Comments on: Christmas Eve Manvotional: The Night of Oranges

By: Sunday Stars for December 28th | Weight Upon the Lord

Sunday Stars for December 28th | Weight Upon the Lord — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 20:53:18 +0000

[...] Christmas Eve Manvotional: The Night of Oranges – even though Christmas is over, this story was too good not to share. A great illustration of the phrase ‘it’s more blessed to give than to receive.’ [...]

By: DaveStPaul

DaveStPaul — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 13:59:52 +0000

I cannot find this article on the NYTimes’ site. Their searches go back to 1851. Are you sure it’s from the Times?

By: Alexandru

Alexandru — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 11:43:21 +0000

Thank you. We, romanians, still eat a lot of oranges around Christmas time but it was something totally different back then.

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 01:41:46 +0000

I don’t remember this essay, but thank you for sharing it. I do remember the date. My father escaped from Romania in 1968, at the beginning of the Ceacescu regime. Even though we didn’t celebrate Christmas, we certainly did in 1989. This brought back memories of that time as well as expressed what this season should really be about, no matter what one’s religion is.

By: Kenton Sorenson

Kenton Sorenson — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 22:26:31 +0000

Great article! I and a friend visited Timisoara exactly one year after this story took place, and I can testify to the warmth of the Romanian people in the midst of poverty. We gave oranges to the border guards and they treated them like gold, even though I didn’t know why at the time.

But what impressed me more than anything on that trip was that people are the same wherever you go. We all have the same hopes and dreams, and even the same sense of humor once we get past the cultural differences. I met a young man who had a bullet hole in his coat (the bullet missed his body miraculously) from the night of the overthrow of the dictator.

He was quite manly in my view.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 07:57:21 +0000

Thank you.

By: Noel

Noel — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 02:59:49 +0000

Cool story. So simple, yet so incredibly poignant. Merry Christmas toe everyone out there tonight.

By: Kari

Kari — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 22:52:50 +0000

I hope it’s not unmanly to shed a few tears at the beauty and poignancy of this story.

…of course I’m not a man so I guess that doesn’t matter.

Happy Christmas, and thank you.

By: Ced

Ced — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 21:31:19 +0000

i remember traveling to the old soviet union back in 1987, and there were lines for everything. made me appreciate what i had back home and for my freedoms. i hope these newly freed people dont forget what they had to go thru for their new found freedoms, and i wish that we as Americans would remember to appreciate what we have here and dont abuse it so.
Merry Christmas and God Bless

By: Matters of Great Import » Blog Archive » » Christmas Eve Manvotional: The Night of Oranges | The Art of Manliness

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 21:10:29 +0000

[...] Christmas Eve Manvotional: The Night of Oranges | The Art of Manliness. [...]

By: Jsthegr8

Jsthegr8 — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 19:14:09 +0000

This story is very warm

By: Big Family Christmas » Blog Archive » Christmas Eve Manvotional: The Night of Oranges | The Art of Manliness

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 17:08:58 +0000

[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onChristmas Eve Manvotional: The Night of Oranges | The Art of ManlinessHere’s a quick excerptoranges Christmas Eve Manvotional: The Night of Oranges. This following essay appeared in the New York Times in 1995. As a young man, I remember it making a deep impression on me for reasons I couldn’t then quite articulate, … [...]

By: NZR (the Plainsman)

NZR (the Plainsman) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 15:39:01 +0000

It has been hard to explain why I eat so many oranges this time of year. To my wife it is more-or-less “tradition” with me, to others a ravenous winter fetish.
But oranges around the holidays were a special treat for my grandparents, who immigrated to the USA from Romania’s neighbor, Hungary. When they came to the US and started a family (which eventually included me) similar stories about Christmas were passed down from the “Old Country”.

This was good for my spirit this morning. Thanks for posting this!

The Plainsman.

By: Rick

Rick — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 15:16:25 +0000

Does anybody know where the tradition of tangerines in the bottom of your stocking comes from?

By: Best X-Mas For You » Blog Archive » Christmas Eve Manvotional: The Night of Oranges | The Art of Manliness

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 11:28:59 +0000

[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onChristmas Eve Manvotional: The Night of Oranges | The Art of ManlinessHere’s a quick excerptIt is Christmas Eve in 1989 in Timisoara and the ice is still dirty from the boots of the Romanian revolution. The dictator Nicolae Ceausescu had been deposed a few days before, and on Christmas Day he would be executed by firing squad. … [...]