Christmas: The True Reason for the Season

[Pyreaux]

Christmas: The True Reason for the Season

Gather around and I shall tell you the story of Christmas. The origin of Christmas is not a plagiarized pagan holiday of the Catholic Churches. Rather there was an ancient Israelite “autumn new year festival” that celebrated the ritual-birth of the ancient kings into begotten sons of the Lord God and the day of the incarnation of the Lord on earth.

Or so says my study of certain scholars who attempt to reconstruct the Royal Temple cult in a way that could make sense of some of the Psalms, as I feel it gives the fullest explanation of the imagery. These studies have become in demand among Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox, and LDS audiences.

Celebrating the birth of Jesus in conjunction with New Year finds context in the royal rituals of the old temple, when the new king was enthroned and became the human presence of the Lord, and established as his presence and his king upon the earth. There are two births here, by the Son in his earthly manifestations and incarnation.

The Christian Holidays are Israelite Holidays

The late Jewish calendar established the time for the major festivals of the Old Testament. Since several of those Old Testament festivals figure prominently in the New Testament, the times they are observed were also adapted into Christian tradition.

That's why Easter is related to Old Testament Passover, since Holy Week occurred during the Passover Festival and Pentecost figured from the date of Passover are movable feasts in Christian tradition, as the Jews calculated the time by the moon, and so fell on different dates.

The differences between Christian and Jewish holidays are due to the development of different calendars. Easter is Passover, Pentecost is Weeks, Advent and Epiphany are aspects of Tabernacles, and Christmas is The Day of Atonement.

The Gezer Calendar

Jewish Calander is actually Babylonian in origin and adopted by the Jews as of the time of the Babylonian exile in the sixth century BC. The Gezer calendar is one of the earliest Hebrew inscriptions discovered. The small limestone plaque from the tenth century BC., at this time the Babylonian month names (from which modern Jewish ones derive) were as yet unknown in Israel.

Upon this plaque, divides the months on the basis of the relevant agricultural activities, not an abstract entity of time.

Beginning the Year with Ingathering

The Bible marks the harvest with the Feast of Ingathering, which took place, “at the coming forth of the year” (Exod 23:16) or, as the variant expression has it, “at the turn of the year” (Exod 34:22). In other words, Ingathering is a New Year festival.

The autumn New Year festival, in which the peasants of Israel and Judah would go to the nearest Temple to give the Lord some of their produce, and took the opportunity to offer a public thanks for divine favor, and to petition for rain in the coming season.

Two biblical stories set at the Shiloh Temple. Prior to the Temples in Jerusalem, a temple stood in Shiloh for a full 369 years. Judges 21:19, which refers to this festival as “the yearly festival of YHWH in Shiloh,” describes how unmarried girls would come out and dance (21:21) in the vineyards, because its apparently the grape harvest.

This same Shiloh festival appears in the opening of Samuel, describing the practices of Elkanah, the soon father of Samuel:

Sam 1:3 he used to go up from his town yearly to worship and to offer sacrifice to YHWH of Hosts at Shiloh. The festival thus included both sacrifices to the deity, a collective meal in the presence of the deity, which included wine, because it's the grape harvest.

Cases of drunkenness occurs in the grape harvest in the Temple of Shechem. Judg 9:27 They went out into the fields, gathered and trod out the vintage of their vineyards, and made a festival. They entered the temple of their god, and as they ate and drank they reviled Abimelech.

Thus at "Shiloh... the temple of the LORD" (1 Sam 1:9) the priest Eli sees Hannah praying silently and suspects she has had too much wine. (1 Sam 1:12–15)

The Kingship Festival

Festivals in many ancient Near Eastern societies ending with the New Year. Like the Israelite festival, it included many sacrifices and other temple-based rituals, in which the king played a central role (Dt 31:9; Neh 8]

The Bible considers this festival of paramount importance; Solomon chooses this festival as the time to consecrate the new Jerusalem Temple:

1 Kings 8:65 So Solomon observed the Festival at that time, and all Israel with him - a great assemblage, coming from Lebo-hamath to the Wadi of Egypt - before YHWH our God for seven days… The festival is simply called, “the Festival,” apparently with no need to specify further.

Jeroboam’s Competing Festival

Jeroboam’s established the north as independent of Jerusalem and its king. Jeroboam expresses concern that the people will go to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices, and thus be reconciled with the Davidic king (1 Kings 12:25–33), so he builds two other Temples, in northern Dan and southern Bethel (1 Kgs 12:32).

While there is reason to doubt the historicity of this Deuteronomic account, which seems to dismiss the northern festival as illegitimate, since the text also does reflect on the necessity of the Northern Kingdom to have had to hold its own Festival celebrations.

YHWH enthroned as King, with the King as His Vessel

In the Babylonian Akitu festival, the population chanted to Marduk as the god made his way to the temple to be seated on his royal throne. At Ugarit, the celebration focused on the Canaanite god Baal. Having defeated his mythical enemy Mot (death), Baal was once again enthroned as king.

Israel had parallels to these. Blowing the shofar “ram’s horn” on this festival (Lev 23:24, Num 29:1), which is connected to coronation rituals. Psalms alludes to the existence of such stories (Ps 74:12­–17 and Hab 3). Psalms discussing the coronation of YHWH and likely connected with the New Year festival (Psa 47 and 93).

Procession of the God

Part of the new year celebration ritual in ancient Near Eastern cultures was the solemn procession of the god, whose image would be removed from the temple precinct, paraded, and then returned to it. This ritual served a practical function, since the god’s quarters needed to be purified anyway - a practice referred to in the Bible with the verbs kappēr and ṭahēr, and associated with Yom Kippur, which is also part of the New Year season.

In addition, it gave the god’s many non-priestly and non-royal worshipers direct access to the deity, unavailable to them during the year. In the Babylonian New Year festival, the king is reported to have taken the god Marduk “by the hand,” leading the image back into the temple.

In Israel and Judah, a similar ritual appears to have taken place with the portable throne in which YHWH was mysteriously present. The Ark proceeded amid acclamation and blasts of the horn (2 Samuel 6:15). In the premonarchic period, this would have been led by the priests, while in the monarchic period, the priest-king would have taken a leading role in these proceedings.

A fine illustration of the king’s role is preserved in the narrative about David’s transfer of the Ark to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6). David was donned like a priest in a linen ephod, David led the Ark to its resting-place. Although the story narrates a one-time event, it is modeled after the annual procession of the Ark. In a similar manner, the future Judean kings would have taken the lead in the procession of the Ark.

The participation of the king was a powerful means to consolidate the position of the human king, with rather obvious political implications: God was king on high, and the monarch was his deputy on earth. The few psalms that celebrate the human ruler as God’s son on earth (Psalms 2 and 110:3, LLX 109:3) likely originated in the context of the New Year celebration. Certainly, the presentation of the king as a priestly figure (Psalm 110:4) is entirely in keeping with his role in the procession.

Hannah’s Hymn

The ending of Hannah’s song illustrates the connection between monarchy and the New Year Festival:

Sam 2:10 YHWH will judge the ends of the earth. He will give power to His king, And triumph to His anointed one.

At the time Hannah is supposed to have spoken these words, there was as yet no king in Israel. In fact, it would be Hannah’s own son who anointed the first one. So the reference to a king is an anachronism or a prophecy. It suggests that Hannah’s song has its origins in ritual for the New Year festival.

Splitting Up the Kingship Festival

The king played a key role in the New Year festival. In the post-exilic era, however, when the Ark was lost (Jeremiah 3:16) and the Davidic monarchy was not successfully restored, the monarchic aspect of festival was no longer significant. The celebration developed into two distinct festivals: Sukkot (the harvest festival) and the New Year festival, what rabbinic Judaism called Rosh Hashanah.

Sukkot—The agrarian character of the festival is the dominant theme of Sukkot, the Feast of Ingathering. In this period, praising God for Israel’s bounty gained new prominence in the liturgy. Psalm 65 offers an example, as it glorifies God as the bringer of rain and fertility:

Ps 65:12 You crown the year with Your bounty; fatness is distilled in Your paths.

We also see an emphasis on agrarian rituals such as the taking of the four species and the building of sukkot or “booths,” a reminder of the vineyard bowers set up for protecting those picking the crop, and the crop itself, during the ingathering (Lev 23:39­–43; Neh 8:14–15). Rabbinic texts confirm the centrality of Sukkot, imagining (or recalling) constant celebrations day and night in the Temple on Sukkot, known in the Talmud, following biblical precedent, simply as “the festival.”.

Rosh Hashanah—While the agrarian festival sheds the theme of New Year celebration (except for the emphasis on rain), the New Year theme becomes dominant on the festival of the first day of the seventh month, Jewish Rosh Hashanah. And while no human king participates in the festival, the description of God as king develops as a major part of the liturgy. So does the idea that God listens to people’s prayers and grants them life or death, wealth or poverty, etc.

Unsurprisingly, the story of Hannah is read on Rosh Hashanah, a miraculous conception, as is the story of Sarah's miraculous conception of Isaac. Moreover, the holiday has little of the celebratory in its liturgy or ritual, and has come to be known as “the Day of Judgment.” While this is not a biblical name, it is certainly a biblical theme relevant to the New Year. The Talmudic teaching about Rosh Hashanah being the occasion for God to check on or to record the fate of the wicked, the righteous, and those in between is deeply rooted in Israelite and ancient Near Eastern tradition.

What Kings did during the Autumn New Year Kingship Festival

The Davidic priest-king acquired and maintained his royal priesthood through a series of rituals. The first such ritual the king participated in was his coronation, when the king was “to arise,” or resurrect. Called by his throne name, assumed at ascension.

Once being inducted into the office of kingship, the king frequently participated in rituals designed to maintain and renew his divine status. Once a year the king participate in a festival at the temple, where some of the rituals of the coronation were reenacted. Israel benefited from this as he embodied the procreative power fertility in the land.

The ascent to the throne and coronation with proper insignia and king’s priestly robes have remained the same in many modern cultures. The throne, crown, headdress, garment, and scepter.

Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, is a major two-day holiday celebrated in the fall, introspection continues for ten days (the Days of Awe) and ends with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

The king was involved in an atonement/expiation of the land (Dt 32:43; Psa 72) as he became a priest after Melchizedek (Psa 110:4). The king making ritual concluded with a royal marriage (Psa 45). Promoting rainfall and fertility.

Conclusion

Frankly, ran out of time to tinker with this before Christmas passes me by. I wanted to share more things. Like what an Immanuel is, what Magi are, and where they came from, the prophesies of the time of Jesus' coming, the Solar Calander of Qumran and Enoch, Bible verse about the king's procession starting from a baptism in a river, to "king's pillar" at the temple, to sitting in the throne in the Holy of Holies as they worshipped the king, and the temple marriages. I can still do that, just maybe not today. 

Merry Christmas

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Edited December 25, 2023 by Pyreaux

[mfbukowski]

Thanks, but no.

Winter solstice.

The sun returns.

Merry Christmas!

[Pyreaux]

Its Christmas!

A King is Born!

Melchizedek is said to have no earthly father, no earthly mother, rather he was a “Son of God” (Hebrews 7:3). Also, Melchizedek had “ariseth [(G#450) raised up (again), resurrected]” (Hebrews 7:11, 15). The apotheosis of the Melchizedek priesthood transformed royal figures into priestly born-again sons of God (LXX, Ps 109:3-4; Ps 110:3-4; 2:7; 89:20, 26-27). Priestly Initiation rites were an attempt to prepare a man to enter into a transfigured state incase should God appear to him in his service. 

The Davidic kings at their coronation were made a “son” of the Lord (2 Samuel 7:14; Psalm 2:7), and King David said he was “anointed” and “raised up [qum (H#6965) raised up, resurrected] (2 Sa 23:1-2). David was anointed and ritually resurrected or “raised up” (Psalms 89:19) like Melchizedek was (Hebrews 7:15-17) and also reborn as a “son” of God (2 Samuel 7:2) in the Temple (Psalms 2:7; LXX, Psalms 109:3; 2 Kings 11:14).

During the king’s coronation, the temple priests sang a psalm to him declaring him a “priest after the order of Melchizedek” (Psalms 110:4). He would offer burnt offerings and peace offering before the Ark of the Covenant when it was brought to Jerusalem (2 Samuels 6:17-18). So it’s no great wonder that even King David saw the God of Israel twice (1 Kings 11:9). 

Solomon offered sacrifices himself three times a year (1 Kings 9:25). Solomon explains that the Spirit of Wisdom has to be bestowed and a gift from God in what he describes as a marriage with it. Then it will be his constant companion and guide, teaching him heavenly secrets and giving him "immortality" (Wisdom of Solomon 8:13).

The king was a Melchizedek High Priest and his role was to make expiation/atonement for the land (Dt 32:43). He then returns with judgments. Psalm for Solomon depicts him as a messianic figure, his temple service promotes rain and fertility in the land (Psa 72:6, 16). The Marriage Psalm describes the king's priestly marriage, the king's garments smell of the anointing myrrh oil (Psa 45; Patai, On Jewish Folklore 135; Roland de Vanx, Ancient Israel [1961] 1:109). Because the autumn new year celebrated the re-"birth" of the king became part of the reason Christ's birth is celebrated in the autumn before the Christian new year, and why the Armenian Church celebrates Christmas on the Jewish Day of Atonement (E. Werner, The Sacred Bridge [1959], p41, 49n, 79).

The Virgin - Her son, the King, is the Immanuel

Isaiah 7:14 is the famous prophecy where the virgin will conceive and bear a son, and his name will be called "Immanuel," meaning "God with us." A sign given to King Ahaz of Judah during a time of political crisis. Isaiah assures Ahaz that the northern kingdoms (Israel and Aram) threatening Judah will not succeed. However, the title "Immanuel" also takes on a broader, messianic significance in Christian interpretation. 

Isaiah 8:8: Here, the name "Immanuel" is again used, but in a slightly different context as part of a broader prophecy concerning the Assyrian invasion. Both Isaiah 7 and Isaiah 8 point to a royal figure associated with the Davidic dynasty. Isaiah's Immanuel Prophesy concerned the contemporary birth of a royal son Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz and yet is hailed by Christians much later as about the birth of Jesus Christ. Isaiah seems to condemn Hezakiah, who removed the Asherah, the Virgin Mother of kings, from the temple. A holy tree was felled (Isaiah 6:13) Isaiah 7 Immanuel prophecy had a heavenly "The Mother of the Lord" figure in the Isaiah Scroll but was tampered with in our Bibles.

The Virgin of Zion sings when the Lord takes away judgment against her (Zeph 3:14-20) and the Lord renews her with love (Zeph 3:17). She as though a goddess has a voice that "scorns" the king of Assyria (Isa 37:22) who wears beautiful "garments" (Isa 52:1), and precious stones (Isa 54:11-12), like a royal bride, and will give birth to a son without labor pains (Isa 66:7). Micah depicts the virgin as a woman in labor, who then flees the city into the wilderness, but the Lord will rescue her and she will return (Mic 4:8-10; Jer 4:31), she will give birth to the great shepherd (Mic 5:2-4). Like the woman in Revelations, in her linen robes returns from exile to be the "bride of the lamb" is portrayed as a representation of the people of the new city of God (Rev 21:9-14), is the same inhuman woman who possessed robes of the sun and wings that originally fled into to exile after giving birth to the divine "man child", the mother of Christ (Rev 12:1-6).

Israelite women who possess the Virgin Spirit, identified as "virgins", carried a status as those who dedicated herself to be a “spiritual woman", usually as opposed to being a mother. Though some women miraculously hold perpetual virginity status, even paradoxically as mothers, like Mary, Sarah, or the goddesses as spiritual fertility agents credited as mothers to their royal miraculously born children.

The Holy Spirit came upon Mary to have her conceive, she is Wisdom, the agent that aids in miraculous births of Israelite women, including the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus the Christ, "Wisdom is justified of Her children" (Matthew 11:19). Matthew also said in The Gospel of the Hebrews, quoted by Eusebius, after Jesus' baptism the Holy Spirit came down a dove “The Savior says: ‘Even so did my Mother, the Holy Spirit, take me by one of my hairs and carry me away to the great mountain Tabor.'”

Wisemen of Israel

There were others in Israel that bore the signs of the Royal Priesthood within the Royal Cult. "Wise Men" were special councilors to the King that possessed political authority, they are on the list along with Prophets and Priests that the Israelite establishment recognized "cunning artificer [Wisemen of the Arts]" (Isa 3:3) In the name of the Lord, they would prophecy, divine and read dreams in Jerusalem (Jer 29:8). Functioning no different than the wisemen of the foreign nations; Egypt (Ex 7:11), Babylon (Jer 50:35), Tyre (Eze 27:9) and Edom (Obad 8). Operating in royal courts with the same practices and duties as Joseph served in Egypt's Court (Gen 41:8, 41) and as Daniel served in Babylon (Dan 1:19-20).

Moses deployed the Wisemen of Israel to make the priestly garments (Ex 28:3) and to build the Tabernacle (Ex 36:4) as they had been endowed with special abilities by the Spirit (Ex 35:31). They honed and wielded secret arts also called "wisdom", knowledge from heaven, they had ascended to retrieve and returned with knowledge and power (Job 15:8; Prov 30:1-4). Just as Paul ascended (2 Cor 12:2) and returned with "hidden wisdom" (1 Cor 2:7).

Now, in the narratives in which the foreign Wisemen appear is when they are often clashing with the Prophets, and so we often classify these characters as frauds and their arts as magic tricks. But the texts don't say that, many could hold their own against a prophet, the Prophets were simply more effective (Ex 7:12) crediting the Lord for their great skill (Gen 41:6; Dan 2:27). Those condemned were not condemned for possessing a false wisdom, but for corrupting true wisdom, or having a the wrong spirit behind it. The king of Tyre was a true wise man, "wiser than Daniel" (Eze 28:3) but punished for corrupting it (Eze 28:17).

The Davidic Kings of Israel were all themselves ideally Wisemen (Isa 11). King David was "wise" as a "[god]" (2 Sam 14:20), King Solomon was "wise" (1 King 3:88; 10:23; 2 Chr 9:22). When they were anointed as king and Melchizedek priests, the spirit gifted them with prophecy (1 Sam 10:10). Possessing a variety of means to communicate with the divine, like dreams (Job 4:12-13; 35:14-15).

Astronomy and Astrology

Wisdom consisted of secrets of natural phenomena, utilizing stars, either by a specific astral sign or by mathematics, they reckoned the proper times to determine when the prophecy has come to pass. Jews were known to be Astronomers; naming, numbering and binding stars were the signs of power (Ps 147:4-5; Isa 40:26; Job 9:8; 38:31). Israelite Wise men were employed as navigators and shipwrights (Eze 27:8-9). Jewish literature credits Abraham as a master Astronomer, "Look now towards the heaven and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them" (Gen 15:5)

Healing and Exorcism

Some wisdom included healing arts, a gift form the Father (Ex15:26; Deut 32:39; Job 5:18) given to prophets (1 King 17, Isa 39) and to the Priest Kings. Which is why Naaman had the expectation that the King can heal (sp') his leprosy (2 King 5:6). This gift is closely related to exorcism, as destroyer angels can be the cause of pestilence (1 Chr 21:12-16). There are invisible forces behind natural phenomena. When King Solomon asked for wisdom, he uttered 3000 proverbs all about... nature (1 King 4:32) but none of it survives in the Bible. Josephus says that King Solomon left behind methods of exorcism and binding demons (Antiquities of the Jews 8:45 or 8:2.5, handwritten notes) and may have been influenced by the Testament of Solomon, as it is believed to date before the Talmud.

The New Testament Disciples, like the soothsayers of old, divined the future through dreams (Matt 1:20; 2:12; 19:22), like the astrologists of old, divined with astral signs (Matt 2:2; 24:24; Mark 13:24; Luke 21:25), like the sorcerers of old, divined by casting lots (Acts 1:26)

The Melchizedek Priest's War and Exile

There were priests serving at other "royal" temples at the behest of the King appointed to burn incense (Amos 7:13) and were deposed by the Levites' Deuteronomic Reform (2 Kg 23:5-20). Any priest who did not descend from Levi were getting killed, "put down", others refused to serve the Temple of Jerusalem (2 King 23:9). The Jews remembered that a large number of priests of these other temples wouldn't accept the reform and fought along side the Chaldeans on the side of King Nebuchadnezzar against Jerusalem and when they razed Jerusalem and its Temple to the ground, King Nebuchadnezzar dismissed them to settle "among the Ishmaelites" in Arabia (Jerusalem Talmud, j. Ta'anit 4:5). Jeremiah who was also a constant supporter of the Babylonian campaign records the King Zedekiah saying, "I am afraid of the Jews who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest I be handed over to them and they harm me" (Jer 38:19).

Why Arabia? With all the Temple of Israel destroyed, there were still temples that still stood outside Israel. The Ka'aba (The Cube) is nearly the exact same dimensions as the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem. Islam says the Ka'aba was built by Abraham and Ishmael and dedicated to Allah. The Genesis Apocryphon describes that Abraham traveled to the East of the Euphrates and around the coast of Arabia (1Q20.XXI)

A large number of priests also joined the church in Jerusalem (Acts 6:7), where from? Christian Arabs often made the "hajj" pilgrimage to the Ka'aba. When Paul was converted, he first left to Arabia, I'd suppose to reeducate himself, he returned to tell that Christianity is the legacy of Abraham, not Moses, he returned rather anti-Mosaic Law. Arabia certainly possessed strong Abrahamic traditions and a deep dislike of the Jews, who've altered the book of Allah (Deuteronomic texts) and wrote books in their own names (Ezra).

Kings from the East

There was a foreign presence that came seeking the new king of the Jews, and gifted him everything they would need to coronate a king, a real king, a messiah. A messiah (H#4899) anointed one, meaning someone poured oil on him in a ceremony and empowered him.

A group of Wisemen, "[Magi]", came from the east of Palestine (Arabia) (Matt 2:1-12) who were a lot like the old Wisemen, they told the stars and dreamed dreams (Matt 2:2, 12). Clearly spiritually sensitive, gifted and sent on a divine errand from God the Father. "Magos” (G#3097) it denotes an oriental wiseman, originally a Persian priest, When Media united with Persia, the religious caste were there after called “Medians” and became a more general term for Wisemen and foreign priests throughout the Mediterranean world (Act 8:9; 13:6, 8). They started to be called Magians, in English became Magicians. Thus, “[Magus] Bar-Jesus” or Sorcerer in the KJV, was also known as “Elymas” in Aramaic which means “wise one” (Act 3:6-12).

Kingly Gifts

The significance of the gifts seems lost to modern Christians. Frankincense and Myrrh was made in Arabia (the East country), used in perfume, ointments and embalming. But the myrrh was not for embalming Jesus, Nicodemus provided the embalming myrrh (John 19:39). Myrrh oil was a special mixture used in the anointing oil for the anointed kings and priests (1 Sam 10:1; 16:1, 13; 1 King 1:39).

The Twelve Princes gave Moses a golden spoon full of Frankincense (Num 7:84-86) and Moses gave it to Aaron the High Priest to burn. (1 King 7:50; 2 Chr 24:14), which he was to put into the hollow of his right hand and without dropping a grain, toss it into the fire (Lev 6:12-13). This consecrated the priest (Ex 32:39; Lev 8:33; 16:32; 21:10; Num 3:3; Jdg 17:5, 12; 1 Kg 13:33; 1 Chr 29:5; 2 Chr 19:31; Jer 44:25).

The Tree of Life was thought to be some kind of "fragrant" olive tree in a grove of olive trees (Ps 32:8; Jer 11:16; Zech 4:3, 14; Rev 11:4). The anointing oil of myrrh, cinnamon and olive oil (Ex 30:23-29) is a synthesized version of the fragrant oils of the Tree of Life, the Oil of Life that was stored in the Ark and was applied to the head of the messiahs "between his eyelids" (Talmud, b. Horayoth 12a). This was thought to open his eyes, giving sight, spiritual sight, prophecies, dreams, visions, the signs of the royal priesthood (Joel 2:28; Ac 2:17). Anointing the ancient priest-kings made them see (Rev 3:18; 11:4; Prov 3:21). The anointing was the source by which all knowledge was obtained (1 John 2:20, 27), and "life" also came be the "savor [fragrance]" in oil of the tree of "life unto life" (2 Cor 2:14, 16). As Isaiah tells of the seven gifts of the Spirit that will rest on the future messiah, take note of the 'fragrance' (Isa 11:2-3).

[Dario_M]

Merry Christmas to everyone. 🎅🎅🎅

[Calm]

50 minutes ago, Dario_M said:

Merry Christmas to everyone. 🎅🎅🎅

Same to you, Dario!  It’s almost bedtime for you, so hope it’s been a good day after the discomfort early on and hoping you sleep well tonight.

So weird still to me to be able to chat with someone on the other side of the world.

My family is now at the Lego building, roast is cooking lull between the morning meal/present opening/kitchen cleaning block and the cooking/consuming dinner/ kitchen cleaning/game playing block….so I am resting on my bed passing time online.   

[Dario_M]

9 hours ago, Calm said:

Same to you, Dario!  It’s almost bedtime for you, so hope it’s been a good day after the discomfort early on and hoping you sleep well tonight.

Yeah. Hey Calm. Sorry for my late reaction. Yesterday i felt asleep. Probably from all the food i ate. Lol. The day was fine. My boyfriend did his best for me. So much that i didn't even thought about my parents that much. He's such a sweat heart you know. ❤️

Btw i wanna wish you a really merry Christmas as well. 🎅

9 hours ago, Calm said:

So weird still to me to be able to chat with someone on the other side of the world.

Oh Calm. It is.

So far i know Tony lives the closest to me. For the rest everyone lives so far away. I wish that Utah was so close to me that i could have reach it by just ......a long walk. But that's not the case. We live so far away. But it's amazing that we can connect to each other so well through this app indeed. 

9 hours ago, Calm said:

My family is now at the Lego building, roast is cooking lull between the morning meal/present opening/kitchen cleaning block and the cooking/consuming dinner/ kitchen cleaning/game playing block….so I am resting on my bed passing time online.   

How did your Christmas went yesterday? No family drama's haha?

Edited December 26, 2024 by Dario_M

[Anakin7]

https://thirdhour.org/blog/life/holidays/christmas/the-real-story-of-christmas     https://restoredgospelevidences.blogspot.com 

[Calm]

3 hours ago, Dario_M said:

How did your Christmas went yesterday? No family drama's haha?

For once, none at all. Everyone was relaxed and had fun. Food was great. Lots of napping as grandkids are either up late playing or up early for work.  I even got to skip the last minute scramble finishing cleaning or wrapping presents on Christmas Eve because I planned decently this past week and kept it simple.  And my two helpers (teenage sisters) came over twice to do the usual cleaning one day and helping me get the house decorated the next.   Thank goodness the youngest is only 13 so I have a few more years before she hits high school and gets too busy to work for me.

[Dario_M]

1 hour ago, Calm said:

For once, none at all. Everyone was relaxed and had fun. Food was great. Lots of napping as grandkids are either up late playing or up early for work.  I even got to skip the last minute scramble finishing cleaning or wrapping presents on Christmas Eve because I planned decently this past week and kept it simple.  And my two helpers (teenage sisters) came over twice to do the usual cleaning one day and helping me get the house decorated the next.   Thank goodness the youngest is only 13 so I have a few more years before she hits high school and gets too busy to work for me.

That sounds wonderfull. I'm so glad to read that you had a really fun time with the whole family. 

Today is the second day of Christmas. And after that we will have the New Year Eve. And after that we begin a new year haha.

8 hours bevore you guys will be in the new year, we will be in the new year already. And 8 hours later you guys will be in the new year as well. You guys need to wait 8 hours longer for the firework then we do. 🎉🎊🎆🎇🧨