Day 15 of the Advent Meme Posted!

Day 15 of the Advent meme has been posted! You can read it here. Enjoy!

Carol of the Blogs ...

FootnoteMaven has come up with a meme where bloggers post their favorite Christmas carols. I haven't been able to post my favorite carol as I haven't had much time lately, but now I do have a little more time.

One of my favorite carols is Silent Night, Holy Night:

Silent night, Holy night,

All is calm, all is bright,

'Round yon Virgin Mother and Child

Holy Infant so tender and mild,

Sleep in heavenly peace,

Sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, Holy night,

Shepherds quake at the sight,

Glories stream from heaven afar,

Heav'nly hosts sing Alleluia;

Christ the Savior is born,

Christ the Savior is born.

Silent night, Holy night,

Son of God, love's pure light

Radiant beams from Thy holy face,

With the dawn of redeeming grace

Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth,

Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.

This song was originally written in German. For more information on the song and the lyrics in German and English, go to this website: http://www.cvc.org/christmas/sinite.htm. (Note: I got the lyrics of the song from the website above.) Have a Merry Christmas, and Enjoy!

Day 14 of Advent Meme Posted!

Day 14 of the Advent meme has been posted! You can read it here. Enjoy!

Day 13 of Meme Posted!

Day 13 of the Advent meme has been posted! You can read it here. Enjoy!

New Poll Created!

A new poll has been created! The question for this poll is: "Where in Southern Europe are your ancestors from?" The choices for this poll are:

• Spain
• Portugal
• Italy
• Greece
• Other Balkan Peninsula countries

You can choose more than one category when voting. The poll will close in about a week.

Gingerbread Houses ...

One of my most favorite things to do around Christmas time was to make a gingerbread house. Most of the homes that I made were done when I was in elementary school. I always loved putting the icing and candy on the house. I remember mainly that I ate the candy after I had taken the house home and the icing had harden. I never really finished eating the gingerbread house that I made, and my mom always stated that icing was unhealthy and inedible. Of course, that never stopped me from eating some of the icing.

My family knew that I liked making gingerbread houses, and a couple of times I received a gingerbread house kit for Christmas. And, yes, I did put them together. I haven't made a gingerbread house in a few years since I've been up to college and have not had the time to make one. Either way, if I ever get the time to do so, I'll make one.

Reminder ...

I just want to remind everyone that the due date for the next Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy is December 21. The topic for the next carnival is on Christmas traditions, either traditions that your ancestors from Central and Eastern Europe passed down in the family or Christmas traditions of countries from Central and Eastern Europe.

Fruitcake ...

I think in my life I have only eaten fruitcake once, and I know I did not like it. I think it might have been given to my mom as a gift from work, but I can't say so for sure. Personally, I have never received fruitcake as a gift, and I don't believe that I will ever give fruitcake as a gift. I don't think my parents have ever given fruitcake as a gift, but then I could be wrong. I know my mom does not like fruitcake. I think fruitcake must one of the most loathed foods out there as every comedy on TV has some type of skit that revolves around fruitcake and Christmas. At least it seems that way to me.

Day 12 of the Advent Meme Posted

Day twelve of the Advent meme has been posted. You can read it here. Enjoy!

A Show at the Fox Theater ...

When I was five years old, my grandparents, parents, brother and I went to downtown Detroit to watch The Nutcracker at the Fox Theater. To be honest, I really do not remember very much of the show, and I don't remember if my brother was there. I am assuming that he was, as I remember that I went with my parents and grandparents.

I do remember that the inside of the theater was very ornate. Sadly, all I remember of the show is the beginning and the scene right before the intermission. I don't have much of a memory of anything else about that show.

Advent Meme Day Eleven Posted!

The entry for day eleven of the advent meme has been posted. You can read it here. Enjoy!

Poll Results

The poll is now closed and the results are in. The question for this poll was, "Where in Scandinavia are your ancestors from?" Six people voted, and the results are:

• Norway - 3 votes
• Sweden - 3 votes
• Finland - 0 votes
• Denmark - 1 vote
• Iceland - 1 vote

To those who participated in the poll, thank you. A new poll should be coming out soon Enjoy!

Day 10 of the Advent Meme is Posted!

The advent meme for day ten was posted earlier today. You can read it here. Enjoy!

Advent Meme Day 12: Volunteering

I haven't really done any volunteer work during the holidays, although I have volunteered before. I have mainly done volunteer work with clubs that I have been a member of. A couple of years ago, the bible study group I was in crocheted scarves for the homeless in the area. I learned to crochet in that group, and I am sure that someone out there has the scarf I made. I hope it is keeping that person warm.

Day Nine of the Advent Meme Posted!

Day nine of the advent meme has been posted. You can read it here. Enjoy!

Somewhere Else for Christmas ...

There have been a couple of times when I have not been in my hometown to celebrate Christmas. Of those few times, I have spent time in Florida visiting relatives. Two of the times my family and I have gone to Florida, I think it was because it was easier for us to go visit our relatives than it was for them to come up to Michigan.

For both trips, we drove down to Florida, and it would take us two days to get down to where our relatives lived. One of the years that we went down was 1998. That was the year that we had a Ford Expedition. I remember when we were driving through Tennessee, my dad noticed that the price of gas per gallon was $0.69. Needless to say, my dad got off the highway and filled up our gas tank. Later, my dad said that he had not paid that amount for gas since the '70s. (And that was a novelty. Remember when we thought a $1.30 per gallon was expensive? How would we know that within about a decade we would be paying about twice that amount?)

Once we got to Florida, we stayed with relatives. We did not stay in a hotel. While we were down there, we visited a flea market and the Ponce De Leon lighthouse. I remember climbing all the way up to the top of the lighthouse, and when I had to go back down, I was so afraid that I had to hold onto my dad's hand. I also remember that at the beginning of the trip the temperature was in the 70s and that was it very humid. I could actually wear shorts. (For being someone who has experienced almost every Christmas in Michigan, it is a novelty.)

Other tings that I remember is that the only thing in the news on the way down was about the sex scandal in the White House. I also remember that while I was down in Florida, the Midwest got hit by a snow storm. The Detroit airport got about six inches of snow, and had problems clearing the snow which resulted in backlogs and the stranding of people at the airport. It was a total disaster. On the way home, I remember that we were racing to get home because another snow storm was on the way home and we did not want to get caught in it. We were lucky, and we made it home the day before the storm hit. On January 3rd, the storm hit. My parents still went to work, but my brother and I stayed home because school had been canceled. Of course this storm only added to the problems at the Detroit airport. Even after school reopened, I remember that some students were not back in school. (One classmate and her family got stuck in Hawaii, and I clearly remember the teacher saying, "Nice place to get stuck at.")

After reading over this, it is hard for me to believe that it has almost been a decade since this has all happened. I don't think I ever imagined then what I would be doing in ten years.