[AZamericonnie]

Happy Holy days & Merry CHRISTmas!

[cspackler]

Well, before the nay-sayers show up to rain on your parade...

My daughter (4) actually started the tradition of making a birthday cake for Jesus. We even sing happy birthday on Christmas day. It's quite a hoot, and helps keep everything rooted in the meaning...

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Songs and carols: They're all great, except that annoying Dominick the Donkey song that some radio hosts insist on playing.

[No Blue States]

Luke 2:10-11

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is CHRIST THE LORD.

[mplsconservative]

Merry Christmas! But you're kidding about this part, aren't you? Last I heard the ACLU is not real "big" on Christmas and Christians.


"This thread is lovingly dedicated to the members, friends and supporters of the American Civil Liberties Union."

[Liz]

What's your time-honored Christmas tradition? Do you have a favorite Christmas carol, or a Christmas memory that never fades?

[bruin66]

To my Christian friends on FR - Merry Christmas!

[KevinDavis]

My favorite christmas tradition is 24 hours of A Christmas Story and watch Christmas Vacation.

[Sgt_Schultze]

Merry Christmas Liz. By far, the best Christmas song is "Mary Did You Know" by Kathy Mattea.

[smith288]

[tutstar]

We have a stocking with Jesus name on it. We each write down on paper what of ourself we plan to give to the Lord the coming year. The next year we read what we wrote the previous year to see how we did. These are personal and we don't read them aloud to each other.

We have also done the birthday cake for Jesus.

[tutstar]

We also read Luke 2 Christmas morning and pray before opening any packages.

[r9etb]

The one that still shouts "Christmas" to me: my dad used to come in as dressed as Santa on Christmas Eve. The first time I was when I was two, and he handed me some new wooden blocks (those ones that are red, yellow, blue, etc.) I can still remember their taste and smell of those blocks.

[cyborg]

Well before my dad died on christmas eve, my mom and I would decorate and all that. The real event was staying up all night baking sweet bread,black cake, rolling out roti and making curry chicken. This is all the while drinking copious amounts of Guinesse stout and playing christmas music from her country.

[Squantos]

Dear Editor,
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa
Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the
truth, is there a Santa Claus?


Virginia O'Hanlon


Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the
skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They
think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little
minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are
little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in
his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured
by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.


Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and
generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to
your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world
if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no
Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance
to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in
sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world
would be extinguished.


Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You
might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas
eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming
down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign
that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those
that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on
the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there.


Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and
unseeable in the world. You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what
makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world
which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the
strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love,
romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal
beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world
there is nothing else real and abiding.


No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years
from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue
to make glad the heart of childhood.



Editorial by Francis P. Church
As published in the New York Sun,
December 1897


Francis P. Church's editorial, "Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus"
was an immediate sensation, and became one of the most famous
editorials ever written. It first appeared in the The New York Sun in
1897, (over) a hundred years ago, and was reprinted annually until 1949
when the paper went out of business.


Thirty-six years after her letter was printed, Virginia O'Hanlon recalled
the events that prompted her letter:



"Quite naturally I believed in Santa Claus, for he had never disappointed
me. But when less fortunate little boys and girls said there wasn't any
Santa Claus, I was filled with doubts. I asked my father, and he was a
little evasive on the subject.


"It was a habit in our family that whenever any doubts came up as to how
to pronounce a word or some question of historical fact was in doubt, we
wrote to the Question and Answer column in The Sun. Father would always
say, 'If you see it in the The Sun, it's so,' and that settled the
matter."


"Well, I'm just going to write The Sun and find out the real truth,"I said
to father.


"He said, Go ahead, Virginia. I'm sure The Sun will give you the right
answer, as it always does."


And so Virginia sat down and wrote her parents' favorite newspaper.


Her letter found its way into the hands of a veteran editor, Francis
P. Church. Son of a Baptist minister, Church had covered the Civil War for
The New York Times and had worked on the The New York Sun for 20 years,
more recently as an anonymous editorial writer. Church, a sardonic man,
had for his personal motto, "Endeavour to clear your mind of cant." When
controversal subjects had to be tackled on the editorial page, especially
those dealing with theology, the assignments were usually given to Church.


Now, he had in his hands a little girl's letter on a most controversial
matter, and he was burdened with the responsibility of answering it.


"Is there a Santa Claus?" the childish scrawl in the letter asked. At
once, Church knew that there was no avoiding the question. He must answer,
and he must answer truthfully. And so he turned to his desk, and he began
his reply which was to become one of the most memorable editorials in
newspaper history.


Church married shortly after the editorial appeared. He died in April,
1906, leaving no children.


Virginia O'Hanlon went on to graduate from Hunter College with a Bachelor
of Arts degree at age 21. The following year she received her Master's
from Columbia, and in 1912 she began teaching in the New York City school
system, later becoming a principal. After 47 years, she retired as an
educator. Throughout her life she received a steady stream of mail about
her Santa Claus letter, and to each reply she attached an attractive
printed copy of the Church editorial. Virginia O'Hanlon Douglas died on
May 13, 1971, at the age of 81, in a nursing home in Valatie, N.Y.


Stay Safe Liz..............Happy Holidays !

[GeekDejure]

"Mare Eeek Wrist Miss"

There!!! Now that can't possibly upset any of those wacko, thin-skinned, feeble-minded, Ann Tee Kris Chin, Dee Verse City, Ace See Ell You Bass Turds, can it ??? ;-))

.

[Quilla]

One of my mother's sisters always made and mailed us Honey Balls (Struffoli) each Christmas. Before my Aunt passed away several years ago, my younger sister visited her and was given the family recipe. She and I now alternate making them each year.

HONEY BALLS

Mix together until dough forms:
4 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla
6 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 stick melted butter

On a floured surface, pinch off pieces and roll into worms just thicker than a pencil. Slice worms into small pieces forming balls. Fry a couple of handfuls at a time in hot oil (they will double in size) until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Place inside a lined tin, generously pour honey over them. Mail half to me. ;-)

Merry Christmas Freepers and Friends!

[philetus]

Since he can't do it any more, I'd like to wish every one a really nice Bob Hope christmas.
He always meant it.

[Conservative4Ever]

When my son and daughter were small we would play Bible Trivia...my son's question (he was about 7 at the time) was..."and there were shepherds abiding in the fields keeping watch over their flocks by...."? There was a little pause, his little wheels in his head were turning...then he said...helicoptor? I have loved this for years. I know ...it's a Mom thing.

Merry Christmas to all.

Red

[Fishrrman]

My favorite Christmas song:

December brings the King of Kings
They tell us that a child is born
But snowy nights and Christmas lights,
They only leave me cold and worn
Salvation bands reach out their hands
To ask you for a dime or two
To praise the Lord...
and Henry Ford
Detroit, December....

The friends I meet along the street
I know them from the factory
But thirty years of buildin' gears
Make Christmas seem untrue to me
Eight hours a day to earn my pay
And overtime to see me through
And peace on earth, for what it's worth,
Detroit, December...

The things I had, the things I made
Are lost like pebbles on the beach
And everything I want the most
Is always furthest out of reach
To trade these blues for dancin' shoes...
And trade the old year for the new
But time it seems
Will steal your dreams,
Detroit, December,
....and you.

"Detroit December" by Si Kahn
From John McCutcheon's "Winter Solstice: Songs for the Christmas and Chanaukah Season"
Rounder CD 0192

Best to all for a Merry Christmas and a good New Year,
- John