Warning - Husbands don't read!

[way2fractious]

Having been a Life-Long hunter and fisher, and having shot more of Bambie’s cousins than I can remember (close to 135), I can honestly say that I have never seen a deer hung head up!
...
I too want to do this in so many ways! I have everything that I need, and could whip it up in about 20 minutes. But the wife put her foot down Big-Time on this one!

Pout, Pout, Cry!

Your discussion - and it's associated pic - got my attention in the bitter/sweet way of real-life humor. I sent these to my son-in-law, who is a hunter from his babyhood and bound to teach my two-year-old grandson the joys of the outdoors. (I bless my daughter for indulging him in his "addiction.")

w2f

[Mike1]

Shouldn’t we remember the real reason for Easter and Christmas?

And that real reason you've mentioned would, of course, include the gutted deer display on the lawn?

Gieusabreak!

[McFarkus]

So, I'll see your "Nyaa Nyaa Nyaa" and raise you a "neener neener neener".

I'm not planning to put up any this year either. I'm going out of town for the actual holiday, and I'm going to take the opportunity to enjoy the season of Advent instead - Christmas, itself, starting of course on the 25th and running through the 5th of January with January 6th (Epiphany) being the traditional day for 'burning of the greens.'

[McFarkus]

Gee, in our family we have a enjoy putting up our decorations in stages in preparations for the Christmas Holiday. This week we will put up our Herald Angel light and wreaths outside. The next we will put up our Nutcracker collection, then our snow village on the mantle, and finally our tree. I don't mind those who do it all in one frantic afternoon, but I prefer doing it gradually. It is certainly a good excuse to listen to Frank Sinatra and Mel Tormes' Christmas albums while enjoying a Christmas Spider, Santa Baby, or simple Egg Nog.

Sounds kind of like the Advent Calendars I used to look forward to when I was a kid where you opened one window each day during Advent ending up with the Christ child on Christmas.

[Panache]

...Just because it would be difficult on the parent to tell the fact to a little one, doesn’t mean that the parent should shirk his or her duties. Does belief in Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny really make a child’s life easier?

Mod Hat Off


James,

My daughter is well aware that people hunt. I use deer antlers in several different woodworking projects and we have discussed this. I have told her that people hunt to keep the deer populations in check and that the hunters use the meat and other parts so that the animal's life is not wasted.

There is one heck of a big difference between that and having to explain to a small little girl why a lighted gutted Rudolph hanging up as a joke is funny.

I, as adult can see the black humor there . I don't think it is very amusing to a little girl who carries around her Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer stuffed animal about with her and sings the songs from the old Ranklin Bass special.

I think it would be upsetting. If someone did this in their front lawn I think that the majority of the 8 or so preschoolers on our street would find it equally disturbing.

Gutting deer, gutting fish, putting down a sick pet, cleaning the toliet, and a host of other of Life's messy realities shouldn't be glossed over. But they don't have to be focused on.

Children grow up fast enough without having to delibrately try to strip away childhood notions of the wonder of the season.

I would find such a display, if done publicy, in very poor taste.

Respectfully

Jamie

[McFarkus]

Pffffttt, you fellows have nothing on me. Yesterday afternoon, I lit an apple/cinnamon scented candle.

I'm still exhausted from the effort.

I may light it again on Christmas Eve, but I'm trying not to over-exert myself with all the festivities of decorating for the holiday. There's nothing quite like being an empty-nester.

[Cawdorian]

[quote=James MacMillan;450145]Warning - Husbands don't read this! My Christmas tree and all the decorations are up! Lights, inside and out. Fancy stuff that we keep in the attic, that only comes out for Christmas....... I'm done!

The inside of our house has been decorated for over two weeks, I brought the stuff down from the attic, my wife and daughter put up the tree and all of the interior decorations up in a couple of days (there are a lot of them). My job is to do the outside, that little excercise done a week ago and was turned on Thanksgiving night.

My wife is a real Christmas freak, she loves Christmas and can't wait to get the decorations up every year. I'm a good husband and usually go along with it, as I haven't been able to win this battle for 30 years. After New Years I will get the honor of taking it all down, repacking it and putting it back up in the attic until next year.

[McFarkus]

We put our decorations up at Christmas - that is, 24th December. Usually in the afternoon.

Then we take them down on Twelfth Night.

I suspect that they might be considered slightly restrained in design and extent.

I do tend to buy the largest tree I can find -a response to the tiny artificial tree we had at home, I think, but that is the only extravagance.

That's the tradition we followed when I was growing up (in Chicago).

[McFarkus]

my son has just asked for another gift. He wants a kilt (his first) and pointed out that he really likes a Campbell tartan. YAY!

Sounds like he's already caught the addiction. How young are you starting him?

[Yaish]

Just a quick note on kids and adult humor. By the time they even recognize it they're old enough to understand it.
When they are too young to understand it, they probably won't even recognize it in the first place. It's we parents that get hung up on the details.


So, in the vein of "got my Christmas _______ done...." I am all done with Christmas shopping!

I've actually been mostly done for a while. There are a ton of November/December birthdays so we get all the Christmas shopping done before the birthdays. I had just the wife left to shop for, but I finally got her present on Thanksgiving day. (Kitchenaide Stand Mixer)

I'll probably pick up a few things here and there as they catch my eye, but I don't NEED to. I AM DONE!