dragons in the flower bed Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 (edited) OOPS! I meant to make multiple choices possible. Maybe a mod can change that? Oh well, just pick whichever one is the most important to you. Edited December 14, 2008 by dragons in the flower bed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle T Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 The choices didn't allow for picking two, so I chose "other". I'm Jewish, DH is Christian, so we celebrate both Chanukah and Christmas. Plenty of holiday cheer in our Decembers! Michelle T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaik76 Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 We celebrate Christmas and Theophany, which wasn't listed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 We celebrate a Christian Christmas. Because of our time in Europe, we've added St. Nick day to our life--sometimes. I forget to remember some years. :D In a purely personal, non-religious way, I also celebrate the winter solistice. I simply love the sun. By Dec. 21, I need to know the sun is starting to make its way back to me. In the last few years, I've planted seeds in pots as a hope for spring. Watching my little plants gets me through the dark days of January and February. I need a sunshine smilie to insert here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree House Academy Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 Just Christmas here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbie Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 We do Christmas, but I would love to go w/some groups to mountains in the area and celebrate Winter Solstice. One of these yrs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi @ Mt Hope Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 I voted Christmas, but we also have a small celebration for the Feast of St. Nicholas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama Lynx Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 I picked Winter Solstice. I usually say "Solstice." My DH would say "Yule." But it's a little Heliogenna, too. And then we celebrate Christmas. One year I'll remember to throw some Saturnalia in there, too. Then there's New Year's, and January is the birthday month. As many things as we can find to celebrate in winter, we do, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hen Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 I picked something else... we don't celebrate Christmas at our house, and yet..because 3 sets of Grandparents do...we end up doing presents with them. Because we only stopped celebrating Christmas 5 years ago or so, and the kids remember it, we moved the 3 presents they used to get for Christmas to 3 presents on New Years Day, sort of a compromise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 we don't celebrate any . there wasn't a choice for none, so I picked other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 We do St. Nicholas Day (with a small present and candy in the shoe) and Christmas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fivetails Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 Christmas! :D I guess maybe Boxing Day a bit - that's usually the day we go visiting to other people's houses and stuff... :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen in PA Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 We have Hanukkah and Christmas here. The kids are super excited about the overlap this month, but I really enjoy the years with a week or two separating the holidays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 We celebrate Happy Tree Day. LOL I guess you can say we celebrate Christmas, but not really for the religious significance. This is us as well, although we still call it christmas, we also do St. Nick with fun toys in the stockings but this stemed from where I grew up. It's a big thing in Milwaukee, WI. My dh's uncle emailed after we sent out pics of the kids opening their stuff from St. Nick this year. He'd never heard of such a thing while growing up in Iowa. We also celebrate the Winter Solstice, but not in a religious way. In fact we don't celebrate anything in a religious way, but we like a good party LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiguirre Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 We are a festive crew! :party: Plus, I prefer to give the kids only one gift at a time to avoid toy overload and unneccessary meltdowns. We kick off our holiday season with St. Nicholas who brings a stocking of treats and a smallish gift. Then we have St. Lucia with no gifts, but we eat gingerbread, orange rolls and cocoa for breakfast and my youngest 2 dress up as Lucia and a Starchild. We celebrate Winter Solstice with a Sun cake (spice with lemon frosting) and gifts. Then there's Christmas with a big dinner on the 24th and one present on the 25th. New Year's Eve is huge in our family with a big, traditional Venezuelan dinner, 12 grapes on the 12 strokes of midnight, running around the house with an empty suitcase and kissing and/or calling every living relative you can. I give the kids a present on New Year's Day and we eat pork roast and lentils. The end of the season is Epiphany with a King cake and one last present. Then, dh's birthday is the 7th, so he gets tacked onto the holiday festivities. This really isn't as stressful as it sounds. None of the holidays is a make or break occasion. There's always something to look forward to so the kids don't have a huge Christmas afternoon crash. Even on Jan. 8, there's the start of a new semester and seeing their friends to cushion the return to normality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deece in MN Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 We celebrate Happy Tree Day. LOL I guess you can say we celebrate Christmas, but not really for the religious significance. I love that! This would be us. We celebrate a secular Christmas. We do a tree and presents and a family get-together, but nothing of any type of religious significance. So, I voted Christmas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathy in MD Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 In the month of Dec, we celebrate birthdays, and birthdays, and birthdays. Then Christmas. By the time aniversaries come around, we're too exhausted to celebrate them, much less another holiday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melinda in VT Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 New Year's Eve is huge in our family with a big, traditional Venezuelan dinner, 12 grapes on the 12 strokes of midnight, running around the house with an empty suitcase and kissing and/or calling every living relative you can. We were introduced to a similar tradition one year when we hired a college student from Ecuador (or maybe Peru--the years blend together) and her father called us at midnight on Christmas Eve to wish us a Merry Christmas and thank us for hosting his daughter. (She had her own phone, so he wasn't trying to reach her.) We are a go-to-bed-early family. (We own an inn and have to serve breakfast every morning, so sleeping in is never an option.) I don't think he knew we had been sleeping, but we've made a point of telling this funny story to every South American student we've had since, as a preemptive strike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 We are a festive crew! :party: Plus, I prefer to give the kids only one gift at a time to avoid toy overload and unneccessary meltdowns. We kick off our holiday season with St. Nicholas who brings a stocking of treats and a smallish gift. Then we have St. Lucia with no gifts, but we eat gingerbread, orange rolls and cocoa for breakfast and my youngest 2 dress up as Lucia and a Starchild. We celebrate Winter Solstice with a Sun cake (spice with lemon frosting) and gifts. Then there's Christmas with a big dinner on the 24th and one present on the 25th. New Year's Eve is huge in our family with a big, traditional Venezuelan dinner, 12 grapes on the 12 strokes of midnight, running around the house with an empty suitcase and kissing and/or calling every living relative you can. I give the kids a present on New Year's Day and we eat pork roast and lentils. The end of the season is Epiphany with a King cake and one last present. Then, dh's birthday is the 7th, so he gets tacked onto the holiday festivities. This really isn't as stressful as it sounds. None of the holidays is a make or break occasion. There's always something to look forward to so the kids don't have a huge Christmas afternoon crash. Even on Jan. 8, there's the start of a new semester and seeing their friends to cushion the return to normality. That is exactly how I would like to celebrate the winter holidays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Testimony Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 (edited) We celebrate in a very religious way. We do 25 days of Advent Calendar every year. We read a passage from the Bible and then sing traditional Christmas hymns for 25 days. We usually go to see Handel's Messiah. We put up a Christmas tree. Merry Christmas to all! Sincerely, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony Edited December 20, 2008 by Testimony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrid Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 Now, there are people that want to silently kill "Silent Night." ??? HUH??? astrid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beansprouts Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 I voted "something else" This will be our first year celebrating Hanukkah as well as giving a nod to Christmas. As to which is most important: it is the time to celebrate Christ together as a family without the distraction of materialism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela H in Texas Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 we don't celebrate any . there wasn't a choice for none, so I picked other. me too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 Advent, St. Nicholas, St Lucia (first time this year), Christmas, Boxing Day, Twelfth Night, Epiphany, Old Calendar Christmas, a few other Christian feast days of this period. Plus we recognize/celebrate culturally holidays from many other cultures -- maybe a story, a craft and/or a food, a local festival. We love holidays in our family! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plaid Dad Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 Christmas is our big holiday here, but also St. Nicholas' Day and a number of other stops along the Advent road. We share in our (secular) friends' Solstice festivities as well, and we had an early latke-and-doughnut fest this weekend because I'm from Long Island, and it's not December without latkes! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 We are a festive crew! :party: We celebrate Winter Solstice with a Sun cake (spice with lemon frosting) and gifts. . A sun cake. What a fun idea! I'm stealing this for my happy Sun Day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paula in PA Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 We used to do both Solstice, with gifts from us, and Christmas, with gifts from Santa. Now that dd knows all, we're just doing Solstice this year. The 25th will just be a nice day at home with dh off from work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philothea Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 We celebrate St. Nicholas day, with a children's party, The Immaculate Conception with a special dinner and no work--it is treated like a Sunday. We celebrate St. Lucy's day too with a special baked item. DS has a name day this month and DD's baptismal day is this month as well. In general we celebrate Advent and then Christmas until Candlemas (Feb. 2nd). We put special emphasis on the 12 Days of Christmas and we usually go to (or help organize) a huge Epiphany party. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cajun.classical Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 I voted Christmas, but we also celebrate the full Advent Season, the Twelve Days of Christmas, and Epiphany. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bumbledeb Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 We don't celebrate any of those so I voted 'something else'. We have a family winter festival. This year we're having it on first weekend of February when snow is most likely. We will have special food, games, decorations etc. Just celebrating being our family in winter.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirty ethel rackham Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 We celebrate Christmas and the Epiphany (not listed.) We also do a small celebration of St. Stephen's day because dh's father, grandfather and great-grandfather's names are Stephen. If we are with him that day, we wake him with pots and pans and have some Slovenian pastries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela H in Texas Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 We have a family winter festival. This year we're having it on first weekend of February when snow is most likely. We will have special food, games, decorations etc. Just celebrating being our family in winter. We do do these sorts of things. We just don't have it at a certain time. We also have gatherings with other congregation members including gift giving, games, etc. Again, not at a certain time. So it isn't that we don't celebrate ANYTHING; we're just doing things differently. And we only have one religious observance, but it's not really a celebration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 (edited) We do a secular Christmas with a focus on family (some years it's the only time the kids see my parents and sisters) and charity. And food! Edited December 15, 2008 by Carrie1234 Added food! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 We do a secular Christmas here, and I'm pondering on how to add in a Summer Solstice celebration. I'm wanting to move in that direction, but since my kiddies are so little it doesn't matter if I ponder for another few years. I think we are going to a Karen New Year dinner on Dec 27 this year. I just picked up a flyer on the way home today and thought "why not?" :) Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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