And with that, entails several holidays. Diwali. Chanuka. Yule. Christmas. Kwanzaa. And I'm sure there are plenty more that I don't even know of. So, share! What holiday(s) will you be celebrating? What traditions do you do? And, if it's a holiday not many people know about or isn't mentioned in the thread in detail, tell us what it's about! A learning and cultural experience in Random Chat? Who would've thunk it I, myself, will be celebrating 3 holidays this season. Chanuka with my mother's family, as they are Russian Jews, and I was raised in the temple. I even have my Hebrew name (Rachel bat Dinya, if anyone was curious). We light the menorah, make latkes, and exchange presents. Nothing too fancy. I also will be celebrating Christmas with my stepfather's family. Huge Christmas tree, dinner, gifts, the whole shebang. Also, this year will be my first Yule, as I am starting to convert, in a sense, to the Wiccan way. Jay and I had a Handfasting, and since he is slowly considering becoming Wiccan himself, it would be nice to experience a second Wiccan Sabbat in Salem, Mass. I've written a Yule blessing already, and we might even make cookies and such. It's pretty much Christmas, just more Earth oriented. It's wonderful :] Your turn to share!
After reading that I just feel culturally bankrupt. I guess my family celebrates Christmas, but only in the form of gifts and maybe a Christmas dinner. I was brought up in a pretty religion-free upbringing, so we haven't celebrated much since I was like 13-14. Hell, we haven't even decorated our home since I was like 6. So, the holidays are pretty boring for me.
Well, see, I've had the benefit (and sort of torture) of growing up in a mixed-faith home. My mother is Reform Judaic, and my father is Jehovah's Witness. However, if you seriously met my aunts, you'd have no idea we were Jewish. My mother is Reform Judaic in the sense that she doesn't go to synogauge (because they pretty much rob you of your paycheck), nor follow the Kosher laws. My aunt Rikki is Buddhist married to an Athiest raising their child Jewish blink. My aunt Amy was raised Jewish but her ex husband and current husband are both Italian Catholics, so her children are raised Catholic (my cousin has this gorgeous Jewish star with a cross inside it. It's stunning). In a sense my aunt Amy is a Messianic Jew, which means she's Jewish but believes Jesus is the Messiah (Orthodox and Conform Judaic don't believe Jesus was the Messiah, and still live by Mosaic law) And then my Aunt Lisa is more Reform-almost Conform Judaic. She's the only one who stayed somewhat in the realm of Judaism. And then there's me who's the Jew converting to Wicca. It's a mess
I'm celebrating the good ol' fashioned Family Christmas...3 actually if you count the day. Xmas eve, we wrap the "family" presents I give to my brothers and parents. After that, we have Xmas dinner which is always "Eye roast". Lately it's been a tradition, that one of my brother's friend's (and Madden enemy ) comes over and eats with us...always says the prayer as well and completely owns our asses when doing it. It's that good. Xmas morning, we open up gifts and all that shebang at our house, which is like at 8 in the freakin' morning. It's awesome to know that our traditions here will be carried over to my family. Semi-dressed, trash bags in the family room before opening up anything...that stuff. After that, we all change (hey, if I end up getting a new hoodie, i'm flaunting it to other relatives) and we go to my mom's side of the family which we only visit them once a year (Xmas Day) and that's pretty much the high point of all of our day, since I enjoy their company and they're not freakin' insane. That's around 1-4/5 PM. After that, we drive down to my dad's side of the family...the one we go to for Thanksgiving and other holidays instead, and it's pretty much a nightmare. With the exception of my grandmother, a couple aunts and uncles and a couple cousins, it's pretty much a highway to hell and I (along with a few others who want to get away) just hide out in my grandmother's basement until it's time to go. I seriously can't fucking stand a few of them, honestly. Bunch of nutcases. Then we drive home...usually it's a "get there, say hi, eat, and get the hell out of there." Another awesome thing is our local convievent store here in PA, "Sheetz" for those of you PA folks...free coffee and hot chocolate on Xmas Day. ROCK! Yep, that's pretty much it.
Just celebrating Christmas, as always. Christmas Eve, my family gets together and watches "Scrooge" the 1951 version. Pure classic. Christmas morning, we get up early and open up presents. Then eat a big breakfast usually consisting of pancakes, eggs, sausage and cinnamon buns. We all usually watch a movie together, either one of the Harry Potter's or Lord of the Rings. Then we eat a turkey & stuffing dinner. Not much but really being around family is what counts. *shrug*
Funny you should mention cinnamon buns and Harry Potter Thats what my mother, her boyfriend, and I do. We wake up, have hot chocolate and cinnamon buns, exchange presents, go to his family's house and then have a ham and stuffing dinner And then we come back to watch Harry Potter. Great minds think alike, eh?
I will be celebrating Christmas and New Years. We usually get drunk or buzzed for Christmas Eve then wake up the next morning bright and early to open Christmas presents while the 'burning log' channel plays on the tv in the background. Christmas dinner usually is very similar to thanksgiving dinner in the fact we have turkey, cranberry sauce and filling. Pretty normal thanksgiving although like Andrea said, it's the family that counts. As you can see by my sig, this year me and Andrea will be celebrating New Years together, and we'll kind of have a late Christmas for the two of us. Should be nice .
I pretty much only celebrate Christmas but since 3 of my family members have birthdays around the holiday season we celebrate those in a holidaysseasony fashion too. For Christmas we usually have Christmas evening at home with my mom's side of the family. Then Christmas day with my dad's side of the family. Oh, I almost forgot! We also "celebrate" Sinterklaas! It's this Dutch tradition kind of like christmas in the sense that Sinterklaas has his black helper climb down the chimney and he brings presents and candy. It's nothing racist, he's black because of the dust in the chimney! I always found that very interesting. It's on the 6th of December he arrives here from Spain. xD Sinterklaas!
St0f funny that you would say that you have family members with birthdays around the holidays. My mom's birthday is December 31st so not only will we be celebrating New Years Eve but we will also be wishing my mom a happy birthday. Should be nice .
Yeah good thing I said that because Andrea wasn't happy when I forgot to tell her about my dad's birthday. She felt bad for not sending a card. She's such a sweetheart.
Yeah my dad was kinda shocked when he opened up the mail and saw a birthday card for me, and a birthday card for him from Andrea. He really felt appreciated =).
Funny you should say that. I was going to ask for your address, so expect a card from Jay and I this holiday season :]
This year me and Maxime will be in Holland with Christmas, it's nothing special, it doesn't even feel like Christmas because my family is Christian, so there's no tree, presents etc. We do have a nice meal though, but that's basically it. Oh, and ofcourse New Year's, it's Leonie's birthday the 31th of December, so we'll be celebrating that a little bit aswell.
By all of you I was sarcastically saying every member of these boards. 0.41 * 6,884= $2,822.44 No thanks!