Best Living - Community Manager's blog

[#1]

Growing up in South Florida, every year I would ask Santa for a white Christmas. I would go to bed on Christmas Eve hoping to awake to a snow covered lawn. Alas, every Christmas morning I awoke to palm trees swaying in the breeze and no snow. Well, lack of snow is no longer an issue since I now live in Minnesota!

Thanks to my significant other, this year I celebrated my first Hanukkah. I enjoyed learning about the story being celebrated and participating in the lighting of the menorah. And the potato latkes were super delicious!

Since my family lives in multiple states and internationally, we are using webcams to connect online and wish each other a Merry Christmas.

I love listening to classic Christmas carols. The Holidays just aren’t the same without hearing Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas,” Judy Garland’s “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” or Nat King Cole’s “Christmas Song.” Thanks to my satellite radios, I am listening to great holiday classics both at home and in my car. When I’m at the gym, I listen to other great holiday songs on my Ipod.

For me the Holiday season is about giving love and acceptance to all so that peace on earth may come about someday. With a planet of over six-billion people there is so much amazing diversity. We need to embrace it so that the meaning of the Holidays can affect us all.

I wish everyone peace and a joyous new year.

How do you celebrate the Holiday seasons?

[#2]

Growing up, and even now, Christmas has always been my favorite holiday. It really has never had anything to do with the presents, but everything about Christmas seems to be magical. From the lights twinkling, the snow covered ground, the excitement of kids, and picking out that perfect gift that will light up the faces of the recipient.

Luckily for me, the majority of my family lives very close so it is easy to spend Christmas with them. Christmas Eve usually consists of a themed dinner, one year being a tailgate party, as the Vikings were playing the Packers that night. Christmas morning has always consisted of opening gifts with my mom, dad, and sister and then the long day of visiting with grandparents, and other extended family.

Regardless of the holiday being celebrated, the one thing I enjoy the most is spending the time with family and friends.  

[#3]

I celebrate Christmas during the holiday season.  My best memories are of how everyone seems to be in the Christmas spirit around this time of the year.  I recall family members doing random gestures of kindness and not expecting anything in return such as lending money or helping shovel the driveway.  I remember my grandpa always making us take our hats off at the dinner table and his rare but genuine smile when we would open presents.  I remember my grandma talking about how she used to do a mean Jitterbug back in the day.  I remember playing Christmas songs in a trumpet trio with my dad and brother and my miniature schnauzer, Sparky, contributing with a howl here and there.  I remember my mom’s mint cookies… mmmm, the mint cookies (I’ll have to remind her this year).  But perhaps my favorite time during Christmas was when my father would read to us from the bible about the meaning of Christmas and why we have something to celebrate.

I think it’s a great time to year to show your loved ones that you care about them and not just for the sake of the season, but because we all look back on these times and want to feel those warm fuzzies.  If ever there is a time to forgive, the holiday season is it.

[#4]

Posted on behalf of Jessica with the Retail Marketing Team:

Merry Christmas or 'Nollaig Shona Duit' (null-ig hun-a dit) as its pronounced in Irish Gaelic, literally meaning Happy Christmas.

Christmas is a special time of year, since moving out of state away from my family I look forward to the season that brings us all together and helps me get my priorities in order.  This year is no exception with more cousins, aunts and uncles than I can name; this year is sure to be one of the best!! I know ‘tis the season when I see my first ring of holly on a relative’s front door, holly is a plant that flourishes in Ireland around Christmas time. My Irish ancestors have decorated their home with this freely available plant for generations.  We also place lighted candles in all front room windows as a sign of welcome.  Christmas Eve we brave the cold, and pile into the family van and head to midnight mass, where the youngest members of our family head’s bob between sleep and excitement for Santa.  I look forward to waking up too early Christmas morning to open gifts and receive my stocking filled with apples, tangerines, and chocolate coins.

We leave our decorations up past the New Year, not simply due to procrastination, but it is a tradition not to take down decorations until Little Christmas, also known as the epiphany (January 6th.) No one would dare remove a stocking prior to Little Christmas, as this is thought to be bad luck.

No matter how you celebrate this season, surround yourself with loved ones, and have a blessed 2009 season.