CPEЋAH БOЖИЋ

That's cyrillic Serbian for "Merry Christmas!" :)

Serbians and other followers of the Eastern Orthodox Church use the Julian calendar, which places their Christmas on January 7th instead of December 25th.

Here's some fun stuff to learn about it:

On Christmas Eve, families gather and all families fast and don't eat food that comes from animals. It is the last day of the Christmas fast. Christmas is a very religious holiday and most people go to the Christmas Services.

There are a lot of old Serbian traditions associated with the countryside, which have now lost their meaning because more people live in towns and cities. On the morning of Christmas Eve the father of the family used to go to the forest to cut a young oak called the 'Badnjak' (Christmas Eve tree) but today people just buy one. Under the table there should also be some straw as a symbol of the stable/cave where Jesus was born.

At Christmas a special kind of bread is eaten. It's called 'cesnica' and each member of the family gets a piece (and the house does too). There is a coin hidden in it and whoever gets the coin will be particularly fortunate in the next year!

Nifty huh?

So, on behalf of my Serbian side of my "family" (Hi Theron!), CPEЋAH БOЖИЋ!

Note: I'm still working on my monsterous JRA post, so look for that soon.

Merry Christmas Everybody!

While these might be inappropriate for the Santa crowd, I'd like to share my favorite naughty Christmas songs.



Justin Timberlake is amazing. So is The Dan Band.

I Wanna Rock U Hard This Xmas - watch more funny videos

I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas and some happy holidays! =)

Happy Holidays

With the holidays approaching - or already here in some cases - I feel obligated to share some odd news regarding Christmas and Hanukkah.

First off, there's this interesting story about church members dressing like the stereotypical Jesus in order to bring awareness to the 'scandal' of saying "Happy holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." Now I can understand being upset about that, but we do live in an age where freedom of religion is valued. I enjoy Christmas - for non-religious reasons - but I respect the people who do not. Even at work, I say "Happy holidays" despite the fact that most people who shop there, especially now, celebrate Christmas. While some find it disrespectful, I find it extremely respectful of others' beliefs. In this day and age, we need more of that.

In the monotheistic Holy Land, gold coins depicting Heraclius from the 600s CE were found by a tourist volunteering to help with an archaeological dig. I'm impressed at the number of things that continue to be found in that area of the world. I hope that more will be found to increase our knowledge in ancient history.

Now, I know that many people are upset with the snow and ice, but there are better ways to get rid of it than to try and melt it off your porch. At least it was his own house that he set on fire...

Here's another fun story. This South Salt Lake man tried to steal a fire engine in order to drive home to see his mom for Christmas... in Washington. Hopefully he wasn't in a hurry to play the Wii. He could get hurt doing so, or, even worse, could ruin their game system:



In a Hanukkah-related story, a man in New York won a latke (potato pancake) eating contest. Pete Czerwinski scarfed down 46 of the pancakes, coming in at a whopping seven pounds total. Latkes are extremely tasty, so, while I'm surprised at the sheer quantity Czerwinski was able to eat, I'm not surprised that someone like 'Furious Pete' could nom them down.

And, in the overwhelming spirit of the holiday season, scientists found that people will deliberately torture others if told to do so by people with authority. How disturbing is that? It's interesting, given the history of people during wartime and just plain greedy people as well; other people are always looking to seek approval from their superiors. Sadly, this is how the majority of bad things happen - craving approval, greed, fear. In the future - no matter how overwhelmingly idealistic I am - I hope that people can be more like the religious and political figures they idolize and act like decent human beings, not because they are told to, but because they know it's the right thing to do. And that should be the real message behind the holiday season - being a good person because it's the right thing to do, not because of rewards in this life or the next.

Crimma

Christmas was super fun.

Christmas Eve, we went to my grandparents' house and everyone was way more well behaved than usual. My alcoholic cousin was even not drinking as much! She spiked his Game Fuel, which, believe me, tastes a lot better without the vodka. Ugh. Theron was very quiet the whole time, but everyone seemed to like him a lot.

Theron's house was nice and calm compared. I didn't expect to get so much from his family, and I really felt welcomed. Theron got me a Nightmare Before Christmas ornament and a cute animal picture Love book... and the cutest card ever.

It hit me after a comment my mom made and the resulting conversation about it in the car with Theron that this is the best thing that could've happened to me. That man out working right now, earning money to no doubt try and spoil me with, he's like a dream, a dream come true. He makes me smile the biggest I ever have, laugh the hardest - everything is better. I feel like a princess, like everything that has ever happened to me - no matter how unpleasant - has led me here. And I don't even care if we end up together - god, it would be so nice, and I would love nothing more - but if we don't, I know that I'll be okay, that we'll be okay. It was so hard after Nando and I broke up and I didn't think I'd find anyone as good. I thought that I'd end up falling back into being who I was before, a person I didn't like. But when I walked into that room and saw Theron sitting there, my knees buckled and I felt dizzy. I knew there was something special about him, about his gorgeous eyes, his amazing smile, and his witty jokes.

Part of me feels so lonely right now because I know I won't get to see him for a week at least.And I know he's sad too, I can feel it. But I know that if we can make it through the rest of the winter, despite jealousy or loneliness or any of that, that we'll be fine.

I love you Theron Jay, no doubt about that. Nothing is ever gonna change it. Don't worry.

The future is far away right now and there's no telling what it'll bring. All you can do is enjoy the time that you have here and hope that it turns out the way that you dream.

Christmas Full of Sunshine

The other night at work I got a lamp that simulates real sunshine. It has got to be one of the best things I've ever gotten myself. I've had it on all day when I'm in my room since I got it It's definitely a lot cheaper than going tanning and doesn't result in cancer...

On another note, I'm going up to Theron's house for Christmas this year. He's coming over tonight so we can open presents with him and then we're going to my grandparents house to have dinner and open presents over there, and then we leave for his house. Tomorrow his dad's family and his mom's sister and boyfriend are coming over. I'm excited to be a part of their family Christmas.

Before I get to the crappy part of the last couple of days, I just want to wish you all Merry Christmas!
<3

Ah, and now to my family drama...
After a three hour talk with Mike the other night, he decided to play a game with Kelsey called who can hit the softest. Well, all of us being innocent, we thought it was gonna be a nice game. So she barely touches him, he says "You win" and hits her as hard as he fucking can. She has a terrible bruise on her arm, most of it not having any color yet because of how hard he hit her. We were all upset when he hit her, but didn't realize how very hard it was. I'm not entirely sure of the outcome last night, but there was a serious fight between my parents and him about hitting her and being respectful.

I hope he leaves. Nothing has been peaceful since he got here, and all he does is cause more drama than we've ever had here.