lowlander

That is utterly funny!!LOL Hey brigie, I found a picture of ya shaking yer head at me... (just kiddin) love ya!! [This message has been edited by Spitfire (edited January 02, 2003).]

Are you registered??? Ya have ta post to show up as registered. I have a prezzy waiting for ya there, but ya gotta find me first. ------------------

Here's a bunch of New Years Eve Traditions: Who Invented New Year's Resolutions?? Okay, now to answer the questions we all really want to know about New Year's resolutions: Who's to blame, and do they have an e-mail address so we can flame them? Well, we're out of luck on the e-mail address, but it looks as if the tradition is as old as New Year's celebrations. The Babylonians celebrated New Years Day over four thousand years ago, although their celebration was in March rather than in January, coinciding with the spring planting of crops. So if you must break your resolution, break it with pride! You'll be continuing a long tradition of broken resolutions dating back to the dawn of recorded history! And if you had a false start, why you can start again in March, à la Babylonia! The New Year, no matter when people have celebrated it, has always been a time for looking back to the past, and more importantly, forward to the coming year. It's time to reflect on the changes we want, or often need, if we're to have the motivation move forward. Resolutions are a reflection of the Babylonians' belief that what a person does on the first day of the New Year will have an effect throughout the entire year. Think about that at the New Year's party! Although the new year has been celebrated since prehistoric times, it was celebrated on the vernal equinox rather than what we now consider the first of the year. The Romans were the first to recognize New Years Day on January first. Rather than tie the day to some significant astronomical or agricultural event, in 153 BC the Romans selected it for civil reasons. It was the day after elections in which the newly elected assumed their positions. Years later, Julius Caesar wanted to change the date to a more logical date but that year, January 1, 45 BC was the date of a new moon. To change it would have been bad luck. He did, however, change the calendar system from the Egyptian solar calendar to the "Julian" calendar, named for Caesar. July, the month of Caesar's birth, was also named after him to recognize him for his calendar reform. Up unto 1582, Christian Europe continued to celebrate New Years Day on March 25. Pope Gregory XIII instituted additional calendar reforms bringing us the calendaring system of the day. The Gregorian calendar was adopted by Catholic countries immediately while the reformists, suspect of any papal policy, only adapted it after some time. Today most countries around the world have adopted this calendaring system. From primitive man to today, it has been recognized as a day in which rites were done to abolished the past so there could be a rejuvenation for the new year. Rituals included purgations, purifications, exorcisms, extinguishing and rekindling fires, masked processions (masks representing the dead), and other similar activities. Often exorcisms and purgations were performed with much noise as if to scare away the evil spirits. In China, Ying, the forces of light fought Yang, the forces of darkness with cymbals, noisemakers, and firecrackers. Early European-Americans adopted the New Year celebrations from their homelands. However, it was noted by early settlers that native Americans already honored News Years Day with their own customs. Their rituals coincided with those around the world including fires, explosions of evil spirits, and celebrations. Today many of the New Year celebrations actually begin with a countdown to the New Year on the evening prior. It is customary to kiss your sweetheart when the clock strikes midnight as one of the customs of these New Years Eve parties. New Year Resolutions are simply another way to wish away the past in exchange for hopes of the future. It is where the phrase "turning over a new leaf" originated. Try these links for specific customs for specific places. http://staff.uscolo.edu/peterssl/topics/in...years-page1.htm http://www.fathertimes.net/traditions.htm http://www.kidlink.org/KIDPROJ/MCC/getmcc....eyword=New+Year Enjoy!! ------------------

Happy New Year, everyone!!! ------------------

Happy New Year, everyone!!! ------------------

* Spit sneaks very quietly up behind Deb and Brigie...... she turns on the whipped cream hose.......swooooosh.........instantly everyone is covered in whipped cream. Cat still is hiding behind the door, not a drop of whipped cream on her.....but she sniffs the air... * "I love cream," says Cat, "Thanks Spit". ------------------

Thanks for letting us know, Deb. It is appreciated. ------------------

Methinks that the bill would hurt more than your baby's ouchie. But still I'm very sorry to hear that it happened hope she feels better soon. ------------------

Happy New Year everyone!!! ------------------

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!! No wait....too soon..... Happy Fourth of July.....Wait, to late or too soon... I know....Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!! Ya that's it.....hmmmmmmm......no can't be......that's too late....... Merry Christmas!??!? I GOT IT!!! Happy New Years!!! ------------------

Thanks Cat!!! ------------------

but I'm not in Canada right now, I decided to visit over at A Circle of Friends..and have quite the ambush planned.... http://pub95.ezboard.com/bcircleoffriends55755 catch me if you can..... ------------------

I have looked everywhere for ya. Hmmmmmm ....not around here either. Well, I'll just sit here quietly and wait, she's bound to come here sooner or later.... ------------------

where are you??? I guess I'll go look in the Canada Connection for ya!! ------------------

" Oh, Happygirl, Brigie...." "Splaaaaattttttt!!!!" LOL ------------------

Boxing Day Theories & Explainations The day after Christmas, the Feast of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, is better known as Boxing Day. The term may come from the opening of church poor boxes that day; maybe from the earthenware boxes with which boy apprentices collected money at the doors of their masters' clients. Nowadays, we often see, in certain families, gifts (boxes) given to those who provide services throughout the year. "Boxing Day" is listed in the Canada Labour Code as a holiday. NEXT ABOUT BOXING DAY - Claim: The name of Boxing Day comes from the need to rid the house of empty boxes the day after Christmas. Status: False. Origins: Few Americans have any inkling that there even is such a thing as Boxing Day, let alone what the reason might be for a holiday so named. However, before one concludes we're about to rag on Americentric attitudes towards other cultures, we should quickly point out that even though Boxing Day is celebrated in Australia, Britain, New Zealand, and Canada, not all that many in those countries have much of a notion as to why they get the 26th of December off. Boxing Day might well be a statutory holiday in some of those lands, but it's not a well understood one. Despite the lively images suggested by the name, it has nothing to do with pugilistic expositions between tanked-upfamily members who have dearly been looking forward to taking a round out of each other for the past year. Likewise, it does not gain its name from the overpowering need to rid the house of an excess of wrappings and mountains of now useless cardboard boxes the day after St. Nick arrived to turn a perfectly charming and orderly home into a maelstrom of discarded tissue paper. The name also has nothing to do with returning unwanted gifts to the stores they came from, hence its common association with hauling about boxes on the day after Christmas. The holiday's roots can be traced to Britain, where Boxing Day is also known as St. Stephen's Day. Reduced to the simplest essence, its origins are found in a long-ago practice of giving cash or durable goods to those of the lower classes. Gifts among equals were exchanged on or before Christmas Day, but beneficences to those less fortunate were bestowed the day after. And that's about as much as anyone can definitively say about its origin because once you step beyond that point, it's straight into the quagmire of debated claims and dueling folklorists. Which, by the way, is what we're about to muddy our boots with. Although there is general agreement that the holiday is of British origin and it has to do with giving presents to the less fortunate, there is still dispute as to how the name came about or precisely what unequal relationship is being recognized. At various times, the following "origins" have been loudly asserted as the correct one: Centuries ago, ordinary members of the merchant class gave boxes of food and fruit to tradespeople and servants the day after Christmas in an ancient form of Yuletide tip. These gifts were an expression of gratitude to those who worked for them, in much the same way that one now tips the paperboy an extra $20 at Christmastime or slips the building's superintendent a bottle of fine whisky. Those long-ago gifts were done up in boxes, hence the day coming to be known as "Boxing Day." Christmas celebrations in the old days entailed bringing everyone together from all over a large estate, thus creating one of the rare instances when everyone could be found in one place at one time. This gathering of his extended family, so to speak, presented the lord of the manor with a ready-made opportunity to easily hand out that year's stipend of necessities. Thus, the day after Christmas, after all the partying was over and it was almost time to go back to far-flung homesteads, serfs were presented with their annual allotment of practical goods. Who got what was determined by the status of the worker and his relative family size, with spun cloth, leather goods, durable food supplies, tools, and whatnot being handed out. Under this explanation, there was nothing voluntary about this transaction; the lord of the manor was obligated to supply these goods. The items were chucked into boxes, one box for each family, to make carrying away the results of this annual restocking easier; thus, the day came to be known as "Boxing Day." Many years ago, on the day after Christmas, servants in Britain carried boxes to their masters when they arrived for the day's work. It was a tradition that on this day all employers would put coins in the boxes, as a special end-of-the-year gift. In a closely-related version of this explanation, apprentices and servants would on that day get to smash open small earthenware boxes left for them by their masters. These boxes would house small sums of money specifically left for them. This dual-versioned theory melds the two previous ones together into a new form; namely, the employer who was obligated to hand out something on Boxing Day, but this time to recipients who were not working the land for him and thus were not dependent on him for all they wore and ate. The "box" thus becomes something beyond ordinary compensation (in a way goods to landed serfs was not), yet it's also not a gift in that there's nothing voluntary about it. Under this theory, the boxes are an early form of Christmas bonus, something employees see as their entitlement. Boxes in churches for seasonal donations to the needy were opened on Christmas Day, and the contents distributed by the clergy the following day. The contents of this alms box originated with the ordinary folks in the parish who were thus under no direct obligation to provide anything at all and were certainly not tied to the recipients by a employer/employee relationship. In this case, the "box" in "Boxing Day" comes from that one gigantic lockbox the donations were left in. Whichever theory one chooses to back, the one thread common to all is the theme of one-way provision to those not inhabiting the same social level. As mentioned previously, equals exchanged gifts on Christmas Day or before, but lessers (be they tradespeople, employees, servants, serfs, or the generic "poor") received their "boxes" on the day after. It is to be noted that the social superiors did not receive anything back from those they played Lord Bountiful to: a gift in return would have been seen as a presumptuous act of laying claim to equality, the very thing Boxing Day was an entrenched bastion against. Boxing Day was, after all, about preserving class lines. (Quoted by - Barbara "lines of the times" Mikkelson) NEXT - Sightings: Good King Wenceslas' gifts of bread, wine, and firewood were made to a poor man whom he observed struggling through the snow "on the Feast of Stephen." Originally, Boxing Day - the first weekday after Christmas Day - was observed as a holiday "on which postmen, errand boys, and servants of various kinds received a Christmas box of contributions from those whom they serve". (Charles Dickens) So there....as many explainations as I can find. ------------------

"TapTapTap...oh Happy girl!?!!?!" "Splat!!!!!!!!!!!!" LOL [This message has been edited by Spitfire (edited December 29, 2002).]

Just bringing this back up to the top. ------------------

* Spit sneaks up behind Brigie.......and taps her on the shoulder ...Brigie turns her head and .... Splat!!!!!! * "Steeeeeeeerike, Spit two points, Brigie none" * Spit runs off, preparing for retaliation * "Oh, wait..." * Spit realizes she owes someone something * "Happygirl, sorry we had you worried about us, we are here....., in fact...here....a little gift, just from me..." * Spit lobs another pie, but Happygirl knows better and ducks....Splat!!!!!! It misses it's first mark, but gets Cat right in the back of the head * "Oh well, that will do too!!!" * Spitfire runs off laughing.... * [This message has been edited by Spitfire (edited December 29, 2002).]

Merry Christmas, Lowie!!! ------------------

Merry Christmas, one and all!!! ------------------

You were a Christmas pie?? Well, if you want one that bad, I can have one arranged to be made, and thrown at you. ------------------

Nowwwwwwww the truth comes out!!! Actually I've been doing this for years. My late DH was the one to get me so into this. He always brought things home to reuse, fix up, and find some use eventually, for. [This message has been edited by Spitfire (edited December 25, 2002).]

Yes, in our area, day old at the discount stores can be a fraction of the original price. ------------------

"St. Vincent Du Paul Clothing" outlets. Free to take, you can just help yourself (no questions asked - no qualifying), & always accepting donations of clothing and household itmes, toys, etc. ------------------