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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Nativity sets - when should you take them down?
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St. Gwladys
Shipmate
# 14504
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Posted
It's 12th night, Epiphany, and the Christmas tree has come down, as have the cards. I've been following Birdie's posts on Facebook showing her Wise Men's progress round her house to arrive at the stable. So does a Nativity set count as a Christmas decoration? If so, then the Wise Men would have a very quick visit to the stable - no sooner do they arrive and they're packlede away again!
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"I say - are you a matelot?"
"Careful what you say sir, we're on board ship here"
From "New York Girls", Steeleye Span, Commoners Crown (Voiced by Peter Sellers)
Posts: 3333 | From: Rhymney Valley, South Wales | Registered: Jan 2009
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marzipan
Shipmate
# 9442
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Posted
I suppose you could leave them up till Candlemas (2nd feb)?
By that time hadn't everyone gone off to Jerusalem to the temple
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formerly cheesymarzipan.
Now containing 50% less cheese
Posts: 917 | From: nowhere in particular | Registered: May 2005
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Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
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Posted
My stable, Holy Family, shepherds, angels, and animals are on an end table at one end of my couch; the Wise Men and camels are at the opposite end. They stay in place, as I have no space to have them move towards the stable. When everything else comes down tomorrow the Nativity set will stay up for a few more days, probably until the weekend.
A church I attended many years ago had windows with wide sills up one side. On the First Sunday of Advent an empty stable was set up in front by the Altar. Mary and Joseph were on the back window sill. Over the next three Sundays various animals gradually appeared in the stable, and Mary and Joseph worked their way up the window sills towards the front. On Christmas they had all arrived at the stable -- and the Wise Men appeared on the back window sill to begin their journey.
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"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
Leave them up for the full two years it probably took them to get to Bethlehem to see Jesus. (since this resets every Christmas, you'll never take them down.)
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Lyda*Rose
Ship's broken porthole
# 4544
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Posted
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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"Dear God, whose name I do not know - thank you for my life. I forgot how BIG... thank you. Thank you for my life." ~from Joe Vs the Volcano
Posts: 21377 | From: CA | Registered: May 2003
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by marzipan:
I suppose you could leave them up till Candlemas (2nd feb)?
By that time hadn't everyone gone off to Jerusalem to the temple
According to QI (so it must be right ![[Razz]](tongue.gif) ) not just the Nativity set, but decorations in general should stay up until Candlemas Eve, 1st February.
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blog
Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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Enoch
Shipmate
# 14322
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Posted
I've been told from a child that the whole lot must be down by midnight tonight.
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Brexit wrexit - Sir Graham Watson
Posts: 7610 | From: Bristol UK(was European Green Capital 2015, now Ljubljana) | Registered: Nov 2008
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Robert Armin
All licens'd fool
# 182
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Posted
As a child I was taught that decorations should come down on 12th Night; tomorrow the Feast of the Nativity. However, since the Magi will only just have got to the crib, that will stay in place until Candlemas, just like the bigger version in Church.
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Keeping fit was an obsession with Fr Moity .... He did chin ups in the vestry, calisthenics in the pulpit, and had developed a series of Tai-Chi exercises to correspond with ritual movements of the Mass. The Antipope Robert Rankin
Posts: 8927 | From: In the pack | Registered: May 2001
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Try
Shipmate
# 4951
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Posted
Everything comes down on January 6 exactly! That's the only really proper way to do it, but of course its often easier said than done.
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“I’m so glad to be a translator in the 20th century. They only burn Bibles now, not the translators!” - the Rev. Dr. Bruce M. Metzger
Posts: 852 | From: Beautiful Ohio, in dreams again I see... | Registered: Sep 2003
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la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688
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Posted
Rather satisfyingly, our living room faces east-west. The magi began their trek a while back in the east across the top of the piano towards Bethlehem on the bookshelf. In between the piano and the bookshelf there is a gap and a bridge had to be cunningly constructed out of cardboard and spangly paper
They are going to arrive today and it does seem a bit of a shame to take them down so soon…
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Rent my holiday home in the South of France
Posts: 3696 | Registered: Nov 2005
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
When I was a child the Magi used to make their way to the crib along the picture rails: the first (plus his camel) arrived on 6th January and the other two, plus their animals, arrived at 7 day intervals; last to arrive was a figure of either a page or a figure included in the crib set by mistake!
Crib then stayed until the eve of Candlemass.
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
Our Christmas season lasts through the Feast of the Baptism this coming Sunday. After all that journey, the Magi need a chance to hang out for bit before being returned to their basement dungeon. Plus, that camel's heavy: no way I'm pulling it up the stairs just for twelve measly days!
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
My intention is to take the tree and sundry light/greenery decorations down this evening; the candle-bridges in the window will stay up until Candlemas.
We only acquired our Nativity set last Christmas (2013); I think it'll stay up until Candlemas as well.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Siegfried
Ship's ferret
# 29
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Posted
Every evergreen needle left after midnight tonight will be a bad thing happening in the coming year! That, and if you leave your greens up after tonight, the fairies will trash it.
Moving on--tree and greens out today, as well as other Christmas decorations. Candles and runners and such stay up until Candlemas.
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Siegfried
Life is just a bowl of cherries!
Posts: 5592 | From: Tallahassee, FL USA | Registered: May 2001
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QLib
Bad Example
# 43
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Posted
Well I was told they hd to be down before twelfth Night, which never made sense to me. And i like the candlemas idea.
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Tradition is the handing down of the flame, not the worship of the ashes Gustav Mahler.
Posts: 8913 | From: Page 28 | Registered: May 2001
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JoannaP
Shipmate
# 4493
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Posted
What was I was brought up with is that Christmas decorations should be taken down by the end of the day of Epiphany. If that does not happen, they must then stay up until Candlemas.
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"Freedom for the pike is death for the minnow." R. H. Tawney (quoted by Isaiah Berlin)
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Benjamin Franklin
Posts: 1877 | From: England | Registered: May 2003
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
Epiphany would be good, along with the tree. We didn't bother to put a scene up this year because we were not home....
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Chorister
Completely Frocked
# 473
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Posted
Ours is staying up until Candlemas, but all the other decorations come down at Epiphany. (They then lie around in piles all over the house until I get round to putting them up the loft, some time between Epiphany and Candlemas.)
I always think the wise men get a raw deal if the nativity set gets taken down before they've hardly had a chance to arrive.
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Retired, sitting back and watching others for a change.
Posts: 34626 | From: Cream Tealand | Registered: Jun 2001
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
I sorted mine last night, and we moved the Nativity scene characters (they're just individual characters - no stable as such) on to the window-sill beside the candle-bridges.
Wise men on one side with Mary, Joseph and the baby, and the animals and the shepherd (who is playing bagpipes ![[Eek!]](eek.gif) ) on the other side of the middle divider of the window-frame*.
Presumably by the time the Wise Men arrived, the shepherds had buggered off ...
* I put him there because bagpipes make the Baby Jesus cry.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Hilda of Whitby
Shipmate
# 7341
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Posted
I packed away our nativity set this morning.
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"Born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world is mad."
Posts: 412 | From: Nickel City | Registered: Jun 2004
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Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by L'organist:
When I was a child the Magi used to make their way to the crib along the picture rails: the first (plus his camel) arrived on 6th January and the other two, plus their animals, arrived at 7 day intervals; last to arrive was a figure of either a page or a figure included in the crib set by mistake!
What was it? I'm trying to think what would be most inappropriate. Boba Fett from Star Wars?
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posts: 3149 | From: Bottom right hand corner of the UK | Registered: Mar 2002
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bib
Shipmate
# 13074
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Posted
My tree and decorations and the nativity scene were packed away on Twelfth Night. However, the Christmas cards are still on the shelves as I am still receiving cards in the post and I also haven't finished reading all the lovely long letters enclosed.
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"My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End, accept the praise I bring"
Posts: 1307 | From: Australia | Registered: Oct 2007
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Pearl B4 Swine
Ship's Oyster-Shucker
# 11451
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Posted
My Nativity scene will be out on the buffet for some time. I hate to pack it up. Mine is a combo of two sets, so I have "a cast of thousands"; I made one Mary into a shepherdess-on-the-green, and one Joseph into a wise man. One baby Jesus I had to hide away. I couldn't justify Mary having twins.
So I have plenty of everything else. And a nice china pig, and a plastic horse from my childhood. Baby Jesus thinks the piggy is strange, but cute. He's quite liberal you know. And he needn't beg for a pony every Christmas ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
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Oinkster
"I do a good job and I know how to do this stuff" D. Trump (speaking of the POTUS job)
Posts: 3622 | From: The Keystone State | Registered: May 2006
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Siegfried
Ship's ferret
# 29
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Pearl B4 Swine:
I couldn't justify Mary having twins.
You obviously missed the SoF Nativity Play!
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Siegfried
Life is just a bowl of cherries!
Posts: 5592 | From: Tallahassee, FL USA | Registered: May 2001
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Pearl B4 Swine
Ship's Oyster-Shucker
# 11451
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Siegfried:
quote:
Originally posted by Pearl B4 Swine:
I couldn't justify Mary having twins.
You obviously missed the SoF Nativity Play!
Dang! I wish I had been around then.
Ali's Used Camels ![[Killing me]](graemlins/killingme.gif)
bee_not_afraid
Jesus' Evil Twin My kind o' fun.
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Oinkster
"I do a good job and I know how to do this stuff" D. Trump (speaking of the POTUS job)
Posts: 3622 | From: The Keystone State | Registered: May 2006
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leo
Shipmate
# 1458
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Siegfried:
Every evergreen needle left after midnight tonight will be a bad thing happening in the coming year! That, and if you leave your greens up after tonight, the fairies will trash it.
I find it very odd that notions of 'bad luck' are attached to the timing of removing decorations.
12th Night - Epiphany is about the surrender of superstition.
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My Jewish-positive lectionary blog is at http://recognisingjewishrootsinthelectionary.wordpress.com/
My reviews at http://layreadersbookreviews.wordpress.com
Posts: 23198 | From: Bristol | Registered: Oct 2001
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Pearl B4 Swine:
... Baby Jesus thinks the piggy is strange, but cute ...
All piggies are cute.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
On the way home today I passed by several houses that still had decorations up, Christmas lights cheerily blazing away, and the Christmas tree sitting there as bold as you like.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Rev per Minute
Shipmate
# 69
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Posted
On my one and only trip to Rome, late one January, I was surprised to see Nativity scenes still up in the churches - crowned, as it were, by the twice life size Nativity on display in St Peter's Square. From that I guess the Catholic*, or at least the Italian, tradition is to leave them up until Candlemas.
*It wasn't the tradition in my UK RC family, but who knows who decides these things...
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"Allons-y!" "Geronimo!" "Oh, for God's sake!" The Day of the Doctor
At the end of the day, we face our Maker alongside Jesus. RIP ken
Posts: 2696 | From: my desk (if I can find the keyboard under this mess) | Registered: May 2001
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
... Christmas lights cheerily blazing away, and the Christmas tree sitting there as bold as you like.
I suspect that quite a few people will have left theirs up until the weekend; I noticed a marked decrease from Friday to Saturday.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Pearl B4 Swine
Ship's Oyster-Shucker
# 11451
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:
quote:
Originally posted by Pearl B4 Swine:
... Baby Jesus thinks the piggy is strange, but cute ...
All piggies are cute.
Yes! Even Jewish piggies ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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Oinkster
"I do a good job and I know how to do this stuff" D. Trump (speaking of the POTUS job)
Posts: 3622 | From: The Keystone State | Registered: May 2006
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
Especially jewish piggies.
One of the best bacon sandwiches I ever ate was in a cafe near the docks in Haifa...
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Jante
Shipmate
# 9163
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Posted
All our churches leave there's up until Candlemas. And mine at home is still up and will remain so until Candlemas. In the past I did pack my nativity set away with the rest of the decorations, but having treated myself to a beautiful Olive wood one from Bethlehem last year I'm glad to make the most of it and keep looking at it until 2nd Feb. ![[Yipee]](graemlins/spin.gif)
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My blog http://vicarfactorycalling.blogspot.com/
Posts: 535 | From: deepest derbyshire | Registered: Mar 2005
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by L'organist:
Especially jewish piggies.
One of the best bacon sandwiches I ever ate was in a cafe near the docks in Haifa...
Probably run by Christian Palestinians as the only people who produce bacon in Israel. Oh did you know that pigs in Israel are bred in sheds that are on legs.
Jengie
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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge
Back to my blog
Posts: 20894 | From: city of steel, butterflies and rainbows | Registered: May 2001
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Thurible
Shipmate
# 3206
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Posted
Our tree goes up on Christmas Eve, as do the decorations. (The Holy Nativity Set - as opposed to the fun, knitted nativity set and the ugly one that was given to us - goes up on O Sapientia, but without the Christ-child - Fr Christmas puts him in place... )
The tree and decorations come down on the Baptism of the Lord; the nativities stay up til Candlemas.
Thurible
Posts: 8049 | Registered: Aug 2002
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sharkshooter
Not your average shark
# 1589
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Posted
Not being a big one for the church calendar, all indoor Christmas decorations, including trees, go up the last weekend of November or the first weekend of December (depending on other commitments). They come down on New Year's Day.
The outside lights go up usually on Thanksgiving weekend (in October) and down on Easter weekend (although they are plugged in and unplugged the same time as the inside decorations), thus avoiding freezing my fingers off and breaking all the plastic clips used for fastening the lights to the eaves.
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Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. [Psalm 19:14]
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