Sunday, December 24, 2006

Some Thoughts On The Day

Living nearly my entire life in southern California,I've never known a "white Christmas".Since Jesus and the apostles likely never have either, I dont understand what is so Christmas-ish about it.


Likewise, I'll never understand the ubiquitous display of inflatable snowman lawn decor, and how the hell it ever became synonymous with Christmas. Do folks in the northeast place inflatable palm trees on their lawns?

Jesus was a jew. Why do we celebrate His birth with a ham?

I really did grow up with chestnuts roasted on an open fire. Every year. Dad still does it, and not just for Christmas.

Every year, I wrap everything in the same color paper, with identical curlie ribbon. This year it's shiny gold wrap, purple ribbon. It's one of the few well-ordered things about me in a very haphazard lifestyle.

It's not Christmas Eve without canoli. I order ahead, and still wait an hour to get to the checkout.

Mid-Night Mass: Where have all these people been the last 12 months?

To you all:
May your heart be filled with peace,love and joy, as we celebrate the birth of the Savior, when Almighty God became true man, and walked among us.
Merry Christmas

5 comments:

kingdavid said...

We use to have a Polish feast on X-mas day---kielbasa, kapusta, cabbage rolls, pierogis; then, last year Mocha-momma decided to make a prime rib dinner. We ordered the prime rib from our local butcher and just picked it up on Saturday. $27 for 2.5 pounds of prime rib. I may have king as a pseudonym, but I sure can't afford to eat like a king at those kind of prices. I hope the canoli didn't cost you an arm and a leg. All I can say is that she better cook that puppy like she was a brain surgeon doing a delicate operation---no mistakes on this one.

Andy said...

Well, Christmas has been located in winter for two reasons. One is just symbolic: now is the time of short, cold, bleak days, and of course back in the oldie days, winter was also a potentially life-threatening circumstance. So Christmas is about the coming of hope into a very bleak, dark world. The second reason is related. Many cultures felt the need to have a midwinter celebration, for many of the same reasons. December 25 was the date of the Roman festival Saturnalia, and it was also the birthday of the cult god Mithras. So partly Christmas was established as 12/25 to supplant those holidays in the Roman Empire following Constantine, but also just because people NEED it.

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Anonymous said...

Happy first day of Christmas, Gino : ).
(Or maybe second day ... I get confused, like when I try to count out Lent ; ). )

Gino said...

thanks,
i didnt get my one partidge in a pear tree, but today i'm getting two chinchillas in 4'x4' cage.
i may post on them.
i hear they make great cat toys and pelts.
imagine my dilemma: three cats, but only two chinchillas.

Mercy Now said...

I think we got the snoman from Looney Tunes the Abominable Snowman.

As for white Christmas, it's from the song by Bing Crosby.

Ham's prob from the days of the pilgrims, left over from Thanksgiving.

Midnight mass and church services around Christmas are usually filled up, kinda like people coming out of da woods once a year. Guess it's better than staying in the woods:o)