birthday gift ideas wife 25 image
JayRust
Hello. My wife's birthday is coming up in about a month and The Scarlet Letter is her favorite book. I would really like to surprise her with a first addition copy. Does anybody know where to find one? Any other birthday gift ideas would help too. Thanks.
Answer
First edition is "The Scarlet Letter : A Romance" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Boston : Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, 1850. It is available through Abebooks with prices ranging from $1,000 to $15,000.
You might try a facsimile edition of the first edition, which cost between $25 and $50. Fleet Press, 1969, hardcover edition, would be a good bet.
First edition is "The Scarlet Letter : A Romance" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Boston : Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, 1850. It is available through Abebooks with prices ranging from $1,000 to $15,000.
You might try a facsimile edition of the first edition, which cost between $25 and $50. Fleet Press, 1969, hardcover edition, would be a good bet.
How to decorate my gold Christmas tree with things to honor the real reason for the season: Jesus Christ?
Janna Wigg
We bought a gold Christmas tree last year after Christmas was over for half off... I have no interest in having anything Santa around until my children are old enough to understand the real reason for this season is Jesus Christ. So I want to decorate my house and tree to honor Jesus but really don't have any good ideas. I'm also interested in being creative and making our own decorations is a possibility.
Thanks for any tips!!
Answer
You should read the book There Really Is A Santa Clause- The History of Saint Nicholas & Christmas Holiday Traditions by William J. Federer. I am reading it right now, and it gives the origins of many Christmas traditions (most of which are NOT Christian). It has been an interesting read for me (I am a Christian) to see that so many of the symbols we use- even those that are NOT Santa related- are of pagan origin. I have not finished the book yet, but I have already found myself evaluating our traditions. I do not intend to eliminate our use of a Christmas tree or wreath, etc., but it has made me reconsider some things. (More below on that)
As for what you can use- I think on a gold tree, white would look great (I say this because we have a miniature white tree that we put gold decorations on and it looked lovely). Stars, angels, crosses, doves, candy canes, bells, etc. Since the song the "12 days of Christmas" has things that symbolized different aspects of Christianity when people could not openly celebrate, you might use some of those on your tree.
You might look at Family Christian Bookstores- my most recent catalog has some decorations in it, several for only $5.98 that I intend to get. One says on the front "I hope your longest list..." and on the back it says "is the one that counts your Blessings" (or something similar to that). Another says "It was never about the gifts..." on the front and has "It is about the presence" on the back. I can not recall what the third says, but it is similar.
Bronners, I think it is, is a Christmas store that also has a website you can order from. They have some lovely ornaments- some of which are Christian in nature. I love one they have that says NOEL on it, with Night Of Everlasting Love on it.
Pack-O-Fun is a publication we use in our homeschool, for arts and crafts and a monthly geography lesson. It has holiday themed crafts, and the current issue is probably full of ideas for things you can make. You can also look up the generic salt-dough ornament recipe and make your own- we bought 100+ cookie cutters from Wal Mart (in the arts and crafts section) that we use. It is a lot of fun.
There are so many beautiful Christmas cards, with both pictures and words, that are often just thrown away. You can use a hole puncher to punch a hole, and then use ribbon to make a hanger for it and put it on the tree. You can also just stick them on the tree. You can also use scissors with a ribbony edge and cut out the sentiments from the inside of the card and hang those.
Visit your local arts and crafts store- they have a TON of crafts for Christmas right now.
Back to the pagan origins, Christ's birthday is not December 25- I am sure you know that. It is when we CELEBRATE hsi birth, but "we" (Christians back then) chose that date because it fell near the winter solstice, a popular pagan feast. "We" then converted many pagan rituals into Christian ones, including the Christmas tree and such. I was recently discussing the book I mentioned above with a friend (a pastor's wife) and she mentioned how the Bible does not tell us to celebrate His birth, anyhow- only his resurrection. That gave me more to consider.
I have decided that the Bible also does not tell us to celebrate OUR births, but we do, and while many of the symbols are of pagan origin, they have no pagan meaning to me- the same as while Halloween may have originated as an evil holiday, it is not such to us (we do not decorate or dress in a scary manner, nor do we go trick or treating, but we do go to costume parties/fall festivals...
"Santa" also comes to our house, though our children do nto "believe" in him. One thing I am considering changing is to do the "Santa" thing in early December, rather than on CHristmas, so that Christmas can be solely to glorify God. Santa, though, comes from Saint Nicholas, a real bishop that the whole secret-gift-giving in the night is based upon and it is a great story for the children (and I see nothing wrong with it, personally, but to each their own).
You should read the book There Really Is A Santa Clause- The History of Saint Nicholas & Christmas Holiday Traditions by William J. Federer. I am reading it right now, and it gives the origins of many Christmas traditions (most of which are NOT Christian). It has been an interesting read for me (I am a Christian) to see that so many of the symbols we use- even those that are NOT Santa related- are of pagan origin. I have not finished the book yet, but I have already found myself evaluating our traditions. I do not intend to eliminate our use of a Christmas tree or wreath, etc., but it has made me reconsider some things. (More below on that)
As for what you can use- I think on a gold tree, white would look great (I say this because we have a miniature white tree that we put gold decorations on and it looked lovely). Stars, angels, crosses, doves, candy canes, bells, etc. Since the song the "12 days of Christmas" has things that symbolized different aspects of Christianity when people could not openly celebrate, you might use some of those on your tree.
You might look at Family Christian Bookstores- my most recent catalog has some decorations in it, several for only $5.98 that I intend to get. One says on the front "I hope your longest list..." and on the back it says "is the one that counts your Blessings" (or something similar to that). Another says "It was never about the gifts..." on the front and has "It is about the presence" on the back. I can not recall what the third says, but it is similar.
Bronners, I think it is, is a Christmas store that also has a website you can order from. They have some lovely ornaments- some of which are Christian in nature. I love one they have that says NOEL on it, with Night Of Everlasting Love on it.
Pack-O-Fun is a publication we use in our homeschool, for arts and crafts and a monthly geography lesson. It has holiday themed crafts, and the current issue is probably full of ideas for things you can make. You can also look up the generic salt-dough ornament recipe and make your own- we bought 100+ cookie cutters from Wal Mart (in the arts and crafts section) that we use. It is a lot of fun.
There are so many beautiful Christmas cards, with both pictures and words, that are often just thrown away. You can use a hole puncher to punch a hole, and then use ribbon to make a hanger for it and put it on the tree. You can also just stick them on the tree. You can also use scissors with a ribbony edge and cut out the sentiments from the inside of the card and hang those.
Visit your local arts and crafts store- they have a TON of crafts for Christmas right now.
Back to the pagan origins, Christ's birthday is not December 25- I am sure you know that. It is when we CELEBRATE hsi birth, but "we" (Christians back then) chose that date because it fell near the winter solstice, a popular pagan feast. "We" then converted many pagan rituals into Christian ones, including the Christmas tree and such. I was recently discussing the book I mentioned above with a friend (a pastor's wife) and she mentioned how the Bible does not tell us to celebrate His birth, anyhow- only his resurrection. That gave me more to consider.
I have decided that the Bible also does not tell us to celebrate OUR births, but we do, and while many of the symbols are of pagan origin, they have no pagan meaning to me- the same as while Halloween may have originated as an evil holiday, it is not such to us (we do not decorate or dress in a scary manner, nor do we go trick or treating, but we do go to costume parties/fall festivals...
"Santa" also comes to our house, though our children do nto "believe" in him. One thing I am considering changing is to do the "Santa" thing in early December, rather than on CHristmas, so that Christmas can be solely to glorify God. Santa, though, comes from Saint Nicholas, a real bishop that the whole secret-gift-giving in the night is based upon and it is a great story for the children (and I see nothing wrong with it, personally, but to each their own).
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