Five on Friday: December 9, 2006

courtesy of Five on Friday

Holiday Spirit

1. Which winter holidays do you celebrate, if any? Why?
assuming we mean "December holidays," i celebrate Christmas, because a) it is the celebration of Christ's birth, which is very important to me as a Christian, and b) its traditions are part of both my heritage & my upbringing. i like New Year's Eve just fine, but i haven't had much cause or opportunity to celebrate it as an adult...

2. How do you like to celebrate those holidays?
i celebrate Christmas in the traditional sense: gifts for those i care about (though *very* modestly this year), cards mailed out to friends & family, i attend special midweek Advent services at church in preparation for the coming holiday, and i will spend the actual day enjoying the company of wonderful friends. i normally decorate for Christmas, but this year i won't get to do much of that. and i always attend the Candlelight Service on Christmas Eve. New Year's Eve though? prior to moving to Florida, for some reason my New Year's Eve tradition was to be sick in bed. =P thankfully, i didn't bring that along with me, but every year that i've been in Florida, for one reason or another, i have been alone on New Year's Eve. not alone & depressed or anything though. just a nice quiet evening by myself at home. this year it falls on a Sunday so i can watch football (NFL, not college!) all day! =)

3. What is your favorite holiday carol or song?
as far as hymns go: O Little Town of Bethlehem
traditional (but not religiously based) songs: tied White Christmas & Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

4. Tell us about your favorite holiday tradition.
i've mentioned in my blog before that i love attending the Candlelight Service on Christmas Eve, so i will share a different tradition that i always loved from when i still lived at home. almost as soon as the tree was up & decorated, gifts would start to arrive under our tree to wait for Christmas morning. they would have all kinds of beautiful wrappings & ribbons & bows. if you looked closely, one thing that was missing was any depiction of Santa Claus on any of the wrapping paper. that is because only Santa used "Santa Claus paper" to wrap his gifts. when we awoke Christmas morning to see that St Nick had slipped in over night, all of his gifts were wrapped in paper that had images of Santa on it, whether cartoonish or more traditional. i always thought that was a fun tradition. =)

5. If you could change one thing about the holiday season, what would it be?
the stress. i don't feel it so much, but i see so many people running around like crazy, all frazzled & stressed out. i feel like they are losing the meaning of why we celebrate Christmas in the first place. i much prefer my peaceful attitude about the holidays, because i can sit back & enjoy the season for what it is, rather than racing around, getting lost in the crowds & the commercialism. even when i am shopping, i still try to keep myself paced & relaxed.