Counting On season 5/6/7 Part 3 - Weddings, Babies, and Denial

[zee_four]

23 hours ago, Bad Wolf said:

October 31 is Nevada Day. We used to celebrate on the day with a parade. The kids would trick or treat the night before and have their sugar high on the holiday. Teachers appreciated it. Now they've made it into a 3 day weekend. The kids will get the 26th off school, and trick or treat like the rest of the country.

I'm taking my citizenship test on the 26th. Shouldn't be much traffic. The feds don't celebrate Nevada Day (obviously).

 

21 hours ago, WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo? said:

I wish my state celebrated our Statehood Day. We had a really big, fun celebration for the centennial, but nothing before or after that. It's the day before a federal holiday, too, so we could get at least 2 days off in a row.

Our official statehood day is in August and we get free admission to all state parks. We're the Centennial State so it gets tied in with the US centennial and such.

303 day has become just as big. It was the original area code for the state, now it's just the Denver metro area and it's combined with 720, the rest of the state is split in half between 970 and 719. But still March 3rd is a celebration of all things Colorado. 

In Hawai'i we celebrate Kamehameha Day, he was the king who unified all the Hawai'ian islands and killed Captain Cook so he's a major hero to us Natives. We in no way celebrate our statehood, maybe haoles (white people- official means foreigners) do but for us Natives it's a day of mourning that the US illegally deposed our monarchy.

I forgot to add, one holiday that was never observed outside federal offices and services where I grew up, CO or HI, was Columbus Day. But when I was out east, first for school in Rhode Island then later when I worked and lived in NYC and New Jersey, it was a huge deal. There was no school, there were parades, etc. That was really strange to me, if there was any celebration back home Native groups protesting outnumbered those celebrating. I finally figured the difference is probably that out west Native American groups outnumber Italians and out east it's vice versa.

[MargaretElliott]

I have to go help my mom out at Halloween. She usually gets 400-600 trick-or-treaters. She needs another human, or she'll drown in the sea of children. 

I made a feast for it one year when it fell on a weekend. Pictures, because I'm proud of it. Candy-coated pretzel "witch fingers," brain shaped strawberry jelly, and sausages wrapped in puff pastry shaped like mice!

Spoiler

Spoiler

I just can't imagine growing up in a family where you can't celebrate this stuff! I love the spooky, the gory, the creepy, and the dark! I love dressing up in cool outfits even more than I loved the candy growing up. It's just a huge festival in my hometown, there's a parade with all the kids, there's a costume contest at the town hall, it's the best.

I suppose I can see why some people would eschew it... pagan origins, association with the dead/the devil, all those horror movies in the eighties... but it has changed so much since its origin, and become so innocent and so fun. This may be a judgement or stereotype on my part, but anyone who avoids Halloween because it's "the devil's holiday" nowadays in America has got to be pretty uptight. Like our lovely Duggars here.

[Knight of Ni]

Or self-righteous. 

[Buzzard]

18 hours ago, Satan'sFortress said:

As a former Catholic, I am also confused by the chocolate crosses & cross-shaped cakes and candy that appears around Easter.  That is really weird to me.  I can't imagine a Catholic eating a chocolate cross.

A few years ago my friends had a party to celebrate the baptism of their twins (they're catholic).  Someone else ordered the cake, and it came with a giant sugar cross in the middle of it.  They didnt want to eat it or break it, and they didnt want to throw it out.  After some discussion, they gave it to me (I'm Jewish) and everyone took pictures as I took a big bite.  

[AliceInFundyland]

@MargaretElliott Those mice are the most enticing meat product I have ever seen as a vegetarian.

[Meggo]

22 hours ago, Audrey2 said:

My hometown always has Trick or Treat on the Thursday night closest to Halloween from 6-7. I like that it doesn't last all night, and that children can get enough candy to get a good bellyache but not a ridiculous amount. That's plenty of time to get around a neighborhood. After I moved to another state, I'd have trick or treaters knocking on the door/ringing the doorbell until 9:30 or later if they saw any light on in the house, not just the porch light. I'd either have to watch tv in the dark when I was done handing out candy or put black paper over all my windows, which was a pain.

Yes, guess I am a Halloween grinch.

I'm the same. If my porch light is off? Move along little kiddos or you're getting a can of tuna. 
Also - I get that I should be happy teenagers come around and grant that it's better than them getting into trouble - but GOOD GRIEF - at least try to dress up. Put on all your clothes backwards, wear your sports uniform or your boy/girl friends uniform - sing a song - SOMETHING. Don't just show up with a garbage bag and shuffle your feet- not saying anything. 

Last year my son ate all his candy as he walked. well - not all - but when we got home - I tucked the candy away and said "Oh - it's gone. Halloween is one day."
And he was FINE with it. I don't know if it will work this year too - but... I'm going to try! 

[MoonFace]

20 hours ago, Pecansforeveryone said:

I tend to dread gift exchanges. I rarely end up using/liking what I am given so I rarely use it.  This makes me feel so guilty. I worked at a Christian eating disorders center that did a month long secret Santa. I did it one year and never again. The pressure to pick out gifts for someone you might know only in passing was intense. The years i didnt participate my so called firends gave me crap about it saying oh you worry to much. Just pick out simple gifts. People will appreciate it. This while secretly bitching about a gift they didnt like or conplaining they hadn't gotten a gift that week. Thanks but no thanks. 

There comes a time when you don't need any more cheap crap around your house.   As for homemade food stuffs?  No thanks, if I don't know who made it and would have to guess if their cat was on the counter helping them cook.   

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

3 hours ago, Meggo said:

I'm the same. If my porch light is off? Move along little kiddos or you're getting a can of tuna. 

In my city, people on the sex offender registry are required to keep their porch light off on Halloween. Going to a house with the light off might just be rude and irritating, but it could also be very dangerous. A bad idea either way.

[Satan'sFortress]

Dammit--now if I keep my light off this year, I am going to worry that the neighbors might think I am a sex offender!

[Markie]

I’m an elementary school teacher. I will spend seven hours with excited kids on Halloween and deal with the sugar highs the next couple of days. I shell out to my class and make up treat baggies for my neighbours’ kids. Then I turn off my porch light, pour a large glass (or two) of wine and see what Netflix has to offer. 

[fluffernutter]

Halloween is our favorite holiday! Even the grown girls make their way back home. This neighborhood goes all out. Every other house has a theme or some set-up in their garage, people have bonfires, grills out, one guy does a pirate ship in his front yard. We get 100's of kids. You just sit outside because there's so many kids you would never sit down from getting the doorbell. I buy 20 bags of candy, my in-laws bring over a bunch too, and when that runs out, we come inside and watch a scary movie. I set up crocks of hot apple cider and soups. It's awesome.  I thought it would've died down as all of our kids have gotten older, but no end in sight. I think the grown-ups enjoy as much as the kids do.  We are planning on moving when our last is done with high school, I will miss this. 

[JDuggs]

21 hours ago, Meggo said:

Also - I get that I should be happy teenagers come around and grant that it's better than them getting into trouble - but GOOD GRIEF - at least try to dress up. Put on all your clothes backwards, wear your sports uniform or your boy/girl friends uniform - sing a song - SOMETHING. Don't just show up with a garbage bag and shuffle your feet- not saying anything. 
 

I’ve seen good mommy blog articles about this topic. The reason the middle schooler/early high schoolers (especially boys) aren’t in costume is that they decide to trick or treat about five minutes before they start. Their moms haven’t helped them put together a costume like when they were younger. I don’t get the logic of why adults would care what the kids are wearing. I like it when kids are polite, but these kids might be getting the vibe from adults that they shouldn’t be out trick or treating so they are kind of embarrassed. They know that this part of their childhood is coming to an end and it might be a little sad for them. I enjoy seeing the older kids out having fun with their peers in a wholesome activity. When they come to my house, I try to be just as enthusiastic to see the big kids as the little ones. I tell them to take extra candy because they’re big kids. I think it’s up to adults to make our random interactions with older kids as pleasant as possible especially when they are just trying to have fun.

[Rachel333]

Just don't be this woman at Halloween!

 

[MamaJunebug]

20 hours ago, MoonFace said:

There comes a time when you don't need any more cheap crap around your house.   As for homemade food stuffs?  No thanks, if I don't know who made it and would have to guess if their cat was on the counter helping them cook.   

A little off-topic, but for birthdays, We’ve fallen into contributing to a non-profit the birthday boy/girl likes, then meeting up for dinner someplace special together. 

[nellautumngirl]

On 9/20/2018 at 2:01 AM, BernRul said:

Also, I don't see anything wrong with some people being submissive. Not everyone can be an alpha, dominent, center of attention type--the world wouldn't be able to function if that was the case. Some people just do better behind the scenes, in a small setting, or letting those more dominent types do the talking. Submissive doesn't mean doormat. 

Agreed. I'm indifferent about a lot of things and I'm not at all competitve so I'm happy to let others make decisions. If no one else steps up (which is pretty rare) I'm also comfortable with leading. But if I do care about something, people will know ^^

 

On 9/20/2018 at 2:01 AM, BernRul said:

 

 

 

[KelseyAnn]

On 9/28/2018 at 11:17 AM, Buzzard said:

A few years ago my friends had a party to celebrate the baptism of their twins (they're catholic).  Someone else ordered the cake, and it came with a giant sugar cross in the middle of it.  They didnt want to eat it or break it, and they didnt want to throw it out.  After some discussion, they gave it to me (I'm Jewish) and everyone took pictures as I took a big bite.  

I remember my first communion cake had a huge ass sugar cross on it and I wasn't allowed to fucking eat it! I had to watch as my mom tucked it away for safe keeping. 

[SassyPants]

Today, I went to a baptism. Huge ass cake, lots of delicious foods and no crosses!

[AliceInFundyland]

I’m not religious and I couldn’t eat a cross, or star, or Buddha. It feels entirely off to me.

[SapphireSlytherin]

3 hours ago, KelseyAnn said:

I had to watch as my mom tucked it away for safe keeping. 

Does she still have it? What does one DO with things like that? lol

[freethemall]

So I'm watching the new episode, was the "Dinner around the World" discussed sometime before the Halloween drift?

I LOVE this idea but it wouldn't be fun if I didn't have some judgements and criticisms and snark:

- They all won't shut the fuck up about the Greek salad not having lettuce, but there's a Caprese right there on the table and no one is freaking out about that.

- The Seewalds have so many options with Italian and French food and they make the most Americanized Italian dish possible. Also, was Jessa cutting the chicken while it was cooking in the pan? That's... Interesting.

- With the Greek too, we never saw them trying amazing foods like moussaka, souvlaki, tzatziki, so many great options and they could barely handle olives.

- Austin is way too germaphobic, get over it. I would be double dipping and eating off my fondue all over the place and would love to see their reaction.

- Did Austin subtlety admit to both getting touchy before the wedding and also being pregnant with a second? He said something about Joe and Kendra being behind.

- In more realistic families, not everyone would be able to have stories from expensive honeymoons all over Europe. Among my in laws, we went to Hawaii and my SIL went to South Africa, but my BIL and his wife couldn't do a honeymoon because it didn't fit their work schedules. They had a weekend at a b&b in New Hampshire where they live. I'd love to have a dinner like that (maybe some poke, poi, loco moco, musubi) but for most people you might end up making at least one couple feel bad their honeymoon wasn't fancy and/or international.

[Four is Enough]

On ‎9‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 12:08 PM, Rachel333 said:

Well, they obviously don't think it's made up when they're doing it (

. They also believe the tongues don't have to be earthly tongues; they can also be tongues of angels. 

You're actually not supposed to pray in tongues in public unless someone translates afterwards. 

One aspect of the belief in tongues that seemed more appealing to me is that they believe that when they pray in tongues in private they don't need to worry about having the right words to pray because the Holy Spirit gives them the words and lets them express thing that they would be unable to put to words. 

Thank you, @Rachel333, for that explanation which I've never heard. AFA having "the right words to say,", I've been in that situation in prayer. I just say, "and for X, whose needs are known to You", or "You know the situation, please heal it" or something like that.. but if tongues are your thing, I say do it!

On ‎9‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 6:49 PM, WiseGirl said:

I'm going to hell. All this talk about Easter and the first thought that jumps into my head is chocolate bunny rabbits. All those years of Catholic school, services, etc and my take away is marshmallow eggs, Peeps, chocolate bunnies, and jelly bird eggs. 

I remember sitting in Easter Mass, thinking of the massive basket of candy and goodies that I'd passed as we left home to    go to Mass...I love chocolate bunnies, Peeps, the whole shebang.

On ‎9‎/‎27‎/‎2018 at 5:25 PM, Satan'sFortress said:

As a former Catholic, I am also confused by the chocolate crosses & cross-shaped cakes and candy that appears around Easter.  That is really weird to me.  I can't imagine a Catholic eating a chocolate cross.

Never ate a cross, I'll admit, but have consumed many a bunny rabbit.. haven't eaten a lamb, either... maybe too close to the "lamb of God"...

[KelseyAnn]

16 hours ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

Does she still have it? What does one DO with things like that? lol

Seeing as our house was condemned, probably not. 

[AliceInFundyland]

I’m not germaphobic but I do have limits. Having a spouse with that many siblings would completely push mine. Josie? 

[jqlgoblue]

My next door neighbor (the mom -- kids were my age) used to make a paschal lamb cake for Easter. It always felt somehow wrong to me but she thought it was very unique and exciting!

[LacyMay]

12 hours ago, Four is Enough said:

You're actually not supposed to pray in tongues in public unless someone translates afterwards. 

I love this part of Corinthians. It just makes it so abundantly clear that speaking in tongues isn't about showing off. 

No one around to interpret? Keep it to yourself and God.