So here at Basketcasemama Central we are multi ethnic. We celebrate Christian and Jewish holidays sometimes simultaneously. I am a lover of Christmas though. My Daddy was a big holiday crazy person. Seen Christmas Vacation?? Yep, that guy is my Dad. LOL. We lived in a small subdivision when I was a little kid and my dad lit up every angle, window, tree and bush with lights. Starting in August we would go down into our basement and hanging from every beam on tiny hooks he had painstakingly screwed in every 24 inches were strings and strings of Christmas lights. The big bulb version was all there was for outdoor use back in the late 60's. And my brother and I would go down and help him find the burnt out bulbs and replace them with new ones. We would have to make sure whichever color it was we replaced it didn't match the color before or after it cause you can't have repeating colors. Yes, really!! It took us until Thanksgiving to get all the lights up and ready for hanging. Then we'd seek out a beautiful tree and decorate it as a family. Sometimes we even strung popcorn or made construction paper chains. My Dad and Mom made Christmas very special.
When I was sixteen we moved to a beautiful custom built home where the great room featured a 3 story high cathedral ceiling with a glass wall on one side of the room that looked out into the woods and a huge stone fireplace for the other wall. From the upstairs their were hallways with railings that looked down into the giant room from above. The first year we moved in my Dad bought a HUGE Christmas tree to put in front of the big window. It was 20 feet high. He brought home scaffolding from work and assembled it and ladders around the tree to decorate it. He broke 4 tree stands before finally using nails, 2x4's and rope to secure it to the floor and railings. He bought 100 sets of lights, hundreds of balls and decorations. And for weeks we decorated and adorned the tree. It was immense and beautiful. After New Year's it took us a couple weeks to undecorate again with scaffold all around and extension ladders. My grandfather, my dad's friend Don, my brother, and my dad all maneuvered the tree down and headed towards the garage door to take it outside. NO GO!! it wouldn't fit. They tried the hall way. Nope again. Then halfway up the steps trying to go out the sliders. Not happening. They removed the sliders completely. Still not going out the too small hole. See the big tree was all fresh and wrapped up when they brought her into the house, but now open and full and not pliable she wouldn't fit out any door from that big room. And so to my mother's horror, my father chainsawed the giant spruce tree up right there in the rec room. Buckets of sawdust embedding into the brand new shag carpeting. It was the funniest Christmas ever!! And sadly our last together as a family. My parents separated before the next Christmas and divorced in 1982. They are both gone now but I remember so many delightful holidays that I have become a lover of the holiday because of them. And today is the first day of Advent so in honor of that check out some of these great websites for fun and interactive advent calendars your families can enjoy
www.jacquielawson.com Jacquie has two different interactive choices for purchase and download that include stories, games and activities and the price is minimal and totally worth it!! Your family will look forward to each day through Christmas.
http://www.santagames.net/calendar/1dec.htm A fun game filled site that is FREE.
www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/Xmas/calendar/
Kids can learn about Christmas around the world on this advent calendar.
http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/christmas/advent/
A delightful Advent calendar from across the pond.
http://www.boowakwala.com/calendar/online-advent-calendar.html
This is fun one for the small folks in your life.
http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/meditations/adventca.html Looking for a way to Christmas back to its religious roots? This site has great biblical teachings each day of Advent.
http://www.whychristmas.com/adventcalendar/ Learn about Christmas traditions at this great Advent calendar site.
http://itsashapechristmas.co.uk/ This delightful site offers some Artists take on Christmas when given a shape to incorporate. Great art and education for the little ones and the older ones too!!
http://www.naturedetectives.org.uk/ideas/advent Fun with nature in the winter time. Download activies for every day of Advent.
http://webelieve.pcusa.org/we-believe/advent-calendar/ A church based advent calendar with information and activities for holiday fun each day.
Enjoy. More weblinks for holiday fun coming!! Check back soon.
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