 Looking for unusual gifts for friends and families? Volunteer Service Abroad has some great ideas for friends and family – and others for communities and the environment overseas. First up is the gift that keeps on giving: Choose the number of days and type of volunteering you’d like to support and VSA will send you a plantable kiwi Christmas decoration to give to your family and friends. After Christmas they can plant the decoration and grow a beautiful crop of wild flowers.
And then you could Send a VSA volunteer to help local communities develop sustainable programmes to protect the environment they live in. (From $18) http://www.vsashop.org.nz/products-page/send-a-kiwi ************ By the way - if you want to send a unique interactive Christmas message from Santa to your grandchildren/friends/others, you can't go past this site... http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/prepare-a-message and it's FREE!
************ Didja know that: The custom of trimming and lighting a Christmas tree had its origin in pre-Christian Germany, the tree symbolizing the Garden of Eden? It was called the "Paradise Baum," or tree of Paradise. Gradually, the custom of decorating the tree with cookies, fruit and eventually candles evolved. Other countries soon adapted the custom and Charles Dickens called it "The Pretty German Toy” ! http://www.the-north-pole.com/around/germany.html ************ Saying Merry Christmas is simple enough for us but go North to Santa Land and you get this in the language of Eskimos: Jutdlime pivdluarit ukiortame pivdluaritlo! Then there’s the Basque version:: Zorionak eta Urte Berri On! And thanks to Trini Lopez some of us already know what Chileans say: Feliz Navidad!. ************ 
************ Bah humbug, we hear some people saying about Christmas. They grumble about dysfunctional family Christmas dinners they have to attend with rels they dislike. But the other side of the coin is what Samaritans deal with on their phone lines: loneliness, callers saying they come home to their cat or to empty homes, longing for human company. Christmas sounds like a giant communal party but it’s solitary for some. If there’s a gift to be made in our communities that day, it might well be to make sure that those who are alone aren’t lonely. ************ So when exactly was Christ born, given that there are so many interpretations and dates? From Wikipedia: The precise day of Jesus’ birth, which historians place between 7 and 2 BC, is unknown. In the early-to-mid 4th century, the Western Christian Church first placed Christmas on December 25, a date later adopted also in the East.[13][14] Theories advanced to explain that choice include that it falls exactly nine months after the Christian celebration of the conception of Jesus,[15] or that it was selected to coincide with either the date of the Roman winter solstice[16] or of some ancient winter festival.[15][17] The original date of the celebration in Eastern Christianity was January 6, in connection with Epiphany, and that is still the date of the celebration for the Armenian Apostolic Church and in Armenia, where it is a public holiday. ************
Just a glance at the Net indicates how very differently Christians in other countries celebrate Christmas. We do Christmas Lite – heavy on hols, presents, the beach and barbie - and with a brief genuflection towards its real significance. By comparison, Christians in South America, make this a solemn event, with the emphasis the other way around. When Christmas comes to every Christian though, there’s a few common threads - the exchange of gifts - and some heavy eating. ************
And there’s songs of course! Happy or contemplative they’re all there for us to give voice to instead of watching the telly. When it comes to songs, few are more seasonal than Silent Night. According to Wikipedia, the carol was first performed in the Nikolaus-Kirche (Church of St. Nicholas) in Oberndorf, Austria, on December 24, 1818 and had more of a spring in its step than the present version. ************ And for that uniquely American Christmas present... |
