What makes Christmas feel like Christmas for you

[Vorondil]

What makes Christmas feel different from the rest of the year for you?

 

[Tyelkormo the Fair]

I don't celebrate it but...the whole media I guess? Artists dropping new Christmas songs,award shows and such.

 

[Deimos]

All the lights. 🙂**
I go to Mass (I'm Catholic) about 8 on 9 PM or Christmas Eve.
A lot of people celebrate Christmas Eve (incl. opening presents) and so many are up late, until midnight, and so a lot of holiday lights are still on.
So after Mass I go home , and dress warmly (not too warmly as I am in the low deserts of AZ and night temps are only 45-50F), and I walk around several neighborhoods and just look at all the light displays.
Some are super elaborate (100,000 lights!) and some are elegantly simple.
Quite a few use music, and sometimes the lights synchronized, but most are not.
It's always nice to hear the " A Charlie Brown Christmas" music playing in the background, or O Holy Night).
And then around midnight I will go home, make hot cocoa, break out some Christmas Cookies and watch "It's a Wonderful Life" or "Miracle on 34th Street" (the original), or "A Christmas Carol" (w/ Alister Sim).

** And the Christmas Cookies (can't forget the cookies!) .
Many are traditional "Old World" recipes, and Christmas is the only time people make them.

 

[Server Room Gremlin]

The songs. It's the time of year where I'll hear Christmas carols in shopping centres and other places. Some of the songs and carols are quite nostalgic for me. Mostly because they're the same no matter what new place I'm in (I have moved several times in my life).

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

What makes Christmas feel different from the rest of the year for you?

Reviving this thread! 😃

https://thetolkien.forum/threads/christmas-songs.23819/

Additional posts welcome! 😄

 

[Maedhros_Nelyafinwë]

Several things, but my favorites are probably:

1. The lights. I get mildly seasonally depressed in the fall and winter, so it really cheers me up when everyone's Christmas lights come out.

2. The decorations my mom puts up around the house-- the tree, garlands with lights, Nativity scenes, and occasionally, her miniature village. I like decorating my room, too, with a mini tree and lights.

3. The music. I love the old carols and hymns, with some of my favorites being O Holy Night, Angels from the Realms of Glory, Carol of the Bells, and basically any traditional hymn sung by a choir.

4. The Christmas show and church services put on by my church. My church puts on a Broadway quality Christmas show every year, and these past two years I've been in the choir and I absolutely love it. I'll be singing in the choir for their Christmas Eve services this year too. (Assuming my sore throat gets better... I've been sick and unable to sing this week. 😑 )

 

[Ent]

For Ent it is the memories.

Though my beliefs have changed through decades of study and I learned long ago the facts of the 'advent' of Christmas--its origins, ancillaries and errors--and so 'celebrate' it in an entirely different way, nonetheless the memories of childhood and quieter, more hospitable times are strong.
The ents gathering, comparing various ent-draughts, discussing affairs of the world: those were good years.

 

[Tyelkormo the Fair]

Oh and I just remembered this! The animations about Christmas I used to watch as a kid. The Mickey mouse movies for Christmas are the most memorable ones!

 

[Ent]

Yes, Charlie Brown Christmas, Rudolph the Red-nosed, The Grinch, Frosty the Snowperson (gotta be 'socially acceptable' now you know..!), and others. A bit later we'd watch all the variations of A Christmas Carol, and ultimately Ent would compare them to the Dickens story of course. The Ent-sister had a particular fondness for George C. Scott's 'Scrooge' above them all.

That is all passed now, though secretly Ent may be found sneaking off into the back office to put on one or the other version of Christmas Carol to ignite memories. (Does anyone else do anything purposely at any time, specifically to recapture a bit of the past? Ent often wonders if he's a bit odd. (though I'm certain the rest of you don't wonder if he is..!)) 😁

 

[JackTorrance]

Freezing in the snow, then being reincarnated again.

 

[Radaghast]

Unfortunately, as I grow older and more jaded my feelings about Christmas are encapsulated by this song:

 

[Starbrow]

Some of my favorite Christmas things.

• The children's Christmas program done by our parochial school. It's pretty much the same every year, but I love it.
• Lights - trees covered in white lights in the business districts and colored lights on the homes
• Christmas trees in front windows
• Watching Elf and Miracle on 34th Street (original)
• Using my turntable once a year to play my Christmas albums - Gene Autry, Amy Grant, the Partridge Family

 

[Server Room Gremlin]

Using my turntable once a year to play my Christmas albums - Gene Autry, Amy Grant, the Partridge Family

Amy Grant, nice!

 

[Deimos]

...

4. The Christmas show and church services put on by my church. My church puts on a Broadway quality Christmas show every year, and these past two years I've been in the choir and I absolutely love it. I'll be singing in the choir for their Christmas Eve services this year too. (Assuming my sore throat gets better... I've been sick and unable to sing this week. 😑 )

😮...🙂🙂🙂

For Ent it is the memories.

Though my beliefs have changed through decades of study and I learned long ago the facts of the 'advent' of Christmas--its origins, ancillaries and errors--and so 'celebrate' it in an entirely different way, nonetheless the memories of childhood and quieter, more hospitable times are strong.
The ents gathering, comparing various ent-draughts, discussing affairs of the world: those were good years.

Never let pesky facts get in the way of enjoying something.
No one ever had written on his gravestone: "I wish I had learned more facts." 😉😄

 

[Ent]

Never let pesky facts get in the way of enjoying something.

and so 'celebrate' it in an entirely different way

Facts do not get in the way. They may (and should) however, alter the nature and method of enjoyment.

 

[Deimos]

Facts do not get in the way. They may (and should) however, alter the nature and method of enjoyment.

A little story ( a true one)...
A thoroughly practicing, believing Jewish columnist (Matt L.) wrote that he "loves Christmas".
He also immediately said that as a practicing Jew he doesn't believe what Christians believe about Jesus, nor does he in any way conflate Hanukkah with Christmas.
Yet he still "loves Christmas" the Christmas season, everything about Christmas.
He said he loves the lights and the carols and decorated trees and the smells and the foods and the Christmas Eve celebrations, Christmas Day celebrations, Boxing Day celebrations. .
In other words he has never let the what he, as a Jew, knows as the facts of Christmas and Jesus, interfere with either the practice of his own faith, or his enjoyment of the Christian Holy Day.

And that is what I meant when I said, "Never let pesky facts get in the way of enjoying something."

 

[Ent]

And that is what I meant

Yes, I know.

and so 'celebrate' it in an entirely different way

And that is what I meant when I said this. ☺️

 

[Firiel23]

the smells: from the pine branches we hang everywhere, the cookies baking (esp. Lebkuchen, a traditional German cookie that smells like HEAVEN), surprisingly, the inside of our barn, with all the animals living inside again after being out in the fields for summer, the Glühwein that smells wonderfully like warm wine and spices (can't say i love the taste though!)

... My church puts on a Broadway quality Christmas show every year, and these past two years I've been in the choir and I absolutely love it. I'll be singing in the choir for their Christmas Eve services this year too. (Assuming my sore throat gets better... I've been sick and unable to sing this week. 😑 )

feel better soon! I wish we could see your program 😊 good luck with that!

 

[Annatar]

What makes Christmas feel different from the rest of the year for you?

Christmas has been associated with fantasy for me since the early 90s. Before that I had no idea, but one Christmas Day (I think it was 91 or 92) my presents included "The Hobbit", "The Dark Elf Trilogy" and the board game "Hero Quest". And probably a few ancient MS-DOS computer RPG games. There was also the animated version of "The Lord of the Rings" by Ralph Bakshi on TV that Christmas. So that was a whole lot of fantasy, and since then Tolkien (and fantasy in general) has been firmly associated with Christmas for me. 🧑‍🎄🧙‍♂️🧑‍🎄🧙‍♀️🧑‍🎄🧝‍♀️🧝‍♀️🧑‍🎄🧝‍♂️🧑‍🎄🎅🧑‍🎄
(Of course, this feeling is reinforced if you also read Tolkien's "Letters From Father Christmas" during the Advent season).

And yes, as a German, I naturally like the traditional Christmas markets that take place from the end of November, where you can admire and buy handicrafts, but also occasionally () buy good food and, above all, drink delicious mulled wine or "Feuerzangenbowle". Of course, it's especially nice when it's already snowing in December. In any case, Feuerzangenbowle is the best drink to have when you're outside and it's cold.

Feuerzangenbowle is prepared in a bowl, similar to a fondue set, which usually is suspended over a small burner (Rechaud). The bowl is filled with heated dry red wine spiced with cinnamon sticks, cloves, star anise and orange peel, similar to mulled wine. The Feuerzange was originally a pair of tongs, but nowadays it is common for a purpose-designed metal grate mounted on top of the bowl to hold the Zuckerhut (sugarloaf), a 250-gram (9 oz) lump of sugar. The sugar is soaked with rum and set alight, melting and caramelizing. The rum should have at least 54% alcohol by volume (ABV), such as the high-ABV Austrian rum Stroh 80, and be at room temperature in order to burn properly. More rum is poured with a ladle until all the sugar has melted and mixed with the wine. The resulting punch is served in mugs while the burner keeps the bowl warm. For some the ceremony is more important than the drink itself, celebrating the gathering of friends and conveying a notion of Gemütlichkeit.

The last (German) word here is decisive for my definition of Christmas:

Gemütlichkeit (German pronunciation: [ɡəˈmyːtlɪçkaɪt] ⓘ) is a German-language word used to convey the idea of a state or feeling of warmth, friendliness,[1] and good cheer. Other qualities encompassed by the term include cosiness, peace of mind, and a sense of belonging and well-being springing from social acceptance. The adjective "gemütlich" is translated as "cosy" so "Gemütlichkeit" could be simply translated as "cosiness".

I would add "family" as well.
With this in mind: I wish you a very merry (and gemütliches and griabigs 😁) Christmas! 🧙‍♂️

 

[Annatar]

Ent often wonders if he's a bit odd. (though I'm certain the rest of you don't wonder if he is..!)) 😁

There is no doubt about that. 😁

By the way, it is also very important for Christmas that the whole family meets in harmony, even if half of them may have a completely different political opinion. Especially in this day and age, you should simply avoid these political discussions and concentrate on what you have in common. At least at Christmas, because this is a sacred time when you should finally concentrate on what is really important, and that is family cohesion. Perhaps you should simply ignore obnoxious relatives for once... Time will prove them wrong anyway. (Even if they then claim that they've always known it anyway 🙃).