60 Days
 

Till Christmas! Yay!!!

This is the official Cellar countdown.

Of course, we time superior beings in Australia and NZ, and also our asian friends, will be a day in front of you yanks and poms...and other assorted varieties. :)

Fuck off.


(j/k)

Its NOT time yet! stop that till after Thanksgiving.

Oh thats an American holiday - as you were.

At least wil til Bonfire Night!
Oh, that's an English celebration...

You're going to have to change the thread title every day.

Gag me. We have not even had Halloweenie yet and I saw some Xmas stuff in the store the other day. There should be a law, no Christmas displays or goods can be displayed until the day after Thanksgiving (which I don't think you Brits celebrate) but that should be the rule in the US dammit.

:lol: Think about it, Merc :lol:
Although the cruel amongst us might suggest we give thanks for gettig rid of those troublesome colonists...

Christmas is technically a religious holiday. The Advent season is the religious time that anticipates Christmas, starting 4 weeks (roughly, depending on the calendar that year) before Christmas. Advent doesn't include any celebrations or major decorations. It's a time for quiet reflection, and in years past even included fasting like in Lent. Christmas itself isn't celebrated until Christmas eve. It lasts until the feast of the Epiphany, which marks the visit by the wise men. This is on January 6th.

So just to recap. The "official" religious Christmas season is Dec. 24th through Jan. 6th.

I know that virtually nobody follows this schedule, (including me) but it's worthwhile to post the "official" schedule while comparing practices.

I thought Australians had Christmas in June?

Glatt - actually, growing up Catholic we did follow that schedule in our religious life.

Advent at school and at church every Sunday were given over to quiet reflection, at least as far as they could rein in excited kids. We lit the advent candles every week at both church and school (I still know most of the verse to "Light the Advent Candle") and although we opened an advent calendar, they were full of bible verses and pictures of the story of the Nativity - not Pwer Rangers and Barbie and chocolates.

But in our secular life, we laid by food for the feast. Christianity is a relative newcomer in the life of men after all.

Ya, but you guys have that "burn a dude in a bon fire" night, I think you are secretly burning those pesky Splitters. :D

Oh babba, we had people to burn before you'd even started killing Native Americans :)

No, I refuse to deal with Christmas until at least December 1st. I am not a big Christmas fan. I hate the commercialism, the crowds, the non-stop playing on the radio of "Grandma got run over by a reindeer," etc., etc. You can call me Scrooge, but I vastly prefer a quiet celebration of the solstice and the return of the light. :p

At a party on Saturday, I heard about this amazing sale that National Geographic holds each November to unload discontinued items and stuff like that. One of my friends ends up buying hundreds of dollars worth of stuff at this sale every year, and uses them throughout the year for various birthday presents. I actually end up buying one or two things from the National Geographic store anyway each Christmas for my father-in-law and others who are difficult to shop for.

With 90% discounts on much of their stuff, I think I'm going to check out the sale. National Geographic sells nice stuff. Not just maps and books, but crafts from around the world, educational toys, and clothes.

I'll go to the one in the DC Armory, but they have them in other cities around the country too. Maybe near you.

Hmm... thanks for the info, Glatt. Will have to check that out... especially since I got three birthdays in November, as well as Solstice coming up...