Conference turris::womannotes-v3

    A Christmas wouldn't be Christmas for me without a few minutes by
    myself in which I plug in the Christmas tree lights, turn out all
    the other lights so the tree is the only light, and take off my
    glasses so it all goes into a wonderful starry blur of unfocussed
    color . . . if the tree has tinsel or *icecicles, there will be
    fuzzy metallic reflections of silver and gold . . . and it's so
    peaceful . . . and sometimes if it's a real tree there will be the
    scent of pine or fir . . . 
    
    --bonnie
    
    * This word doesn't look right no matter HOW I spell it!

    It's been a tradition of one of my closest friends and I to set
    a side one evening a couple of days before Christmas and sit by
    the tree in the dark (the tree being lit up of coarse) drinking
    eggnog and brandy (at about a 3/4 brandy to 1/4 eggnog ratio),
    listening to the DOORS and talking about all the past Christmas'
    we've shared, about which dreams have been fulfilled and which 
    haven't, the meaning of life, ponder over why there is a one-hour 
    photo developing booth in Yosemite Valley when you can look up
    and see the beauty, the pro's and con's to instant rice...etc.  
    
    The evening usually ends with both of us totally drunk laughing 
    and crying over the good and the bad (we always seem to find that
    there is very little bad in our lives).
    
    That's my traditional thing to do over Christmas.
    
    Kel

    The weeks before Christmas are spent making cookies and breads.
    Trays are made up for friends (mostly elderly people in town) and
    are delivered Christmas eve day. The whole thing is a family affair
    with all hands pitching in. In fact some of the cookies we make can
    not reasonably be made by only one person at a time. 

    In any case, we're told that eating our present is a Christmas morning
    tradition in several homes.

    		Alfred

    
    	A new tradition since my now-husband and I have lived together.
    	Going to a tree farm and cutting down our own tree. I find it
    	less expensive and much more fun than stopping at a place on
    	the side of the road.
    
    	Christmas Eve spent with my parents and my brother's godfather
    	and his wife.  They're kind and thoughtful enough to remember
    	me at Christmas as well as my brother.  (even though I tell
    	them it isn't necessary for them to buy me a gift)
    
    	A tradition that we're not so crazy about....having to redecorate
    	the tree practically every day when we get home because the 
    	kitties had been having a good time...... =)
    

>    	A tradition that we're not so crazy about....having to redecorate
>    	the tree practically every day when we get home because the 
>    	kitties had been having a good time...... =)
    
    My sister-in-law Tina cooks, unlike me...:-)  One year she baked these
    beautiful gingerbread men, deorated with icing, candy buttons, etc,
    really elaborate, and hung them all over her Xmas tree as decorations.
    
    The next day when she got home from work, each and every gingerbread
    man on the tree below the height of 4' or so was _missing_ from the
    armpits down.  And Calhoun, their red Irish setter dog, was hiding
    behind the couch...
    
    

    
    
    	re: -1  giggle...giggle... sorry I had to laugh.
    
    	Fortunately we make sure we don't buy any really expensive
    	or extremely fragile ornaments.  They do like the satin
    	ball ornaments though....I'll have to remember not to make
    	gingerbread ornaments...... =)
    

    A woman I met recently has a "Day of the Dead" party every November
    first.  The point of the party is to remember and celebrate those
    people in your life (or not in your life) who are dead.  And to
    "connect" with them, for those who believe that (she does.)  It can be
    serious (a day to remember your lost brother) or more frivolous (paying
    homage to the late great Buddy Holly) but each person celebrates the
    dead in hir own way.
    
    I like it.  I thought it was morbid on first thought, and disrespectful
    on second, but after thinking about it, I decided that it seems like a
    healthy way to treat death; not as something to be hidden away and
    shunned talking about, but something to deal with openly and with humor
    and health.
    
    D!

That reminds me of The Year Of The Squash Pie!  My dad was a cook, so of course
Christmas was always done up *big*, lots of pies and vegetables, etc.  Usually,
he would make all the pies the night before.  That way, the pies could cool
overnight, and the oven would be free for the turkey to be put in at 7:00 a.m.

Any way, one year we came down on Christmas morning, and there was a lovely
little scoop taken out of the middle of the squash pie, and the 
cat_of_the_day was nowhere in sight!  (*8




Somehow, my father never seemed to find it as humorous as I!

E Grace

    another pet story.  another Irish setter.
    
    the big Thanksgiving turkey is roasted and done, the oven door is
    opened, the rack pulled out, and the cover off the bird so it could
    cool for serving.  Enter big hungry dog.  He seizes the turkey in his
    jaws, in two bounds reaches the picture window, crashes through it
    -- with the turkey in his mouth! -- dashes off, and 
    
    i s   n e v e r   s e e n   o r   h e a r d   f r o m   a g a i n !
    
    
    (neither was the turkey!)

    
    re:.9
    i believe november 1st has been celebrated since pre-christian
    times, though its christian name, 'all souls day', is a good name.
    even as the harvest is over and the year comes to an end, so we 
    commemorate those whose lives have come to an end (at least until 
    next spring).
    
    i know that in mexico the 'day of the dead' is celebrated each
    year with the same mixture of gruesomeness and reconsiliation
    that you mention.
    

    I just love this time of year.  I love raking leaves, and the flocks of
    Canada Geese flying over.  I love baking spicey smelling goodies. I
    love decorating the house for the holidays and singing all the winter
    and holiday songs as I work around the house.

    It may sound weird, but I actually enjoy shopping for Christmas cards
    to send out.
    
    Lorna
    

    
    this year will be the first christmas lauren and i will not be
    going back east for christmas. current plans are for a negligee
    and underpants party at our friend sandy's beginning christmas
    eve and continuing through the next day. large quantities of
    various substances will be abused.
    

    re .15, that sounds awfully decadent to me.  Who do you two think you
    are, anyway, Henry & June?  :-)
    
    Lorna
    

    I love having/attending winter solstice parties.  Langstennachtfests!
    Around December 21 it is the longest night of the year and a fine
    time to party.  It's also a good old-religion holiday (as are Halloween
    and Groundhog Day -- cross quarter days) as it is sun-determined.
    
    Get together with friends, play music, drink glogg and wine and
    mulled beer and cider, eat homemade goodies and make a lot of noise
    to drive the darkness away.  Party until sunrise so you'll know
    the noise was successful.  Then everyone sleeps.  It's magic, cause
    the next night is shorter!
    
    Wake up and have brunch then everyone goes home sober.
    
    Scandanavians know how to party! 

	We have 7 cats.  (No, that's not a typo.)  Of which, 5 are indoor only.
(No, that's not a typo either.) 

	I still remember the first year I had my VERY OWN Christmas tree.  Now,
you must understand that I am 1) a Christmas-aholic and 2) I am very crafty.
(In the sense that I sew, knit, crochet, crosstitch, quilt, you name it...)
The combination of these dictated that my VFCT (Very First Christamas Tree) must
be Very Special. To be precise, everything on it (other than the lights) must be
handmade by me.  

	Well, I crosstitched, crocheted and sewed my little heart out. But I
was left with a dilemma concerning a garland.  I didn't want to use tinsel.
The lights were the only ting I was willing to compromise on.  I didn't like 
most of the "homemade" garlands I had seen.  In a flash of inspiration, I 
settled on a popcorn and cranberry garland.  (Sounds of feline snickering in 
the rear.) (<= A bit of foreshadowing there. :-) )  I went at it with my typical 
maniacal zeal.  I popped gallons of popcorn and bought pints of cranberries.
I strung for hours.  I varied the patterns. One string would be: 

PPPPPPCPPPPPPCPPPPPPC  

The next would be: 

PPPPPCPCPPPPPCPCPPPPP

The next would be:

CCPPPCCPPPCCPPPCCPPP

	And so on, ad nauseum.  The tree was done. It was beautiful.  It was a 
monument to just exactly how crazy I can be.

	Over the next few days, however, the tree began to change -- slowly, 
inexorably.  By Christmas, every piece of garland below three feet now 
consisted of: ______C______C______C or _____C_C_____C_C_____ or CC___CC___CC___
	
	And under my tree on Christmas morning, was a note that read:

     +------------------------------------------+
     |  Great Garland!                          |
     |                                          |
     | (But next year, lose the cranberries.)   |
     |                                          |
     |  Santa Kitty				|  
     +------------------------------------------+

	And then there is the picture we have of our Christmas tree, the stand 
broken, leaning at a 45 degree angle against the wall and Gandalf's glowing eyes
peeking out....


	(As you can probably guess, daily redecorating is a tradition at our 
house as well...)

Tracey