Which one is your favorite?

Mine is the 4th of July: lots of good food; a lot of family members go home (including me); the kids have a great time with the fireworks; and I get to see a lot of my old friends....

Thanksgiving and Christmas. Thanksgiving takes the lead, tho' ...

T Day for the food and Halloween because I like to see the little kids dressed up. They are jut too cute!

Aww!! Yes, more family, friends, and grea food and a chance to remember....

Shoesmonkey, the kids are cuties huh?

Thanksgiving is the appropriate time to remember all the people who used to be around the table with me when I was a kid - and who aren't there anymore ... giving thanks for having had them in my life is just the right thing to do. It's also a good time to give thanks for the ones who are still around ...

Samhain and Yule

Any day I aint at work. Like today!!!!

Woke up to the sound of all hell breaking loose. The cattle and every dog around freaking out. (Dove season) so the sounds of shotguns and the stuccatto blasts from the non hunting neighbors all out shooting....just because they can....was my alarm clock. Later a couple of the old neighbors will blow out a few shots from thier cannons....it's a country/texas thang. My old dogs pee on themselves if I go shooting so I just let it slid this year....

may seem odd but, it is actually a cool holiday ritual.

Now, it is quiet (till sundownish)

Hope everyone has a groovy day off.

I abhor all the obligatory holiday get togethers...if i really wanted to hang out with these people in the first place I wouldnt need a holiday...

I find holidays stressful, but I look forward to spending some quality family time. Though I have sometimes advocated that for Christmas we just should all keep our own money instead of paying each other back for purchases that the other may or mat not want...

The Best!

Samhain - the night during which the ancient Celts* lived in fear. They believed that on that particular night demons would enter our world and cause trouble for humans.

During that night the Druids stayed busy trying to drive away the aforementioned demons. Ordinary folks stayed indoors and kept their homes dark, hoping that the demons would pass them by.

If a person needed to go outdoors, then that person would don a disguise, hoping to trick the demons into believing that the person was another demon. This custom was the origin of the modern custom of Halloween costumes.

Originally Samhain was not a time of celebration. Instead, it was a time of fear.

I know these things because the Celts* were my ancestors, and I have embraced my Celtic* heritage, as well as studied it.

[*Literary Note: Contrary to what the drunks in Boston would have us to believe, the first letter in the words "Celt" and "Celtic" is pronounced like a "K".]