2 Christmas seasons

[Mhochberg at aol.com]

Tonks:
I love Christmas so much, and as a Child and later as an Atheist 
always  started celebrating the season on the day after Thanksgiving, 
so when I  became a Christian and learned about Advent, I just 
couldn't get into the no  decoration part of it. So I love the 
secular commercial Christmas. And, of  course, I love the religious 
Christmas. Combine them and I can celebrate  from the day after 
Thanksgiving to January 6th!! The best of both worlds!  


Mary:
I think of Advent not just as waiting, but as preparing. With that in mind,  
we are waiting and preparing for Christmas to arrive. We begin  
decorating/baking/etc at little at a time until all the preparations are done by  December 
24. Then we celebrate 12 days of Christmas, when we spend lots of time  with 
friends and family. 
 
For us, there are little holidays and celebrations in Advent too: St  Lucia, 
Our Lady of Guadeloupe, St Nicolas Day, and dear to my hear, solstice.  (If I 
can, I celebrate the new dawn from a hilltop, watching the sun rise and  
sharing hot chocolate with friends.)
 
It all ends on January 6th, celebrating the Epiphany. After that  we begin 
taking down decorations and cleaning up. Sometimes, for  safety reasons, the 
main tree has to come earlier but the rest stays  up.
 
---Mary
"Live now, procrastinate  later."



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