Getting in the Holiday Spirit

[Karen]

Saw Lizbud's thread by this title in the Dog House - entirely different subject than what it brought to mind for me. What puts you in the holiday spirit? As the stores have had "Christmas" things on display since September in some cases, don't count that one bit. I try to ignore that entirely, as a matter of fact.

We usually spend Thanksgiving at Paul's sister's house in New Hampshire, so in the car on the way back home, usually play either the Muppet Christmas Carol CD, or the Charlie Brown Christmas one. That music playing as the car travels down a dark highway really signals the beginning of the season for me.

Other prompts - the evergreens, fragrant and fresh, that go on sale at the local produce market - I walk past them and quietly inhale the scent and am transported.

And every day, more people put up their Christmas lights, and as sunset is so early - it was setting at 4:15 after a cool grey day, bright gold on the Western horizon silhouetting the bare grey branches of a million deciduous trees gone into winter sleep - so the lights on house get switched on, on fences and trees, and whatever whimsy strikes, and they cheer the dark streets.

What heralds the season for you?

[Grace]

What heralds the season for you?

The day the candy is put out in the grocery store :D

http://bestsmileys.com/christmas1/3.gif



The music - all those glorious Carols and Hymns. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDPwNPAV6tA)

[Alysser]

Definitely the music and the decorations, especially the older music like Frank Sinatra or Bing Crosby. I love gifts as much as the next person but I really do enjoy the time I spend with my family on holidays.

[chocolatepuppy]

I love Christmas! I got my tree up and decorated, front porch lit up.:D I don't like 'starting' Christmas until at least Thanksgiving Day. They've started playing Christmas music on the radio. That gets me in the mood.:)

[krazyaboutkatz]

Starting my Christmas cards which I'll be doing today and tomorrow.:) I also enjoy watching the "Hallmark" and "Lifetime" channels because they have many heartwarming Christmas stories.:)

[Freedom]

It's an interesting question. Some years, I have a difficult time getting into it. This year, I have even surprised myself, I have the cards for the swap done and mailed -- which means I got the dogs dressed and photographed ages back! Put the tree up, started decorating that and the house.

The music definitely helps, but I won't listen to it before Thanksgiving.

The dark evenings surely help with the mood, and yet as I said at the start, some years it doesn't work. Hm . . ..

The smell of the evergreens in the shops, oooh, LOVE that! I do miss having a live cut tree in the house for that reason. But it is just not practical for now, Dad can't help me get it in and up and I can't do it alone.

[Pembroke_Corgi]

I love Christmas music, and around Thanksgiving I usually pull out my sheet music and play some tunes on the piano. We usually put up the tree the day after Thanksgiving, too. :)

[mrspunkysmom]

For the past 10 years or so I have had difficulty getting in the spirit for any holiday, including my favorite, Halloween. Life has been Hell.

This Fall is the first time in years that I have felt upbeat. So let's see if I can get up a few decorations and perhaps deck some halls?

I'm a formally trained musician, so usually the music gets me in the spirit for Christmas. I feel bereft when it stops on Dec. 26th.

[Karen]

I'm a formally trained musician, so usually the music gets me in the spirit for Christmas. I feel bereft when it stops on Dec. 26th.

I'll tell you a not-so-secret - the Charlie Brown Christmas CD and the Muppet Christmas Carol CD are in my car all year round - we have a 6-CD changer, so they are always ready at the touch of a button!

[Freedom]

The music stops on the radio on the 26th; but I keep my Christmas CDs loaded and play them straight through to Epiphany. I barely turn the radio on at all during the "Twelve Days of Christmas."

Commercialism has it all backwards. The Christmas season STARTS on Dec 25th!

[Laura's Babies]

Hummmm, that's a tough question for me. I don't think I ever get in the spirit anymore, not since the kids grew up.. I LOVE it on the boat the years we work and I reckon all the candy I made was what did it for me... making tons of home made candy when everybody else bought candy, making sure each guy has a gift under the tree, just acting like a Mom.

[cyber-sibes]

Thanksgiving wouldn't be the same without the Wizard of Oz (its on this weekend), it was one of my mom's favorite movies, so watching it is always a nostalgic feel-good start to the season. The lights are going up on houses here too, and its so lovely to drive around & look down a street and see those cheery displays. Of course, the music - I love singing along with Christmas carols. I try to buy 1 new Christmas CD every year, so I have both oldies and some newer music. :)

[Bonny]

Love all the Christmas music. The day after Thanksgiving the last 5 years I have put up 6 strands of lights on a blue spruce tree outside for our grandson. This year hubby helped me which was good. We used a ladder & long pvc pole to string the lights up. Last night we baby sat & turned the lights on & the first question was from our grandson how to you get all those lights in there. Everything is HOW? WHY? I told him we screw each one in by hand. He was amazed. :D

[mrspunkysmom]

The music stops on the radio on the 26th; but I keep my Christmas CDs loaded and play them straight through to Epiphany. I barely turn the radio on at all during the "Twelve Days of Christmas."

Commercialism has it all backwards. The Christmas season STARTS on Dec 25th!

Yeah, as a child attending Mass I noticed we never sang Christmas music until Christmas Eve. It lasted for a few weeks then it was back to regular music. At least in the Episcopalian Church the Season of Epiphany lasts until Lent.

And My mom never put the tree up before the 22nd.

PS I have cousins in Rhode Island, Middletown I believe.

[cyber-sibes]

PS I have cousins in Rhode Island, Middletown I believe.
Small world! That's where we live! :)

[chocolatepuppy]

The music stops on the radio on the 26th

I hate that! I still play my Christmas cds and tapes until up to at least New Years!:D

[cassiesmom]

I'm with Freedom... after Christmas I still want to listen to holiday music!

I've seen a LOT of Christmas trees in front room windows the past couple of days.

[RICHARD]

LOL,

What get's me in the mood is probably the worst for us here is So Cal.....

The smell of fireplaces.

------------------

AQMD be damned!;)

http://www.aqmd.gov/Default.htm


There was an effort afoot to ban all wood burning fireplaces in the next few years by the board......:rolleyes:

[Karen]

Can people not install some sort of scrubber/filter that'll remove the fine particulate matter, and still burn the wood for heating purposes? Surely that'd be a money-making scheme for someone - big powerplants have scrubbers on their stacks ...

[RICHARD]

Can people not install some sort of scrubber/filter that'll remove the fine particulate matter, and still burn the wood for heating purposes? Surely that'd be a money-making scheme for someone - big powerplants have scrubbers on their stacks ...

I don't remember the 'retrofit' particulars for WBFPs but, they would be a ban on all new construction of WBFP-gas only..


A link to the proposal from '07?

http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jun/01/local/me-fireplace1