“Christmas is not a date. It is a state of mind.”
No countdown can start until the week before the event. It is a rule. That means the countdown to Christmas begins today. If I were little again, this would be momentous.
The day is damp again. It rained during the night. We are left with warmish temperatures, a bit of a wind and gray skies. I went out on the deck earlier to dump the rain puddles from the table cover. The deck got soaked so did my feet.
I’m staying home again today. I don’t mind at all. My house is cozy, and every room is bright with Christmas lights which shine so lovely on a cloudy, dark day.
We used to string popcorn for the tree. We’d sit at the table with bowls of popcorn in front of us and needles thread with thin string in our hands. They were dangerous weapons. Several times we’d prick our own fingers and break the popcorn. Yelps were common. My mother would join our strands to make one long strand of popcorn which was circled around the tree. Shauna, one of my Boxers, would eat the popcorn and drag a strand off the tree to the floor for better access. My father always chuckled. Later, when we were older, we’d string cranberries with the popcorn. They stayed on the tree.
My sister and I were talking last night about our trees. We all buy live trees every year. My family always did. My father and his sister, my Aunt Mary, had a running joke. My mother bought the tree and never told my father the actual price. He’d have been apoplectic. Instead, she’d give him an amount in the $30’s. When my aunt saw the tree, always big and magnificent, she’d ask how much it cost, and my father would tell her. She never believed him. He’d swear it. It was the truth as far as he knew.
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This entry was posted on December 18, 2016 at 1:18 pm and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
Tags: buying the tree, Christmas, Christmas lights, countdown, cranberries, damp, decorating the tree, decorations, popcorn strands
Both comments and pings are currently closed.12 Comments on ““Christmas is not a date. It is a state of mind.””
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
December 18, 2016 at 1:54 pm
If a tree has been chopped down, is it still “live?” (sorry, couldn’t resist)
December 18, 2016 at 2:05 pm
im6,
It is as long as it sucks up the water in the stand, and mine needs water every day.
December 18, 2016 at 5:01 pm
Are a bouquet of roses still alive?
December 18, 2016 at 5:21 pm
When you get flowers now, many have small tubes of water attached to them to keep them from dying quickly.
December 18, 2016 at 3:12 pm
Foggy and warmish here today, quite nice 🙂
I’ve had this tiny plastic trees for a couple of years as You know but I’ve also had potted trees that will survive as long as one plce it cold again a week after christmas. Still if one forget to water it it’ll die anyway 🙂 I do have one of those small spruces in my garden though, it shows that it had a hard life for a while but it has started to grow after two years 🙂
I think the adven calendars allows us to start the countdown for christmas much earlier than a week before the event but of course, the last week was the most exiting 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
December 18, 2016 at 3:30 pm
Christer,
It was drizzly all day so I stayed home.
My first two Christmas two trees for planting. They didn’t survive. A hurricane took one down, and the other just died. I had a tree man look at it, but he couldn’t help.
We have no choice with Advent calendars as Advent is four Sundays so we just have to be patient. We can’t start counting the days until the week before or we’d drive ourselves crazy.
I hope you’ve had a good Sunday!
December 18, 2016 at 5:12 pm
This morning at eight the temperature at DFW airport was 21 degrees Fahrenheit. I don’t know if it set a record but the high yesterday around noon was 75 degrees. A big drop along with a cold brisk northwest wind. The temperature just got above freezing and I haven’t left the house or even changed from my pjs. The sun was out but it’s a good day to stay inside and watch movies. I caught up on the movie Race about Jesse Owens.
This year the first night of Chanukah is Christmas Eve. This coincidence is because this is a leap year in the Jewish calendar. The Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar which is adjusted by adding an extra month every so often to correct it to the solar calendar. Our Muslim friends use a strictly lunar calendar which explains why the their holy month of Ramadan moves every year. Some years it’s in the summer and others it’s in the fall or even winter.
When my kids were young we decorated the house for Chanukah but now only light the candles each night. My kids are more interested in the presents than the decorations. 🙂
December 18, 2016 at 5:30 pm
Bob,
It was 9˚ Friday but in the 40’s today. It was a quick change. We started with snow yesterday morning, left over from Friday night. Today it rained again.
I didn’t go anywhere yesterday or today. I do have to go out tomorrow.
I read about Chanukah and Christmas Eve and the rarity of the timing.
We always decorated when I was a kid. Decorating the tree was one of the fun days. It still is.
December 18, 2016 at 5:58 pm
Chanukah is a minor Jewish holiday that gained prominence in the West because of its proximity to Christmas. How can you keep them down on the farm once they’ve seen Paris. 🙂 It’s hard for Jewish households to keep their kids interested in Chanukah when the biggest most important Christian holiday is everywhere between Thanksgiving and New Years and includes getting gifts.
I found it interesting that the official powers who decided what books would be included in the Christian bible, in first or second century, decided to scrap the book of Maccabees among others.
I guess everything is political even back then. 🙂
December 18, 2016 at 8:31 pm
Bob,
I was surprised when I first read that Chanukah wasn’t a major holiday. I knew gelt was to be had, the Menorah lit and special foods served so I gave the day major status. It know now it is religiously minor but has taken on a bit more substance being so close to Christmas.
The poor Maccabees!
December 19, 2016 at 6:13 pm
My best friend’s family strung popcorn and cranberries for their tree and I’ve helped a couple times. I always ended up with sore fingers (just like when I made pomander balls with cloves and oranges)!
December 19, 2016 at 6:26 pm
sprite,
The pomander balls also killed my fingers. I made a hole first but that didn’t matter. They were a project one Christmas.
Cranberries are difficult to puncture.