...Christmas or Christmas Day is a holiday[4][5][6] generally observed on December 25 (with alternative days of January 7 for many Orthodox churches, January 6 for the Armenian Apostolic Church and January 19 for the Armenians of Jerusalem and the Holy Land[7]) to commemorate the birth of Jesus, the central figure of Christianity.[8][9] The date the actual birthday of Jesus is not known, and the events of Christ's birth are only recorded in two of the Canonical gospels. Christmas may have initially been chosen to correspond with either the day exactly nine months after Christians believe Jesus to have been conceived,[10] the date of the Roman winter solstice,[11] or one of various ancient winter festivals.[10][12] Christmas is central to the Christmas and holiday season, and in Christianity marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days.[13] Although nominally a Christian holiday, Christmas is also celebrated by an increasing number of non-Christians worldwide,[1][14][15] and many of its popular celebratory customs have pre-Christian or secular themes and origins. Popular modern customs of the holiday include gift-giving, music, an exchange of Christmas cards, church celebrations, a special meal, and the display of various decorations; including Christmas trees, lights, garlands, mistletoe, nativity scenes, and holly. In addition, in Western Christianity several figures, known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, and Santa Claus, among other...
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...Christmas Christmas | A depiction of the Nativity with a Christmas tree backdrop. | Also called | Noel Nativity Yule Xmas | Observed by | Christians Many non-Christians[1] | Type | Christian, cultural | Significance | Traditional birthday of Jesus | Date | December 25 (alternatively, January 6, 7 or 19) | Observances | Church services, gift giving, family and other social gatherings, symbolic decorating | Related to | Christmastide, Christmas Eve, Advent, Annunciation, Epiphany, Baptism of the Lord, Yule | Christmas is an annual commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ, celebrated generally on December 25 as a religious and cultural holiday by billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it closes the Advent season and initiates the twelve days of Christmastide. Christmas is a civil holiday in many of the world's nations, is celebrated by an increasing number of non-Christians, and is an integral part of the Christmas and holiday season. The precise date of Jesus' birth, which some historians place between 7 and 2 BC, is unknown. By the early-to-mid 4th century, the Western Christian Church had placed Christmas on December 25, a date later adopted in the East. The date of Christmas may have initially been chosen to correspond with the day exactly nine months after early Christians believed Jesus to have been conceived, as well as the date of the southern solstice (i.e., the Roman winter solstice), with a...
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...Christmas is nearing and all through the house are trails of cookie crumbs, tape, scissors, and wrappings as the girls are busy with everything they see that can be put under the tree. Leaving trails of story books, toys, hats, mittens, muddy boot prints, and fruit snacks. The fridge is covered with Christmas card photos of friends and relatives as well as Carlee & Cassie’s artistic makings. The Christmas tree is lit and there is a smell of simmering potpourri as Christmas music plays. Groceries & recipe cards are strewn throughout the counter tops. There is no time for laundary, house keeping, or bookwork. For there is a deadline to meet! Christmas is coming and there is still much to do!! Cadrien is a sophomore and beautiful as ever inside and out. She used to be our baker, but now rarely bakes since she eats nothing but steak. She has to keep her abs flat so she can look impressive in her wear. She looked fabulous in her part of the One Act production! She may be the next Melissa Gilbert . She is still an avid Nebraska Husker fan like her dad and super active in youth group and church. Still enjoys showing cattle and horses and meeting new friends. Not at all shy, but super outgoing with a desire to go into communications. She has a heart for others and I’m super proud of her good character, morals, and values. Carlee Jo-Jo is the yo-yo of the family. Coming and going and being busy-busy all the time taking care of her animals...
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...Christmas is a holiday celebrated by Romans. The first time the birth of Jesus Christ was ascribed to December 25 in the 4th century, according to the early Roman history. Early celebrations of Christmas are considered to have resulting from Roman and other European festivals that marked the ending of the harvest, and the beginning of winter solstice. Some traditions from those celebrations that have survived include decorating homes with greenery, giving presents, singing songs, and eating winter foods. There is a legend about St. Nicholas. Although a lot of his history is unconfirmed, he lived in the 4th century and is believed that he was a bishop. Many miracles ascribed to him are doubtful. Yet he was considered a patron saint in some countries. Children, sailors, and the poor also considered him a saint because he helped them. So to honor him, the Feast of Saint Nicholas was celebrated on December 6th and presents are given the night before. This tradition was well recognized by many countries by the 12th century. Eventually, Christmas Day and St. Nicholas’ Day were combined because they were so close together. St. Nicholas took on different characters in different countries. For example, The Netherlands have Sinter Klaas, Father Christmas gives gifts in Great Britain, Père Noël gives gifts in France, and in Germany St. Nicholas has had many names including Klaasbuur, Burklaas, Rauklas, Bullerklaas, and Sunnercla, although the name Father Christmas is becoming more...
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...Christmas Holidays are found no matter where you go. Everyone in this world celebrates one thig or another. The only differences between the holidays for different countries are the subjects of celebration. Christmas may be one of the most renowned holidays in this world. Christmas is a holiday that occurs on the 25th of December. It first originated in western culture, and is heavily celebrated in the US. Christmas was slowly adapted in East Asia once globalization started occurring. Just because it is celebrated in places like China does not mean it encompasses the same meaning for the people. Christmas, for both countries is a holiday near the end of the year where most businesses and schools are closed. It is a holiday where people give gifts to each other, and also spend time with each other. It is a holiday where families spend time together and have a unique experience. For the US, Christmas is a major holiday where many traditions and events occur. There exist a whole backstory, characters, myths, and beliefs for this holiday. There are special ornaments, and decorations. Everyone tries to decorate their whole house and also get a tree. There are special food and drinks too. I hear people have things like turkey, fruit cake, gingerbread houses, and eggnog. There are festive songs, and movies. There are so many songs about Christmas and even more movies about it. People tend to celebrate gift giving or exchanging. People also tend to be nicer and more generous towards...
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...Maria Ina L. Elnar January 3, 2013 Rel 12- My Christmas Vacation My Christmas break turned out to be better than expected. Well I didn’t really accomplish anything but it was relatively fun compared to my previous Christmases. Every day (except for probably 2 days) I woke up at around 11 AM to 1PM, have lunch, go online, sleep again, go online some more, watch the same movies over again and sleep at around 2 AM to 4AM. I guess I’m just making up for the sleepless nights. I know, still very unproductive and very unhealthy of me but going out isn’t always fun for me. So that’s what I did most of the break. On Christmas Eve, my family went to church for the mass (we always do this because my father is very religious) and then after that we headed back home and feasted on the Noche Buena that my mother didn’t exactly make but worked hard in ordering. We ate and ate and ate. There are only five people in our household plus my parents aren’t exactly the fun type of people so it wasn’t exactly a fun Christmas (as usual) but there was food so that saves everything. Oh and the priest went to our house to have dinner and it was awkward (hehehe). After eating, the second or third round I think, we exchanged gifts! Not really exchanged because my sister and I were the only ones who actually bought gifts since my parents gave us our presents 2 months ago. That was how we always celebrate Christmas. On New Year’s Eve, we went to my cousin’s sister-in-law’s apartment...
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...A Christmas Carole is about Ebenezer scrooge who’s a man who doesn’t understand the meaning of Christmas. He doesn’t care about other people, he just cares about money. The night before Christmas Eve, the ghost of his dead friend visits him, his friend was just like him, loved money and didn’t care about anyone but himself. But now he came to warn Ebenezer. He says that he will be haunted by three spirits: the spirit of Christmas past, the spirit of Christmas present and the spirit of Christmas yet to come. Every night one. The first night Ebenezer is visited by the ghost of the Christmas past. He takes him to Ebenezer’s childhood, from when he was a little boy and Ebenezer felt the hopes, joys and cares long, long forgotten but they also went to the time that Ebenezer was engaged, to Belle, she broke op with him because of his greediness for money. He was devastated....
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...The Christmas The leadership of the church that the author (Bill McKibben) of this story "The Christmas" urges practitioners to do what they call "Hundred Dollar Holidays". He explains this as "The church leadership voted to urge practitioners not to spend more than $100 per family on presents, and to rely on simple homemade gifts and on presents of services". This was suggested to anchor against the seductions of advertisers during the holiday season, and to save the families some money that could be used on other things like bills and things needed for the home. Bill then states that "When we began the $100 campaign, merchants who wrote letters to the local papers, made it clear to us what a threatening idea it was." With an idea like this and with how much revenue the holidays bring in for businesses this could really hurt them. He says that "So far, our daughter, Sophie, does fine at Christmas. Her stocking is exciting to her; the tree is exciting; skating on the pond is exciting. It's worth mentioning, however, that we don't have a television, so she may not understand the degree of her impoverishment." He states earlier that it is not about the money anymore it is about bringing more joy to the holiday. I on one hand can see his point on this, the holidays are about joy and spending time with one another and not about how much stuff you get. now on the other growing up we got two toys for Christmas and then all the other stuff was neat but it was stuff that we needed...
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...Christmas – Religious Ritual Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, who Christians believe is the son of God. His birth date is unknown because there is little information about his early life. There is disagreement among scholars on when Jesus was born so Christians celebrate Jesus’ birthday on December 25. The word “Christmas” comes from the old English “Cristes maesse”, or the mass of Christ. There are quite a number of different symbols involved with Christmas. The mistletoe is a commonly used Christmas decoration. By tradition, people who meet under a hanging mistletoe are obliged to kiss. Mistletoe has pagan associations. Images of Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, snowmen, reindeer, and candy canes are seen in cards,...
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...Christmas Time When you look outside and all you see is a blanket of white, it usually means it is Christmas time. The leaves have all been stolen from the trees, the sidewalks are barely visible, the heating bill skyrockets and your frustration levels rise from attempting to untangle seemingly endless strands of Christmas lights. The color of dead pine needles cover the living room carpet, the scent of a freshly baked goodies and pine fills the air as you open your front door. These are all parts of Christmas that make it such a unique and memorable holiday. Family is something that Christmas would not be the same without. Christmas is exponentially fun for me because I get to see all of my family and have a great time with them as well. One of my favorite people to spend Christmas with was my Uncle Ed who unfortunately passed away just before Christmas in 2005. He always made my Christmas seasons extra special. Every year Uncle Ed would purchase an unknown amount of scratch off lottery tickets to give as gifts to me, my family and his friends. He always placed two of them in each envelope and handed them out to my dad, grandmother, aunt, great aunt, and step mom until he passed away. The best year by far for the lottery tickets was in 2004. It was the year that I won big! I had picked the best envelope ever, the Grand Daddy, as I like to call it. When I scratched off those tickets my eyes lit up and all I could do was jump up and down while screaming from the excitement...
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...‘A Christmas Carol’ covers a period of 24 hours from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day. It is a simple morality tale of the radical change in the character Ebenezer Scrooge from being bitter, iron fisted and miserable to becoming a new, openhearted and charitable man. The novel was first published in 1843, a time when many of the wealthy people neglected the old Christmas spirit of charity. In addition, the Industrial Revolution had further done away with the simple pleasures of the season. Dickens’ intentions in writing ‘A Christmas Carol’ were not only linked to his own childhood and sympathy for the poor, but he was also making an appeal to the rich people of society to mend their selfish ways. Dickens is able to show the change in Scrooge’s character by establishing what Scrooge is like at the very beginning of the story with the first two words he says: ‘“Bah! Humbug!’’ ’It is clear from the dismissive tone and the two exclamation marks that Scrooge has no patience with the idea of Christmas as a special time. At the start of the novel, Dickens is using Scrooge, someone who associates happiness with nothing but money, as a classic example of a wealthy person in the 19th Century. He does this with Scrooge inquiring of his nephew ‘“What reason have you to be merry? You’re poor enough.”’ Scrooge’s manor in saying this reveals certain elements of his character such as his shallowness and uncaring nature. In Scrooge saying this it demonstrates to the reader that Scrooge does...
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...Just like any other traditions the Christmas holidays have been a conventional part of the Filipino customs. It is a fact that the Yuletide celebration is the most awaited event and the longest celebration of the year in the Philippines. This is the time of the year where the children are happiest because of the heaps of present, new bills they will be receiving from the ninongs and ninangs. However, looking at it in a working individual’s perspective this is also the time of the year where Filipino companies often release Christmas incentives or bonuses to their employees. Thus, it is observed that Filipino employees are richer in the month of December. But of course over the years it can be observed that Filipinos have diverse consumption behavior. Let’s try viewing it in an economical way. The Filipino consumption pattern during Christmas is excessively high in terms of consumer spendings. It has become a pattern since every year Filipinos are routinely doing it as a habit. And for sure the Filipinos love spending money during this season because of the countless big sales in malls because of the bargain price.They buy holiday decors for preparing their homes with the air of the Christmas spirit. Grand feasts at noche buen are helda since the Filipinos love eating, and food consumption goes up a notch since there are various delicacies which are only available in the season. Gift-givings to friends and family have been observed as well. Not only that but the transportation...
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...A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. In this extract we are presented with Scrooge. From the beginning Scrooge is presented as a miser. In the extract we find out that he is an old, rude and ignorant man that doesn’t appreciate others around him. Dickens uses different language techniques to describe Scrooges appearance as clear as possible. In the opening paragraph Dickens uses imagery to create a vivid impression of Scrooge. He is described as ‘a tight-fisted hand at the grind-stone’, and this metaphor suggests that Scrooge works hard for his money but is very tight with his money. In the opening lines Dickens includes similes. ‘Hard and sharp as a flint.’ Flint is a hard stone that was used with iron to create sparks before people used matches. This makes me think that Scrooge would have very sharp features, a pointy nose and always has a scowl on his face. This then gives you an idea of what Scrooge looks like. The other simile in the opening line is ‘solitary as an oyster’, this shows that Scrooge is alone. He is a solitary person, who avoids other people. This quotation is also an example of foreshadowing. Overtime oysters open up and inside them are a pearl, Dickens has used this because throughout the book Scrooge will eventually begin to open up. Also in the first paragraph of the extract Charles Dickens uses alliteration. ‘Secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.’ The effect that the alliteration gives makes you focus on the words more. The words ‘secret’...
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...Christmas Traditions In Beijing, about two weeks before Christmas, all the big shopping malls decorating both their insides and outsides with beautiful Christmas trees, colored ribbons and glaring illuminations, set Christmas discounting information on posters on the gates. Crazy customers with large alacrity rush into their shopping heavens to choose on-sales goods as Christmas presents for themselves, their families and friends. The scene is spectacle. It seems that Christmas is merely a shopping season and entertaining festival for Chinese. But what is the true meaning of Christmas? What are the roots of those Christmas traditions? Christmas is the abbreviation of Christ’s mass. It is the commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ for Christians. No exception, millions of people around the world celebrate Christmas on the widely accepted day, December 25th every year. They bought their Christmas presents a couple weeks before Christmas Eve, put green Christmas trees with decorations in the houses, and prepare pleasant hearts to welcome the Christ’s birth, one of the most important festivals in the year. Christmas traditions accompanying them to have great holidays during Christmas provide them a sense of warmth and satisfy. As an evergreen conifer decorated with pinecones, candy coated angels, colorful Christmas balls and fake icicles, a Christmas tree is the essential compose of the celebration of Christmas. The origination of Christmas trees can be traced to...
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...Brittany Prunsky Episodes of World War I The Christmas Truce of 1914 “Christmas Eve was, in the way of weather, everything that Christmas Eve should be’. Christmas Day itself was a perfect day. A beautiful, cloudless blue sky. The ground hard and white ... It was such a day as is invariably depicted by artists on Christmas cards - the ideal Christmas Day of fiction. And indeed, the curious manifestations taking place along considerable stretches of the British front that day had a look of the most surprising fiction” (Terraine). The wonderful events that occurred over the Christmas holiday of 1914 revealed to all that the human spirit seems to have a way of peaking through at rather disastrous times showing that even in times of chaos, a glimmer of hope can be seen through the compassion that humans undoubtedly possess. This was proven true during one of the most violent and fatal wars in history. World War I, also known as The Great War, spanned from 1914 until 1918 experiencing around 37 million war casualties (“First World War Casualties”). During the horrors of the war, an almost unexplainable incident occurred; the Christmas Truce of 1914, which restored a bit of hope in many men living in hopelessness. Neither a civilian nor a soldier during World War I could have anticipated the Christmas Truce of 1914 due to its story like characteristics. Although at times seen as merely a myth or a small incident blown widely out of proportion, this truce absolutely...
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