Christmas Stuff

So….I have two days off…plenty of time to get everything on my to do list done…right?  Not so much.  Most of the list was Christmas stuff…literally.  Christmas trees mostly.  I decided a couple of years ago that I just couldn’t keep up the annual boxes down from the attic…chaos all over the house…boxes back up into the attic routine for much longer.  A little explanation… the store where I work…Christmas is THE time of year.  It is for most retailers…but we specialize in Christmas.  So…I’ve collected a lot of STUFF over the years…garlands and flowers and musical teddy bears and …you know..STUFF.  But carting down and unpacking and packing and carting back up…gets to you after 18 years.   So what I’ve decided to do was to have a tree for every room.  Not a big tree…most of them are table top size.  But themed for the room…and decorated…and at the end of the season…wrapped in plastic and up into the attic until next year when…down from the attic…bag off…lights plugged in…ta da…decorating DONE!  There is one little catch…space has to be made for the tree in each room.  What to do with the displaced STUFF? That is what got me to thinking in a major way about STUFF…and finally had me looking for George Carlin….

I am comforted by  my STUFF…and I do admit…I have waaay too much of it.  Maybe 2009 will be the year I finally purge some of the unnecessary STUFF…but until then…excuse me…the last tree is ready to be plugged in and I have to find a place to put some STUFF.

Tomorrow is St. Nicholas Day.  When I was little, we would leave a sock outside our bedroom doors and in the morning there would be suprises.  Little ones, new socks, candy, fruit.  I’ve done the same for The Daughter and The Boy.  Our tradition has pretty much been new socks and some kind of fruit they’ve never had and/or candy.

Below is a nice explanation of the tradition I found here,  with lots of links.

Children love surprises and love Christmas. One tradition that is fun to celebrate with young children is St. Nicholas Day. St. Nicholas was the forerunner of Santa Claus and, like Santa Claus, secretly delivers gifts to good children as they sleep at night. Instead of Christmas Eve, St. Nicholas delivers his gifts on the night of December 5th which is the eve of the Feast of St. Nicholas or St. Nicholas Day which is December 6th. Also, instead of a sleigh pulled by eight tiny reindeer, he travels on a horse.

It was the Dutch who brought the celebration of St. Nicholas Day to America. During the early days of the settlement of North America, the Dutch founded the colony of New Amsterdam at the mouth of the Hudson River where New York City stands today. In fact New York City began as the Dutch city of New Amsterdam. The Dutch name for St. Nicholas was Sinterklaas which morphed into Santa Claus. While in some countries St. Nicholas brings presents on Christmas Eve, in other countries, including Holland, he brings presents on the eve of his feast day. It was the 1822 poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas by Clement Clark Moore, that established the time of St. Nicholas’ annual visit as being Christmas Eve in America. Moore is also responsible for changing St. Nicholas’ mode of transportation from a horse to a sleigh drawn by eight tiny reindeer. It wasn’t too many years after the publication of A Visit from St. Nicholas that St. Nicholas evolved into the Santa Claus that we all know and love today.

However, St. Nicholas Day falls right within the Christmas season and, for people with young children, it can be celebrated as a part of the Christmas festivities for the children. A visit from St. Nicholas on his horse during the night a couple of weeks before Christmas can give the children a taste of the big visit from Santa Claus that will be coming soon as well as a little break from the stress and excitement of waiting for the big day. It will also add to the mystery and magic of the season for the children.

The celebration is simple and easy and is mainly for the children. You start by telling them the story of St. Nicholas and his kind acts – just click on the tag St Nicholas on this hub and you will be taken to other hubs of mine about St. Nicholas. I have also included links to other St. Nicholas sites on the Internet. On the evening of December 5th have the children place one of their shoes outside of their bedroom or hang their Christmas stocking on their bedroom door or other place. They can also leave a carrot or apple in the shoe for St. Nick’s horse (and maybe a cookie or two for St. Nick himself). After they are asleep, place a few pieces of candy, a simple little toy or trinket (something small like you get with a McDonald’s Happy Meal), a gift certificate to their favorite fast food establishment, or similar little gift. This is not a big gift giving event. Keep it simple with the idea of simply adding a little extra cheer to the holiday season or breaking the daily routine in anticipation of Christmas. You don’t want anything too elaborate because, more than likely December 6th will be a school day so you don’t want to delay them with elaborate gifts or celebrating. The fun is in keeping it simple, but still a small and festive break in the daily routine. Look upon this as being a little bigger than a visit from the tooth fairy, but not a major event or production.

As the author  says above…it’s not a major production.  It’s a tradition that I’ve carried on from my Mom that she carried on from hers…and back and back.  I think that’s the thing I like best about this time of year.  All the sweet little things that remind me of when my kids were little and my own childhood.  And the possibilities for making new traditions/rituals…which  The Daughter and I are working on right now…but that’s a story for another post…like the story of the Thanksgiving Tree…and now that I think about it..they are related.  But that’s for another day.

Spc. Matthew T. Morris
23 years old from Cedar Park, Texas
2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment
April 06, 2008

“He was a very creative kid, and when he wasn’t in a challenging environment, he tried to make life interesting,” Glenn Morris, father of Spc. Morris, said. “He excelled in a military school structure and in a team environment.”

Before enlisting in the Army in 2005, Morris attended the Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro, Virginia where he met a history teacher who inspired him to want to become an educator. “After his service, he wanted to go back to school and get a four-year degree to become a teacher,” said his mother, Lisa. “He wanted to make a difference and give back to the community.”

Spc. Morris was killed when his vehicle encountered an IED in Balad, Iraq. Also killed in the attack was Cpt. Ulises Burgos-Cruz.

All Information Was Found On And Copied From MilitaryCity.com

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

* Dennis Prager…he broadcasts live on holidays…and it is always thoughtful and moving and very often tear inducing.

* A brand new box of tissues…just in case I get teary eyed.

* Turkey lifter thingies…that come with turkeys these days along with the little pop up thingy.

* A couple of bottles of Lonz…price does not mean a wine is good…I don’t care what the wine snobs say. Cream Concord…yummmmmm.

* Two books this week…“The Christmas Sweater” Glenn Beck and “Grace” Richard Paul Evans…both reasons to be glad there is a full box of tissues.

* Black Friday…nothing like WalMart...thank goodness. Most of the customers were pleasant and reasonable. All my fellow “associates” (when did we stop being employees?) were working their fannies off trying to keep the customer satisfied.

* Decisions decisions…when I got home had to decide between The Deadliest Catch Marathon and The Fellowship of The Ring...for me…Hobbits win every time.

* Leftovers. Truthfully, the only reason to have turkey is so you can have leftover stuffing and gravy.

* The Daughter, having off from work on Black Friday…wanted to share this with me, her mother. What can I say…the emotion…I feel it my duty to share with all of you…tissues ready…

(If I have to have this song in my head all day……everyone should!! Never said I didn’t have a cruel streak and the tissues are for tears of laughter.  What can I say…we have a strange sense of humor.

*  A text in the middle of the day…all it says…”marmoset, marmoset”…this has possibilities to stop.

*  Reading at lunch…this quote:  “I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”  G.K. Chesterton

*  “…doubled by wonder.”  isn’t that a great phrase?

*  A midnight snack by the light of the Thanksgiving Tree.  Hmmm…don’t know if I ever wrote about the Thanksgiving Tree…might have my post for tomorrow.

*Saw the first commercial for TSO’s 2008 tour last night…already have my tickets!

*I also* have my tickets for Glenn Beck’s Christmas Tour…simulcast from Charleston…it *is* good to be an Insider.

*Glenn is back on Cleveland radio.  Good move WTAM.

*Radio Patriot interviewed Orson Scott Card last evening…good interview Andrea. Can’t wait to read the new Ender book.

*DH sent me the link to this post from Bear on a Bicycle. This is exactly how I feel about my books. Go read it…if you love books…you’ll love this post.

*Bill Whittle. (I had a conversation yesterday with someone who told me he thought the United States was “one” of the greatest countries in the world…but certainly not the best. I asked him what country was better……..I’m still waiting for his answer.) When I got home from work I grabbed my copy of Silent America...and just started reading. (Wishing I could have smacked that guy in the head with it.) (Yeah, yeah…Mom’s prerogative…do as I say, not as I do/wish.)

They were old and young and ages in between…our Veterans.

It’s a dreary cold day here in northern Ohio.  However, in spite of the temperature on this Veterans Day, a small group  of people (waaaay too small to my way of thinking) gathered at our Veterans Memorial to honor all those who have served.

As I stood there listening to the speakers (all brief in consideration of the cold and the age of some of the Vets attending) I looked at the faces.  I wondered about the stories that could be told.  I stood with a woman I work with.  I know part of her story.  4 sons.  Army, Air Force, Navy, local Firefighter.  One recently returned from 15 months in Afghanistan and one currently deployed in the Gulf.

God bless them and all their brothers and sisters in arms.