Merry Christmas

[mikeuk]

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Take care see you out there:)



Had to be the first:P


Make a card


[Edited on 12-9-2011 by mikeuk]

[DaveK]

Well, since we are a varied bunch and celebrate at different times and in different ways, but to all of us - have a great holiday and an a chance to celebrate family, relax and wind down a bit . . . even those who don't celebrate Christmas as such (jews, muslims, sikhs, hindus, buddhists, druids etc) - be happy as you celebrate your respective beliefs.

The following quick survey shows the variation, but every year I hope in my heart that as a species sharing a fragile planet we can recognise our similarities more than our differences . . . Peace on Earth is surely more important than anything else

To all the pilots in Belgium enjoy the sixth of December for your celebration of Sinterklaas (Saint-Nicholas)

In Brazil, enjoy Papai Noel with your chicken, turkey, ham, rice, salad, pork, fresh and dried fruits, and beer.

You Fins know how to do the business . . . but then Father Christmas (Santa Claus) lives in the north part of Finland called Korvatunturi, north of the Arctic Circle.
Everyone cleans their houses ready for the three holy days of Christmas - Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. Christmas Eve is very special, when people eat rice porridge and a sweet soup made from dried fruits (plums, raisins, apples, pears, apricots and figs). It´s eaten in the morning or at lunchtime. They will then decorate a spruce tree in the home. At mid-day, the 'Christmas peace declaration' is broadcast on radio and TV from the Finnish city of Turku by its Mayor. In the evening, a traditional Christmas dinner is eaten. The meal will include 'casseroles' containing liver, rutabaga, carrot and potato, with cooked ham or turkey. Some families eat liver pate. Rawpickled slightly salted salmon, herrings and salad called "rosolli". Mushroom salad is also common. Rosolli is cold salad made from peeled, cooked and diced potatoes, carrots, beetroot and diced apples, onions and pickled cucumber. Season with salt (some people use also pepper). Whipped cream (+ salt, vinegar and beetroot colour to make it pink) is served with rosolli. Food traditions during the Christmas period depend on which part of Finland people live. In Lapland and in Finland's islands there are different foods. Other foods include cooked peas, different kind on salads, roe, cold fish-dishes, pates, other casseroles such as beetroot casserole with cheese or with blue cheese, sweet and spiced breads, carelian pies, and cheeses. Gingerbreads, spiced cakes, different kind of cakes and cookies and others to eat with coffee or milk. You eat these at "day-coffee" time on the Christmas eve (after the Christmas peace declaration which everybody watches on TV, or before going to the church and graveyard), in the evening. Christmas smells include mulled wine, gingerbreads, spices - cinnamon being the most common - Christmas tree, burning candles and hyacinthe. Poinsettia and hyacinthe are the most popular Christmas flowers. On Christmas eve many go to church, on the afternoon or late afternoon (time depends of local churches) - this is new tradition. The "real" and old Christmas church is early on the morning of Christmas day. Many go there too. Graveyards are very beautiful places on the Christmas eve, since there are lot of soft white snow and the only lights come from candles people bring to the graves of loved ones. If relatives are buried in other graveyards, there are places in graveyard you can lit your candle to remember them. Sauna of course is part of celebration. People go there before church and graves, or after them. After sauna is the festive dinner. The high moment! After that comes Santa Claus (if there are children) or the presents that are under the Christmas tree are opened. In some families where there are no small kids, the presents are not put under the tree, but collected to big sacks, which are carried near the front door. Then a family member might say, Did I heard sound of reindeers and bells... Or Did I hear Santa Claus... When they go to check, there are big sacks full of presents there. So it was Santa after all. Then people drink coffee and eat cakes, cookies and other sweet things. Enjoy present and play games. Small kids go to bed but others stay up late. Many families will visit cemeteries and grave-yards to place a candle onto the burial graves of family members. Cemeteries are very beautiful at Christmas-time.

To our French pilots . . . for whom Christmas is always called 'Noël'. Everyone has a Christmas tree, sometimes decorated in the old way with red ribbons and real white wax candles. Fir trees in the garden are often decorated too, with lights on all night. Father Christmas is called Père Noël. The Christmas meal is an important family gathering with good meat and the best wine. Few people send Christmas cards. More people send New Year cards to wish everyone good luck and joy for the New Year. These days Christmas lunch is a starter of fois gras (a strong tasting pate made from goose liver) followed by lunch of seafood - usually including lobster and oysters. Decorations in houses are minimal but British traditions are catching on here and all the big shops and town centres have Chrismas decorations including trees. French and good food - together forever!!

Our German team of course decorate their houses at Christmas. Many will have little wooden frames holding electric candles in their windows, and coloured pictures of paper or plastic which look beautiful from the outside at night. Often too, they will have an 'Adventskranz' - a wreath of leaves with four candles. (Advent - meaning 'coming' - is the 4 week period before Christmas). On each Sunday of Advent, another candle is lit. Most homes will also have little wooden 'cribs' - a small model of the stable where Jesus was born, with Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, and animals. Father Christmas - 'Der Weihnachtsmann' - brings presents in the late afternoon of Christmas Eve (December 24th), after people have been to a church meeting. The presents are then found under the Christmas tree. One person in the family will ring a bell and call everyone to come to the room. On Christmas Day, fish (carp) or goose will be cooked.

Any Hungarians out there? . . . Santa Clause (Winter-grandfather) (Tel-apo or Mikulas) comes on the 6th of December. Children should clean and put their shoes outside next to the door or window before they go to sleep. Next day candies and/or small toys appear in them in red bags. For children, who don't behave well, a golden birch placed next to the sweets, a symbol for spanking... (but don't worrykids, it is just for fun, and not for actual punishment.)
On 24th of December, children go to their relative or to the movies, because little Jesus brings the tree and the presents that evening to their house. It is customary to hang edible things on the tree, like golden wrapped assorted chocolates and meringues beside the glass balls, candles (real or electrical), and sparklers.
Families usually cook festive dinner for that night. An example would be fresh fish usually with rice or potatoes and home made pastries as dessert. After dinner, the tree would be viewed by the children for the first time. It was very exciting. Christmas songs are sung and then the gifts under the tree are shared.
Older children attend the midnight mass with their parents. Next day the children attack the edible part of the tree. Festive food is enjoyed on the second and third day too.

Our Latvian members (well the kids anyway) believe that Father Christmas brings presents on each of the 12 days of Christmas starting on Christmas Eve. Usually the presents are put under the family Christmas tree. (What a good idea to spread Christmas out longer!) It was in Latvia that the first Christmas tree was decorated.
The special Latvian Christmas Day meal is cooked brown peas with bacon (pork) sauce, small pies, cabbage and sausage.

For Swedes the most important day is Christmas Eve. (SeeJay?) A special Christmas meal is eaten on Christmas Eve - ham (pork), herring fish, and brown beans - and this is the time when families give presents to each other. Many people attend a church meeting early on Christmas Day

The USA crowd is so multi-cultural that they find many different ways of celebrating Christmas. "Our family (Eastern European origin) favor turkey with trimmings. My grandparents and their relatives preferred keilbasi (Polish sausage), cabbage dishes, and soups. My husband's Italian family insisted on lasagna!" For others, all year long children are told to behave, or they will get coal in their stocking. On Christmas Eve, they hang highly stylized stockings on the mantle of the fireplace, then go to bed early so that they will find presents in the morning. They are told that at midnight Santa will come, bringing a huge bag of toys. He will come down through the chimney, leave candy in the stockings and presents under the Christmas tree (anything from a Pine or Fir to a Spruce), then 'plug one nostril' and shoot up through the chimney. (This comes from the story " A Visit From St. Nicholas," where St. Nick laid a finger "aside of his nose." He wasn't plugging up his nose - he was making a sign for secrecy.) Cookies are traditionally left for him, and a carrot is commonly left for Rudolph the Red-nosed reindeer, very much a part of Christmas tradition (Santa will land on the roof with his sleigh and nine reindeer). On Christmas morning, things such as cinnamon rolls or coffee cake are served for breakfast, and for dinner there is typically ham (and occasionally regal plum pudding). That is it for celebration — Boxing Day is never celebrated, Epiphany is only celebrated by Catholics, and Advent not commonly celebrated. "As a child, I fondly remember leaving carrots and sugar for all of the reindeer, along the milk and cookies for Santa!"

In my childhood in the UK it was a carrot for Rudolf and the team and a mince pie and sherry for Father Christmas (no wonder he was round and happy!)

:):):)

[Edited on 9-12-2011 by DaveK]

[SeeJay]

Merry Christmas to you all.

Spot on Dave, the 24th is the day for Swedes and I will be Santa for some kids in
the neighbourhood. I love that part when the kids eye's sparkle with anticipation
when Santa arrives with a big sack of presents on his back. Ohh my poor old back!;);)

[Dingo]

dave, no mention of Krampus day? That's so insensitive of you!

[BLEVE]

You forgot about us poor Aussies. Sweating it out in 30C - 35C. Shorts and Tee shirts and a couple of cold beers while lazying in the pool. Merry Christmas to all, and wishing you all you'd wish for yourself in the new year.

[Maarschalk]

Happy holidays to all Evochronians when ever or what ever they relatively may be....:P:P:P:P:P:P:P

[Cindy]

Happy holidays to all!

[Mecingo]

Marry Xmas all. It's kinda early but what the heck, I might not be near a computer this Xmas, unless I bring a laptop with me

[Busch]

Merry Christmas to All !

[Maarschalk]

Marry Xmas all. It's kinda early but what the heck, I might not be near a computer this Xmas, unless I bring a laptop with me

There is something terribly wrong with this picture!
seriously!...LOL.....:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P