Should we be celebrating Christmas?

[ceecee]

You all don't like candy corn? It's fantastic!

Nah I'll pass. It's like sweet wax. However, I do, occasionally, like a couple circus peanuts. They're disgusting but sometimes that's just what I'm looking for.

 

[Avocado]

The Fight Against '''Black Pete''', a Holiday Blackface Tradition - NBC News

Social Justice Warriors like yourself complain too much about free speech and letting other cultures just do their thing.

 

[ceecee]

Social Justice Warriors like yourself complain too much about free speech and letting other cultures just do their thing.

This is my second post in this thread. Show me where I'm not allowing other cultures to do their thing.

I live in a heavy Dutch area. I've never actually seen anyone dong the Black Pete thing (I understand it's a beloved custom in the Netherlands) but they do talk about it. I don't have an issue with the Dutch in Holland doing this, not at all. It's their thing. I don't want some tool from The Netherlands walking in here and telling me how to do Christmas either.

 

[Mole]

I'm an atheist and not a big fan of Christmas. The Santa Clause bit reinforces a correlation between prosperity and morality which is extremely bad for society. I'm thankful my mother never did much Santa talk with her elementary school children as a teacher because she saw its impact on the poor children who could only conclude they had been bad and naughty somehow and so didn't get presents. It sounds and looks cute on the surface but is quite sinister.

I like lights on the trees in the cold, dark winter, and I like the Winter Solstice.

Gosh, we have Christmas in our warm, bright summer. We play cricket on the beach dashing in and out of the surf.

I can only imagine too well your cold, dark winter only illumined by artificial lights on small dark pines.

And your cold dark winter leaves you with SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder).

No wonder you are no fan of Christmas and see it as sinister.

 

[ceecee]

Gosh, we have Christmas in our warm, bright summer. We play cricket on the beach dashing in and out of the surf.

I can only imagine too well your cold, dark winter only illumined by artificial lights on small dark pines.

And your cold dark winter leaves you with SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder).

No wonder you are no fan of Christmas and see it as sinister.

We don't need to leave the country to have a warm, sunny Christmas on the beach. You would need to leave your entire hemisphere.

 

[Mole]

We don't need to leave the country to have a warm, sunny Christmas on the beach. You would need to leave your entire hemisphere.

Oh I dunno, we have some of the world's extensive snow fields in our Snowy Mountains, and we claim half of another Continent buried in snow and ice.

To see our Snowy Mountains click on Snowy Mountains Australia - Google Search

And to see our half of the Continent of Antarctica click on Australian Antarctica - Google Search

 

[Coriolis]

Gosh, we have Christmas in our warm, bright summer. We play cricket on the beach dashing in and out of the surf.

I can only imagine too well your cold, dark winter only illumined by artificial lights on small dark pines.

And your cold dark winter leaves you with SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder).

No wonder you are no fan of Christmas and see it as sinister.

Not at all. We have candles, and bonfires, and without any effort at all, the moon and the splendor of the starry skies.

But for the darkness, we would never see the stars.

 

[Mole]

Not at all. We have candles, and bonfires, and without any effort at all, the moon and the splendor of the starry skies.

But for the darkness, we would never see the stars.

C'mon, it's unnatural to have Christmas in the middle of winter. No, I would go further and say it is unChristian to have Christmas in the middle of winter. We fully expect you will follow the good Christian example of your antipodeans and change Christmas to the glorious height of summer.

Now is the winter of your discontent
Made glorious summer in Oz.

What more could we ask for?

But we wonder: is it more than we deserve?

 

[Norrsken]

You should celebrate Christmas if you want to, however way you see fit.

 

[Mole]

You should celebrate Christmas if you want to, however way you see fit.

Christmas has a meaning. Part of the meaning is deeply and successfully theological, and part if the meaning is found in consumer culture.

We tend to understand consumer culture and accept it or reject it. But we don't seem to know the theological meaning of Christmas, which meaning has been elaborated over the best part of 2,000 years.

And consumer Christmas is to theological Christmas as astrology is to astronomy, or mbti is to psychometrics, or natural selection is to creationism.

Consumer culture, created by Edward L. Bernays in 1928 with his book called Propaganda, manipulates us through our fears and our desires.

And if all we know is consumer culture, it is unlikely we will be able to transcend our fears and our desires, and we will be led around by the nose, we will be led around by our fears and our desires.

We will ridiculously insist we have the God given right to satisfy our desires, and we have the God given right not to be afraid. We will be as children dependent on a powerful parent.

 

[Coriolis]

C'mon, it's unnatural to have Christmas in the middle of winter. No, I would go further and say it is unChristian to have Christmas in the middle of winter. We fully expect you will follow the good Christian example of your antipodeans and change Christmas to the glorious height of summer.

If Christmas is meant to celebrate the birth of Jesus, then from what scholars know of Jesus' actual birth date, it should be celebrated in the spring, around March if I recall correctly. But then the church is busy celebrating Jesus' resurrection then, right when the earth itself is being resurrected from winter. How inconvenient.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I celebrate Christmas by setting fire to an effigy of Santa Clause.

Around his burning red plastic, I spread out dollar bills.

They're usually sprinkled with the blood of Wal-Mart shoppers.

Then I bow and whisper "Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho" until he melts into ash.

 

[Mole]

I celebrate Christmas by setting fire to an effigy of Santa Clause.

Around his burning red plastic, I spread out dollar bills.

They're usually sprinkled with the blood of Wal-Mart shoppers.

Then I bow and whisper "Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho" until he melts into ash.

You don't like consumer Christmas so why not explore the meaning of Christmas developed over 2,000 years.

You could explore the deep philosophy of Christmas. You could explore the music of Christmas. You could explore its civilising effect in Western civilisation. You could explore the deep family significance of Christmas. You could explore the theological genius of Christmas. You could explore the roots of Christmas in Ancient Greek pagan culture.

You might explore Christianity as one of the four pillars of Western civilisation, and ask why.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

You don't like consumer Christmas so why not explore the meaning of Christmas developed over 2,000 years.

You could explore the deep philosophy of Christmas. You could explore the music of Christmas. You could explore its civilising effect in Western civilisation. You could explore the deep family significance of Christmas. You could explore the theological genius of Christmas. You could explore the roots of Christmas in Ancient Greek pagan culture.

You might explore Christianity as one of the four pillars of Western civilisation, and ask why.

Only if you'll explore Christmas with me.

My fantasy:

I'll rise in bed to reindeer munching grass outside my window. They'll lick the dew and stare at me, their eyes black and starry. After I yawn and scratch my belly, I'll hop in the closet and throw on my red-and-green elf costume, wiggling my curled toes until the bells jingle. Then you'll come home from a long day at the factory and see me hammering wooden trains on my workbench. You won't say anything because you admire the attention I put into my trains. I will say hi and you'll say hi and we'll roast chestnuts over an open fire. They'll crackle and pop and smoke. We'll sing songs about snow and magic and love to each other, and hold hands, and dance around the tree. Around midnight, we'll exchange presents to the smell of eggnog and rosewood. All I can make are wooden trains, so my presents aren't much of a surprise, but you'll say how you like them anyway. Then we'll kiss under the mistletoe and the reindeer will kiss and faintly, far off on the rooftop the next town over, we'll hear the jolly laugh of a rosy-cheeked fat man in a red coat.

 

[Kas]

Yes.

At least unless in my area would be replaced by other (non-religious) family holiday. In US there is Thanksgiving, in here Christmas is often the only time in year when the whole family gather and spend time together. It seems to be important, especially that currently, with how easy is to travel and live far away from childhood home, it's not so easy to keep contact with relatives.

Besides the snow and the lights, free time and the smell of gingerbread... I think it's a great combination.

 

[Grand Admiral Crunch]

Only if you'll explore Christmas with me.

My fantasy:

I'll rise in bed to reindeer munching grass outside my window. They'll lick the dew and stare at me, their eyes black and starry. After I yawn and scratch my belly, I'll hop in the closet and throw on my red-and-green elf costume, wiggling my curled toes until the bells jingle. Then you'll come home from a long day at the factory and see me hammering wooden trains on my workbench. You won't say anything because you admire the attention I put into my trains. I will say hi and you'll say hi and we'll roast chestnuts over an open fire. They'll crackle and pop and smoke. We'll sing songs about snow and magic and love to each other, and hold hands, and dance around the tree. Around midnight, we'll exchange presents to the smell of eggnog and rosewood. All I can make are wooden trains, so my presents aren't much of a surprise, but you'll say how you like them anyway. Then we'll kiss under the mistletoe and the reindeer will kiss and faintly, far off on the rooftop the next town over, we'll hear the jolly laugh of a rosy-cheeked fat man in a red coat.

Out of both your posts on this thread, the strangest part is you've included Mole in a romantic fantasy.

 

[Grand Admiral Crunch]

Yes.

At least unless in my area would be replaced by other (non-religious) family holiday. In US there is Thanksgiving, in here Christmas is often the only time in year when the whole family gather and spend time together. It seems to be important, especially that currently, with how easy is to travel and live far away from childhood home, it's not so easy to keep contact with relatives.

Besides the snow and the lights, free time and the smell of gingerbread... I think it's a great combination.

The smell of gingerbread is pleasant and gingerbread houses are neat. My mom showed me pictures of her mom bringing a gingerbread house to her school and all the kids in the class ate it. It was a cool gingerbread house too. I don't know why my mom didn't do stuff like that. No gingerbread house for you, GAC. Ahh, the memories. No, I don't care anymore. I'm over it.

You know why they build houses out of gingerbread cookies? Cause they suck. No one wants to eat them. Actually, I think I'd like it if the texture was ever right. I'm confused by them. When they are crunchy, I say they should be soft, and vice-versa.

 

[Kas]

The smell of gingerbread is pleasant and gingerbread houses are neat. My mom showed me pictures of her mom bringing a gingerbread house to her school and all the kids in the class ate it. It was a cool gingerbread house too. I don't know why my mom didn't do stuff like that. No gingerbread house for you, GAC. Ahh, the memories. No, I don't care anymore. I'm over it.

You know why they build houses out of gingerbread cookies? Cause they suck. No one wants to eat them. Actually, I think I'd like it if the texture was ever right. I'm confused by them. When they are crunchy, I say they should be soft, and vice-versa.

Haha I partly agree. I noticed that usually I find gingerbread cookies too hard and dry. A lot of depends on recipe though and how+ how long they were kept.

I usually make two kinds of gingerbread. One kind stuffed with plum jam. It makes the consistency and taste much better. And the second one regular and decorated... mostly for decoration.

Although I don't know how good they'll be this year. I used different recipe, because my favourite gingerbread needs to be made a month before and I was to lazy this time

 

[Coriolis]

You know why they build houses out of gingerbread cookies? Cause they suck. No one wants to eat them. Actually, I think I'd like it if the texture was ever right. I'm confused by them. When they are crunchy, I say they should be soft, and vice-versa.

The only people who would actually eat a gingerbread house are starving children (e.g. Hansel and Gretel), and we see where it got them.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Why not ? I actually like how my country looks in Christmas time.

Etc etc.

After all the whole thing is traditionally just a fight against winter weather depression.