Getting ready for Christmas
D.W.Q.M.: "Our lives are different from anybody else's. That's the exciting thing. Nobody in the universe can do what we're doing!" -the Second Doctor
Happy Santa Lucia Day
A few notes about St. Lucia Day:
-Santa Lucia, December 13th, is celebrated only in Sweden on a national scale. Lucia was a 4th Century Sicilian saint. No one is sure why she became so revered in Sweden. I've heard at least 2 different stories...
-At dawn, on December 13th, the eldest daughter dresses in a white dress with a red sash and wears a wreath of ligonberry branches with 4 lit candles (the same number as the Advent wreath). She carries a breakfast consisting of coffee, lussekatt (sun-colored saffron buns), and gingerbread cookies on a tray to her parents, with her younger sisters and brothers in tow. They are also dressed in white-the girls carry lit candles, and the boys wear tall, pointed caps.
-before the change to the Gregorian calendar, December 13th was the shortest day of the year. On that day, St. Lucia, the queen of light, was believed to lead the way for the sun to bring longer days. People lit "St. Lucy's fires" on the evening of her feast day, throwing incense into the flames. They believed that the smoke from the flames would protect them from witchcraft, disease, and other dangers.
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So, is everyone ready for Christmas? I'm not! I still need to do some more shopping, but I think I'll finish most of it when I'm in Minnesota. I'm having a hard time figuring out what to get my neice T for Christmas. I finally found out what she liked, thought of something to get her, only to find out that my sister and Jon already got it for her! Those stinkers! :p Ah, well-guess I'll have to come up with something else... ;)
Last week the gang went to see Paul's holiday concert at the Spot on campus-it was really cool.
the gang at the Spot.
Now imagine all of us in a Ford Mustang. It was quite comical. ;) Afterwards we went to the IHOP to celebrate (with a quick stop at P^2s, to get Adam's truck) Afterwards I went back with them to help decorate for Christmas. Their tree is really pretty, and on taco night, Jerm and I helped Perseph put up the Christmas lights inside and outside. The place looks great, Perseph! :)
Speaking of Perseph, we had our second annual Holiday Baking Party on Saturday-it was a huge sucess, even if we didn't get around to making the sugar cookies. ;) There were plenty of goodies to go around! Arthur helped out again, and my friend Alicia joined us this year. :) We were hoping that Sharon could make it again, and bring her twin boys! But alas, she wasn't able to make it-that's okay, we understood, and besides-there's always next year! ;) We started this last year when both Perseph and I needed to do some holiday baking-we decided to do it together, and we invited Arthur and Sharon to join us-we had so much fun we decided to do it again this year. Hopefully we'll be doing this for many years-it always alot of fun!!
I think I'm going to try to enter Michaels Village display contest. I've never done anything like this before, and the prizes are really cool. ;) They are judging on creativity, originality, and location of display. Hmmmm...well, I dunno, but I guess it never hurts to give it a shot. I took a couple of pics with my digital camera, but I'm thinking I might have to use the ones I took with my SLR camera. Now I just have to remember to develop the film... All entries have to be submitted by December 31st. You know you've been collected these houses too long when you have the next few years planned. Since I only have 4 buildings for my Halloween village, I'm not quite sure what direction I want to take with the village. My Christmas village, on the other hand, I would like to eventually add a post office, a couple of regular homes (hey, I have several people in my village, and only one house-they can't all live there!) and eventually I would like to add to my 'North Pole' scene-right now it just consists of Santa and some elves decorating a Christmas tree-but there are some cute Gingerbread and candy covered buildings that would look great next to them. Yeah, I'm set for the next few years. Yeah, I'm nuts. Just call me crazy. lol ;)
BTW, I updated my front porch, and even though I still haven't finished Krismutt in Columbus, I added a page to his page-Krismutt at the baking party. Enjoy! :)
Happy Santa Lucia Day
A few notes about St. Lucia Day:
-Santa Lucia, December 13th, is celebrated only in Sweden on a national scale. Lucia was a 4th Century Sicilian saint. No one is sure why she became so revered in Sweden. I've heard at least 2 different stories...
-At dawn, on December 13th, the eldest daughter dresses in a white dress with a red sash and wears a wreath of ligonberry branches with 4 lit candles (the same number as the Advent wreath). She carries a breakfast consisting of coffee, lussekatt (sun-colored saffron buns), and gingerbread cookies on a tray to her parents, with her younger sisters and brothers in tow. They are also dressed in white-the girls carry lit candles, and the boys wear tall, pointed caps.
-before the change to the Gregorian calendar, December 13th was the shortest day of the year. On that day, St. Lucia, the queen of light, was believed to lead the way for the sun to bring longer days. People lit "St. Lucy's fires" on the evening of her feast day, throwing incense into the flames. They believed that the smoke from the flames would protect them from witchcraft, disease, and other dangers.
-------------------------------
So, is everyone ready for Christmas? I'm not! I still need to do some more shopping, but I think I'll finish most of it when I'm in Minnesota. I'm having a hard time figuring out what to get my neice T for Christmas. I finally found out what she liked, thought of something to get her, only to find out that my sister and Jon already got it for her! Those stinkers! :p Ah, well-guess I'll have to come up with something else... ;)
Last week the gang went to see Paul's holiday concert at the Spot on campus-it was really cool.
the gang at the Spot.
Now imagine all of us in a Ford Mustang. It was quite comical. ;) Afterwards we went to the IHOP to celebrate (with a quick stop at P^2s, to get Adam's truck) Afterwards I went back with them to help decorate for Christmas. Their tree is really pretty, and on taco night, Jerm and I helped Perseph put up the Christmas lights inside and outside. The place looks great, Perseph! :)
Speaking of Perseph, we had our second annual Holiday Baking Party on Saturday-it was a huge sucess, even if we didn't get around to making the sugar cookies. ;) There were plenty of goodies to go around! Arthur helped out again, and my friend Alicia joined us this year. :) We were hoping that Sharon could make it again, and bring her twin boys! But alas, she wasn't able to make it-that's okay, we understood, and besides-there's always next year! ;) We started this last year when both Perseph and I needed to do some holiday baking-we decided to do it together, and we invited Arthur and Sharon to join us-we had so much fun we decided to do it again this year. Hopefully we'll be doing this for many years-it always alot of fun!!
I think I'm going to try to enter Michaels Village display contest. I've never done anything like this before, and the prizes are really cool. ;) They are judging on creativity, originality, and location of display. Hmmmm...well, I dunno, but I guess it never hurts to give it a shot. I took a couple of pics with my digital camera, but I'm thinking I might have to use the ones I took with my SLR camera. Now I just have to remember to develop the film... All entries have to be submitted by December 31st. You know you've been collected these houses too long when you have the next few years planned. Since I only have 4 buildings for my Halloween village, I'm not quite sure what direction I want to take with the village. My Christmas village, on the other hand, I would like to eventually add a post office, a couple of regular homes (hey, I have several people in my village, and only one house-they can't all live there!) and eventually I would like to add to my 'North Pole' scene-right now it just consists of Santa and some elves decorating a Christmas tree-but there are some cute Gingerbread and candy covered buildings that would look great next to them. Yeah, I'm set for the next few years. Yeah, I'm nuts. Just call me crazy. lol ;)
BTW, I updated my front porch, and even though I still haven't finished Krismutt in Columbus, I added a page to his page-Krismutt at the baking party. Enjoy! :)
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