Chelsea Instagram

[fundiefun]

can any Southern members here weigh in it's interesting that Chelsea and her sister both their girls have two first names ex: Olivia- Kate and Jane- Claire is this a common thing in the South? I'm from the midwest and I have yet to meet someone with two first names I've met more who go by a middle name over  a first. 

[SolomonFundy]

I'm in the Carolinas, and dual/hyphenated first names have been a solid trend for the past decade or so. I'm not sure what started it, but it has become a successor to the previous phase of girl names that ended in "ynn". We have neighbors who have the trifecta of southern girl names for their daughters (very slightly modified for privacy): eldest is MacKayla (relic of a bygone era of "Mc" names), second is Jayklynn (pronounced with a hard "A"), and third is a late arrival named Haylee-Dylan. They have a brother too, whose name is Cooper, but they call him Butch. I don't know why. 

If it helps to put this in context, the family in question also owns two beagles, and one is name Skylar. The other is name something that sounds like "Bruce", but I'm not sure. It's hard to discern the subtleties of a name when it's being screamed a quarter mile away by an angry dude at 2:00 in the morning.

[usmcmom]

On 12/7/2017 at 2:28 PM, Howl said:

Lots of churches have a Christmas Eve service.  It's seems kind of traditional, like a sunrise service on Easter.

I should have been more clear. Sorry about that. I meant that it was odd among Church of Christ congregations as, traditionally, these churches don't recognize Christmas as a religious holiday at all. Some of the more "progressive" Churches of Christ are starting to move more into the direction of celebrating Christmas as part of their services, but there are still many that choose to only recognize it as a secular holiday - no Christmas songs, no programs, nothing relating to Christmas takes place in the church building.  At least this has been my experience over the last thirty three years of being involved in these congregations.  

I was once a part of a Vacarion Bible School team that had to completely revamp the  purchased curriculum because one lesson was teaching of the birth of Christ and the suggested snack was (gasp) CHRISTMAS COOKIES. The elders were not going to allow that at all - even though this was all taking place in June. I never got used to this way of thinking because I was not raised in the Church of Christ like my husband was. 

I am so glad we moved on from that kind of dogmatic teaching. 

[smittykins]

Do they believe that they're called to commemorate Jesus's death and not His birth?

[Tatar-tot]

9 hours ago, SolomonFundy said:

I'm in the Carolinas, and dual/hyphenated first names have been a solid trend for the past decade or so. I'm not sure what started it, but it has become a successor to the previous phase of girl names that ended in "ynn". We have neighbors who have the trifecta of southern girl names for their daughters (very slightly modified for privacy): eldest is MacKayla (relic of a bygone era of "Mc" names), second is Jayklynn (pronounced with a hard "A"), and third is a late arrival named Haylee-Dylan. They have a brother too, whose name is Cooper, but they call him Butch. I don't know why. 

If it helps to put this in context, the family in question also owns two beagles, and one is name Skylar. The other is name something that sounds like "Bruce", but I'm not sure. It's hard to discern the subtleties of a name when it's being screamed a quarter mile away by an angry dude at 2:00 in the morning.

My mom grew up in the south and girls were called by their first and middle name:  Mary Elizabeth, Catherine Elizabeth etc. it does not matter how long. In high school it usually got shorten in high school.  The other direction was nick names that had nothing to do with their given name: Buffy, Muffin, Princess etc.  It is wild various naming trends.  If you meet anyone named Judith, Barbara or Nancy there is a high probability they are 60 plus.  Linda’s and Debbie’s are in their 50s.  Courtney’s are I their 20s and 30s.

The latest trend is a return to traditional names (Charlotte, Abigail, Catherine...).  You can see the royal influence.  

[usmcmom]

1 hour ago, smittykins said:

Do they believe that they're called to commemorate Jesus's death and not His birth?

I think you are asking me. My apologies if I am butting in. 

No, traditional Churches of Christ do not make that distinction either. They do not celebrate Easter as a holy day. They commemorate Christ's death each week by taking communion. We started looking for a new church when we realized these conservative congregations seemed to prefer being known for what they DON'T do rather than what they will do. 

I once had a friend tell me that she would NEVER have a nativity scene in her home because it represented Christmas and that was just WRONG! I told her that the nativity was an actual Bible story just like Noah's ark and, since she had several Noah's arks displayed in her home, I did not see the difference.  She seemed to see my point.  

[StraightOuttaArkansas]

@fundiefun Speaking for Arkansas, I don't know any girls with double first names (unless they just hide them). I most of said girls still live in Arkansas and have (of course) all had children by now. None of them seem to have given them double names either. I agree with @Tatar-tot about the nicknames things. I can't speak for my friends, but my grandmother, who was born and raised in Arkansas, always called me Meach. I have no idea why or where it came from and it could not be farther from my actual name if you tried. I have continued this by giving my son a nickname that has nothing to do with his name, though not on purpose.

[usmcmom]

My husband I went to college in the South and I really liked the double first names for little girls. When I was pregnant with our second, I said if it was a girl, I wanted to name her (first name, middle name) and call her both and he agreed. (We were back in the Midwest by this time) We did the two name thing until she was in first grade. One day she just told me "I don't want to use the second name anymore."  We said that was her choice so tried to get out of the habit of calling her by both; especially in front of her friends and at school ; but we slippped back into the habit at home a lot and she did not seem to mind. When she entered high school, she decided to reinvent herself again and added the middle name back into her identity. 

Now she goes by first name only but seems to kind of like it when her dad and I call her both. Actually, my husband's pet name for her is just the two initials but only Daddy really gets away with that. 

So, yeah; I like the double name thing. 

[The limit does not exist]

I am a transplant to the South and have met a Sarah Catherine and a Sarah Beth that both go by the two names (different families, not sisters). You cannot call either Sarah and expect a response. They also have middle names as well so they are FIRST FIRST MIDDLE LAST. They are both in the 20-30 age range.

Edited December 10, 2017 by The limit does not exist
Riffles

[ViolaSebastian]

1 hour ago, Tatar-tot said:

My mom grew up in the south and girls were called by their first and middle name:  Mary Elizabeth, Catherine Elizabeth etc. it does not matter how long. In high school it usually got shorten in high school.   

I can attest that this is still a thing. I know four people named Catherine Elizabeth (with variations in the spelling of Catherine). They go by Kate/Katie/Beth/and Katie Beth, respectively. They're between the ages of 25 and 6.

Edited December 10, 2017 by ViolaSebastian

[FeministShrew]

I'm in Upstate SC, and I've only known three little girls called by both first and middle names. One was the child of a couple with "new money," who live in a McMansion that looks like a castle. Her name is Ava Grace, & she's probably 12-13 now. Her brother was only called by his first name, which I can't for the life of me remember (I didn't know them well). They weren't religious at all when I new them.
Second is Ava Kate, my much-older cousin's great-grandaughter, definitely not wealthy or particularly fundie (what I call "cultural" Southern Baptist, lol).

Third is Teresa Grace, the 14 year old daughter of a work associate, but her younger sister is only called by a single name. Her parents are both engineers, but again, not wealthy or that religious (I think they identify as Episcopalian, but don't really participate).

[usmcmom]

Chelsea has posted photos of her girls writing letters to Santa. My goodness, Mary Grace has beautiful handwriting!! I think she mentioned that she is in fourth grade. I wonder if she is an artistic little girl. My daughter has near perfect handwriting and is very artistic. 

And I have absolutely no research or evidence that suggests the two are connected - just some run-away thoughts. 

[Furbabiesonly]

2 hours ago, usmcmom said:

I think you are asking me. My apologies if I am butting in. 

No, traditional Churches of Christ do not make that distinction either. They do not celebrate Easter as a holy day. They commemorate Christ's death each week by taking communion. We started looking for a new church when we realized these conservative congregations seemed to prefer being known for what they DON'T do rather than what they will do. 

I once had a friend tell me that she would NEVER have a nativity scene in her home because it represented Christmas and that was just WRONG! I told her that the nativity was an actual Bible story just like Noah's ark and, since she had several Noah's arks displayed in her home, I did not see the difference.  She seemed to see my point.  

Clarification as someone raised and continuing the agnostic life- these are Christian churches who don’t celebrate either Jesus’s birth or resurrection? Do they at least acknowledge these events? 

[usmcmom]

45 minutes ago, Furbabiesonly said:

Clarification as someone raised and continuing the agnostic life- these are Christian churches who don’t celebrate either Jesus’s birth or resurrection? Do they at least acknowledge these events? 

Yes - Christian churches; although not The Christian Church (as in the denomination) The Church of Christ does acknowledge that these events happened. They do believe that Christ was born of a virgin and His purpose was to redeem His followers from sin. They believe that he was crucified and, on the third day, rose from the dead. 

They do not believe that these events are to be celebrated over any other day, as the Bible does not instruct us to do so. I am a little rusty on the scriptures but will look into them if you are interested. There is also some belief that the early Churches of Christ were trying to separate themselves from the more formal religions like Catholicism and so did not want to observe the same celebrations. 

My husband was raised in a very conservative Church of Christ like this but our household never held to those "non-celebratory" rules. Also, (sorry to repeat myself) we have found a congregation that celebrates these days as holy days. We taught our children that, even if we do not know the exact date of Christ's birth, it is a wonderful thing to celebrate and we will do so when the rest of the (religious) world does so. 

Hope all this makes sense. 

[smittykins]

IIRC, the Jehovah's Witnesses say that one of the reasons they don't celebrate Christmas is "the Bible says we are to remember his death, not his birth." Any former JWs on this board, feel free to correct me.

[FeministShrew]

@smittykins I'm not a JW, but I worked with one for years, and that's what he told me. We often clashed because he would't listen to the radio in the work truck during December (it only picked up one local station, that plays Christmas music from Thanksgiving til New Year's Day). He got very angry with me once for humming "Jingle Bells," of all things.
According to him, JWs do not celebrate Jesus's birth, nor do they celebrate his resurrection. They celebrate his death, which made no sense to me, because I was always taught the hope was in Jesus's birth and resurrection. (Not that it matters to my atheist self now).
He also would not accept Christmas gifts from our landscaping clients, unless it was cash or a check. Once, a sweet elderly lady gave us tins of Christmas goodies. He made her hand them both to me, then he accepted his from me. 

[Milly-Molly-Mandy]

Can anyone else not access her Instagram? Maybe I’ve been blocked. But I’ve never commented and liked a photo so no reason too. 

[mstee]

I can see her profile but it’s private. She keeps switching between public and private. 

[usmcmom]

Because I was not raised in the Church of Christ I did ask a lot of questions about all sorts of things, including the holiday issue. As far as commemorating Christ's death, I was told congregations do that each week when they take communion. This made sense to me but I still have always thought it is a good thing to celebrate Easter as a holy day.  

I don't know if Jehovah's Witnesses take communion each week. 

[fundiefun]

Our local non Catholic churches here will all be doing Christmas Eve services since they fall on Sunday but no Christmas day as far as I know. It's interesting how so many different denomations can vary with beliefs and things you think are standard practice like Christmas day church service.

[Briefly]

1 hour ago, usmcmom said:

Because I was not raised in the Church of Christ I did ask a lot of questions about all sorts of things, including the holiday issue. As far as commemorating Christ's death, I was told congregations do that each week when they take communion. This made sense to me but I still have always thought it is a good thing to celebrate Easter as a holy day.  

I don't know if Jehovah's Witnesses take communion each week. 

I worked with a lady that was JW years ago, and it seems like maybe they did not observe communion because of the blood eating connotations.  Like how they don't accept blood transfusions.  That may have just been her church or her personal feeling, though and not the actual church position.

They don't observe Christmas or birthdays - but she was usually one of the first in line when there were birthdays in the office and food was served!

[smittykins]

3 hours ago, usmcmom said:

 

I don't know if Jehovah's Witnesses take communion each week. 

JW’s only celebrate Communion once a year.  They refer to it as “the Memorial of Christ’s Death” or “the Lord’s Evening Meal,” and only those considered to be part of the 144,000 are allowed to partake, so in most Kingdom Halls, the bread and wine are merely passed around the congregation with no one partaking.(My late husband and I were invited to a Memorial by a former coworker, and that’s what happened.  He admitted later that he did consider taking the bread and wine to freak them out.)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah's_Witnesses_practices

[zeebaneighba]

On 12/10/2017 at 12:20 PM, usmcmom said:

Chelsea has posted photos of her girls writing letters to Santa. My goodness, Mary Grace has beautiful handwriting!! I think she mentioned that she is in fourth grade. I wonder if she is an artistic little girl. My daughter has near perfect handwriting and is very artistic. 

And I have absolutely no research or evidence that suggests the two are connected - just some run-away thoughts. 

Speaking as the mother of two artsy kids (both have BFAs; one in Costume Tech, the other in Illustration) there is not necessarily  a connection.  Both of my kids have nearly illegible handwriting. :-D

Edited December 11, 2017 by zeebaneighba

[usmcmom]

9 minutes ago, zeebaneighba said:

Speaking as the mother of two artsy kids (both have BFAs; one in Costume Tech, the other in Illustration) there is not necessarily  a connection.  Both of my kids have nearly illegible handwriting. :-D

Very interesting. 

My daughter is also very artistic and also loves all things science. She wavered between fashion merchandising and nursing when she was thinking about college.  We found her "dilemma" a bit amusing. She went with nursing and uses her art as a stress reliever. 

My son's handwriting is atrocious. We always tease him that his five year old cousin should come and do his writing for him - she does it better. 

[SoGladIWasCofE]

 

The sister's instagram provides some fantastic examples of "wtf does this baby have on its head??"

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What is this!? Why is it dangling in her eye?

 

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A shower cap??

 

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Mrs Havisham?

 

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couldn't you put the sign on a badge?

 

Vintage swim cap?

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If the royals don't feel the need to strap a lopsided tiara to their infants, you shouldn't either. Especially not to one barely out of the womb?

 

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"help, I'm being eaten by my ridiculous headgear"

 

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Balancing a crown on the side of your baby's head does not make you look rich/royal/????, It just makes you look nuts.

 

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This is a really pretty headband, aside from the cheap lace, it would look good on someone going to say, a 20's opera evening or something. why is it on a baby?? your infant does not need a fascinator

 

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Correct bunting placement: not on your baby's head!

 

Honestly some of this makes the head eating bows look normal.

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Gaze on the horror of the child eating headbow!