Silver Bells

My Family

2005-12-11T11:30:00.000-08:00

I just recieved an interseting phone call from my mom. I had sent her my first paper where I talked about my family tradition of decorating our Christmas tree. After reading it, she talked to my dad and brother and they decieded to only get the Christmas tree and put lights on it. Then, when I come home, we are going to decorate the tree as a family. I'm so happy that I can still get to spend this important time with my family. Now I am getting ready to come home, I think I can finally appericate the phrase "home for the holidays". As much as I love it here, I like to go home and see family and friends. I'm hoping that it will be a fun and really happy Christmas.

Wooohoooo for the end of the semseter

2005-12-09T16:36:00.000-08:00

So, with paper 6 done and out of the way, I can finally relax for a minute before I start studying for finals. Its hard to believe that we are almost done with the semester. This was probably the fastest 4 months ever. So, I have learned a lot about the Christmas holiday. I had no idea of the Satrunalia tradition or that the church adopted the holiday. Nissenbaum pointed out a lot interesting facts about Christmas as well. For example, that Santa Clause was developed by the elite class and that Clement Clark Moore made our jolly friend known. I guess I feel more "educated" about the holiday. Christmas shouldn't be about buying the biggest and best gifts. Instead, you should be grateful for what you have, and spend time with the ones you love.

Paper 6

2005-12-07T11:40:00.000-08:00

Wow this last paper is a lot harder than it seems. To correct your own work is really difficult. I think you see 2 ends of the sectrum and not a lot in between. You are either to easy on yourself or to hard. Personally I don't mind correcting other peoples papers. For this paper, I have to sit down and agonize through each sentence and paragraph. Its long and its difficult. I am having a little trouble figureing out where i am going to put my second paragraph. It deals indirectly with the thesis, so I am still figuring out what to do. Thats about it for now.

Chapter 7

2005-12-02T15:22:00.000-08:00

So we are almost done with Nissenbaum's book...YAY!!!!!! I thought that this chapter was different from all the others. The author spends a lot of time talking about the traditions in the norhtern states. I honestly didn't realize that we hadn't talked about the southern traditions. I think you see a lot of the wassiling traditions caried over in the south. I guess what I am trying to say is that they kept the loud, public Christmas longer than the northern states. While northerners were bringing Christmas inside, the south still celebrated outside because of slavery. The slaves had the opprotunity to "over step" normal boundries of the time. The slaves would dress in the cloths similar to those of the master. They could travel freely and see family and friends at other plantations, and were allowed to have good food, drink alcohol, dance, and be merry. The masters would usually come down to the slave quarters and the group would celebrate Christmas. The masters could use the celebration as a bribe so the slaves would not cause trouble durring the year. To me, it seems as though the traditions are the same as the feudal wassiling. I think thats enough for now on Chapter 7.

I'll be home for the holidays

2005-11-30T20:08:00.000-08:00

Today over dinner my friends and I were having a discusion about Christmas and our family's. We were all a little sad that we can't be home with our familys this Christmas. We are a new family out here and we are trying to come up with some new traditions. So the eight girls of the family have decided to do a secret santa for each other. When we all have suites next year, we plan on getting a small tree for the room. I think because it's we are all away from home for the first time, at Christmas. So, like a family, we pull together to support each other through our first Christmas away from home.

It's the most wonderful time of the year

2005-11-28T09:39:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas. It is so fun for me because I get to spend time with my family and friends. It seems that Christmas is even more important this year. I havn't gotten to spend a lot of time with the rents, my hermanito or my friends from high school. I have about three and a half weeks to see them and catch up ect. Unfortunatlly I don't get to decorate the Christmas tree. When I get home, it will be almost time for Christmas. It's sad, but I do get to spend time with my other family. I get to enjoy begining new traditions with my friends at Geneseo. We can decorate our own fake tree, decorate the hall, decorate the rooms, and just have some fun.

This year seems to be going by so fast. I can't believe that Thanksgiving is over with and that Chrismas is less than a month away. The music is already playing and it really puts you in the mood for the season. I guess thats all for now.

Is it really to early for Christmas

2005-11-19T11:34:00.000-08:00

Wow, Christmas is slowly but surely creaping up on us. The stores have begun to decorate and the comercials have begun. The music has started as well. Yesterday I heard Christmas music on the radio. I really shouldn't talk about the music because I have already started to listen to it. Soon my shopping will begin, which is acually a lot of fun. I am mostly excited for the snow. I plan on skiing A LOT when I go home for Christmas. It is by far the best winter sport ever. What is also amazing is that we are almost done with the first semester of classes. This year is flying by.

Chapter 6

2005-11-17T16:24:00.000-08:00

I have just read Chapter six in Nissenbaum's book. The chapter discussed a lot about charity, paticularly around the holiday season. Many people worked hard, especially durring the holiday season to give those less fortunate, paticularly children, a nice Christmas. It's really sad to know that while you are enjoying a nice Christmas with your family that there are other people who can't. That is probably why people are more willing to give to charity organizations durring the holdiay season. What really touched me with this chapter was that the rich children are ungrateful with their hordes of presents, while the poor children were contnent to just look at the toys in the shop windows. The sweetness of these children is really inspiring. Wouldn't it be nice if we could as satisfied as these children? Many people look at what they could have or what they want and aren't content with what they do already have.

Update

2005-11-14T14:18:00.000-08:00

So for the past two weeks we have been posting topics at Virtual Coffee house and discussing the Christmas Carol. Everyone made a lot of really good observations in class and on the forum. I turned in paper five, deciedeing to discuss the importance of family in the Christmas Carol. I discussed two of the families in the novel, the Cratchits and Scrooges family, the Miners. For the sixth paper I plan on fixing the forth paper, hopefully because I did worse on that paper. Overall, I really enjoyed the Christmas Carol. It wasn't to strenuos to read and I found the side notes very helpful in understanding the meaning of some of the words and phrases. So I guess that is just an update of how class has been going.

Raising Children

2005-10-30T19:44:00.000-08:00

Nissenbaum pointed out that the way you raise your children is very reflectant in your religion. For example, the Puritains were convinced that humans were born with desires, wants, ect. The Puritians attempted to stomp this out of their children...so to speak. They refused to celebrate Christmas because it is centered around our wants and desires. The Unitarians on the other hand, believe that the desires and wants aren't born with. In short, they believe that the wants and desires are developed. Once a year at Christmas is certainly alright by the Unitarians to Celebrate christmas. I think that I would be inclined to agree with the Unitarians. Once a year it seems all right to let go.

Religion

2005-10-29T11:07:00.000-07:00

I think that it is very interesting how Christianity adopted the holiday of Christmas. Maybe some people felt guilty about celebrating Christmas in such a pagan way. By giving Christmas a religous conotation, celebrating was all right becaue the church said so. For me the religous aspect is an important part of Christmas. I attend mass with my family and usually sing in the chior. We practice every week for about three months and really sound good. I really think about those less fortanate than I, and realize how lucky I am. I have family, friends, a house, cloths, food, love, ect. So I would now assume that there are some good aspects about the Church "getting in" on the holiday.

A Birthday like Christmas

2005-10-28T09:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my 18 birhtday and i have to say that i felt like a kid at Christmas. It was my first birthday away from home, so i missed my family and high school friends. But my friends here made up for that. We all had dinner together and they opened my presents from my family with me. Then we all watched a movie together. Then Amber and Elaine left the room. When they came back in, they had a cake for me. I was so surprised and i had absolutly no idea that was coming. I was so happy and thankful that I have such great friends. I honestly felt like a little kid was so excited for Christmas. My friends at college have become my new family and i realize how much they care about me.

Paper 4

2005-10-22T14:05:00.000-07:00

Wow, that topic really made me have to think about what to write. My article was a little weird so i tried to find another. That actually didn't work out well at all. I actually wound up using my original article which really wasn't that bad after I sat down and looked at few more times. So its turned in and I have to come up with some more info for it. But overall I think that I have a pretty good start.

Past Christmas traditions

2005-10-21T14:00:00.000-07:00

I guess its kinda interesting the way Christmas was celebrated. People dancing in the streets and letting loose for one time durring the year seems different. Well i guess it is really different than the way we celebrate Christmas today. I think it would have been an interseting way to celebrate Christmas. A big party in the streets with lots of people all doing the same thing.

Shopping

2005-10-20T13:54:00.000-07:00

That perfect gift is a large part of Christmas. I never really relized how much time we spend looking for it. Another thing I've noticed after years of shopping for Christmas presents is that some pepole are so hard to shop for. Some people just have everything and I never think that what Ive gotten is the right gift. I now see how much of the season we lose due to the shopping. Black Friday is insane. People are up at 5:30 in the morning to get the early bird specials for Christmas. A lot of this insane shopping takes away from appreciating Christmas and the season.

Santa Clause

2005-10-15T18:01:00.000-07:00

So Santa is a big part of Christmas. Pretty much everyone knows the back ground of the argument of who wrote A Visit From Saint Nicholas. That and Thomas Nast's picture of Santa basically give us the idea who Santa is. I, like all children, totaly believed in Santa Clause. I think i might have been about 10 when i figured it out, maybe a little slower than most. What gave it away for me was that Santa seemed to have the same hand writing as my mom. Having a younger brother probably helped me believing in Santa Clause. But still, like the Tooth Fairy, Santa is a big part of childhood.

Kids at Christmas

2005-10-14T17:53:00.000-07:00

I think that is really intresting that Christmas hasn't been always centered around kids and their wants at Christmas. I mean, today so many kids are focused on getting what they wany and not spending time with the people they love. Nissnbaum points that out numerous times in his book. Again, the elite class makes decisions for everyone. The Knickerbockers decieded that Christmas should be a more family centered holiday. So now Christmas is a kid centered holiday. I guess that is good, because parents had to pay a little more attention to their kids.

Wiki Update

2005-10-11T16:39:00.000-07:00

The wiki project is going really well. Working together makes the project a lot easier. On friday, a group of us got together and worked on the layout and what needs to be changed. Took a break this weekend from working on it. It is great that the whole class is working on it. But overall I think it is coming along great.

Home

2005-10-09T07:32:00.000-07:00

I never understood how much you miss home when you are away. I suppose this is why so many people like to go Home for the holidays. Even though it is not even close to Christmas, I like being home. It is nice to see all my friends and family. It almost feels like christmas because for just a few days we are all together again. I think that is one of the important traditions of Christmas; being with the ones you love. That is truly what christmas is about.

Wikis

2005-10-06T16:33:00.000-07:00

I have got to say that i really enjoy this wiki thing. I like being able to go in and work on differnt topics. I like to do a paragrah here, paragraph there and i don'r really get bored with the same topic. Sometimes when you right a paper, it is difficult to come up with a topic, let alone write about it for three or four pages. With this you can write about what you want when you want. I think its great.

Livingston or Moore

2005-10-04T11:42:00.000-07:00

So a few days ago the question of who wrote the poem A visit from st. Nicholas, Livingston or Moore. The book by Foster definetly made points for both sides of the argurment. Livingston had more of a "cheery" disposition and was constantly creating poems for his children. Moore, who now is the "author" of the poem did the same thing, but he was more grouchy. Although I have only delt with dispositon, other issues arise. To me, I would be more likely to think that livingston wrote it. I think that poets often reflect their mood and personality in their works. Being that livingston was more of a happy person, i think that there is a good chance that he did write the poem.

Comercal Christmas

2005-10-01T16:23:00.000-07:00

So i went shopping the on friday since class was canceled. While doing so, I was surprised that stores are already advertising for Christmas. It is October first, and the ideas of what presents to purchase for what people are sitting in the back of my mind. I love christmas, but it is to early to think about christmas decorations and such. It isn't even Halloween yet. Christmas is a time to be with your family and friends and to enjoy the season. I think that christmas is now becoming to focused on presents and buying things. It is nice to get presents at christmas, i think that we can all agree on that, but it is just to soon to be thinking about buying gifts.

Paper 2

2005-09-29T12:07:00.000-07:00

I just turned in my second paper for class today. I actually got going pretty quickly on it once i figured out my topic. I decided to write about my towns curfew that was started a little over a year ago. It is proving to be fairly effective. We would have multiple discussions on the curfew in my government class last year. Most of the kids in my graduating class disagreed with the curfew, saying it was unfair that older students have to abide by it. personally, i see where both sides are coming from. The vandalizm and drug use have both decreased in our town, which is good. But unfortuantly for me, i still have to abide by the curfew when i return home. Lucky me. Well, i guess that is about all for now.

I never knew

2005-09-28T17:04:00.000-07:00

I had no idea that christmas had so many different roots and that the traditions of christmas have stemed from so many different cultures. The Roman tradition of Saturnalia to the Dutch tradition of Saint Nicholas all play such a big role in the development to this holiday. The Church even got in it. Honestly, before this class, I never gave all the traditions of Christmas a thought. I never sat down and tried to figure out wherer all of the Christmas traditions came from. I just spent the time with my family and friends. I went through the motions and really enjoyed myself. I think now i have a better understanding of where Christmas comes from and why we celebrate it.

Chapter 2

2005-09-24T16:40:00.000-07:00

So, after reading the second chapter, I think I understand a little bit more about how Christmas as we know it was formed. Basically the elite class didn't want to deal with the wassiling and now looting and stealing tradition, so they decided to make Christmas a time to spend with family. If they could convince the lower class that this is how you were supposed to celebrate christmas, they wouldn't have to deal the the people. It always seems like the elite class is always making the decisions that effect the population. For example, it was the upperclass who introduced Santa Clause into the Christmas scene. Now, every chlid knows who santa claus is and what he does. It is so amazing to me that we have carried on the traditon of Santa Clause for so long. I always thought i could hear Santa Clause when i was younger. I just think it is really interesting that we have been carrying out traditions for over 200 years. I guess that is the point of traditons.

Christmas Day

2005-09-23T07:29:00.000-07:00

Christmas day is so fun. For my family it means a lot of traditions. My brother and I always wake up really early that morning. I usually try to read for a little bit because we can't go downstairs before eight-thirty. Then we open presents and just spend some time together. Then, dected out in some our new cloths, we go for brunch at my "extra mom's" Kathy's house. It is just a small tradition that we have done every year as far back as I can remeber.

A Brainstorm

2005-09-19T12:46:00.000-07:00

So for class we have to write a conversation between ourselves and someone else apposing views. The person i am talking to has to have the upper hand. So i am not to sure on what to write about. We have a town wide curfew in my hometown that i will have to abide by when i have to go home, being that i am not eightteen yet. On a school night, I would have to be of the streets by ten or eleven, i would have to check. Here at college, i don't have a curfew. I do see the point of having a curfew for high schoolers. This sounds like a good idea to me. If you have any other ideas, i am definetly open to suggestions.

Church

2005-09-17T12:13:00.000-07:00

So i am going to continue talking about some of my Christmas traditions. One is going to the children's mass at my church. When I was younger, i acctually was in the pagent. One year I even got to play Mary, when they still had a younger child play that part. Now that i am older, I watch the pagent from my place in the chior. It is so great to see all the children dressed as shepards and angels. We have a newborn child play Jesus, while his/her parents are Mary and Joseph. This year we added three wise men. Since it is a fairly early mass, there are lots of family's with children. It is so cute, for lack of a better word. It is fun for me too, because i get to sing with some of my friends, and it is nice to see all of the kids participate. It is a nice way to start Christmas Eve.

The Puritian's idea of Christmas

2005-09-15T14:57:00.000-07:00

So i have decided it might be a good idea to acctually talk about the book we are reading in class, so here it goes. Reading about all the fun the people had in England durring the holiday season made me wonder why the Puritians wanted to ban Christmas. I mean, I know they wanted to purify everything, but getting rid of Christmas is a little bit overboard. We now all know that Christmas has roots in the times of the Romans. That is a long time of celebrating and taking some time to enjoy life. Even when Massachucetts tried to have Christmas, people didn't participate. I am a religous person, I go to chruch, belive in God, pray,ect. I do believe in having fun though. Going through life being scared of God, is well, dumb. So I just think that the Puritains were trying to put a damper on a very old and fun tradition of celebrating.

The Family

2005-09-12T10:11:00.000-07:00

Christmas is always a time for my large, loving, crazy family to get together. The past few years my family hasn't made it out to Canandagua for this annual get together. Since my grandma, dad's mom, has Thanksgiving at her house, we either do the Christmas celebration at my Nana's(mom's mom) or more recently at my Great aunt Cynthia's house, commonly known as Aunt Cyn. It is ususally a few days after Christmas. There is always lots of good food, laughter conversation, and Katie, where are you going to school, how is school, how is basketball going,ect, ect. There are always lots of cousins to play with and presents to open. The deserts were always awesome too. My mom and Aunt Kris make a pretty mean pecan pie and my grandma prides herself on her cake decorating skills, so I always made ure to save room. It was a fun time and because of sports we aren't able to make it out. It is sad but I always have the memories.

Music

2005-09-11T19:36:00.000-07:00

Music has always been a very important part of my life. I played the trumpet all through high school. Being the only girl trumpet player for most of the time, I was constantly proving myself to the guys. Enough about that though. At Christmas, I always sing in the choir at my church. Durring the year, I listen to all types of music. I just love music. But after Halloween, I start listening to one of my most favorite types of music, Christmas music. I can't tell you how many times my mom would tell me to stop singing Joy to the World in November. My all time favorite Christmas songs is George Winston's The Holly and the Ivy. It is so beautiful. I can listen to it over and over. Christmas music is awesome.

Snow

2005-09-08T11:01:00.000-07:00

I think the perfect Christmas must include snow. I mean, why else would someone sing about a white Christmas. Snow is usually big in the Adirondacks, my home. I love to ski and snowmobile, so as a result, I love snow. When my brother and I were little, we would spend hours outside sledding. One paticular Christmas eve, it snowed all day. We took our tubes outside and spent the whole afternoon going down the hill. Of course my dad taped it and i have the priviledge of watching it from time to time. Snow just makes everything clean again and adds atmosphere to the holiday season. So every year i wish for snow for christmas, and ususally, my wish comes true.

It is better to give than to recieve

2005-09-07T07:55:00.000-07:00

I am one of those crazy people who loves Christmas. Snow, the music, decorations, he tree, all of it. I love it. I love buying presents for all of my family and frieds. The reaction gets me every time I find the perfect gift for someone I care about. I usually get my mom jewelry. When she wears it all the time, it really makes me happy. I really believe it is better to give than to recieve. So opening presents on Christmas day, I always want my family to open the presents that I got them. When I was in high school, I would bring my friends presents in the day before school let out for vacation, just so I could see the excitment on their faces. Of course i love opening my own presents at christmas, but seeing others open presents makes me even more happy. Maybe it's because i am naturally a nice person and like to see others happy, or maybe it is the time of year. It could also be because I have what i want. I have my family, my friends, and my happiness. I think that is what Christmas is really all about, being with the people you love and the people who love you.