Merry Orthodox Christmas!

[fairgambit]

My Mom was Orthodox and my Dad was Byzantine Catholic so growing up we celebrated Christmas twice. We had our primary celebration on December 25th, but on January 7th, we went to my maternal grandparents home and celebrated again with my Mom's family. I got presents twice. It was a magical time for me. Maybe that's why I leave my Christmas tree up until February. I'm sitting here, next to a 10 foot, beautifully decorated, Colorado Blue Spuce, with a mug of egg nog, and the joy of Christmas is all around me. Merry Christmas to all!

 

[Yboby]

And same to you! My wife and I still celebrate both December 25th and January 7th (Julian calendar). She grew up Russian Orthodox. My kids really enjoyed having two Christmases until they got older and we decided to scale back.

Still had the whole family (including first grandchild) over today for a lot of special food and drink.

 

[Player2BNamedL8r]

Merry Christmas to all of our BWI Orthodox friends.

 

[Player2BNamedL8r]

Question - does Santa come twice? I always kinda pictured him sleeping through January.

 

[BobPSU92]

Question - does Santa come twice? I always kinda pictured him sleeping through January.

Maybe he will get booed at the Eagles game next Saturday.

 

[LurkerLazarus]

My Mom was Orthodox and my Dad was Byzantine Catholic so growing up we celebrated Christmas twice. We had our primary celebration on December 25th, but on January 7th, we went to my maternal grandparents home and celebrated again with my Mom's family. I got presents twice. It was a magical time for me. Maybe that's why I leave my Christmas tree up until February. I'm sitting here, next to a 10 foot, beautifully decorated, Colorado Blue Spuce, with a mug of egg nog, and the joy of Christmas is all around me. Merry Christmas to all!

And here I thought you were a pretty un-Orthodox guy!

Merry Orthodox Christmas, indeed.

 

[fairgambit]

Question - does Santa come twice? I always kinda pictured him sleeping through January.

St.Nicholas delivers once to each family. Parents, grandparents, aunts,uncles...have no such limit.

 

[fairgambit]

And same to you! My wife and I still celebrate both December 25th and January 7th (Julian calendar). She grew up Russian Orthodox. My kids really enjoyed having two Christmases until they got older and we decided to scale back.

Still had the whole family (including first grandchild) over today for a lot of special food and drink.

That warms my heart. Merry Christmas!

 

[BTMurphy]

Merry Merry Christmas Christmas, Fair. While all our indoor decorations come down right after New Years, the outdoor lights stay up through the Eastern Orthodox Celebration.

 

[fairgambit]

Merry Merry Christmas Christmas, Fair. While all our indoor decorations come down right after New Years, the outdoor lights stay up through the Eastern Orthodox Celebration.

My wife and I typically leave the indoor, and outdoor, decorations up until at least the end of January. We always take the indoor ones down before the beginning of Lent which this year is February 12th in the Byzantine Rite (Feb. 14th in Latin Rite). The outdoor ones depend on the weather.

 

[Player2BNamedL8r]

St.Nicholas delivers once to each family. Parents, grandparents, aunts,uncles...have no such limit.

So did St. Nick bring ya any good loot today then?

 

[fairgambit]

So did St. Nick bring ya any good loot today then?

St. Nick told my wife to bake me a blackberry pie, and she did.

 

[yyssp7]

Christ is born!

Cool to see several fellow Orthodox Christians on here.

 

[LafayetteBear]

Don't know if anyone else saw this, but the President of Egypt (I believe his surname is either Sissi or Al-Sissi) went to the new Coptic Christian Cathedral in Cairo to celebrate the Coptic Christian Christmas (they celebrate it on January 7), and he gave a VERY good (and welcome) speech about his country recognizing and protecting ALL faiths. He was greeted by the Coptic Christian Pope,Tawadros II, at this new cathedral.

As the Egyptian President was giving this speech, Egyptian military and police were fanned out all over that country, protecting Christian churches against possible attack. Since Coptic Christians represent approximately ten percent (10%) of the Egyptian population, that task is more difficult than one might think.

I regret that this Egyptian President was not democratically elected (he is a former general who took power in a coup that overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood), but his message of tolerance was very nice to see, particularly in that part of the world.

 

[GOD the almighty Creator]

My Mom was Orthodox and my Dad was Byzantine Catholic so growing up we celebrated Christmas twice. We had our primary celebration on December 25th, but on January 7th, we went to my maternal grandparents home and celebrated again with my Mom's family. I got presents twice. It was a magical time for me. Maybe that's why I leave my Christmas tree up until February. I'm sitting here, next to a 10 foot, beautifully decorated, Colorado Blue Spuce, with a mug of egg nog, and the joy of Christmas is all around me. Merry Christmas to all!

AGAIN?!? Another birthday?!?

This reminds me of a Simpson episode where Bart goes to work at the Nuclear Plant.

One day, Mr Burns calls Bart and asks. "And what's worst is you took the Hamburglar's birthday off last Wednesday and Monday, which is it?"

 

[fairgambit]

Christ is born!

Cool to see several fellow Orthodox Christians on here.

Glorify him!

 

[fairgambit]

Don't know if anyone else saw this, but the President of Egypt (I believe his surname is either Sissi or Al-Sissi) went to the new Coptic Christian Cathedral in Cairo to celebrate the Coptic Christian Christmas (they celebrate it on January 7), and he gave a VERY good (and welcome) speech about his country recognizing and protecting ALL faiths. He was greeted by the Coptic Christian Pope,Tawadros II, at this new cathedral.

As the Egyptian President was giving this speech, Egyptian military and police were fanned out all over that country, protecting Christian churches against possible attack. Since Coptic Christians represent approximately ten percent (10%) of the Egyptian population, that task is more difficult than one might think.

I regret that this Egyptian President was not democratically elected (he is a former general who took power in a coup that overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood), but his message of tolerance was very nice to see, particularly in that part of the world.

I did not see that. Thank you for posting.

 

[PeetzPoolBoy]

My Mom was Orthodox and my Dad was Byzantine Catholic so growing up we celebrated Christmas twice. We had our primary celebration on December 25th, but on January 7th, we went to my maternal grandparents home and celebrated again with my Mom's family. I got presents twice. It was a magical time for me. Maybe that's why I leave my Christmas tree up until February. I'm sitting here, next to a 10 foot, beautifully decorated, Colorado Blue Spuce, with a mug of egg nog, and the joy of Christmas is all around me. Merry Christmas to all!

When are we going to see photos of “The Tree”?

 

[Player2BNamedL8r]

Does this mean tomorrow is Orthodox Boxing Day?

 

[fairgambit]

When are we going to see photos of “The Tree”?

I have thought about that. My wife and I both agree this is our best tree ever and so I am boastfully sharing its beauty with family and friends, either in person or by text or email. Part of my problem is I have to post it on line first, before I post it here, and I have no place to do that. My wife and I do not use any site where this is possible. Even if it were, my wife is especially protective of our privacy and fears if I did post it here someone would recognize the tree and say to his wife "Hey Mary. Look at this tree. That's the Schlabotnick tree! Fairgambit is Joe Schlabotnick!" Now, I may yet change my mind in the 4 or 5 weeks before we take it down. We'll see.

 

[fairgambit]

Does this mean tomorrow is Orthodox Boxing Day?

 

[ACGT]

My Mom was Orthodox and my Dad was Byzantine Catholic so growing up we celebrated Christmas twice. We had our primary celebration on December 25th, but on January 7th, we went to my maternal grandparents home and celebrated again with my Mom's family. I got presents twice. It was a magical time for me. Maybe that's why I leave my Christmas tree up until February. I'm sitting here, next to a 10 foot, beautifully decorated, Colorado Blue Spuce, with a mug of egg nog, and the joy of Christmas is all around me. Merry Christmas to all!

My father's parents emigrated from Ukraine and I enjoyed the 7th Christmas dinner my grandmother would prepare with the traditional meal. In homage to tradition, I always kept my Christmas decorations lit through the New Year Orthodox New Year on the 14th. St. Mary's Ukrainian Orthodox church in Allentown.

 

[deridealldems]

Orthodox here, as well. Merry belated Christmas.

счастливого Рождества

 

[psu00]

Don't know if anyone else saw this, but the President of Egypt (I believe his surname is either Sissi or Al-Sissi) went to the new Coptic Christian Cathedral in Cairo to celebrate the Coptic Christian Christmas (they celebrate it on January 7), and he gave a VERY good (and welcome) speech about his country recognizing and protecting ALL faiths. He was greeted by the Coptic Christian Pope,Tawadros II, at this new cathedral.

As the Egyptian President was giving this speech, Egyptian military and police were fanned out all over that country, protecting Christian churches against possible attack. Since Coptic Christians represent approximately ten percent (10%) of the Egyptian population, that task is more difficult than one might think.

I regret that this Egyptian President was not democratically elected (he is a former general who took power in a coup that overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood), but his message of tolerance was very nice to see, particularly in that part of the world.

It’s good to hear this and it’s great he did it, (11 Copts were killed in Cairo on 12/29). In the past Egyptian police have often closed churches or stood by as Coptic churches and businesses were attacked right in front of them. Al-Sissi is now using the army to provide some added protection.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

Maybe that's why I leave my Christmas tree up until February. I'm sitting here, next to a 10 foot, beautifully decorated, Colorado Blue Spuce, with a mug of egg nog, and the joy of Christmas is all around me. Merry Christmas to all!

I'm somewhat jealous, fair. In my locale, the government will pick up and recycle Christmas trees Jan 1 thru Jan 12. As such, yesterday I very reluctantly took down my nice looking tree. If the locale picked up trees through the end of January, I'm pretty sure I'd leave my tree up the entire month.

 

[Fox Chapel Lion II]

My mother's dad was a Ukie and my grandmother was Polish. Every other Sunday my Mom took turns which Mass she went to, Roman Rite or Eastern Rite. They certainly did celebrate 'Little Christmas' every year.

Ever hear the custom of sending a Christmas card with the Three Kings and a dollar in the card? You put the card above your front door sill - you will never be without money.

 

[fairgambit]

I'm somewhat jealous, fair. In my locale, the government will pick up and recycle Christmas trees Jan 1 thru Jan 12. As such, yesterday I very reluctantly took down my nice looking tree. If the locale picked up trees through the end of January, I'm pretty sure I'd leave my tree up the entire month.

It's good to hear you kept it up this long. So many people take them down on January 2nd or 3rd. We don't put ours out for recycling. We cut part of the trunk for woodworking projects and put the rest of the tree in the woods behind our house where it is used by the birds, or other animals, and gradually breaks down on its own.

 

[fairgambit]

My mother's dad was a Ukie and my grandmother was Polish. Every other Sunday my Mom took turns which Mass she went to, Roman Rite or Eastern Rite. They certainly did celebrate 'Little Christmas' every year.

Ever hear the custom of sending a Christmas card with the Three Kings and a dollar in the card? You put the card above your front door sill - you will never be without money.

I never heard of that one. Does it work if you put a beer there instead of a dollar?