"Glory to god in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men"

Christmas is one of the most favorite holidays all over the world. The celebration varies from country to country, but the spirit of Christmas is everywhere the same – the spirit of joy, happiness, elated mood. It is this very day, that angels come down from the heavens to wish us health, luck and love. But many centuries ago they came here to praise God.

One of the legends says:
There were two angel friends. One used to sunset pink robes while other used to adorn himself with sky blue robes. They were known for singing sweet duets about glory of God and playing on pure silver trumpets. They often used to lead the orchestra for angels because of their musical abilities. Once, their orchestra leader Temira gave them and other members of the angelic orchestra, exciting news. God had decided to send his Son to live among His people. They had to prepare a musical jubilee in one of the most important events in the history of the world. It just had to be the best and all angels with good voice had to sing and all instruments were to be played for the event. Temira asked his orchestra, whether they knew the importance of the assignment. Trumpeting angel in pink said that he understood that the Lord want them to appear to the shepherds in the hills of Bethlehem, who had never seen an angel in their lives and might get afraid. The trumpeting angel in blue completed the answer by adding that the angels could replace the fear of the shepherds with joy and love for the Christ Child and then, they could announce the arrival of the Savior. Temira smiled and nodded contentedly. All orchestra members felt honored for the opportunity and practiced for perfection in their roles. On the day, Christ was born in the stable at Bethlehem and as planned, the Christmas angels first appeared to the shepherds and the trumpeting angel friends played the first few notes of the glorious concert in the dark night sky. Shepherds looked up to the sky and were shocked, surprise and awed, soon to be filled with amazement and wonder and their hearts brimmed with humility and thankfulness to God for His glory. The angels then gave the shepherds the good tidings of great joy and were joined by many other angels who sang and praise God, filling the skies with the angelic words - "Glory to god in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men".

This is only a legend, but a very nice one. I wish you angels in your heart and soul, piece and love, care and tender, close and beloved people at your festive table, health and self-confidence, nice presents and more pleasant moments in your life!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Get ready for Christmas beforehand!

Christmas and New Year are those holidays which bring us back to that wonderful time of our childhood, when we believed into Santa Claus and waited for presents with bated breath. Today the reality has changed, we have become parents, but are still looking forward to these holidays and want to make them special for our children, our close people, ourselves. During the whole year we’ve been working our fingers to the bone, but it’s time to relax and enjoy the holidays in full.

Usually people tend to celebrate holidays both: at home and at work. These two “variants” of celebration are the most common nowadays. Traditional office parties are usually held throughout the whole December, depending on the specific character of work at each office. But, as a matter of course, they take place before calendar Christmas and New Year. And this can be easily explained by the fact that people are always busy before holidays – we try to get ready for celebration, to buy presents, think of a menu of our festive table etc. In general, we are getting ready for the second “variant” of celebrating Christmas at home, with close people and relatives. During the working year we are sometimes too busy to pay somebody a visit, but the season of the holidays is an excellent opportunity to say “I miss you”, “I need you” and spend more time with close people.

While planning our Christmas party we have to keep in mind the following things: choosing the date and creating the guest list, sending out the invitations, planning the menu and asking others to bring certain food items or extra silverware, setting a budget that you can commit to, decorating the house and making sure there will be adequate seating. When your holiday is well planned and organized, it greatly reduces the stress of hosting a party and will make it a much more enjoyable experience for everyone involved, you included.

One of the most important things is creating Christmas menu – you can combine traditional Christmas dishes with some new ones, which are sure to gain popularity among your guests.

And what’s the most important for these magic winter holidays is the spirit of Christmas and New Year, the spirit of magic and childhood. If you succeed in creating such spirit for your guests and close people, you’ll succeed in the whole matter!!!

Celebrate Christmas with the best New Year tree you ever had!

No one imagines Christmas without a New Year tree. We try to choose the most beautiful Christmas tree, put it in the right place, decorate it and enjoy its looks and original Christmas smell through out the holidays.

But before decorating it, we should take care of the long life of the beautiful Christmas tree. First of all, you’ll need to cut the stump of your tree (fresh cut) and put it into water. In this case it will absorb large amounts of water from the very beginning. For the first week you should refill the amount of water a few times a day!

If you want to prolong the life of your Christmas tree, you may add some mix to the reservoir with water – this is a quart of water with one teaspoon of liquid bleach and half a cup of light corn syrup. You can also keep the needles fresh with the help of a Wilt-resistant spray.

Before starting decorating your tree, think whether your decoration will have any topic, whether it will be formal or informal decoration. Besides, you may choose a particular theme for decoration: western theme, an angel theme, snowflakes theme, a certain color theme etc. will add personal touch to the whole period of holidays.

When everything is clear with the theme, we may start decorating! The best variant is to start with Christmas lights, garlands, and only in the end – ornaments. Before putting Christmas lights on the tree, check whether they work, otherwise you’ll have to do everything from the very beginning. Start off with the two sets of lights: first one that is shorter and then one that is longer. Wind the short string of lights around the trunk of your Christmas tree. With the longer string of lights, start from the top of the tree and wind down the tree in a spiral. If you want to have more lights, remember to arrange them from the top to the bottom and from the innermost to the outmost.

Decorating your tree with ornaments, choose them of different color, size and form – your Christmas tree won’t look monotonous and bore you and your guests. Place ornaments also inside your tree to give an impression of depth.

If you have small children, choose ornaments more carefully and see to it, that your children cannot reach them and hurt themselves or swallow some small parts of ornaments!

Here are some decorating ideas you may use. Don’t forget to involve your children into the process of decorating a New Year tree – make it your tradition!

Toy Christmas tree decorating ideas: you can decorate your tree with all kinds of toys. Your toys may be quite different or correspond to one theme, depending on your and your children’s desire. Use wire and ribbons to hang the toys onto the branches.

Snowflake Christmas tree decorating ideas: make all kinds of snowflakes on your own, decorate them with glue and glitter and your Christmas tree will acquire an unforgettable look!

Christmas Cookie Christmas tree decorating ideas: bake cookies, use your brains and decorate your tree with your own creations. You can put your cookies in clear or colored cellophane or bags, attach the top with ribbon and add to your tree.

The final step in your tree decoration is the top. This is usually something that symbolizes the spirit of Christmas: angels, stars, Santas will do all right. Choose the top, which corresponds your theme and enjoy the holidays!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Everybody likes Christmas. Everybody wants to make it special at the same time remaining faithful to the traditions of the family. But in order your Christmas not to become stale, add some originality to this year celebration!

Why not wearing some original fancy costumes? In this case your Christmas will be more vivid and will look like real fairy tale! You will not be bored sitting at the festive table. Besides, you may try to guess the reason why your sibling has chosen this very costume. It is sure to be very exciting! If you don’t feel like wearing some fancy costumes, you can give preference to purely Christmas costumes. No breaking traditions – no misunderstanding.

If still your tradition of Christmas celebration does not allow you to make a masquerade of it, you may dress the way you wish. In this case you can change the feast table. Lay it in a different way or add something homemade edible party pieces i.e. biscuits and cakes decorated with funny faces in piped cream, label these yummies with each diners name. On the one hand it will be very pleasant for all the members of your family, and on the other – will add more privacy and comfort to your holiday.

It is usually a woman who spends the most of her time in the kitchen preparing those dishes without which we cannot imagine our Christmas. At the same time, she forgets that this is HER Christmas too! All members of the family should mind it too and help their mom and wife to enjoy the holiday and not only cook and clean the table afterwards. See to it, that all of you should enjoy the holiday, otherwise it is not Christmas – it has lost its charm, magic and singularity!

Besides, your family is sure to have some certain traditions of decoration your house before the holidays. Don’t forget to do it this year (if you haven’t done it yet, of course). If children decorate the house and the New Year tree together with their parents, it’s so pleasant and unforgettable!!! These memories will stay with you for years. There’s nothing more valuable in life than the atmosphere of love, tender and care within the family.

For me personally, Christmas and New Year have always been and remain the best and the most expected holidays of the year! Being far from being a child, I get sincere pleasure from all Christmas preparation, from choosing presents for my friends and relatives, from decorating New Year tree, from the whole atmosphere of the holiday!!! What can be more pleasant than getting together on the Christmas Eve and feeling the warmth of the family circle. That’s why I suggest that you should have special Christmas not only this year, but each year! Your family, your children, your close people – these are the most valuable things of your life. Mind it not only when it is Christmas time!