@Mamanyt1953 had a doctor's appointment, so she's asked me to handle today's question.
The winter solstice is coming up in the northern hemisphere, and the summer solstice in the southern hemisphere. Almost all cultures have traditional celebrations of these important days. Most Christians celebrate Christmas. Most Jews celebrate Hannukah. Many blacks celebrate Kwanzaa. Wiccans celebrate either Yule or simply the Solstice. So today's question is, how are you planning to celebrate the upcoming solstice? And the secondary question is, how do you plan to protect your cat(s) from the dangers that are inherent in your celebration, and your decorations from your cats?
I'm an atheist, but I grew up a Seventh-day Adventist, and Adventists are very much aware that the Christmas holiday has pagan roots. Therefore, while we always celebrated Christmas when I was growing up, we treated it as a secular holiday rather than a religious one. I still celebrate Christmas that way. It comes at a time of year when I need lights and color, and a Christmas tree is an ideal way to get those. So this year I plan to have a Christmas tree, and Roger and I will exchange gifts. And after that I'll probably spend the day watching the Dr. Who Christmas special and whatever re-runs BBC airs leading up to it. And after that's over, I may put on my Apollo 8 DVD and watch earth rise as the astronauts read the creation story from Genesis and talk about “the good earth.” I remember watching that in real time when I was a teenager, sitting on the carpet on Christmas Eve, with only the Christmas tree and the television to light the room.
My tree will have no tinsel, and will have twinkling colored LED lights. None of the really delicate ornaments will be at the bottom of the tree, and I'll make sure Jasmine won't try to tip the tree over before I put those ornaments on it (Jasmine has never encountered a Christmas tree in our house before, so I don't know how she'll react yet). Instead of garland (which could shed little bits that a cat might swallow) I have some gold ribbon to use. And I've never been very big on poinsettias or snow globes, so poisoning isn't a problem. And, since Roger and I have vastly different dietary needs, our meal will be companionable, but not identical.
Margret
The winter solstice is coming up in the northern hemisphere, and the summer solstice in the southern hemisphere. Almost all cultures have traditional celebrations of these important days. Most Christians celebrate Christmas. Most Jews celebrate Hannukah. Many blacks celebrate Kwanzaa. Wiccans celebrate either Yule or simply the Solstice. So today's question is, how are you planning to celebrate the upcoming solstice? And the secondary question is, how do you plan to protect your cat(s) from the dangers that are inherent in your celebration, and your decorations from your cats?
I'm an atheist, but I grew up a Seventh-day Adventist, and Adventists are very much aware that the Christmas holiday has pagan roots. Therefore, while we always celebrated Christmas when I was growing up, we treated it as a secular holiday rather than a religious one. I still celebrate Christmas that way. It comes at a time of year when I need lights and color, and a Christmas tree is an ideal way to get those. So this year I plan to have a Christmas tree, and Roger and I will exchange gifts. And after that I'll probably spend the day watching the Dr. Who Christmas special and whatever re-runs BBC airs leading up to it. And after that's over, I may put on my Apollo 8 DVD and watch earth rise as the astronauts read the creation story from Genesis and talk about “the good earth.” I remember watching that in real time when I was a teenager, sitting on the carpet on Christmas Eve, with only the Christmas tree and the television to light the room.
My tree will have no tinsel, and will have twinkling colored LED lights. None of the really delicate ornaments will be at the bottom of the tree, and I'll make sure Jasmine won't try to tip the tree over before I put those ornaments on it (Jasmine has never encountered a Christmas tree in our house before, so I don't know how she'll react yet). Instead of garland (which could shed little bits that a cat might swallow) I have some gold ribbon to use. And I've never been very big on poinsettias or snow globes, so poisoning isn't a problem. And, since Roger and I have vastly different dietary needs, our meal will be companionable, but not identical.
Margret
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