Celebrate New Year's Eve

How do you celebrate New Year's Eve?

In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve (also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries), the last day of the year, is on December 31 which is the seventh day of the Christmas season. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated at evening social gatherings, where many people dance, eat, drink alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the new year. Some people attend a watch night service. The celebrations generally go on past midnight into January 1st (New Year's Day).

Samoa, Tonga and Kiritimati (Christmas Island), part of Kiribati, are the first places to welcome the New Year while American Samoa and Baker Island in the United States of America are among the last.

In the United States, New Year's Eve is celebrated with formal parties, family-oriented activities, and other large public events.

One of the most prominent celebrations in the country is the "ball drop" held in New York City's Times Square. Inspired by the time balls that were formally used as a time signal, at 11:59 p.m. ET, an 11,875-pound 12-foot diameter Waterford crystal ball located on the roof of One Times Square is lowered down a pole that is 70 feet high, reaching the roof of the building 60 seconds later to signal the start of the New Year. The Ball Drop has been held since 1907, and in recent years has averaged around a million spectators annually. The popularity of the spectacle also inspired similar "drop" events outside of New York City, which often use objects that represent a region's culture, geography, or history—such as Atlanta's "Peach Drop", representing Georgia's identity as the "Peach State". Alongside the festivities in Times Square, New York's Central Park hosts a "Midnight Run" event organized by the New York Road Runners, which culminates in a fireworks show and a race around the park that begins at midnight.

Radio and television broadcasts from festivities in New York helped to ingrain aspects of them in American pop culture; beginning on the radio in 1928, and on CBS television from 1956 to 1976 with ball drop coverage, Guy Lombardo and his band, The Royal Canadians, presented an annual New Year's Eve broadcast from the ballroom of New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The broadcasts were best known for the Royal Canadians' signature performance of "Auld Lang Syne" at midnight, which made the standard synonymous with New Year's in the United States. Following Lombardo's death in 1977, ABC's competing program New Year's Rockin' Eve succeeded the Royal Canadians as the dominant New Year's Eve special on television. Its creator and host Dick Clark intended the program to be a modern and youthful alternative to Lombardo's big band music. Including ABC's special coverage of the year 2000, Clark would host New Year's Eve coverage on ABC for 33 straight years. After suffering a stroke, Clark ceded hosting duties in 2005 to talk show host Regis Philbin, and retired as full-time host in 2006 in favor of Ryan Seacrest due to a speech impediment caused by the stroke. Clark continued to make appearances from a studio on the program annually until his death in 2012.

Notable celebrations occur in other cities as well. On the Las Vegas Strip, the streets are closed to vehicle traffic on the evening of New Year's Eve, and a large fireworks show is held at midnight which spans across multiple resort buildings. Major theme parks may also hold New Year's celebrations; Disney theme parks, such as Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disneyland in Anaheim, California, are traditionally the busiest during the days up to and including New Year's Eve. Los Angeles, a city long without a major public New Year celebration, held an inaugural gathering in Downtown's newly completed Grand Park to celebrate the beginning of 2014. The event included food trucks, art installations, and light shows, culminating with a projection mapping show on the side of Los Angeles City Hall near midnight. The inaugural event drew over 25,000 spectators and participants. In 2015, Chicago held Chi-Town Rising, the city's first ever outdoor New Year's Eve festival on the Magnificent Mile. The event was hosted by Mario Lopez with musical guests American Authors and Chicago. Nearly 100,000 people attended the inaugural event.

If you are looking for the perfect citrus for yourself or as a gift for a business associates, your family or friends? A quick visit to sunburstoranges.com can solve all of your fresh gift giving adventures. We sell only the finest selections and the freshest citrus you can buy.

Presented By:
Sunburst Oranges
180 South “E” Street
Porterville, CA  93257
559-561-3391 

Oranges Are A Great Chinese New Years Gift

One of the most common food symbols of the Chinese New Year is oranges. Oranges are a popular symbol of good luck. The associations come from a similarity between the Chinese words for tangerine and gold, as well as a resemblance between the words orange and good luck. 

Fruits are temple offerings. Did you ever wonder why? What about oranges? Did you get any this past Chinese New Year holiday? Were they fresh? The Chinese love fruits, they like them big and beautiful, and they prefer fresh fruits, though sugared ones are common at this time of year. Fresh fruit at the New Year symbolizes life and a new beginning. Sugared ones are a wish for a sweet year. Traditionally, the pomelo, mandarins or what we call the tangerine or clementine, as well as limes, bananas, pineapple, and water or winter melon are seen as temple offerings. And speaking of traditions, during the harvest festival, the Lunar New Year, and other special occasions, fruits are common gifts, as well as common offerings.

It isn't uncommon in Chinese culture for similar sounding or spelled words with very different meanings (homonyms) to become suggestive of one another over time. Oranges and tangerines are also a bright, vibrant orange, a happy color that's associated with good fortune.

During Chinese New Year, tangerines and oranges are displayed as decorations and are also exchanged among friends and acquaintances. Sometimes, small trees are kept for this purpose. When giving these fruits as gifts, offer them with both hands. It's polite for the recipient to refuse at first, so keep trying.

The orange is a prayer or wish for good fortune. That is why it is probably the most common food offering. As a harbinger of wishes for good luck, they are often eaten on the second day of the New Year. Why not the first, because once an Emperor distributed oranges to his officials on the second day of the New Year. Thus you are also wishing for officialdom if you eat them on this day.

Fruit is almost always a good Chinese New Year's gift. Oranges are a traditional favorite, though, and can also represent happiness and abundance, as in an abundant harvest. If there are still leaves and a stem attached to the fruit, it also means fertility.

If you are looking for the perfect citrus for yourself or as a gift for a business associates, your family or friends? A quick visit to sunburstoranges.com can solve all of your fresh gift giving adventures. We sell only the finest selections and the freshest citrus you can buy.

Presented By:
Sunburst Oranges
180 South “E” Street
Porterville, CA  93257

559-561-3391 

What New Year Traditions Does Your Family Celebrate?

What New Year traditions does your family celebrate? Some new ones here.

United States

Probably the most famous tradition in the United States is the dropping of the New Year ball in Times Square, New York City, at 11:59 P.M. Thousands gather to watch the ball make its one-minute descent, arriving exactly at midnight. The tradition first began in 1907. The original ball was made of iron and wood; the current ball is made of Waterford Crystal, weighs 1,070 pounds, and is six feet in diameter.

A traditional southern New Year's dish is Hoppin' John—black eyed peas and ham hocks. An old saying goes, "Eat peas on New Year's day to have plenty of everything the rest of the year."

Another American tradition is the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The Tournament of Roses parade that precedes the football game on New Year's day is made up of elaborate and inventive floats. The first parade was held in 1886.
Widely Observed New Year Symbols and Traditions

Resolutions

It is believed that the Babylonians were the first to make New Year's resolutions, and people all over the world have been breaking them ever since. The early Christians believed the first day of the new year should be spent reflecting on past mistakes and resolving to improve oneself in the new year.

Fireworks

Noisemaking and fireworks on New Year's eve is believed to have originated in ancient times, when noise and fire were thought to dispel evil spirits and bring good luck. The Chinese are credited with inventing fireworks and use them to spectacular effect in their New Year's celebrations.

Auld Lang Syne

The most commonly sung song for English-speakers on New Year's eve, "Auld Lang Syne" is an old Scottish song that was first published by the poet Robert Burns in the 1796 edition of the book, Scots Musical Museum. Burns transcribed it (and made some refinements to the lyrics) after he heard it sung by an old man from the Ayrshire area of Scotland, Burns's homeland.

It is often remarked that "Auld Lang Syne" is one of the most popular songs that nobody knows the lyrics to. "Auld Lang Syne" literally translates as "old long since" and means "times gone by." The song asks whether old friends and times will be forgotten and promises to remember people of the past with fondness, "For auld lang syne, we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet."

The lesser known verses continue this theme, lamenting how friends who once used to "run about the braes,/ And pou'd the gowans fine" (run about the hills and pulled up the daisies) and "paidl'd in the burn/Frae morning sun till dine" (paddled in the stream from morning to dusk) have become divided by time and distance—"seas between us braid hae roar'd" (broad seas have roared between us). Yet there is always time for old friends to get together—if not in person then in memory—and "tak a right guid-willie waught" (a good-will drink).

But it was bandleader Guy Lombardo, and not Robert Burns, who popularized the song and turned it into a New Year's tradition. Lombardo first heard "Auld Lang Syne" in his hometown of London, Ontario, where it was sung by Scottish immigrants. When he and his brothers formed the famous dance band, Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians, the song became one of their standards. Lombardo played the song at midnight at a New Year's eve party at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City in 1929, and a tradition was born. After that, Lombardo's version of the song was played every New Year's eve from the 1930s until 1976 at the Waldorf Astoria. In the first years it was broadcast on radio, and then on television. The song became such a New Year's tradition that "Life magazine wrote that if Lombardo failed to play 'Auld Lang Syne,' the American public would not believe that the new year had really arrived."

Hogmanay (Scotland)

The birthplace of "Auld Lang Syne" is also the home of Hogmanay (hog-mah-NAY), the rousing Scottish New Year's celebration (the origins of the name are obscure). One of the traditions is "first-footing." Shortly after midnight on New Year's eve, neighbors pay visits to each other and impart New Year's wishes. Traditionally, First foots used to bring along a gift of coal for the fire, or shortbread. It is considered especially lucky if a tall, dark, and handsome man is the first to enter your house after the new year is rung in. The Edinburgh Hogmanay celebration is the largest in the country, and consists of an all-night street party (visit their Hagmanay website here).

Oshogatsu (Japan)

The new year is the most important holiday in Japan, and is a symbol of renewal. In December, various Bonenkai or "forget-the-year parties" are held to bid farewell to the problems and concerns of the past year and prepare for a new beginning. Misunderstandings and grudges are forgiven and houses are scrubbed. At midnight on Dec. 31, Buddhist temples strike their gongs 108 times, in a effort to expel 108 types of human weakness. New Year's day itself is a day of joy and no work is to be done. Children receive otoshidamas, small gifts with money inside. Sending New Year's cards is a popular tradition—if postmarked by a certain date, the Japanese post office guarantees delivery of all New Year's cards on Jan. 1st.

Spain

The Spanish ritual on New Year's eve is to eat twelve grapes at midnight. The tradition is meant to secure twelve happy months in the coming year.

The Netherlands

The Dutch burn bonfires of Christmas trees on the street and launch fireworks. The fires are meant to purge the old and welcome the new.

Greece

In Greece, New Year's day is also the Festival of St. Basil, one of the founders of the Greek Orthodox Church. One of the traditional foods served is Vassilopitta, or St Basil's cake. A silver or gold coin is baked inside the cake. Whoever finds the coin in their piece of cake will be especially lucky during the coming year.


If you are looking for the perfect citrus for yourself or as a gift for a business associates, your family or friends? A quick visit to sunburstoranges.com can solve all of your fresh gift giving adventures. We sell only the finest selections and the freshest citrus you can buy.

Presented By:
Sunburst Oranges
180 South “E” Street
Porterville, CA  93257
559-561-3391 

Santa Must Use Time Travel On Christmas Eve

Santa's task on Christmas Eve is tough. He has to visit about three billion children in just one evening. To deliver all the gifts to all the world's children in just one night, his sleigh and reindeers would fly so fast it would burn up due to air resistance and extreme G-forces.

The mystery of Santa's feat may be one of the most perplexing for science. It's possible that Santa, his reindeer and sleigh, may be surrounded by an ion shield of charged particles, held together by a magnetic field. But that doesn't help with the enormous difficulty of having to visit around 8,000 homes per second. It all seems quite impossible. So it must be time travel!

To be fair if you buy into flying reindeer don't you dare scoff at time travel! 

No known species of reindeer can fly. BUT there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying reindeer which only Santa has ever seen.

There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT since Santa doesn't (appear to) handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist children, that reduces the workload to 15% of the total - 378 million according to Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census)rate of 3.5 children per household, that's 91.8 million homes. One presumes there's at least one good child in each.

Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west(which seems logical). This works out to 822.6 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house. Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept), we are now talking about .78 miles per household, a total trip of 75-1/2 million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us must do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding etc.

This means that Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man- made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second - a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per hour.

The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized lego set (2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that "flying reindeer" (see point #1) could pull TEN TIMES the normal anoint, we cannot do the job with eight, or even nine. We need 214,200 reindeer. This increases the payload - not even counting the weight of the sleigh - to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison - this is four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth.


353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance - this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as spacecrafts re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy. Per second. Each. In short, they will burst into flame almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake.The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second. Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250-pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim)would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force. 

No known species of reindeer can fly. BUT there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying reindeer which only Santa has ever seen.

This means that Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man- made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second - a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per hour.

There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT since Santa doesn't (appear to) handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist children, that reduces the workload to 15% of the total - 378 million according to Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census)rate of 3.5 children per household, that's 91.8 million homes. One presumes there's at least one good child in each.

Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west(which seems logical). This works out to 822.6 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house. Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept), we are now talking about .78 miles per household, a total trip of 75-1/2 million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us must do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding etc.

This means that Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man- made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second - a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per hour.

The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized lego set (2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that "flying reindeer" (see point #1) could pull TEN TIMES the normal anoint, we cannot do the job with eight, or even nine. We need 214,200 reindeer. This increases the payload - not even counting the weight of the sleigh - to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison - this is four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth.

353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance - this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as spacecrafts re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy. Per second. Each. In short, they will burst into flame almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake.The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second. Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250-pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim)would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force. 

If you are looking for the perfect citrus for yourself or as a gift for a business associates, your family or friends? A quick visit to sunburstoranges.com can solve all of your fresh gift giving adventures. We sell only the finest selections and the freshest citrus you can buy.

Presented By:
Sunburst Oranges
180 South “E” Street
Porterville, CA  93257

559-561-3391

Winter Solstice: December 21st Fewest Hours of Sunshine

Winter Solstice

The solstice that marks the onset of winter, at the time of the fewest hours of daylight day, about December 22 in the northern hemisphere and June 21 in the southern hemisphere.

Early nightfall. Crisp mornings. The sharp silhouette of leaf-bare branches. Orion marching across the evening sky. These are some familiar signs of winter. We often speak of turning inward during these darker months, becoming quiet and introspective, staying home more often, sleeping longer. Yet there’s another side to winter that contrasts with our natural inclination to rest and contemplate—a side that insists we shop til we drop, eat and drink more than we care to, and rush around busy airports. Regardless of our spiritual or cultural heritage, if we live in North America today there’s a good chance we find ourselves caught up, perhaps involuntarily or out of habit, in a commercial swirl known as “the holidays” that leaves us depleted in more ways than one.


Perhaps this year, with some preparation and planning, we can plant the seeds for a more intuitive, simpler, and natural holiday season. Winter solstice, which takes place in late December, can be a profound way to tune into the magic and beauty of the season. For people throughout the ages—from the ancient Egyptians and Celts to the Hopi—midwinter has been a significant time of ritual, reflection, and renewal. Creating a meaningful celebration of winter solstice, either in place of or in addition to other holiday activities, can help us cultivate a deeper connection to nature and family and all the things that matter most to us. Winter can become a time of feeding the spirit and nurturing the soul, not just emptying our bank account and fraying our nerves.

From around the globe here are 3 celebrations that are still used,

Saturnalia

Western culture owes many of the traditional midwinter celebrations, including those of Christmas, to this ancient Roman solstice celebration dedicated to the Saturn, the god of agriculture and time. Though it started out as a one-day celebration earlier in December, this pagan festival later expanded into a riotous week long party stretching from December 17 to 24. During this jolliest and most popular of Roman festivals, social norms fell away as everyone indulged in gambling, drinking, feasting and giving gifts. Even slaves got to partake in the festivities; they did not work, and some masters turned the tables and served their slaves. 

Shab-e Yalda

On the longest night of the year, Iranians all over the world celebrate the triumph of Mithra, the Sun God, over darkness in the ancient festival of Shab-e Yalda (which translates to “Night of Birth”). According to tradition, people gather together on the longest night of year to protect each other from evil, burning fires to light their way through the darkness and performing charitable acts. Friends and family join in making wishes, feasting on nuts, pomegranates and other festive foods and reading poetry, especially the work of the 14th-century Persian poet Hafiz. Some stay awake all night to rejoice in the moment when the sun rises, banishing evil and announcing the arrival of goodness. 

Shalako – Zuni Indians


For the Zuni, one of the Native American Pueblo peoples in western New Mexico, the winter solstice signifies the beginning of the year, and is marked with a ceremonial dance called Shalako. After fasting, prayer and observing the rising and setting of the sun for several days before the solstice, the Pekwin, or “Sun Priest” traditionally announces the exact moment of itiwanna, the rebirth of the sun, with a long, mournful call. With that signal, the rejoicing and dancing begin, as 12 kachina clowns in elaborate masks dance along with the Shalako themselves, 12-foot-high effigies with bird heads, seen as messengers from the gods. After four days of dancing, new dancers are chosen for the following year, and the yearly cycle begins again.

If you are looking for the perfect citrus for yourself or as a gift for a business associates, your family or friends? A quick visit to sunburstoranges.com can solve all of your fresh gift giving adventures. We sell only the finest selections and the freshest citrus you can buy.

Presented By:
Sunburst Oranges
180 South “E” Street
Porterville, CA  93257
559-561-3391 

Just What Is This Figgy Pudding Dish?

It is that time of year when we are singing Christmas carols and we hear about Figgy Pudding. If you have already wondered just what sort of dish makes up "Figgy" here is some information you might find very interesting.

Figgy pudding is a type of Christmas pudding which was originally made with figs. It may be baked, steamed in the oven, boiled or fried.

Figgy pudding dates back to 16th century England. Its possible ancestors include savory puddings, such as crustades, fygeye or figge (a porridge of mashed figs thickened with bread), creme boiled (a kind of stirred custard), and sippets (croutons). In any case, its methods and ingredients appear in diverse older recipes, for instance in Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.

Today, the term figgy pudding is popularized mainly by the Christmas carol "We Wish You A Merry Christmas," which includes the line, "Now bring us some figgy pudding". A variety of nineteenth-century sources state that, in the West Country of England (from which the carol comes), "figgy pudding" referred to a raisin or plum pudding, not necessarily one containing figs.

In 1935, Oxford University Press published an elaborate four-part choral arrangement by Arthur Warrell under the title "A Merry Christmas", describing the piece as a "West Country Traditional Song". Warrell's arrangement is notable for using "I" instead of "we" in the lyrics; the first line is "I wish you a Merry Christmas". It was subsequently republished in the collection Carols for Choirs (1961), and remains widely performed.

The earlier history of the carol is unclear. It is absent from the collections of West-countrymen Davies Gilbert (1822 and 1823) and William Sandys (1833), as well as from the great anthologies of Sylvester (1861) and Husk (1864). It is also missing from The Oxford Book of Carols (1928). In the comprehensive New Oxford Book of Carols (1992), editors Hugh Keyte and Andrew Parrott describe it as "English traditional" and "[t]he remnant of an envoie much used by wassailers and other luck visitors"; no source or date is given.

If you are looking for the perfect citrus for yourself or as a gift for a business associates, your family or friends? A quick visit to sunburstoranges.com can solve all of your fresh gift giving adventures. We sell only the finest selections and the freshest citrus you can buy.

Presented By:
Sunburst Oranges
180 South “E” Street
Porterville, CA  93257
559-561-3391

Decorating With Oranges

Orange Ornaments

Cut oranges crosswise into 3/4-inch slices to create a pinwheel effect, keeping them as uniform as possible in thickness. Lay on a baking sheet or aluminum foil in the oven set at the lowest temperature (around 150 degrees F). Leave them to bake for about four hours, then turn with a spatula, checking them every hour until they seem almost dry with a bit of moisture left so they still have an orange color (they will continue to dry at room temperature). Create a tiny hole in the top of each slice with a small paring knife, and string twine through each to hang on your tree.

Sweet Lady Apples

When picking these mini apples, try to choose the ones that are 2 inches across or smaller so they're not too bulky (or heavy) to hang from the branches of your tree. To hang: Take a piece of floral wire long enough to poke about one third of the way through the apple (or until it feels secure), and leave enough wire to hook at the top to hang on your tree.

How to Make a Dried Fruit Garland

You will need: citrus fruit, an oven, raffia or string, a darning needle or wire and a skewer, ribbon.

You may also want to add pine cones and cinnamon sticks.

The first stage is to dehydrate your oranges, lemons and limes. There are a number of ways of doing this, but I have found that the easiest and quickest way is in the oven.

Cut the fruit into slices not more than half a cm thick. If you start at the stalk end and cut across the segments, you will get a lovely stained glass window effect and also an area in the middle for threading.

Put them in the oven straight onto the rack, don’t bother with a baking sheet as this will allow the warm air in the oven to get to both sides of the fruit and it will dry quicker. Put the oven on about 100 degrees c, no hotter. Remember that you are drying the fruit out, not cooking it!fruit garland and decorations

It will take between 2 and 4 hours for the slices to dry, depending on the thickness of the slices. The thinner the slices, the quicker they will dry. If they are not totally dry, it doesn’t matter, you can always put them on a sunny windowsill or next to a radiator to finish drying them out.

To dry whole clementines or satsumas, lemons and limes, leaving the top and bottom of the fruit intact, make a cut at 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock, then at 9 and 3 o’clock and then half way between those, so you that you have eight slits evenly spaced out around the fruit. Stick a skewer or a darning needle through it from top to bottom. Put it in the oven straight on the rack as before.

Tips for Drying Fruit

Thinner slices dry faster.

Drying whole fruit it takes longer than the slices. Small fruit dries quicker (I used clementines, but lemons and limes might also work well).

A lot of juice will come out and may well end up on your kitchen floor, so putting down some pre-emptive tea towels or some kitchen towel to catch it might be an idea.

Once dry the fruit keeps for ages. However, do not be tempted to store almost dry fruit in a tin and then put the tin next to a radiator. It will go mouldy, as some of mine did when I did this.

Put a skewer through the middle of the whole fruit and the slices as soon as you get it out of the oven, while it is still soft.

Fruit that is not quite dry can be left out do dry out naturally.

If you are looking for the perfect citrus for yourself or as a gift for a business associates, your family or friends? A quick visit to sunburstoranges.com can solve all of your fresh gift giving adventures. We sell only the finest selections and the freshest citrus you can buy.

Presented By:
Sunburst Oranges
180 South “E” Street
Porterville, CA  93257

559-561-3391

Major Holidays In December

There are 6 major 2016 December Holidays.  By date the holidays are Christmas, Hanukkah, St. Stephan's Day, Boxing Day, Kwanzaa and New Year's Eve! I've always thought that December was one of the best times of the year, so full of fun events, Holiday Cheer, time off from work and school, and lots of great times spent with family!

Sunday, December 25; Christmas - General - one of the most celebrated holidays around the world, increasingly celebrated by Christians and non-Christians alike

Sunday, December 25; Hanukkah - Jewish - Ḥănukkāh, usually spelled חנוכה, pronounced [χanuˈka] in Modern Hebrew; a transliteration also romanized as Chanukah or Chanukkah), also known as the Festival of Lights

Monday, December 26; St. Stephan's Day - Austria - Feast of Saint Stephen, is a Christian saint's day to commemorate Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr or protomartyr,

Monday, December 26; Boxing Day - Canada and UK - A holiday gift exchange celebrated on the day following Christmas Day in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth nations

Monday, December 26; Kwanzaa - Pan-African Festival US - A week-long celebration held in the United States and in other nations of the Western African diaspora in the Americas. The celebration honors African heritage in African-American culture

Saturday, December 31; New Year's Eve - Workld Wide - In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve (also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries), the last day of the year, is on December 31 which is six days after Christmas Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated at evening social gatherings, where many people dance, eat, drink alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the new year. Some people attend a watch night service. The celebrations generally go on past midnight into January 1

A wide variety of multinational festivals and holidays are celebrated around the world, whether within particular religions, cultures, or otherwise. Celebrations listed here are celebrated in at least two or more countries. The list of all the holidays world wide is far beyond the scope of our blog.

If you are looking for the perfect citrus for yourself or as a gift for a business associates, your family or friends? A quick visit to sunburstoranges.com can solve all of your fresh gift giving adventures. We sell only the finest selections and the freshest citrus you can buy.

Presented By:

Sunburst Oranges

180 South “E” Street

Porterville, CA  93257

559-561-3391

The Twelve Days Of Christmas

The song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is an English Christmas carol. From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of the Church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember. To fit the number scheme, when you reach number 9, representing the Fruits of the Holy Ghost, the originator combined 6 to make 3, taking the 6 fruits that were similar: the fruit in each parenthesis is the that was not named separately. There are actually Twelve Fruits of the Holy Ghost.

The "True Love" one hears in the song is not a smitten boy or girlfriend but Jesus Christ, because truly Love was born on Christmas Day. The partridge in the pear tree also represents Him because that bird is willing to sacrifice its life if necessary to protect its young by feigning injury to draw away predators.  That view is food for thought.

On the first day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
A Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the second day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the third day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Three French Hens
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the fourth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Four Calling Birds
Three French Hens
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the fifth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Five Golden Rings
Four Calling Birds
Three French Hens
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the sixth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Six Geese a Laying
Five Golden Rings
Four Calling Birds
Three French Hens
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the seventh day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Seven Swans a Swimming
Six Geese a Laying
Five Golden Rings
Four Calling Birds
Three French Hens
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the eighth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Eight Maids a Milking
Seven Swans a Swimming
Six Geese a Laying
Five Golden Rings
Four Calling Birds
Three French Hens
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the ninth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Nine Ladies Dancing
Eight Maids a Milking
Seven Swans a Swimming
Six Geese a Laying
Five Golden Rings
Four Calling Birds
Three French Hens
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the tenth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Ten Lords a Leaping
Nine Ladies Dancing
Eight Maids a Milking
Seven Swans a Swimming
Six Geese a Laying
Five Golden Rings
Four Calling Birds
Three French Hens
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the eleventh day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Eleven Pipers Piping
Ten Lords a Leaping
Nine Ladies Dancing
Eight Maids a Milking
Seven Swans a Swimming
Six Geese a Laying
Five Golden Rings
Four Calling Birds
Three French Hens
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the twelfth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
12 Drummers Drumming
Eleven Pipers Piping
Ten Lords a Leaping
Nine Ladies Dancing
Eight Maids a Milking
Seven Swans a Swimming
Six Geese a Laying
Five Golden Rings
Four Calling Birds
Three French Hens
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

Are you looking for the perfect gift for business associates, family or friends? A quick visit to http://sunburstoranges.com can solve all of your fresh gift giving adventures. We sell only the finest selections and the freshest citrus you can buy.

Presented By:
Sunburst Oranges
180 South “E” Street
Porterville, CA  93257

559-561-3391

Citrus Goose For Christmas Dinner

To our ancestors, Christmas recipes didn't come in beautiful books filled with pretty pictures. They didn't need to. The winter festival was a time to celebrate using cooking methods that had been handed down, usually orally, through the generations. Geese, ducks, great sides of beef, sheep and pork were turned on the roasting spit in the halls in early Christian and medieval times.

Ingredients

12 pound goose, Thaw Before Cooking
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 Fresh Sunburst oranges, 
cut 1 into 6 wedges, slice 1 for garnish
1 lime, cut into 6 wedges

Apple and Potato Stuffing

2 pounds potatoes
1 pound cooking apples, peeled and chopped
1 pound roughly chopped onions
2 ounces butter
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon finely chopped or grated lemon rind
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit

Remove giblets and neck from goose.

Remove excess fat from main cavity of goose.

Rinse goose inside and out with cold water. Pat dry with paper towels.

Combine thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper in small bowl.

Place goose, breast side down on a middle rack in a roasting pan. Sprinkle goose with half of herb mixture.

Place orange and lime wedges in cavity of goose. Turn goose so that breast side is up. Sprinkle remaining herbs over goose.

Roast goose 1 hour. Turn off oven (do not open oven door) and let goose stand in oven 45 minutes (thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh should register 180 degrees Fahrenheit) Remove goose from oven; cover and let stand for 10 minutes.

Then slice and serve.

While The Goose Cooks Make The Stuffing


Boil the potatoes in salted water. When cooked, mash without using milk or butter. Melt the butter into a pan and, over a low heat, fry the onions for five minutes, do not allow them to brown. Add your apples and cook until they are nicely softened. Stir in the mashed potatoes, parsley and lemon. Season. Serve alongside your goose.

Are you looking for the perfect gift for business associates, family or friends? A quick visit to http://sunburstoranges.com can solve all of your fresh gift giving adventures. We sell only the finest selections and the freshest citrus you can buy.

Presented By:
Sunburst Oranges
180 South “E” Street
Porterville, CA  93257
559-561-3391

Fresh Picked Navel Oranges For December

If you are new to healthy eating and you have pledged to eating more fruits you can’t do any better than eating navel oranges.

I don’t know about you but Navel Oranges are my favorite among oranges. The great news is that Navel Orange harvesting will be begin in just few weeks. 

There are numerous health benefits to navel oranges, and these go beyond just the obvious. The obvious and most well-know benefit of navel oranges is of course Vitamin C. This is arguably the most well-known benefit because navel oranges are a citrus fruit, and every citrus fruit has some kind of Vitamin C content to it. Though the amount of C content can vary amongst all the citrus fruits, the amount in navel oranges is definitely high. But again, this is not the only benefit of navel oranges, just the most obvious.

Another great health benefit of navel oranges is beta carotene. This is an antioxidant that helps prevent and repair cell damage. This cell damage can be due to any number of things like illness or free radicals, which are everywhere and which the body also naturally produces free radicals as a byproduct of digestion. Getting rid of these using the beta carotene in navel oranges can greatly improve your health and vitality.

Most dieticians will tell you that it is better to get these vitamins and minerals out of your food rather than a pill. And since navel oranges are low in calories, fat and cholesterol free and high in fiber and other nutrients, it is a good way to get your daily dosage of these things. It is also juicy and delicious, and available all through the winter. 

What is better than a sweet and delicious citrus fruit like navel oranges to get you through the chilly fall and icy winter? They will remind you of spring and summer even as the snow outside is gathering. Indeed, navel oranges can make you appreciate the sun of spring and heat of summer that much more when they return.

Calcium is another benefit of navel oranges that you may not have thought of. Often, you can find calcium enhanced juices in the dairy case, but many times if you eat a varied diet and consume navel oranges, you may not need that extra calcium. The rest is simply extra that will go unprocessed by your body.

In the store choose oranges that have smoothly textured skin and are firm and heavy for their size. These will have a higher juice content than those that are either spongy or lighter in weight. In general, oranges that are smaller will be juicier than those that are larger in size, as will those that feature thinner skins. Of course you can let Sunburst Oranges choose the very best for you. We will have Navels in just a few weeks.

Are you looking for the perfect gift for business associates, family or friends? A quick visit to http://sunburstoranges.com can solve all of your fresh gift giving adventures. We sell only the finest selections and the freshest citrus you can buy.

Presented By:
Sunburst Oranges
180 South “E” Street
Porterville, CA  93257

559-561-3391

Save Money Giving Fruit Baskets for Christmas

When the first big ocean liners began to thread the Atlantic Ocean between Europe and America, there was born a new industry, that of selling gift baskets of fruit to those leaving on the ships. In the beginning, these gift baskets were the common kind ordinarily used for picnic lunches, and the fruit was also of the ordinary and more easily accessible varieties. Today fruit gift baskets for gift-giving has assumed mammoth proportions. Whether a house-warming gift, a get-well basket, or thank you gift, there are as many kinds of different fruit baskets as there are varieties of flowers in a florist’s shop. For decades, fruit basket gifts have also taken its place as one of the most tasteful sorts of Christmas presents even more so than the Christmas wine gift basket; selling as many as thousands each day during the month before the holiday season. 

The fruit used in gift baskets of fruit is also extensive in variety, including the fruit-baskets filled with fruit from every quarter of the world. Southern California strawberries are one of the fruits which are much used in the fancy, colored, woven baskets at and near the Christmas season. These strawberries are much larger and finer than those grown in the East, and are of really natural flavor and odor. They are a triumph of fruit growers. Fruit baskets of strawberries are expensive during the winter months, which is the general criticism of the cynical against buying these luscious midwinter fruits. Guava jelly from Puerto Rico is one of the novelties with which these beautiful baskets are filled. Figs come at this time of year, from the Orient, from Texas and Louisiana, and the American fig is of really fine quality.

Designing and creating your fruit gift basket doesn't have to be stressful - Online examples will help creating every step of the way to ensure your baskets are done on time and handled with care. Creating the perfect holiday gift basket is as easy as one, two, three! If you need a little creativity help, browse selections of pre-made holiday gift baskets to use as a starting point. Once you find a gift basket that suits your needs, you are only a few builds away. Go ahead and customize your custom gift basket. Here you have the ability to add or delete item of your choice to your gift basket.

youtube.com has many examples of building your own custom holiday gift baskets. Search "Tips on how to make your own Christmas gift baskets".

If you are looking for the perfect citrus for yourself or as a gift for a business associates, your family or friends? A quick visit to sunburstoranges.com can solve all of your fresh gift giving adventures. We sell only the finest selections and the freshest citrus you can buy.

Presented By:
Sunburst Oranges
180 South “E” Street
Porterville, CA  93257
559-561-3391

Hawaiian Orange Chicken Recipe

Are you looking for something healthy and delicious for your family this weekend? This Hawaiian style orange chicken is sure to please.

Ingredients

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts 
Not as healthy but more tender and tasty you can substitute chicken thighs.

1 (10 ounce) jar sweet and sour sauce

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice

4 tablespoons white wine

1/4 cup butter, melted

Option: add a small can (non sweetened) of drained pineapple chunks.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees C).
    
In a bowl, combine sweet and sour sauce, brown sugar, orange juice, white wine, and melted butter or margarine. Mix well.

Place chicken in a greased 9x13 inch baking dish, and pour sweet and sour sauce mixture over chicken.

Bake for 45 minutes in the preheated oven, until the sauce has reduced to a thick glaze.

Add pineapple chunks now if you choose to.

Tip
Aluminum foil can be used to keep food moist, cook it evenly, and make clean-up a whole lot easier.

Option: Serve over a bed of white rice.

4 servings 540 calories

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 45 minutes - Ready In 1 hour

If you are looking for the perfect citrus for yourself or as a gift for a business associates, your family or friends? A quick visit to sunburstoranges.com can solve all of your fresh gift giving adventures. We sell only the finest selections and the freshest citrus you can buy.

Presented By:
Sunburst Oranges
180 South “E” Street
Porterville, CA  93257
559-561-3391