Early Holiday Greetings to All ** Checking Out Of The Net

[Guest guest]

> I have my Grandfather Frost (Ded Moroz) costume<

 

Well I hope you take pictures! Butch, you probably don't even remember

me but you were my first " online hero " . :^}

 

I can't even remember where this took place, might even have been the

old idma aromatherapy mailinglist! But some creepy guy started sending

me threatening, stalking type, emails; and you told him to either knock

it off or the next time you were in the USA, you'd visit him in Texas

and tell him to knock it off in person! You made me feel so much

safer...and from that point on I knew in my heart and with all the

instincts I own, that you are a gentleman and an honest person.

Blessings for a happy Holiday Season. Sue Apito

[Guest guest]

Hey y'all,

 

I'm getting on the plane for Russia in a few hours .. though I will have

e-mail access while there .. I'm not sure how good it will be as its an

old dial up system .. so folks should deal directly with the ladies in

MD for hot items .. and you can info me .. and even mail me but I don't

know if I'll be able to give an immediate response.

 

I won't be back till around 20 January 2007 so I'll be out of pocket for

Thanksgiving, St. Nicholas Day (6 December), the Western Christmas, the

Orthodox Christmas, the Traditional New Year and the Orthodox (Julian)

New Year .. and such. ;-)

 

Russians, Ukrainians, Belorussians and most of the ex-Soviet countries

will celebrate the New Year on 1 January. Some will also celebrate the

Old New Year on 13 January .. which according to the Julian calendar

(used in Russia before 1918) corresponds to 1 January. The Russian,

Serbian, Bulgarian and other Orthodox Churches, still use the Julian

calendar instead of the Gregorian calendar so they will celebrate the

day of Christmas on 7 January.

 

I have my Grandfather Frost (Ded Moroz) costume and Tanya has her Snow

Maiden (Snegurochka) costume and after midnight on 1 January we will

enter the room and stand by the Novogodnaya Yolka (Christmas/New Year

Tree) and ask each of the people present if they've been good the past

year, i.e., " Vy byli horoshim chelovekom eto v proshlom godu? " If they

say YES .. they get a small gift .. but to get the gift, they must sing

a song or recite a Christmas poem or perform a few dance steps. If they

say NO .. they will get nothing .. I have been assured that nobody will

say NO.

 

There will be plenty of traditional home cooked goodies and plenty of

toasts .. Russians have no shortage of reasons to toast. ;-)

 

One favorite is, " My grandfather said: " I have a desire to buy a house,

but no capability to buy one. I have the capability to buy a goat, but

I have no desire to buy one " . Let us drink to a correlation between our

wishes and our capabilities! " ;-)

 

If one is anti organized religion .. take heart .. New Year is not a

religious holiday, but its the oldest holiday still in existence .. it

came along before any monotheistic religion. If one is anti official

holidays then blame the celebration on the ancient Babylonians because

they started celebrating it over 4,000 years ago .. around 2,000 BC.

The Babylonian New Year began with the first visible crescent of the New

Moon, after the Vernal Equinox (or the first day of spring).

 

The ancient Romans observed the new year in late March, but their

calendar was continually tampered with by various emperors so it soon

became out of synchronization with the sun. In order to set the

calendar right, the Roman senate, in 153 BC, declared January 1 to be

the beginning of the new year. But tampering continued until Julius

Caesar, in 46 BC, established what has come to be known as the Julian

Calendar. It again established January 1 as the new year but in order

to synchronize the calendar with the sun, Caesar had to let the previous

year drag on for 445 days.

 

So choosing January 1st as the New Year had absolutely no astronomical

or agricultural significance. It was purely arbitrary .. but they had

to start somewhere. ;-) 1 January is now the first day of the year in

the Gregorian calendar .. the calendar used by most developed countries.

 

Then came organized religion .. the early Catholic Church condemned the

New Year festivities as being paganism. But as Christianity became more

widespread, the early church began having its own religious observances

along with many of the pagan celebrations, and New Year's Day was no

different. New Year is still observed as the Feast of Christ's

Circumcision by some denominations.

 

The tradition of using a baby to signify the New Year was begun in

Greece around 600 BC. Greek tradition at that time celebrated their God

of Wine, Dionysus, by parading a baby in a basket, representing the

annual rebirth of that god as the spirit of fertility. Early Egyptians

also used a baby as a symbol of rebirth.

 

Although the early Christians denounced the practice as pagan, the

popularity of the baby as a symbol of rebirth forced the Church to

reevaluate its position. The Church finally allowed its members to

celebrate the New Year with a baby, which was to symbolize the birth of

the baby Jesus.

 

January 1 has been celebrated as a holiday by Western nations for only

about the past 400 years.

 

http://www.fathertimes.net/traditions.htm

 

Anyway .. as I will be out of pocket .. I am sending Holiday Greetings

to everyone now. :-)

 

Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving, a very Safe and Merry Christmas

and a Healthy and Prosperous New Year .. with lots of reasons to smile.

 

Butch :-) http://www.AV-AT.com

 

A Different Christmas Poem

 

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,

I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.

My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,

My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

 

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,

Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree, I believe,

Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

 

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,

Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.

In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,

So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

 

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,

But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.

Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,

 

Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,

And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,

A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

 

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,

Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.

Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,

Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

 

" What are you doing? " I asked without fear,

" Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!

Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,

You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve! "

 

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,

Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..

To the window that danced with a warm fire's light.

 

Then he sighed and he said " Its really all right,

I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night. "

" It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,

That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,

I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.

 

My Gramps died at Pearl on a day in December, "

Then he sighed, " That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers. "

My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam',

And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

 

I've not seen my own son in more than a while,

But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.

 

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,

The red, white, and blue .. an American flag.

 

I can live through the cold and the being alone,

Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,

I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.

 

I can carry the weight of killing another,

Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..

Who stand at the front against any and all,

To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall. "

 

" So go back inside, " he said, " harbor no fright,

Your family is waiting and I'll be all right. "

" But isn't there something I can do, at the least,

Give you money, " I asked, " or prepare you a feast? "

It seems all too little for all that you've done,

For being away from your wife and your son. "

 

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,

" Just tell us you love us, and never forget.

To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,

To stand your own watch, no matter how long.

For when we come home, either standing or dead,

To know you remember we fought and we bled.

It is payment enough, and with that we will trust,

That we mattered to you as you mattered to us. "

 

Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our U.S. Service

Men and Women for our being able to celebrate these festivities.