Holiday Traditions

[Cumference]

I'd really like the recipe too.

....... I'll hand it over to eldest daughter.

 

[IrisAlthea]

A little heads up, in case you want to participate.

The official cinnamon bun day is approaching, it's on October 4th.

It's originally a Swedish thing, so I guess Iris should be the one talking about it, but we do it here too, so why not me.

I'll be baking cinnamon buns then for sure, and probably failing miserably on the visual front again. Although my mom gave me a proper master class of making pretty cinnamon buns yesterday, so maybe I'll manage tad better now than I have in the past.

I have a recipe if somebody wants it (PM me and I'll send it), but I'm pretty sure you'll find plenty of them online as well.

I always forget it until our boss buys a ton of cinnamon buns for us.

 

[seela]

I always forget it until our boss buys a ton of cinnamon buns for us.

I only remembered, because I marked my calender so that I remember to tell about it here in advance.

Last year I mentioned baking cinnamon buns on the cinnamon bun day and people complained that they hadn't gotten the memo, so I wanted to make sure it doesn't happen this year.

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

Well we are coming up on the holiday trifecta, or at least that's how I see it Halloween candy, Thanksgiving dinner, and Christmas fun. Not to mention it finally cools down here enough to leave the house comfortably before dusk.

We had fun last year, and anyone wishing to revisit traditions please share!

Halloween for me this year will be spent at a friend's house where she gets a lot of neighbourhood kids out trick-or-treating. There aren't a lot of kids in my neighbourhood, so I love going to her house, handing out candy, enjoying the parade of costumes and confused little ones, having a shared meal, and eating the left over candy

Otherwise I would be dressing up and going out with friends to a club or two, but as I prefer to go to Austin for that and haven't made plans, this is the next best thing!

Anyone have any Halloween plans or traditions?

Anyone have any different traditions, like All Hallows Eve, Dia de los Muertos, Samhain, etc?

 

[Niam1985]

Halloween being a Saturday this year.. Well, I guess I can't dress up at work on Friday. I'm still debating creepy scary gorey or cute with braids German Frau.

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

Halloween being a Saturday this year.. Well, I guess I can't dress up at work on Friday. I'm still debating creepy scary gorey or cute with braids German Frau.

I say go for it and dress up Friday anyway!
I mean, when Halloween is on a Sunday, most parties are the night before, on Saturday, right??
Cute Frau Friday at work, creepy Frau Saturday for parties.

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[IrisAlthea]

I suppose the kids will go out with their friends to trick or treat for Halloween.
This year I will make a point of telling them that shops are of limits, when it comes to trick or treat.

All saints might need to include extended family this year, but we will still be visiting graves in some form or other.
I'd love to repeat last years drive in the dark, but it might not be in the cards right now.

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[LucyBee01]

No idea what I will do for Halloween this year, which is quite exciting actually!

Our family tradition was to throw a party which would include apple bobbing (with delicious English apples) and similar frustrating games with apples. And we did get trick or treaters in our neighbourhood so would give out sweeties

 

[IrisAlthea]

Drive in the dark sounds fun IrisAlthea, what does it include please?

I'll just quote my post from last year:

Recently we celebrated All Saints' Day.
Halloween is not really an old tradition here, but it has gained a lot of popularity the last 20 years or so.
We do have a big bowl of candy for visiting kids and as I mentioned somewhere before the kids did go trick or treat this year for the first time.

All Saints' is an old tradition here though and many go visit graves of family and loved ones, put flowers and candles. Some go to church too.
Since we had kids, we have gone out for a long drive visiting those who are buried further from our home, usually bringing sanwiches and having a picnic lunch somewhere on the way.
This year we turned it into a somewhat more spooky adventure by going in the afternoon and night. It got even more adventurous when a heavy fog made the drive slow and difficult.
One relative who died this year was as sailor and was buried at sea, so we put flowers at the beach by an old harbour.
It was really beautiful.

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

I do understand the complaints against commercialism, especially in that I wish we had more All Saints or Samhain traditions here in the states. It's nothing but costumes and candy and parties. No real meaning to it.

And I certainly don't bunch the holidays together or think of them as one thing, any more than I would think of a hat trick as just one goal. It's nothing like that I like them all equally, and I like that they come in rather quick succession. I get to see and speak to people I have been missing throughout the year. Get to slow down and celebrate family and friendships. I like that.

 

[midwestyankee]

I do understand the complaints against commercialism, especially in that I wish we had more All Saints or Samhain traditions here in the states. It's nothing but costumes and candy and parties. No real meaning to it.

But without all that crass commercialism, you'd never have the opportunity to dress up as slutty Donald Trump! What an ugly world that would be.

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

Hah! That's a great costume!
Which prompted me to find these lovelies

 

[seela]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned these sexy costumes from last year.

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

I don't understand...
Neil deGrasse Tyson is already sexy!

 

[Halen]

I do understand the complaints against commercialism, especially in that I wish we had more All Saints or Samhain traditions here in the states. It's nothing but costumes and candy and parties. No real meaning to it.

And I certainly don't bunch the holidays together or think of them as one thing, any more than I would think of a hat trick as just one goal. It's nothing like that I like them all equally, and I like that they come in rather quick succession. I get to see and speak to people I have been missing throughout the year. Get to slow down and celebrate family and friendships. I like that.

What isnt commercialized now?

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

What isnt commercialized now?

My Birthday!
I don't really understand it, but my Birthday is not yet commercialized

 

[seela]

Oopsie, I posted in a wrong thread. Don't really have anything to say here.

Holiday Traditions! Yay! Good fun!

 

[midwestyankee]

My Birthday!
I don't really understand it, but my Birthday is not yet commercialized

Pretty hard to commercialize a secret.

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

Pretty hard to commercialize a secret.

Oh no. Nope. Anything, and I mean anything at all, can be commercialized. Take the phrase "Shit Happens" for instance. You see? Absolutely anything! :l

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[Collar_N_Cuffs]

Yesterday the subject of these celebrations came up in conversation and it occurred to me the contrast of this long drawn out commercial pre holiday period with a have it all now society.

Periods in cultures and religions about waiting ( various fasts breaking with celebration/commerarion, advents, ) teach us delayed gratification then enjoyment. But this sort of drawn out pre sale yet also have it all.....maybe this teaches us build up to anticlimax...? I was particularly thinking of yumg children seeing Stuff in shops a Already. I was reminded of how LONG advent was when I was little, and how each day had meaning, but still how LONG it was when one is small. I cannot imagine how it must feel to a child for quarter of the year to have Christmas background alongside the normal family life. Even the week to things like Halloween felt exciting...the spookiness, the crafts at school, the day of dressing up. Now....its a month...that's a lot for small people ( or big people like me with small minds) to not absorb somehow into daily life without some....explanation I think.

Not entirely separately, a website dedicated to things to acknowledge tells me yesterday was get smart about credit day.

And .....Today is feral cat day. Colder months is a harder time for free living animals. Its also,I me a good time to catch them for sterilisation, health checks and any treatment you can give them, because food need can over come human trap wariness.

Thank you for the additional holiday info! The feral cat out front got an extra dose of calories to celebrate

You make a good point about the drawn out Christmas season in contrast to the more typical instant gratification that most grow accustomed to. I think that even though it is drawn out, there are still a bunch of instant gratification moments programmed in there... Impulse buying of Christmas goods and gifts, for instance. How good does it feel to pick up a little something for somebody on your "Not So Very Important" list as early as October?

As to a Christmas background to regular family life for a quarter of the year, I'm not so sure. There are sections in the larger stores that are already accoutered for the season, but it hasn't exactly permeated the entire atmosphere yet. That normally doesn't happen until the last week in November, when houses and streets and all shops, etc deck the halls.