Christmas and Holiday Season
The Christmas season, also called the festive season, or the holiday season (mainly in the U.S. and Canada; often simply called the holidays), is an annually recurring period recognized in many Western and Western-influenced countries that is generally considered to run from late November to early January. It is defined as incorporating at least Christmas, and usually New Year, and sometimes various other holidays and festivals. It also is associated with a period of shopping which comprises a peak season for the retail sector (the "Christmas (or holiday) shopping season"), and a period of sales at the end of the season (the "January sales"). Christmas window displays and Christmas tree lighting ceremonies when trees decorated with ornaments and light bulbs are illuminated, are traditions in many areas.
In the denominations of Western Christianity, the term "Christmas season" is considered synonymous with Christmastide, a term associated with Yuletide, which runs from December 25 (Christmas Day) to January 5 (Epiphany Eve), popularly known as the 12 Days of Christmas. However, as the economic impact involving the anticipatory lead-up to Christmas Day grew in America and Europe into the 19th and 20th centuries, the term "Christmas season" began to become synonymous instead with the traditional Christian Advent season, the period observed in Western Christianity from the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day until Christmas Day itself. The term "Advent calendar" survives in secular Western parlance as a term referring to a countdown to Christmas Day from the beginning of December.
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With that said, I sincerely wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday Season, whatever it is you might observe and/or celebrate.
I look forward to Santa Claus and the good will and gesture Old Saint Nick brings along with him, I know my kids are too!
So Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you!
From, Alrelax (Glen)
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P.S.
Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Kris Kringle, Father Christmas, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts to the homes of well-behaved ("good" or "nice") children on Christmas Eve (24 December) and the early morning hours of Christmas Day (25 December). The modern Santa Claus grew out of traditions surrounding the historical Saint Nicholas (a fourth-century Greek bishop and gift-giver of Myra), the British figure of Father Christmas and the Dutch figure of Sinterklaas (himself also based on Saint Nicholas). Some maintain Santa Claus also absorbed elements of the Germanic god Wodan, who was associated with the pagan midwinter event of Yule and led the Wild Hunt, a ghostly procession through the sky.
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I personally have adopted the following: Santa is really the only cultural icon we have who's male, does not carry a gun, and is all about peace, joy, giving, and caring for other people. That's part of the magic for me, especially in a culture where we've become so commercialized and hooked into manufactured icons. Santa is much more organic, integral, connected to the past, and therefore connected to the future. :bye:
Mele Kalikimaka a me Hau'oli Makahiki Hou, from Hawaii.
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Merry Christmas to all :rose:
&
Very best wishes,
Vic
Now that it is December I think it's safe to say Merry Christmas to all from the Florida contingent.
AD
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Well Santa is almost here! Yep another year long gone.....................
I am with my little 6 year old boy for the week. Got up here last night, no snow on the ground here in the Twin Cities, wow---what a change!
So I bring all his presents and we get to where we are staying. My little boy says, 'Daddy, I want Christmas tonight because I am inpatient, sorry'. LOL, where did he get that one from?
He tells me,'Daddy I know there is no Santa because he is past away'. I told him that is not true, Santa always lives and will always be around. He says that he knows better. I told him, nope sorry Santa lives in spirit and soul, always always always.
So he opens all his presents and then we went swimming, hot tub and he wanted a 'happy meal' from McDonalds. So we went and got that. Just before he went to sleep he asked me, 'Daddy are you sure about Santa', and I said yes. He looked at me like a baccarat dealer that flips a Natural 9 to my hand of a Natural 8 when no one is on the side of the N-9 and there was plenty of tip wager out there for the dealer.
Oh well. Merry Christmas and all that! I love all you guys, even some of the banned ones and the ones that won't come back to our site here and are fighting and causing drama elsewhere.
Alrealx. Glen.
God Jul! Merry Christmas from the lost Viking in Georgia.
Merry Christmas 2018 @ ALL!!! :love:
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Vic
Merry Christmas to everyone!!! ^-^
as.