Product Description
Christmas The Season Of Good Will. A Special Time for Family And Friends To Enjoy The Festive Fun. Celebrations, Parties, Presents And Something For Everyone.

Know How To Organize The Best Christmas Surprise Everyone With A Superb Party & New Christmas Ideas From The Traditional To the Contempary.

A Peep into the ‘Christmas Holidays : Ideas For Fun & Celebrations’:

The e-book has been specially designed for the Christmas enthusiasts. It offers to cherish the traditions and at the same gives you new fun ideas for celebrating Christmas.

The main chapters in the e-book are as follows:

* Celebrating Christmas Holidays – History and Significance

* Remembering The Birth Of Christmas Carols

* Celebrating Family Traditions and Customs

* Ideas For A Fun Christmas Party
– Throwing Christmas Party for Kids
– A Secret Santa House Christmas Party
– Terrific Christmas Party for the Holidays
– Cheap and Budgeted Christmas Party

* Tips On How To Plan A Successful Christmas Party
– Creating Invitations For The Christmas Party
– Interesting Decoration Ideas For Christmas Party
– Exciting Themes For Christmas Parties

* Fascinating Ideas for Christmas Gifts
– Encourage your Family and Friends with Special Gifts
– Buying Fun Christmas Toys For Children
– Christmas Gifts For Your Loving Wife
– Gifts For Those Staying At Distance

* Top Family Vacation Ideas for Christmas Holiday
– Exotic Travel Destinations For Christmas
– Great Things To do During Christmas Holidays

* Fun Christmas Holiday Games Ideas

You can use this e-book as a handy guide that you can refer to at any time during Christmas for new gifts ideas, party planning themes and games ideas. It also tells you about the new things you can try at this holiday season.

Christmas Holidays : Ideas For Fun & Celebrations! – It offers to cherish the traditions and at the same gives you new fun ideas for celebrating Christmas!

“Joyeux Noel!” Is the traditional “Merry Christmas” greeting in France. Christmas in France is a day for family reunions, generosity, lots and lots of food, and ancient traditions by and for children.

In 1962, a law was passed in France that any child sending a letter to Pere Noel (Father Christmas) would be responded to with a post card. A traditional Christmas loaf, Pain Calendeau, is meant to be shared with a poor person.

The Christmas celebration varies from region to region. In eastern and northern France, the holiday begins on December the 6th with “la fete de Saint Nicholas” (St Nicholas’ Saint day). In Lyon, December 8th (Immaculate Conception) is “La fete de lumiers”, where the Lyonnais pay homage to the Virgin Mary by putting candles in their windows, thereby lighting up the whole town.

The creche, or Nativity scene is one of the principal decorations for the home. The Sapin de Noel (Christmas tree) is decorated with apples, paper flowers, and ribbons, and some small toys for the kids are also hung there. Mistletoe is also a favorite decoration. Christmas wreaths are also very popular in France.

Some French kids put their shoes in front of the fireplace, where Pere Noel will leave small toys, candy, and nuts. Children also go out looking for the Three Kings, carrying hay for their camels.

In the northern part of France, the kids wait for St Nicholas. Leading up to St Nicholas Day, the grandparents tell the children stories of good St Nicholas, and the evil Pere Fouettard. Long ago, Pere Fouettard, an evil butcher, lured three boys into his shop, where he forced them into a large tub of salt. Through St Nicholas’ intervention, the boys were saved.

St Nicholas comes into town with a little donkey carrying baskets of gifts and treats. Pere Fouettard follows him in shame. Pere Fouttard leaves the birch twigs in some naughty kid’s shoes, hoping their parents will beat them with it.

Of course, looming large in French Christmas celebrations are food; in fact, a large part of a family’s budget will be taken up with “Le Reveillon”, served after midnight mass on Christmas Eve. Depending on the region, the huge meal includes canapés, escargot, oysters, goose, turkey with chestnut dressing, crab, venison, boar, smoked salmon, and, of course, the buche de noel, the yule log cake, decorated and iced with chocolate.

While another country’s Holiday traditions may seem strange to us, the point of Christmas is the same all over the world: to bring magic, wonderment, and joy to children, and to celebrate peace on earth, good will to humankind. 

Product Description
A fully illustrated gift book features more than fifty Christmas recipes, as well as a step-by-step guide to making personal gifts, a selection of classic carols and stories, and a look at the origins of special holiday traditions.

The Whole Christmas Catalogue: The Complete Compendium of Christmas Traditions, Recipes, Crafts, Carols, Lore, and More

• ISBN13: 9781599720616
• Condition: USED – Good
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Product Description
Celebrate the holiday season in France with “Joyeux Noel”! Accompaning CD has all your favorite holiday songs in both French and English.

Joyeux Noel: Learning Songs and Traditions in French

Cold and snowy days, long nights, colorful lights, festivals, parties and shopping can only signify one thing- the holiday season. With hundreds of different celebrations throughout the world, December is the official month of holidays. Here in the West most people decorate trees and give each other gifts to commemorate the birth of Christ. But many people don’t know where the tradition originated or what the other major holidays around the world are.

It started with the sun

Originally the month of December marked a hard and difficult time for people. With the harvest season officially over and winter quickly approaching, people living in northern latitudes had to live off whatever food they had stored and any animals they were able to hunt. Not only did they have this to deal with, but on top of that, the sun got lower and lower in the sky during this time and the days got shorter. People feared that the sun would disappear and leave them in a permanent state of cold and darkness.

However, after the winter solstice which occurs on December 21, they noticed that the days started getting longer and the sun went higher in the sky. This, of course, was reason to celebrate. Granted, there was still many months of winter ahead, but this event reassured everybody that the coming of spring was inevitable and only a matter of time.

Throughout the world and across many different religions and belief systems people had their own ceremonies and traditions to celebrate the solstice. Candles were lit, trees were decorated, people gave thanks, sang songs and said prayers.

Christmas

The Christmas holiday, which many people around the world celebrate today, is closely linked to the solstice celebration. In the 4th century, many Christians wanted to celebrate the birth of Christ, however there was no official record of the date of his birth. Also at that time the Roman Emperor was trying to make Christianity the official religion, so December 25 seemed like the perfect time because many Romans were already celebrating the solstice. With the conversion to Christianity, people could keep their festivities and traditions, but instead of celebrating the sun, they now celebrated the birth of Christ.

Other then the time of the celebration, there are many other traditions that have made their way from Ancient Rome to modern times. Decorating trees with lights and ornaments, holly, ivy, mistletoe, the Yule log, giving gifts, and magical reindeer are all traditions that are associated with the Ancient Romans.

Additionally we have also come up with new ways and new traditions to celebrate Christmas. Santa Claus is a popular figure amongst children throughout the world. In many countries, Santa Claus comes down your chimney and gives presents to good children and lumps of coal to bad children. In other places children put their shoes out at night and “Father Christmas” comes and fills them with presents. But no matter how you celebrate Christmas now, if it wasn’t for our ancient ancestors, it would be a very different holiday.

Hanukkah

Hanukkah is another celebration of light. This is a Jewish tradition that occurs for eight days during December. It commemorates the war fought by the Maccabees for religious freedom. When they returned to their temple, they only had enough oil to last one day. However, the oil ended up burning for eight days.

Today, modern Jews celebrate this holiday by lighting a menorah every day for eight days. There are nine spaces in the menorah, the center one being where they keep the “lighter” candle that lights the others. Each day, they light one more candle, until finally on the last day, all nine candles are glowing brightly.

Nowadays Hanukkah is a much bigger celebration then it used to be. Mainly because of the popularity of Christmas, this holiday has grown in importance, especially for children. In addition to lighting the menorah, every day for eight days, the children receive a gift from their parents. Other festivities include building a Hanukkah House, playing with dradles, singing songs, baking cookies and decorating the house with silver and blue.

Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa is an African holiday celebrated by millions of people throughout the world with African roots. It’s a celebration of culture and tradition that speaks to what it means to be African and human in the fullest sense. It was created in 1966 by a professor of African studies at California State University and was intended to be a cultural holiday rather than a religious one. In that sense anyone can celebrate the holiday, no matter what their faith.

Kwanzaa is celebrated for one week from December 26 to January 1. Each of the seven days of the celebration is based on one of the seven principles which are Unity, Self-Determination, Collective Work and Responsibility, Cooperative Economics, Purpose, Creativity and Faith.

During Kwanzaa people decorate their homes with the African colors black, red and green. They put out traditional African symbols such as African baskets, cloth patterns, art objects and harvest symbols. People greet each other using Swahili, saying “Habari gani?” The answer is one of the seven principles- whichever one is the focus of that day’s festivities.

Gifts are given only to children. But every gift must include a book and some sort of heritage symbol. The book emphasizes the African value of learning and the heritage symbol is to reinforce the African commitment to tradition and history.

Of course, there are countless other festivals and celebrations going on in every country around the world at this time of year. No matter where you live or what your faith, there’s sure to be some sort of holiday or celebration associated with the change of seasons. So have fun, be merry and Happy Holidays!

I just found out the Christmas lasts from December 25th until January 5th
Christmas is not a celebration that lasts a single day. Christmas is a twelve-day season that begins on December 25 and ends on January 5, the eve of the Epiphany of our Lord. These “Twelve Days of Christmas” are in turn part of a longer liturgical cycle that begins with Advent, continues after Christmas with Epiphany and the Sundays that follow, and ends with Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus for members of the Christian religion. From November onwards, it is impossible to forget that Christmas is coming. Colored lights decorate many town centers and shops, along with shiny decorations, and artificial snow painted on shop windows.

In streets and shops, Christmas real trees or plastic evergreen conifer trees will also be decorated with lights and Christmas ornaments.

Shopping centers become busier as December approaches and often stay open till late. Shopping center speaker will play Christmas carols systematically – the traditional Christmas Christian songs and groups of people will often sing carols on the streets to raise money for charity. Most places of work will hold a short Christmas party about a week before Christmas. Although traditional Christmas foods may be eaten, drink (and plenty of it) means that little work will be done after the party!

By mid-December, most homes will also be decorated with Christmas trees, colored lights and paper or plastic decorations around the rooms. These days, many more people also decorate garden trees or house walls with colored electric lights, a habit which has long been popular in USA.

In many countries, most people post Christmas greeting cards to their friends and family, and these cards will be hung on the walls of their homes. The custom of sending Christmas cards started in Britain in 1840 when the first ‘Penny Post’ public postal deliveries began. As printing methods improved, Christmas cards were produced in large numbers from about 1860. They became even more popular in Britain when a card could be posted in an unsealed envelope for one half-penny – half the price of an ordinary letter. In UK this year, the British Post Office expects to handle over 100 million cards EACH DAY, in the three weeks before Christmas.

Traditionally, Christmas cards showed religious pictures – Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus, or other parts of the Christmas story. Today, pictures are often jokes, winter pictures, Father Christmas, or romantic scenes of life in past times.

The traditions of the Christmas are very important and interesting for the Christians. Of course, they will pass these traditions from generations to generations.



Hi, my name is Paul Hussey and I was born in Portsmouth – England in 1961.

England is famous for its Traditional Christmas and as a born and bred Englishman, My Christmas involved family reunions, Christmas Dinner and watching the Queens Speech at 3pm.

 

Queens Christmas Speech

The Sovereign King George V appeared on the radio on Christmas Day 1932. This happened every year until 1957 when Queen Elizabeth II appeared on Television, Christmas Day at 3pm. The Christmas Broadcast is an intrinsic part of Christmas Day festivities and is broadcast UK and Commonwealth wide and In 2003, over 10 million viewers in Britain alone, settled down to watch the Broadcast on Christmas Day.

 

Christmas Tree

Not the oldest of traditions, the Christmas tree may have originated in Germany, but it is very popular in England, too. The first Christmas tree in England was the one Prince Albert, the spouse of Queen Victoria, placed in their royal home in 1837. There are lots of trees in public places as well, the most famous being the huge one in Trafalgar Square which is given to the UK by Norway as a thank you for our help during WW2.

 

Christmas Cards

Christmas cards are sent off to relatives, friends, loved ones and business contacts at the begining of December. This was invented by us English and dates back to 1840, and every year more than one billion Christmas cards are sent in Great Britain – December is decidedly not the easiest month to be a postman in England.

 

Advent Calender

The modern advent calendar consists of a carboard surround, usually decorated in some popular culture or chocolate-related theme which has been adjusted to look Christmassy, bearing at least 24 little doors. Behind each door will be a moulded Christmas-related shape, and there may also be small picture on the inside of the door or on the cardboard behind the chocolate. The chocolate will probably sit in a plastic tray, and may be protected by a layer of foil which is best slit open using a fingernail. Advent calendar traditions include the 24th chocolate or door bearing the words ‘Santa’s Coming’ or a depiction of a Nativity scene, and the person opening the calendar guessing which Christmas-related item will be depicted behind each door.

 

Christmas Holly

It is to be noted that here in England, a strong distinction is made between the ‘he holly’ and the ’she holly’, based on the nature of the leaves. The ‘he holly’ is characterized by prickly leaves while ’she Holly’ is characterized by the smooth surface of the leaves. The Holly, which is strongly linked with Christmas or rather Christmas festival, has a history of its own. Though Christmas Holly history has its roots in Northern Europe, the sanctity of the Holly plant has a pagan origin. The Holly plant is characterized by green leaves that are prickly in nature. It needs a mention here that the Druids adorned their heads with twigs of the Holly plant whenever they went to the forest.

 

The Holly Man

The Holly Man, the winter guise of the Green Man (a character from pagan myths and folklore), decked in fantastic green garb and evergreen foliage, appears from the River Thames every January. The Green Man is thought to represent life, death, fertility and rebirth. He brings nature and mankind together. The Green Man is usually depicted in carvings with leafy vines growing around his body, from his face, mouth, eyes, nose and ears.

 

 

Mistletoe

We English don’t stop at pine trees: holly and mistletoe are equally essential natural Christmas decorations. Mistletoe’s popularity obviously has something to do with the custom of kissing the person with whom you stand underneath it – a tradition that allegedly dates back to Pagan Britain and ancient Roman times, when enemies who met under it were said to have to give up their rivalries.

 

Wassail

Wassail is an ale-based drink seasoned with spices and honey. It was served from huge bowls, often made of silver or pewter. Wassail comes from an old English term ‘waes hael’ meaning to be well. In Saxon times the Lord of the Manor would shout this to the crowds and they would all drink an ale based drink. This tradition continued over time as people would go from house to house with the drink and Christmas food. Some parts of the country especially in rural areas still go ‘a wassailing’ in January – usually the 17th which was the old twelfth night. While it’s not called wassailing nowadays you’ll also find that people in England will still go visiting neighbours for a glass of mulled wine (or something else alcoholic) and a mince pie. The Wassail bowl would be passed around with the greeting, ‘Wassail’. Wassailing has been associated with English Christmas and New Year as far back as the 1400s. It was a way of passing on good wishes among family and friends.

 

Christmas Carols

The earliest carol was written in 1410. Sadly only a very small fragment of it still exists. The carol was about Mary and Jesus meeting different people in Bethlehem. Most Carols from this time and the Elizabethan period are based on untrue stories, very loosely based on the Christmas story, about the holy family and were seen as entertaining rather than religious songs. They were usually sung in homes rather than in churches! Traveling singers or Minstrels started singing these carols and the words were changed for the local people wherever they were traveling.

 

Perhaps the most famous carol service, is the service of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College in Cambridge, UK. This service takes place on Christmas Eve and is broadcast live on BBC Radio (and all over the world). In my house, we listen to it and it means Christmas has really started!! The Service was first performed in 1918 as a way of the college celebrating the end of the First World War. It is always started with a single choir boy singing a solo of the first verse of the Carol ‘Once in Royal David’s City’.

 

Boxing Day

Boxing Day officially began in England in the middle of the 19 century under the rule of Queen Victoria. However, many adults and children do not know the true meaning of Boxing Day and its reasons for celebrating. It was a day to thank the community for all their effort throughout the years. The maids, drivers and other service workers were thanked with gifts of food, money, clothing, and other goods. It is important to teach students how they can contribute to society and to understand not all families are able to provide for their families all of the time. The countries that celebrate Boxing Day includes Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other Commonwealth Countries celebrate Boxing Day on December 26th.

 

Twelth Night – Twelve Days of Christmas and Lights and Decorations

Twelfth Night (5th January) is when all Christmas Lights and Decorations should be removed so as not to bring bad luck upon the home. If decorations are not removed on Twelfth Night, they should stay up all year.

 

Nativity Play

Another eagerly awaited event in the run-up to Christmas is the nativity play: each year hundreds of thousands of school children act out the story from the Bible about the birth of Christ. They dress up as Joseph, Mary, Jesus, the shepherds and the three Wise Men – and occasionally children get to don ox and donkey costumes.

 

Pantomines

Pantomimes are cheerful musical interpretations of classic fairy tales that are performed by professional or amateur actors – and the audience: crowd participation is a big part of pantomime fun. Pantomimes became popular in England in the 1500s. There are Pre-Christian roots to the pantomime, most notably the playing of men by women and the other way around. This probably stems back to the pagan winter festivals, where roles were reversed in plays: males would play females; masters, servants and children would play parents.

 

English Christmas Food

Christmas dinner is very traditional and includes a variety of the following: Turkey, Sage and Onion or Sausage or Chestnut Stuffing, Cranberry sauce, brussel sprouts, roast potato’s, English mustard or Mint Sauce and for afters either: Mince pies, chocalate Yule Logs, iced fruit cake, Christmas Pudding,Shortbread or Cheese and Crackers..

 

Christmas Crackers

The most original English Christmas tradition, however, is the Christmas cracker: the popular small paper tubes with little gifts inside were invented by a baker from London in the mid 19th century and have gone on to conquer the world. It is traditionally opened by two people who each pull on one end of the cracker until it, well, cracks. Merry Christmas!

 

Father Christmas plus his Sleigh and Reindeers

Father Christmas was originally part of an old English midwinter festival, normally dressed in green, a sign of the returning spring. He was known as ‘Sir Christmas’, ‘Old Father Christmas’ or Old Winter’.

In this earliest form, Father Christmas was not the bringer of gifts for small children, nor did he come down the chimney. He simply wandered around from home to home, knocking on doors and feasting with families before moving on to the next house.

The Ghost of Christmas Present in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (1843) is based on Father Christmas. He is described as a large man with a red beard and fur-lined green robe.

Images of Father Christmas (Santa Claus) dressed in red started appearing on Christmas cards in the late Victorian times.

Please visit my Funny Animal Art Prints Collection @ http://www.fabprints.com/SPORTS.html

My other website is called Directory of British Icons: http://fabprints.webs.com

To visit the list and links to my other Blogg articles: http://bloggs.resourcez.com

 

The Chinese call England “The Island of Hero’s” which I think sums up what we English are all about.

 

Copyright © 2010 Paul Hussey. All Rights Reserved