Xmas Stuff Home

I wanted to start by saying that for most people there is nothing more exciting than Christmas, but for some the holidays for whatever reason just make them lost and depressed, so take some time out this season to engage friends and neighbors.

A great thing to do is contact a military base and host a Christmas dinner at your home for the soldiers who have no where else to go. Christmas is a time of giving, so give to those in need.

You can also be an influence in a child’s life. Be a Big brother or sister and bring their whole family into yours for the holiday. What a blessing that would be. For a lot of people, especially the poor, Christmas is felt as a time of intense wanting.

Even Dickens stated that “want is keenly felt.” Some believe it is the Dickens Story, A Christmas Carol, that created the practiced act of charity.

Now if the holidays are a hard time for you then bake some cookies and pass them out around your neighborhood and that clawing depression will leave you. Think of others and you will have less time to think of yourself.

Christmas time is a flurry of activity for most people and it starts way earlier in the year, in fact the best sales are in the weeks after Christmas.

Before Christmas even begins you have to be ready to send out those lovely Christmas Cards, they come in all types like; personalized, custom, photo and handmade. Check them all out and chose the one or ones that will work for you.

You may have a huge list of things to buy, not only the presents but the Christmas things. To help you out I have on my pages all the shopping you will need to do for decorations and Christmas attitude. You can check them all out; patriotic ornaments for that special soldier in your life, handcrafted ornaments that tell a memory, Disney ornaments and decorations for that Disney fan and do not forget to deck the yard with lawn ornaments and your doors with beautiful wreaths.

People do all sorts of things to decorate their homes at Christmas time. A really great way to offer a warm and seasonal greeting is to use door wreaths. The two kinds that I discuss here are the grapevine wreaths and the Christmas door wreath.

Christmas is many things to many people and always celebrated in different ways with varied traditions. The one thing though about Christmas is that it is what you make it. What you put into it and ultimately what it means to you.
Because I believe that Christmas garland is a great way to show your holiday spirit I have included information about it here.

Another way to bring family time together is by dressing the tree with a as a Christmas train. Nothing is more fun than building the train and the village and adding to it every Christmas. The Christmas train has long since been an integral part of the holiday celebrations.

My personal favorite thing to do is dress up in Christmas costumes over the holidays. Christmas morning going into your child room in a Angel costume, Reindeer costume, Santa or many more is simply a delight to both of you. There are many costumes out there to chose from; Grinch, Gaspar, Elf, Snowman, Snowman for men, Santas Helper and lets not forget our precious pets. Costumes for dogs is a real treat around the holidays.

Costumes can be worn at office parties, home parties, school events, parades or simply to just make people smile while you are out shopping.

History of Christmas?

Wikipedia states that “Christmas or Christmas Day is a holiday generally observed on December 25 (with alternative days of January 6, 7 and 19) to commemorate the birth of Jesus, the central figure of Christianity.

The reality of that day as the day of the birth of Jesus is but a guess. It was not until the head of the Catholic Church, the Bishop of Rome picked a day and said that was the day Christ was born, but there is no evidence of it.

Reasons that day, the 25th of December was chose.

The Romans already celebrated a feast, or festival at that time of the year known as Saturnalia. The Saturnalia was transformed into Christmas.

The apostate church, which is also known as the unformed Catholic church brought with them a host of heathen Britons who celebrated with great excitement there own winter festival. They refused to give it up so the Catholic church made it permissible by calling it the day of the birth of Christ.

If you are a Christian then it is wise to know that most of your Christmas customs, such as; Christmas trees, mistletoe, Santa Claus and gift giving all stem from harsh and depraved pagan rituals. They went from being pagan to be painted with a Christianity brush by the Church simply to draw more people to the religion.

The Origin of Christmas Tree

Pagans had long worshiped trees in the forest, or brought them into their homes and decorated them.

 

Christmas cards

The custom of sending Christmas cards started in Britain in 1840 when the first ‘Penny Post’ public postal deliveries began. (Helped by the new railway system, the public postal service was the 19th century’s communication revolution

 

The Origin of Mistletoe

We all know that it is important to follow the custom of “kissing neath the mistletoe sprig,” however did you know that it began as a Druid ritual? The mistletoe was used to kill the human sacrificial victim.

The Origin of Christmas Presents

In pre-Christian Rome, the Emperors of pre Christian Rome commanded their most despised citizens to bring offerings and gifts during the Saturnalia. The Catholic Church flavored this with Old Saint Nick and made gift giving acceptable.

OR

Christmas’s gift-giving tradition has its roots in the Three Kings’ offerings to the infant Jesus. The magi traveled to Bethlehem to present Christ gifts

THE MAKING OF SANTA

• Nicholas was born in Parara, Turkey in 270 CE and later became Bishop of Myra.
• He died in 345 CE on December 6th
• He was named a saint in the 19th century
• In 1087, a group of sailors idolized Nicholas
• Members of this group gave each other gifts on the anniversary of Nicholas’ death, December 6
• The Nicholas cult was adopted by German and Celtic pagans
• This group worshiped a pantheon led by Woden
• Woden had a long, white beard and rode a horse through the heavens one evening each Autumn
• Nicholas was then merged with Woden
• The Catholic Church adopted the Nicholas cult and encouraged the people to give gifts on December 25th instead of December 6th
• In 1809, the novelist Washington Irving wrote the Knickerbocker History
• The satire tells of a white bearded, flying-horse riding Saint Nicholas using his Dutch name, Santa Claus
• Dr. Clement Moore, read Knickerbocker History, and in 1822 published a poem about Santa Claus: “Twas the night before Christmas
• The Bavarian illustrator Thomas Nast drew images of Santa for Harper’s Weekly.
• Thomas Nast gave Santa a home at the North Pole, a workshop and the good and bad list
• In 1931, the Coca Cola Corporation contracted the Swedish commercial artist Haddon Sundblom who modeled his Santa on his friend Lou Prentice, the corporation insisted that Santa’s fur-trimmed suit be bright, Coca Cola red

Boxing Day

A tradition on the day after Christmas Day is called ‘Boxing Day’. A custom which started in the Middle Ages around 800 years ago: churches would open their ‘alms boxes, now a day known as collection plates and give the contents to poor people.

OR

In English speaking places like Great Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, it is a time for for employers to give to their staff that had to work the holiday. They were given a day off of work and a small token of appreciation.