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Christmas is a Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus. This feast was created by the pope to promote Christianity and remove pagan festivals celebrated at the winter solstice.

During the 4th century, the pope decided to bring the Christmas day on December 25th.

This day has always been represented by religious ceremonies and gifts and greetings exchange.

Here are some Christmas symbols:

* The Advent consists of a burning candle each Sunday four weeks before December 24th; which symbolize the rebirth of light after the winter solstice.

* The December 24th Midnight Mass; which celebrates the birth of Jesus.

* The Christmas Crib; which symbolizes the birth of Jesus in Christian homes.

* The Christmas tree, a symbol from the pagan celebration and representing life.

* The Yule log; which represents the log that we put in the fireplace to warm up on December 24th Eve.

* Santa Claus, an American creation, inspired by the Christian Saint Nicholas (celebrated in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Alsace). This character wears a luxurious red cape, he has a long white beard and wears a red miter, he also holds a golden crosier. Saint Nicholas rewards [Read more →]

With Christmas just around the corner, our focus is slowly starting to shift from our work commitments to Christmas and with it comes the annual Christmas spending spree.

Unfortunately many families don’t set a Christmas budget and they rely on their credit cards to get them through the festive season.

Shortly after Christmas these same families will also develop symptoms of the “Christmas Giving Blues” which can include an upset stomach, lack of sleep and anxiety.

You know that feeling. You spend up big, charge it on the card, and then spend the next couple of months worrying about how you are going to pay off your Christmas debts while vowing never to let this happen to you again.

Unfortunately, this is a reality for a lot of families every Christmas and they just don’t seem to be able to break out of the cycle.

This year, give [Read more →]

Slow Christmas is evidently an idea whose time has come. Interest in Christmas candle lights, Christmas window candles, vintage Christmas tree lights, Victorian Christmas candles and Christmas tree candle holders is on the rise. These harken back to a time when the holidays were simpler. And from all appearances, there is a groundswell of interest in making holiday decorating less stressful and more meaningful — less high-tech and more inventive.

Christmas tree decorations are one way you can express how you feel about the holidays. Reset your family traditions this year. Get off the holiday treadmill, pare back and go green. You can use something as simple and inexpensive as the lowly Christmas Tree Candle and Candle Clips as a place to start.

Let’s say you want to keep it simple this [Read more →]

Victorian Christmas decorating is firmly identified with Queen Victoria in the public mind. Fair enough. After all, it was during her reign that Christmas came into its own in Britain. Before her time, Britons did not celebrate Christmas with the same enthusiasm and opulence she came to be known for.

Victorian Christmas trees adorned Windsor Castle every year starting around 1840 and royal Christmas celebrations were featured prominently in the newspapers. While poorer families couldn’t afford Christmas trees during Victoria’s reign, they followed the royals’ lead and began to decorate evergreen branches, holly and mistletoe with Christmas candles and ornaments in much the same way.

Victoria was familiar with the Yule tree because her grandmother Queen Charlotte had introduced it around 1800. In time, Victorian Christmas ornaments and Victorian trees came to be thought of as British through-and-through, and they were strongly associated with the Queen. But ironically, the royal embrace of the Christmas tree had more to do with Germany than Britain. In fact, the Victorian Christmas Tree actually “infiltrated” the [Read more →]

Christmas gifts are one of the key attractions of Christmas. As a parent, Christmas may be a giving you a headache because you need to know what is the most popular Christmas gifts are for kids. Christmas Gifts are quite a difficult thing to choose.

Christmas gifts are more about the sentiment than the price tag. Christmas gifts are not hard to find, since during the holiday seasons, there are lots of options for you. I would have to agree that homemade christmas gifts are a great idea and friends and family absolutely love them.

Make sure your homemade Christmas gifts are practical. It doesn’t have to be expensive and it doesn’t have to be huge as long as this year’s Christmas gifts are right on target. Personal Christmas gifts are becoming more and more popular each year. These Christmas gifts are great [Read more →]

Some of the critics of FEMA are claiming that authorities often underplay the amount of forces involved in natural disasters after the fact. Indeed there are several conspiracy theorists who actively pursue such claims on websites, blogs and online Internet forums.

Some of these conspiracy theorists revel in the chaos and controversy they create, while others do so to promote books, websites and gain notoriety. Still others who have thoroughly researched the facts occasionally bring up some good points.

Now then some conspiracy theorists have said that the forces of the Hurricanes have been down played to lessen the obligations of FEMA and Insurance Companies due to citizen or policyholder promises. In fact the Northridge [Read more →]

Christmas is both a religious holiday and increasingly a secular holiday heavily influenced by local culture. As a result, Christmas traditions are as diverse as the world is diverse culturally.
In the United States, for example, Christmas traditions are a literal potpourri of the Christmas traditions brought by immigrants, mostly European. For example, Yule log (English), Christmas tree (German), carols or noels (France), Santa Claus (Dutch). In more recent times, newer Christmas traditions have arrived with the most recent immigrants such as luminaries (Mexico) and “Feliz Navidad!” greeting (Latin America generally).

The following is a whirlwind tour of some of the fun and different Christmas traditions around the world.

Africa
Christmas traditions in Africa are culturally rich and diverse. In Ghana, Christmas Eve is marked by [Read more →]

1. “It is therefore recommended … to set apart Thursday the eighteenth day of December next, for solemn thanksgiving and praise, that with one heart and one voice the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts and consecrate themselves to the service of their divine benefactor …”
   — Samuel Adams, father of the American Revolution on November 1, 1777 (adopted by the 13 states as the first official Thanksgiving Proclamation)
2. “Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.”
   — Aesop’s Fables
3. “Thanksgiving is possible only for those who take time to remember; no one can give thanks who has a short memory.”
   — Anonymous [Read more →]