Why?

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Originally Posted by MinnesotaMike

I'm not going to quote Papa C for the 20th time. While I agree with the sentiment, I can't help but wonder...WHY would others, especially family members, be critical of something you have a passion for? I guess I'm truly blessed because my family actually feeds off my enthusiasm. When they see and hear me going on and on about my thoughts and ideas for the season, they get excited as well. Of course Christmas is closely associated with childhood. THAT is where we forge the impressions we will carry with us forever. I thank my parents for always celebrating the season with joy and warmth, because that is where it comes from for me. I, in turn, hope to pass that on to my boys. Sure there might be a time when they think their old man is just silly, but I feel pretty confident that there will come a time in their adult life when they look back and realize just how special and magical it is. When I'm in the stores looking at Christmas decorations, and I hear passersby saying, "Christmas stuff?...already?...It's too early"...etc... I actually feel bad for them. Nothing in this world beats the spirit of Christmas!! NOTHING!

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Excellent point. They are not like degrading critical, just a little surprised I am infatuated with the holiday.

But you're spot on.

Well, about four Christmases of my childhood were really lousy because of two stepfathers, but my mother made sure the others were good. Granted, I got lousy gifts one year and we had few gifts and no stockings the other years, but you don't miss stockings if you've never had them. Celebrating the birth of Christ in my heart made Christmas even more special for me even though the rest of my family never did that.

It's always important to remember Jesus Christ at Christmas.

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Originally Posted by MinnesotaMike

My sister has already been asking me for months what I am planning to add to the yard this year.

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:santahat: It took me a while to figure out what yard meant! It's your garden, right? I feel dense now! http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...leys/blush.gif

You shouldn't feel dense! We all know that English is a strange language because people drive on the parkway and park on the driveway.

I grew up with a yard around the house. It had a front yard and a backyard. I got married and my husband asked, "What about the dooryard?" That's the yard by the door to the house. But I never heard it called that until I got married. You could have a vegetable garden or a flower garden or lots of flowerbeds, but if you had only a lawn or only dirt and weeds, then you had no garden. Then when I started watching HGTV, I learned that the British never call their property a yard. It's a garden.

:dizzy:

Yes - here a garden means vegetables or flowers. A yard is the area around the house - usually grass. MW - I have never, ever heard of a dooryard!

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Originally Posted by ornamentmaven

Yes - here a garden means vegetables or flowers. A yard is the area around the house - usually grass. MW - I have never, ever heard of a dooryard!

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LOL! Neither had I. :gelf:

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Originally Posted by ornamentmaven

Yes - here a garden means vegetables or flowers. A yard is the area around the house - usually grass. MW - I have never, ever heard of a dooryard!

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Here, it's all garden, and if somebody has flowers of vegetables we call them the "flower patch" or "vegetable patch" :santa-smiley:

We do call it the front or back garden - never heard of a door garden lol

I don't have a garden. My yard is all grass.

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Originally Posted by MinnesotaMike

I don't have a garden. My yard is all grass.

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Lol, that's what a garden is in the UK. My garden is all grass but I'm thinking of doing a vegetable patch next year :elf3: