Family ritual around Christmas

Discussion in 'Faith, Devotion & Formation' started by Stalwart, Dec 13, 2020.

  1. Stalwart

    Stalwart Well-Known Member Anglican

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    In the continual effort to ween our family off secularism, and immerse my little kids in the original meaning of Christmas, I have devised the following steps. Feel free to submit your rituals around our most sacred holy day:


    Sunday before:
    -first set up our nativity scene; the manger is empty
    -Christmas displays and light shows in the city, such as at the Wanamaker building
    -Christmas movies
    -books: Drummer Boy, Little Lost Angel


    Christmas Eve (Dec. 24):
    -Lessons & Carrols service at the parish, at 4pm
    -Midnight Vigil service (more optimistic than realistic with little kids)
    -hang stalkings with my kids
    -the kids set up a table with a plate of cookies & glass of milk


    Christmas Day (Dec. 25):
    -when the kids wake up, the baby Christ is discovered to be in manger
    -the cookies they left are discovered to be oddly half-eaten, the glass of milk is sipped from
    -they kids their stalkings now have gifts
    -Christmas Morning Service with the whole family
    -whole family has the Christmas feast (goose and/or duck), thanks to the wonderful wife
     
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  2. Shane R

    Shane R Well-Known Member

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    Glad to see I'm not the only one who enjoys a more gamey sort of fowl for Christmas dinner. Unfortunately, it has been some years since I last lived in Ohio and harvested the bird myself. But Harris Teeter stocks a fine selection of suitable birds at this time of year.

    Gov. Northam just announced a curfew for Virginia recently so we are deciding when to reschedule the candle light service on Christmas Eve.

    In the Puerto Rican tradition, Epiphany is nearly as celebrated as Christmas (dia de los tres reyes magos). My wife held back a large present for the children to open on that day. I have continued that custom and my children get one of their bigger gifts on Epiphany.
     
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  3. bwallac2335

    bwallac2335 Well-Known Member

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    I have never had duck or goose
     
  4. Shane R

    Shane R Well-Known Member

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    My grandmother made a goose one year. Her brother Byron had shot it just a few days before Christmas. It was very tender and flavorful but neither one of them had dug the shotgun pellets out of it! That goose was full of steel shot.
     
  5. Ananias

    Ananias Well-Known Member Anglican

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    Lol, brings back memories of my childhood. We ate a lot of game meat when I was growing up, and I remember digging shotgun pellets out of grouse, pheasant, game hen, ducks and geese. (Once I got a piece of venison that still had a fragment of the bullet in it.)
     
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  6. bwallac2335

    bwallac2335 Well-Known Member

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    Deer is regularly consumed at our house. We don't have Zombie deer here yet so it is still safe to eat.
     
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  7. Ananias

    Ananias Well-Known Member Anglican

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    If you're used to store-bought chicken or turkey, you probably wouldn't care for the taste at first - it can be pretty bitter compared to factory-fed birds. But once you get used to it, and if it's prepared right, it's delicious and flavorful. I prefer duck to goose, but they're both good.
     
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  8. Shane R

    Shane R Well-Known Member

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    We just got word from Richmond that the candle light Christmas eve service is exempt from curfew!
     
  9. Stalwart

    Stalwart Well-Known Member Anglican

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    Goose was had at the last year's Christmas family dinner. And then it was that we discovered that geese are 99% bones!

    This year we are going to go with duck instead...
     
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  10. bwallac2335

    bwallac2335 Well-Known Member

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    I fancy myself a pretty good cook. I might have to give it a try
     
  11. Scottish Knight

    Scottish Knight Well-Known Member

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    Oh dear! We've ordered a goose for Christmas for the first time this year. hopefully it'll be enough. Decided on following a Gordon Ramsey recipe on how to cook it.
     
  12. Scottish Knight

    Scottish Knight Well-Known Member

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    I might pinch your idea about waiting until it's Christmas day before putting Jesus in the manger for next year.

    We normally go to a Christingle service on Christmas Eve where the children make a Christingle orange and learns what it symbolises. I think these visible interactive pictures of theological concepts really help kids to grasp doctrine. Unfortunately with the covid restrictions here we'll have to do it ourselves at home instead of meeting at the church.

    I haven't heard of the little lost angel book, I'll need to check it out. one of my favourite Christmas storybooks is "When Santa learned the Gospel" which I like to read to my children in the run-up to Christmas.
     
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