slo’s MONDAY 12/4 poll - December Holidays & Observances 🎄🎅🏼🕎

[slo]

December is a fun and busy time of year for many.
What do you participate in during December?
(multiple choice)

*Whatever holiday you celebrate….I hope you have a nice holiday season
If the holidays are hard for you…..I wish you peace and send you hugs

*Not mentioned in the poll, but I’d like to acknowledge….
Rosa Parks Day 12/1)
Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day (12/7)
Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (12/12)
December Solstice (12/21)

*If I missed something - I apologize


For Me…..We are a Catholic House, so we enjoy the season of Advent, Feast of the Immaculate Conception (it’s a holy day of obligation - just reminding my fellow Catholics), Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve. We never did St. Nicholas Day.

 

[WDWEPCOT]

Happy Holidays to All !!!

 

[john7994]

Formerly Catholic, but even going back to being raised in the Church, Advent and Feast Days were not heavily observed. Christmas was the headliner and New Year’s Eve was a cap to the Holiday Season and signaled the taking down of decorations.

 

[MIGrandma]

We celebrate Christmas and New Year’s Eve/Day. Actually our family Christmas celebration was yesterday for brunch. 24 of us now, and with one person highly allergic to cats we rent the township hall just up the road from us for the day. Delicious food, mimosas, conversation around the tables, three young great grandchildren running, squealing and playing. And we do a white elephant gift game where everyone does a lot of stealing of other’s gifts, so much fun. And of course lots of pictures.

I would like to wish EVERYONE here a Happy Holiday season, whichever holiday (s) you observe

 

[BlueStarryHat]

Just Christmas and New Year's Eve/Day. I'm from South Philly, so New Year's Day is a big deal because I was born and raised in the heart of the Mummers (Mummers Parade takes place on New Year's Day and is really hard to explain), 2nd Street.

 

[ronandannette]

Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

 

[Meriweather]

Just Christmas and New Year day

 

[Dan Murphy]

heart of the Mummers (Mummers Parade takes place on New Year's Day and is really hard to explain), 2nd Street.

Yes, it is hard to explain, ha. Great memories watching on TV every New Years when I was a kid. Loved the costumes, music and little cars. Crazy stuff, BSH.

Sort of observe Advent. I always got the kids a Christmas Story Advent calendar with chocolates, now I get the same for the grandkids. A little prayer in each window. And we used to do an Advent wreath, with the colored candles and all.

Certainly Christmas and New Year's Eve. Though most years now I do not make it to midnight. I think I did make it last year. Maybe I had some Diet Coke pop or chocolate during the day, caffeine.

I do send Boxing Day greetings to an old time Canadian dis friend.

 

[easyas123]

heart of the Mummers (Mummers Parade takes place on New Year's Day and is really hard to explain)

It wasn't NYD if the Mummers weren't on the TV for us. A HUGE childhood memory for me.

 

[jimmymc]

For my fellow millennials, there needs to be another option for "unofficial high school reunion", to describe when you show up at your hometown bar while visiting your parents for the holidays and run into a ton of people you haven't seen in years.

 

[disneychrista]

I said Christmas, New Years and other (Winter Solstice) because these are the ones I put together music playlists for.

 

[disneychrista]

For my fellow millennials, there needs to be another option for "unofficial high school reunion", to describe when you show up at your hometown bar while visiting your parents for the holidays and run into a ton of people you haven't seen in years.

Isn’t this Thanksgiving Eve?

 

[soccerdad72]

I just checked Christmas. We usually get together with a couple friends for New Years' Eve, but I wouldn't say we really "celebrate" it, per se.

 

[Schneewittchen37]

Also a Catholic household. We celebrate Advent, the Immaculate Conception and Christmas as well.

DH's parents are both WWII vets, so we tend to acknowledge Pearl Harbor day. My FIL was stationed at Pearl during the attack, but his ship was out of port.

 

[Micca]

For us it's just Christmas Eve/Day, New Year's Eve is a non-event here. When the grandkids were little they'd come spend the night and we'd countdown to "Midnight" (really more like 9pm) and toast with some sparkling grape juice. They wouldn't be interested now, if they do come to spend the night they'll just watch movies and play games on their devices.

 

[RedAngie]

It wasn't NYD if the Mummers weren't on the TV for us. A HUGE childhood memory for me.

I remember for a stretch the Mummers more often than not WEREN’T on NYD because of bad weather.

I think one year the parade wasn’t until like January 16th and most people lost interest. It was poorly attended.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

My mom is Jewish and religiously, I was raised Jewish. However, my dad's side of the family is Christian and we'd celebrate with them as well. It was strictly secular, but we'd go to my paternal grandparents' house for the holiday, help trim the tree, open presents, etc. My husband, while not particularly religious, was raised in a Christian household. So, we still celebrate both as I did when growing up. The big difference is that I decorate our house for both. Growing up, we never had Christmas anything in our home because my maternal grandparents wouldn't approve. And yes, my kids get gifts for both. Most times, we give bigger on Christmas, but Hanukkah has been known to have some big ones as well. At least this year, Hanukkah is early, so my house won't smell like latkes once Christmas is upon us.

As for New Year's, we do celebrate January 1st. It's funny, because in Judaism, there are technically several new year markers, but Rosh Hashanah is traditionally looked upon as the major one. It's also when the Hebrew calendar moves to the new year (it's currently 5784). Some also look at a holiday called Simchat Torah (held on the last day of the festival of Sukkot) as another new year, as it signals the end of the Torah reading cycle and the beginning of the next (if I'm remembering correctly). Although, I don't think this is considered one of the four "official" new years. Passover, Tu B'Shevat, and Elul are the other official ones after Rosh Hashanah. I had to look that up because Passover was the only one I personally remembered being viewed as a new year beyond Rosh Hashanah.

Side note- Hanukkah actually starts at sundown on December 7th. Some sites will list the 8th because it's the first full calendar day, but Judaic holidays typically run from sundown to sundown. It does end on the 15th, but the last candle is lit at sundown on the 14th. So, with the sundown to sundown approach, it's over when the sun sets on the 15th.

 

[lovesmurfs]

DH is retired from the military and generally "celebrates" St. Barbara's Day -- military ball. She's the patron saint of the artillery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Barbara

There's also St. Lucia Day (December 13) - celebrated in Sweden. We're not Swedish, but I've made the saffron buns before.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

We are a pastafarian household. We do not celebrate all of the December FSM days though. The main ones we observe are:
12/6 - Pirate Appreciation Day
12/10 - International Human Rights Day
12/12 - Ice Cream Day
12/14 - Cat Herders Day
12/17 - Sloth Day
12/21 - Saturnalia

We celebrate Christmas in a completely secular fashion, and NYE is usually a pretty big deal for us too.

 

[tvguy]

Christmas.....on Christmas Day.
My flag will be out for Pearl Harbor Day.

We normally don't put up our Christmas Decorations until after Pearl Harbor Day, but this year we put them up early (this past weekend) as we will be out of town the weekend after which is when we normally put our Christmas stuff up. It was my wife's idea to get everything up early, and she keeps saying it was too early so if this situation comes up again we may wait until later. As we are retired now, we can put everything up during the week.