Interesting. Wish i could offer something.

*immediately starts singing "Christmas 1915"* (does singing count? 😛 )
Ahem.

No ideas, sorry, but I'll let you know if I think of anything.

*looks up that song*
*loves it*

So, recently, I've been toying with this idea: I could write a story in first-person of a German soldier who experiences the truce and, perhaps, dress the part. What do you think?

😀 Sounds as good idea as any!

The more I think over the idea the more I like it. I think it'll give me the opportunity to come out of my shell while sharing information about a topic I'm passionate about. It's so exciting! 😀 Only problem is... the uniform. We bought a used-but-working sewing machine but I can find no patterns! -.- Looks like I'll be altering a similar pattern or making one on my own - perfect start for someone who's never sewn before. 🙄

Hm. Have to checked into maybe seeing if there are any WWII uniform costumes anywhere, especially now that Halloween is over?

That's an idea. There's a thrift store nearby I was thinking of checking. There was a load of costumes that are sure to be marked down now. I doubt I'd find any appropriate styled uniforms, but there's always a chance I could find something I could alter (and I could find similarly styled boots while I'm at it). It feels like making my Honey Lemon costume all over again - not a bad thing in the slightest.

I like that song, I think. If it is the one I think I know. My church does not celebrate halloween, and my family never has. Instead, my church puts on a Reformation party, celebrating the Reformation in the 1400's. We dressed up in the style of that era. I have decided that I might start always dressing up in that sort of style, instead of our common fashion.

Ah, my Church ALWAYS ... OBSERVES ... Halloween, and never, ever, ever celebrates that "Reformation Day".

Did you know CSL wrote a Catholic priest "Henry VIII and Leo X were damned men, I'll give you Luther and Tetzel too, but Thomas More and Tyndale were saints".

I don't agree either with damnation of Tetzel and Leo X or with sainthood of Tyndale, but the latter is a far better candidate than Luther. As a former Lutheran I know that Lutherans (more indebted to Luther than other Protestants) basically consider Luther as God's little shlemil, whose clumsiness and sins serve to bring out God's greatness.

But it took Spanish Inquisitors seven years to find Tyndale guilty of persistent heresy, and it took the Church a shorter time to ban Luther.

Now, as to observing Hallow Een, the most proper observance is a day of fasting, since All Hallows' Day is a feast of obligation. However, some would say fasting ceases at about 18.

Ahh, A catholic. I will remain friends by not saying any more on this subject.

The only thing I did about Halloween was eat the extra candy a coworker brought in today. 😛

@ Hans: You used to be a Lutheran? Which synod were you?

This is the second year I've gone trick-or-treating. Our family doesn't usually observe Halloween. 😛

I was a fairy for annual have to dress up in costume at the ice cream shop day. 'Tis a fun day.

It's finals at school right now. Got most of my stuff done.

@ Hans: You used to be a Lutheran? Which synod were you?

I was Swedish state Church, but sympathiser with the Free Synod which is a Swedish counterpart to the Augustana Synod. Not immediately after baptism, at fifteen, but after about a year. However, I never came to go to their services.

I staid with the usual parish services until I decided to really get around to being Catholic.

During the time I sympathised with Free Synod, I also did so with some counterparts to Anglo-Catholicism. "Melenchthon was not so much a Protestant as a Reform Catholic, and if Rome gives on on this or that point, we might unite". Not sure it is true about Melanchthon, but this is what they said, and what I did not sympathise with was certain tawdry reservations against Rome, not due to Vatican II, but due to Catholic customs.

This is the second year I've gone trick-or-treating.

There are two versions I have heard about origin of this custom.

The one I posted on a status of Father Gabriele Amorth (one very famous exorcist) was that Catholic on Ireland used to go "souling" : young people who had fewer souls to pray for, or back when one could gain more than one plenary indulgence a day in this octave, would on the eve of its first day go around begging for buns, also beer or wine, in return for saying one prayer for the dead of the donor family per bun. So much for treat part, and I thought the background to "trick" was that Presbyterians who rejected this were under excommunication (if Catholics happened to stray the way to their house) and so had bad luck - which THEY thought was a Jesuit trick.

The OTHER story I heard is it has to do with Guy Fawkes Day. Catholics being originally victims of a racket on November 5th. Those refusing to give beer and buns would be victims of human tricks indeed. This I providentially read on Mark Shea's blog AFTER posting my status. That post ALSO specified that this was in Britain, and by the time it came to be associated with Halloween customs of Irish and French origins (Jack-O-Lantern and Masquerade) it had lost its anticatholic bias.

So, my first semester is over, officially! I don't have any set plans for the winter break, but I imagine I'll make myself busy with things I had to put off due to schoolwork. I still need to do my Christmas shopping, so there's that too. How about everyone else? How's your Christmas holiday looking?