Christmas next year due to a deployment). 


I was raised Jewish. I never remember a Christmas ever (even though there was a photo of me and a tree before we converted), and when we moved to Colorado I can remember being taken to the gym in Falcon Elementary school where the entire school was gathered to sing Christmas Carols. I remember looking around and wondering "How do all these people know the words to the songs and how the song goes?" I did not know one Christmas carol, not Rudolph, not Santa Clause is coming to Town, nothing.... poor little Jewish girl. Anyway, since I was not raised in the Christian faith, the Christian meaning of Christmas means nothing to me. I celebrate Christmas to be a time of family, tradition, feast, and love. Just because I am not a Christian does not mean I cannot celebrate it, and it does not mean that the time of year holds no meaning to me. Like Ebeneezer Scrooge said (though in different context): "Keep Christmas in your way and let me keep it in mine."

And one of these days I WILL be buying this for my son... I hope it comes in adult size!!!!!!

Christmas Memory... I love my family!

One more week till Christmas. It is harder to keep my husband away from the gifts than it is the kids!

Hubby: Can we open one gift tonight??

Me: NO! Go away!

Hubby: Humph!

 

I believe this may have been Draco as a Kitten

So we have lots of snow outside... I LOVE it. It means that we are going to have a White Christmas! I have lived in Nebraska and Colorado, but having a Christmas with lots of snow on the ground, or a Christmas when it actually SNOWED?!?!?! I can't remember when that has happened.

Last Christmas it was just cold and icy out. There was a little bit of snow on the ground. We were still in Colorado and all of our Christmas decorations were on a ship somewhere on their way to Germany. The hubby and I got the kids clothes for Christmas (easier to pack), we let them open their gifts in the morning, Googled places to eat that were open on Christmas day, and were happy that IHOP was open.We had dinner at IHOP and then went to Tinseltown and watched Avatar and Sherlock Holmes.

It was almost like being a practicing Jew again! More importantly, we were having fun as a family. That day was definitely about spending time together and being happy. That is a Christmas I will forever remember as the best Christmas ever.

9 More days! Are you all ready???

9 More days till Christmas! I spent last night watching How The Grinch Stole Christmas (the Jim Carrey version), and pulled out all of the Christmas movies I have here. Even though it is a Jewish thing I am making Challah bread and Latkas today, and will continue on to watch more Christmas movies! So to carry on with something every day (apart from below where I have shown what I recently purchased), here is a Christmassy video!



I decided that the movies I have here at the house are not enough for Christmas time, so I just recently bought a bunch of DVD's on Amazon for Christmas... here is what I got. If you want any of these just click on the picture and it will take you straight to Amazon! I highly recommend them since they back up every purchase you make (whether through them or a private seller).


I also have a few movies that I owned previously that are some of my FAVORITES!



I have a lot more, but these are my favorite ones...

12 Days of Christmas (10 Days away)

Christmas is never Christmas without the Muppets! I have my favorite movies, and I think to count down the days to Christmas I will post something Christmassy each day... 10 days left!


What is your favorite Christmas Movie?