A Way in a Manger to Celebrate Season

   I've often thought Christians should celebrate Christmas the way Jews celebrate Hanukkah. Instead of stressing out giving everybody everything all at once on one day, why not stretch out the season by giving on each one of the twelve days of Christmas?

   Liturgically speaking, the four weeks preceding Christmas make up the season of Advent, which means "going towards" the event of Christ's birth. December 25 is merely the kickoff for the Christmas Season, which lasts until January 6. 
Christians sing "The Twelve days of Christmas" but how many actually celebrate them?

   And when I think of all the gifts mentioned in that song, I find it interesting that so many of them are animals - mainly birds. 

   It's probably too far into the season -and into the checkbook-to start thinking of giving any more gifts to friends for the rest of the season, but how about something for the birds?

   Denny Holmquist at Wild Birds Unlimited in Lawrenceville has lots of ideas for keeping the spirit of giving going in the great outdoors.

   "I love to see people recycle their trees," she said. "You can strap it to a pine tree with bungee cords, then cut oranges into thick strips or roll pinecones in peanut butter and seeds and hang them from the branches. Or string plain popcorn., It's very colorful. It's not only a place for birds to gather food, but acts as a cover for them to get out of the weather."

   Holmquist also noted how easy it is to make brushpiles as a source of food and shelter for birds and other little critters.

   Joel Hitt, a Lawrenceville psychotherapist whose avocation is birding suggests 
hanging out hummingbird feeders with one part sugar to three parts water in the winter as well as during the nesting months of April through September. "There are always western strays who overwinter with us. We assume many of them have died for lack of food in the past before they could make the trip back. Now hundreds of feeders are left out over the state every winter to give them a food source, and to enable us to see and identify them when they show up in a back yard."

   Birds are not the only creatures we can care for during the Christmas season. The Post's gardening columnist Dora Fleming said that December is not too late to plant milkweed, the only thing Monarch butterflies will eat. 

   The Yellow River Game Ranch in Lilburn welcomes bagged leaves, which serve as bedding for the animals. There's also a chance they might find a hidden acorn or pecan as a treat.

   "We'll take leaves, pine straw and hay through February," said Frances Jones, of the Game Ranch. "Anything except chinaberries."

   Since the Season began in a manger, what better way to celebrate than by feeding the animals? 


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