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How Do You Celebrate?

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I usually just take the ferry to Seattle with one or two special people, dress up, and eat out.

My sister-in-law lives in West Seattle. We took the ferry over to "Winslow" which is I guess now called Bainbridge Island?? as a short day trip. What a beautiful place! As I remember there was a nice main street and we ate a a small cafe that had a small outside section. We also visited a bookstore and a few other shops along that stretch.

VES

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RationalCop: My sister-in-law lives just outside Seattle in Black Diamond. The whole area is just spectacular and I love to visit the area. My husband and I have never been able to sail the sound, though, which we both would dearly love to do. You get a perspective from the water that is very different from what you see from the land.

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I like this thread. I don't think a celebration needs to be something that's totally unusual or out of the norm for you. Of course you could do any number of special things for yourself as often as you want.

However, I think a big part of what makes celebrations extra special is the specificity of the details, the extra attention, the intention behind it. I celebrate different occasions in different ways, but there's usually a lot of sensuality involved. I put care into wearing something I particularly like. If I'm entertaining I have flowers and wonderful food. I think ultimately you craft your celebration around the things that you think are special, the things you value.

For romantic holidays, I usually go out and do something active and then have special things waiting at home for a private celebration (ie: light the room with candles, wear some beautiful lingerie, pour some champagne, put out flowers, strawberries, massage oil...).

For traditional holidays (X-mas, New Year's, stuff like that) I love to cook and entertain, so my favorite thing to do is whip up complicated hors d'oeuvres or a multi-course menu all day and serve wine/cocktails and such and sit around and talk/toast/make merry. I enjoy this a lot with people I care about.

For personal holidays like my birthday, I usually want to go out and go somewhere that is special to me. On years I've been alone, I love to rollerblade so I've gone on long treks, browsed in stores a little and such, treated myself to a present or two. I love the Emp State Bldg, so I've gone up there for my birthday and spent a few hours enjoying the view.

I hope something inspires your own creation.

This year's 4th of July is really particularly special to me. I'm not sure what I'm doing earlier in the day. Maybe sunbathe in the park for a while, go for a nice long walk or meet a friend or two. I might drop in on NY Heroes Society's celebration where they'll be reading the Declaration of Independence in the afternoon. And then I'm walking over the B'klyn Bridge in the evening, likely bringing a picnic and watching the fireworks from there. I'm really excited about it.

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Circe: I like your idea of celebration. You make celebrating an achievement and achievement in itself. This is what I've always considered to be the best kind of celebration; even if it is a little celebration for a little achievement.

A celebration ought to be a sensual experience by its very nature. What you are celebrating, no matter the proximate cause, is the glory of living life on this earth. That requires that both the mind and the body be engaged and there is no sensuality that compares to an engaged mind and body that gives meaning to even small things.

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I just stumbled upon this post today, conveniently a day in which I have something to celebrate! Tonight we celebrated the incorporation of our first business, and the successful establishment of the IRS paperwork and bank account we need to begin operations! :D

In my younger, more chaotic, less moral years, I would have gotten stupifyingly (is that a word?) drunk, and called it a celebration. ;)

My solution for celebrating now? First, I got my girlfriend some real nice flowers, so that our home is pleasant. Then, I made us a really tasty dinner: swordfish steaks on the grill, bell peppers (green, red, yellow AND orange!) sauteed with zucchini, and a glass of our favorite Gewurztraminer. I put on a CD of some classical Spanish guitar, we ate our wonderful meal, and enjoyed the view of the Golden Gate Bridge and The City out our window. There's not much I could think of that could beat that.

So yeah, in general, my idea of a celebration these days is to do things that are enjoyable to me. This augments my feelings of accomplishment and reminds me of the good things (values) I'm working toward.

d_s

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Celebration does not, I think, require any kind of specific activity. I do think it requires, though, that the activity be out of the ordinary of one's everyday routine - to recognize an accomplishment that's also out of the ordinary.

The method of celebration may be great or small - from decorating your entire home, inside and out (as some do during Xmas) to sticking a candle in a cupcake, lighting it and blowing it out.

I think the key is that the action or detail must be a kind of exception to one's everyday behavior, an exception-value, if you will, that heightens one's awareness of living and which underscores one's pleasure in being alive at that particular moment because of one's achievement.

If "love is exception making" - then so should be celebration, great or small, for celebration is a form of expressing one's love of one's values.

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I think the key is that the action or detail must be a kind of exception to one's everyday behavior, an exception-value, if you will, that heightens one's awareness of living and which underscores one's pleasure in being alive at that particular moment because of one's achievement.

I agree with this completely.

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I think the common attribute of everyone's form of celebration is that heightened state of awareness. What some call "attention to detail" and some "doing something special".

The essence seems to be wanting to positively stress the moment in your conscious mind, with enjoyable atmosphere that makes you experience the moment with full awareness rather than a routine, automated state of mind.

That's why for some going to see a movie is a celebration, and for some it's not. The question is will it "wake you up", so to speak, to see the moment with fresh eyes.

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So Eran, what did you finally do to celebrate your accomplishment? Bike's out. Girl's gone. Surely you didn't let such a milestone go by without doing something!

Did I ever congratulate you? I won't go back and look. If I did...well, I do so again!

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