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The Christmas TimesTM, the Official E-Mail Newsletter of Family Christmas OnlineTM and Affiliated Sites
This newsletter is for people who like celebrating holidays, especially Christmas. It is produced in conjunction with the following web sites.
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In This Issue
Once again, I have to apologize for a late newsletter. We are still adjusting to our new home, and now I'm adjusting to a new job, too.
We did have time to decorate for Christmas, but not time to publish photos. The truth is, most of what we used this year were things we used last year, though we used them in different places and different arrangements.
This year was another year for simple Christmas tree decorations. We have a host of Hallmark and hand-made ornaments that mean a lot to the family, but this year, we decorated with things like red wood "cranberry" strands, vintage Christmas cards, hand-painted gourd owls from a fair trade store, sisal animals, and a few ornaments Shelia made this year.
 It's Always a Privilege to Share
Since we started this site, people around the world have asked permission to use our original content. This year, the Manchester United Methodist Church, in Mogadore, Ohio, included Shelia's short story "Small Miracles" in an Advent sermon.
Click
the following link to jump right to the story:
 The Children's Toy and Doll Museum, in Marietta, Ohio, has sought and received permission to use photographs from "Papa Ted" Althoff's "Gallery of Old Christmas Photos" on their facebook page.
To see "Papa" Ted's collection of old Christmas photos, click the following link and scroll down:
past holiday season, a church in Utah used Tess Hoffman's abbreviated version of A Christmas Carol in a reading for a Christmas dinner. Various photographs from our Christmas-theme sites have also been used in museum placards, newspaper articles, collectors' newsletters and more.
In addition, a site asked us last year if they could do an audio version of Paul's story "Miranda's Christmas Visitor." We gave our permission, and it's posted at the following link:
Sadly, in just a few hours that followed their publication, a dozen other sites copied their podcast and republished it as their own. Dontcha just LOVE the Internet?
Still it IS fun to see how far a little grace and warmth can go. Like around the world. Literally!
Topics discussed in this update include:
Magical Mantels
My friend writer Antoinette Stockenberg sent me the link for her 2018 Christmas Mantel, but I failed to get a newsletter out in time for you to see it before Christmas. If you are a fan of cardboard Christmas houses or of novels that take place on the New England seashore, you may already know Antoinette's work. As a writer, she doesn't just set up her little communities - she has a purpose for every figure she sets out, and names and storylines for quite a few.
To see her most recent display and read the stories, please click the following link:
In 2016, Shelia and I moved right after Thanksgiving. Shelia did a nice job of decorating, using pieces that had come from the other house. But since Christmas, 2016, we've been thinking about other things that would look nice on our "new" wraparound porch. And when a very nice artificial Christmas tree shows up in the spring for less than a tenth of its original price, and you were thinking about putting a tree out on the porch anyway. . . .
In other words, if keep your eye out all year long, instead of just between Thanksgiving and Christmas, you can put together a pretty nice combination of things for far less than any one item "should" have cost you.
Click the following link to see the article:
Since we're approaching Groundhog Day, I figure I'll remind you about an article I wrote about that feast and its history a few years back. If this reminder gives you a sense of deja vu, that's appropriate, too, given the Bill Murray movie of the same name. But what we call Groundhog Day has historically been a midwinter feast in several cultures. To me, I appreciate that (unlike the Winter Solstice which marks the shortest day of the year) Groundhog Day, or as it was called earlier, Candlemas, really happens in the middle of winter, weatherwise at least. And there's a lot more to it than that.
To learn more, please click on the following link:
Keep in Touch
Each month, we get more interest in this newsletter, in our Christmas sites, and in the Christmas traditions, ideas, and memories we discuss. We welcome your questions and comments as indicators of what we should be working on next (also, we always try to answer reader questions quickly). In addition, if you have any photos, tips, or articles you'd like to share with your fellow Christmas enthusiasts, please let us know.
Best Wishes! As always, our hope is that we can continue helping you and your family (as Dickens said of Scrooge):
Honor Christmas in your heart, and
"try to keep it all the year."
In the meantime, please keep in touch, and let us know what you'd like to see added or changed.
May God grant you joy and wonder every season of this year,
Paul and Shelia Race
http://FamilyChristmasOnline.com
http://CardboardChristmas.com
http://OldChristmasTreeLights.com
Click the following link to view our March, 2018 newsletter:
To return to the Family Christmas OnlineTM Home Page, click here.
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Scrounging for Front Porch Fun
Groundhogs and Candles and Midwinter Feasts
