They Must Know We're Out There......

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Rising Dead Man
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They Must Know We're Out There......

Post by Rising Dead Man » Fri Sep 23, 2011 6:19 pm

Or why else would the Christmas companies have THESE?

http://www.christmasplace.com/shopping/ ... oducts_Ads

This totally might go on my tree!
Halloween wraps fear in innocence,
As though it were a slightly sour sweet.
Let terror, then, be turned into a treat...
~Nicholas Gordon

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Re: They Must Know We're Out There......

Post by Andybev01 » Fri Sep 23, 2011 6:30 pm

That's hilarious.

Actually, ghost stories are a big part of the European/Victorian Christmas tradition.

What is A Christmas Carol other than 4 ghost stories?
All you that doth my grave pass by,
As you are now so once was I,
As I am now so you must be,
Prepare for death & follow me.

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Re: They Must Know We're Out There......

Post by iHaunt » Fri Sep 23, 2011 11:00 pm

Honestly, I didn't mean to dislike XMAS b/c all of the presents and gifts, even monies! :D

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Re: They Must Know We're Out There......

Post by Murfreesboro » Sat Sep 24, 2011 10:00 am

Oh, yes, Christmas is a very haunted holiday. Once you get to be my age (mid-50s), you can recall so many people with whom you used to celebrate who have passed on. And often people get nostalgic and start to tell stories about those long-ago Christmases. So, yes, haunted for sure.

I love those ornaments, but I would never hang any of them on a Christmas tree. I would have to use them as part of my Halloween decorations. Maybe hang them on a bare tree branch in a vase on the dining room table.

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Re: They Must Know We're Out There......

Post by Rising Dead Man » Sat Sep 24, 2011 6:29 pm

I Hallowmas tree, awesome! Quick, somebody make one and get us rich!
Halloween wraps fear in innocence,
As though it were a slightly sour sweet.
Let terror, then, be turned into a treat...
~Nicholas Gordon

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Re: They Must Know We're Out There......

Post by iHaunt » Sun Sep 25, 2011 12:35 am

Hey! Get some money off of XMAS tree!!! :lol: :twisted:

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Re: They Must Know We're Out There......

Post by Pumpkin_Man » Thu Sep 29, 2011 10:44 pm

Wheter we like it or not, there is big money to be made in Halloween decorations, and that Christmas decoration company is going to cash in.

And yes, Christmas is a very 'haunted' holiday, and some of the best horror stories take place at Christmas time, not Halloween. One of my personal favs is "Black Christmas," and "A Christmas Carol.

Mike

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Re: They Must Know We're Out There......

Post by Murfreesboro » Fri Sep 30, 2011 9:29 am

Dickens's Christmas Carol is my absolute favorite secular Christmas story. I try to read it through every year.

You know, it's a discussion for another thread, but Dickens had a lot to do with the revival of Christmas in 19th-century England. I guess he both rode the wave and contributed to it. It's interesting to consider that, at least in English-speaking lands, the celebration of Christmas almost died out for about two hundred years. Had to do with the rise of fundamentalist Protestantism and the fact that Christmas incorporates so many pagan elements. The Germans never stopped, though, and I believe much of the rebirth of the Christmas season had to do with the international influence of German culture in the early 19th century.
Last edited by Murfreesboro on Fri Sep 30, 2011 9:34 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: They Must Know We're Out There......

Post by ramaries69 » Fri Sep 30, 2011 9:33 am

Rising Dead Man wrote:I Hallowmas tree, awesome! Quick, somebody make one and get us rich!


You're all so funny! But every single one of you have made a vaild point!
I love the sound to Hallowmas!

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Re: They Must Know We're Out There......

Post by Pumpkin_Man » Fri Oct 07, 2011 2:51 pm

I think that pretty much sums it up, Murph, all though we get a lot of our Christmas traditions from England and Germany. Also, here in the U S, the turkey replaced Prime Rib for a traditional Christmas Dinner for lots of families. In our family, turkey was as much part of Christmas as it was Thanksgiving. That was right up until Thanksgiving of 85, when our Thanksgiving turkey gave us all a case of Salmonella. (......and if I didn't spell it right, I DON'T CARE!!) From that year on, my beloved siblings decided to start a "newpfangled" tradition of either Roast Beef or Fresh Ham.

I STILL miss having a Christmas turkey, though, and since I spend all of Christmas Eve at home, I do a small turkey breast out on the barbecue or in the oven, depending ont he weather.

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Re: They Must Know We're Out There......

Post by Murfreesboro » Fri Oct 07, 2011 6:16 pm

I believe roast beef is the English Christmas tradition these days. Not sure when that started. In Christmas Carol, the poor Cratchetts (sp?) are eating a goose which is too small for their large family. It is symbolic that Scrooge gives them a turkey at the end. That was something only the wealthy got to eat in 1840s England. Of course, in America, anyone could go out and shoot one. Heck, I could do that today if I wished. We have turkeys all over the place around here. I have seen wild ones walking through my front yard, and we are very much in the city.

I am very very traditional about Thanksgiving--everything on my table comes from the New World. But I bend the custom a bit about Christmas. I always cook a ham on Christmas Eve, but I have poultry, too, on Christmas Day, sometimes a turkey, sometimes Cornish hens.

Mike, since you lament the way your family no longer celebrates the religious aspect of Christmas, do you try to go out to any midnight church services at that time? We do that most years. I love the midnight service. Last Christmas, it was snowing when we came out of the church. That never happens around here.

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Re: They Must Know We're Out There......

Post by Pumpkin_Man » Fri Oct 07, 2011 6:30 pm

What I do at Christmas time is a bit of a story. Every year since we moved to arm pit New Lenox, we started turning Christmas into a purely secular holiday, because my mom didn't want to alienate one of my older brothers, who's an agnostic, and his wife who's an atheist. We stopped lighting candles, did away with the advent wreath on Christmas Eve, and the singing of Christmas carols. We started this new "tradition" of putting things in a 'grab bab,' and then having an 'auction' contest. I really couldn't stand it, and it so detracted from the beloved tradition that over the years I really got to hate Christmas Even. Anyway, as the years went on, my parents died, I moved to my house in Dwight Ill, and they more or less kept up this obnoxious auction. I allways went to Mass on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but then I would go to the Christmas 'auction.' afterwords. I would feel really nice and Christmassy after Mass, and then I would go to that 'auction,' and feel frustrated, slighted, angry and depressed. Then on Christmas Day, I went to Mass and begged God to save my job, and told Him that if I could stay employed or find a new job that was meaningful, I would dedicate Christmas Eve to celebrating His Birthday for the rest of my life. And now that's what I do. I love my brothers and sisters, but on Christmas Even I worship God. I play Christmas music, I celebrage the end of the Advent season, I light candles, I pray the Rosary, and I screen the movie "The Nativity." Then on Christmas morning, I go to Mass before leaving for my brothers house for Christmas dinner.

The Christmas season of 2006 arrived, and just a 3 weeks before Christmas, my employers announced that they were going to eliminate 29 jobs, and mine was supposed to be one of them. I was feeling very miserable, and that Christmas season was pretty much ruined, so I decided that year, that I would dedicate my entire Christmas Eve to God and the birth of His Son, and then just have dinner with my siblings on Christmas Day. In spite of the fact that I was totaly sure I was going to be out of work the following july, I had the best Christmas Eve I ever had. I revitalized all the old family traditions. I let the Advent Wreath and let the candles burn down to stubs. I played Christmas music, recited the Rosary, lit a fire in my fire place and cooked a special Christmas Eve dinner. A turkey breast, with mashed potatos, corn, cranberry sauce and stuffing. It relly brought back the old Christmas spirit, and I actualy forgot about my inpending unemployment.

The following May, the administrators decided to retain my services and I am still here to this day. I received my Christmas miracle. I did not have to go through the indignaty of unemployment, and Christmas is once again CHRISTmas for me.

I hope I didn't bore you with this long story, but I truely believe that a Christmas miracle did take place, because out of the 29 people who were let go back in 06, I was the only one who was not.

Mike

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Re: They Must Know We're Out There......

Post by iHaunt » Fri Oct 07, 2011 11:26 pm

Ok, don't forget to watch a couple of movies below:


Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)

Santa's Slay (2005)


;)

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Re: They Must Know We're Out There......

Post by Murfreesboro » Sat Oct 08, 2011 8:36 am

Mike, I think that's a wonderful story, and I wasn't at all bored by it. You might be pleased to know that I bought The Nativity last year because you had recommended it, and I enjoyed it very much, too. I watched it repeatedly last Christmas season and will be sure to do so again this year. There are lots of Christmas-themed movies out there, but very few of them are religious. I also like to watch a DVD called Bethlehem Star that I got at a religious bookstore. It was made by a guy named Larson and is extremely interesting.

I am sorry to hear about what happened to your family's Christmas celebration. My kids haven't married yet, and so far none of them has shown signs of leaving his/her religious faith behind, but I can see that it would make family celebrations difficult if someone you dearly loved and wished to include no longer believed. I think I would have to keep up my traditions, though, because Christmas just withers when it is deracinated from its religious roots. I think, in that case, it is the agnostic or atheist who needs to compromise for one night or day, not the people who still believe in the Christmas miracle.

Once, three or four years ago, I started using a book of Advent devotions. It was made to be used as a family, but because we were so helter-skelter during the holiday season, I just used it myself, privately. When the holidays were over, my husband remarked to me, "This was the best Christmas season we have had in years." He was right, and I thought about why. Nothing was different. We are always short on money and still were at that time. Nothing had changed. The only thing that had changed was my private Advent devotions. I decided that, somehow, they had centered me and made me less frenetic, and that had carried over to the family's spirit. So I not only kept my Advent devotions up every year, but I incorporated Bible reading into my daily schedule, as well. I figured, if reading Advent devotions could make so much difference at Christmas, then that sort of thing shouldn't be saved just for Christmas.

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Re: They Must Know We're Out There......

Post by Pumpkin_Man » Mon Oct 10, 2011 5:01 pm

I totaly agree, Murph. I need God all year round, and in every aspect of my life, not at Christmas or Easter. I pray the Rosary every day on my way to and from work, and I attend Mass every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation that I can make.

As for my family, I hate to say it, but I think the non believers presently outnumber the believers. My two older brothers are agnostics, my oldest niece is a Wiccan, and I think the rest of them are sort of on the proverbial fence. The thing is, those of us who still do have some belief left don't want to alienate or be inpolite to the non believers, so they try to keep quiet in matters of faith. They play only secular Christmas music, but for the most part, they have that horible auction and that even more horible gift giving game that pits sister against sister. I suppose I shouldn't complain so much. Despite all that, we are still pretty close as a family, but I don't celebrate Christmas Eve with them any more, which is the main family party for Christmas. I do go to my brothers house for Christmas Dinner, but that's pretty much all I do.

I'm glat you enjoyed "The Nativity." Unfortunately I don't think it did too well at the box office when it was out in theatres. It came out about a year after "The Passion of the Christ," which was actualy a run-away hit with movie goers. The "liberal" press and the Hollywood "intelectuals" hated it, though.

My younter sister and I use to take turns opening all the windows on our yearly Advent calender, and on the 24th, there was a little piece of candy. I allways let her have it, though, because there were so many goodies around on Christmas Eve back in 'the day.'

Anyway, since I started observing the old Catholic Christmas traditions, I have been much happier at Christmas time, too.

Mike

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