Sunday, December 6, 2020

THE SUNDAY POST - Hey, It's December! Yule Celebrations and Music

 

SUNDAY CHAT
FIFTEEN
 HEY, IT'S DECEMBER!
YULE CELEBRATIONS
MUSIC & BIRTHDAY GIFTS

Hello, lovely Library Lions and beautiful Book Dragons! I started drafting this post at 9:15 at night, so it's going to be quick and snappy. And of course I had to tussel with the new Blogger interface, so now it's even later!


If you have been following my blog for a while you know that my son and I celebrate Yule instead of Christmas, but Christmas, in name, is still included in our Yule celebrations because of family tradition. There are twelve days of Yule, begining on Solstice, and when Baz was younger we did a symbolic food and small gift or gratitude exchange each day, but that's not very practical now, so we have our traditions on Solstice, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, and New Year's Day.

SOLSTICE
DINNER: winter storage type homemade vegetable soup, freshly baked bread, an apple dessert (this year apple cake), and a cider or apple juice based drink by candlelight. GIFT EXCHANGE: can be candles, nuts, dried fruits, homemade baked goods with nuts/dried fruits, or a small handmade present. TRADITION: decorate the tree. We put our tree up on the second Saturday in December with only the lights and star on it and finish decorating it on Solstice.

CHRISTMAS EVE
DINNER: Chinese take-out. We save our fortune cookies to open right after midnight on New Year's Eve. GIFT EXCHANGE: a book and cookies. TRADITION: playing Scrabble, although we have played other games from time to time. I have also been reading A Christmas Carol every year for the past four years.

CHRISTMAS DAY
BREAKFAST: cinnamon rolls. DINNER: Lasagna, freshly baked pizza dough bread, green salad with grated apple, pecans, and my homemade "salad sauce", a pomegranate juice based drink, and cheesecake or gelato. GIFT EXCHANGE: I do the - something you want • something you need • something to wear • something to read gift list for Baz, but it's also family tradition to give each other a gag gift, ha ha. TRADITION: we do super-stuffed stockings, even for the adults. When you get up Christmas morning you take your stocking back to bed with you. You can start reading your book from the night before and eat candy. Gifts cannot be opened until after breakfast. The rest of the day we watch movies.

NEW YEAR'S EVE
DINNER: pizza, punch, Christmas cookies, and stocking candy, sparkling juice based drinks. GIFT EXCHANGE: some kind of beverage... sparkling juice, champagne, liquor, specialty soda, pomegranate juice, craft beer, specialty teas and coffees. TRADITION: opening our Christmas Eve fortune cookies after midnight, and also toasting each person with a wish for their new year.

NEW YEAR'S DAY
BRUNCH: leftover pizza, ha ha, and doughnuts. GIFT EXCHANGE: stationery... calendars, day planners, pens, journals, post-it notes, and in the last few years sometimes mugs with inspirational quotes, or a donation to a charity! TRADITION: writing a short thank-you-for-being-you note to include in the gift exchange. It's also a no technology day... no TV, computer, phone, or tablet! When Baz was young I used to buy a puzzle to start on New Year's Day.
Do any of you have a special dinner on New Year's Day?
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Does anyone do Boxing Day?




NEW GUITAR
Meet Bunny, my ESP LTD Viper!



This is a member of the Alvaraz owners guitar group I'm in on Facebook. I love his instrumentals, and after listening you will understand why both of my acoustics are Alvarez.



I forgot to show you my birthday presents from two months ago!

From Baz, plus all the chocolate he gave me to make up for ordering it late.

Annimeke made these beautiful hand-painted bookmarks for me! There is one to match each one of my Discworld Witches story arc Gollancz hardcovers. They are my treasures. She also sent a wonderful gold feather magnetic bookmark and a lovely little starry notebook. She has an Etsy shop for her hand-painted bookmarks as well as stickers and gift tags, now, INLINEWITHANNEMIEKE, and she will do custom bookmarks!


What are your winter holidays like?
What do you celebrate?
Do you have any family tradtions?
What holiday foods do you make?
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HAVE A BRIGHT AND HAPPY HOLIDAY!

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