Christmas

[Beate]

Highest Grossing Holiday Films

1.Home Alone
2.How the Grinch Stole Christmas
3.Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
4.Elf
5.The Santa Clause
6.The Santa Clause 2
7.Cheaper by the Dozen
8.The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
9.Christmas with the Cranks
10.Grumpier Old Men
11.Grumpy Old Men
12.Scrooged
13.Bad Santa
14.Love Actually
15.The Nightmare Before Christmas

And I bet they will all be on telly over Christmas. In fact I know some of them are as I have the TV guide already.

[Ms Thrifty]

I'm having a Sofa Cinema (DVD rental) trial so chose some Xmassy films. I've watched "The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year", of which I'd never heard, but which has Henry Winkler plus a couple of attractive younger stars unknown to me: Warren Christie and Brooke Burns; also "How About You?" which is a British film with some big names and set in an old people's home!

[weliveandbreathewords]

Ive got nightmare before xmas prepped and ready for this evening

[destresserai]

Christmas trivia - the meaning of the gifts given by the Three Kings:-


Gold: means power and riches and symbolised that Jesus was going to be King.

Frankincense: would show that Jesus is the Son of God and a holy man. In those days the little blocks of amber coloured resin from the trees would be burnt in Temples to produce a sweet smelling smoke.

Myrrh: was used to prepare bodies for burial. This sweet smelling gum comes from the myrrh plant and was used as a perfume and as incense. It signified that Jesus would be an important man and would prepare him for his death.

With current world prices this items would now cost (and I thought my £20 Mothercare vouchers were generous enough!):-

Gold - £28K per kilo
Frankincense - £50 per kilo
Myrrh - £50 per kilo

[destresserai]

Can you name all Three Kings?



[spoiler]Casper, Balthazar and Melchior[/spoiler]

[Beate]

Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar. It's a tradition in Germany that kids from the religious community (Sternsinger) come to your door between now and the New Year, clad as the three kings. They will sing a few songs, say a bit in Latin then write on your door with chalk "20 + C + M + B + 11". I thought for a long time that the three initials stood for the names of the kings but they also stand for "Christus Mansionem Benedicat" which means "Christ bless this house".

Edit:
Hah! Just found this on wikipedia:
A tradition in most of Central Europe involves writing the initials of the three kings' names above the main door of the home to confer blessings on the occupants for the New Year. For example, 20 + C + M + B + 08. The initials may also represent "Christus mansionem benedicat" (Christ bless this house). In Catholic parts of Germany and in Austria, this is done by so called Sternsinger (star singers), children, dressed up as the Magi, carrying the star and singing Christmas carols. In exchange for writing the initials, they collect money for charity projects in the third world.

On an unrelated note, we have now got our Christmas tree, yay!

[havingascreen]

In those days the little blocks of amber coloured resin from the trees would be burnt in Temples to produce a sweet smelling smoke.

I've got a piece of amber i picked off a tree.....good use for it??

On an unrelated note, we have now got our Christmas tree, yay!

Put ours up but our kitten determined to clack all the balls off, tear at the tinsel and sparkly penguin has been floored about 3 times now

The Polar express should be up there in the top christmas films, it was really magical

[valda]

In those days the little blocks of amber coloured resin from the trees would be burnt in Temples to produce a sweet smelling smoke.

I've got a piece of amber i picked off a tree.....good use for it??

On an unrelated note, we have now got our Christmas tree, yay!

Put ours up but our kitten determined to clack all the balls off, tear at the tinsel and sparkly penguin has been floored about 3 times now

The Polar express should be up there in the top christmas films, it was really magical

Brings back memories of twin kittens when I was little, seesawing in the tree, one on each side

[havingascreen]

In those days the little blocks of amber coloured resin from the trees would be burnt in Temples to produce a sweet smelling smoke.

I've got a piece of amber i picked off a tree.....good use for it??

On an unrelated note, we have now got our Christmas tree, yay!

Put ours up but our kitten determined to clack all the balls off, tear at the tinsel and sparkly penguin has been floored about 3 times now

The Polar express should be up there in the top christmas films, it was really magical

Brings back memories of twin kittens when I was little, seesawing in the tree, one on each side

they created balance then and stopped it from toppling!! Zelda has not toppled ours yet, i had to glue the angels wings on from last years fell

[weliveandbreathewords]

We b*ght a fibre optic tree to try and stop the whole cat incident happening
But shes still jumped up onto the table and attempted to eat the branches, silly kitty!