Not everyone is Christian...
While I personally do think we are slightly too politically correct on most issues, I do think this Merry Christmas/Happy Holiday's thing is entertaining. Not everyone is Christian and although this intially started out being a Christian holiday I think it is naive to think that that is really what it still is. It is a consumer driven "holiday" and if Christian's want to be irritated about saying Happy Holiday's rather than Merry Christmas than maybe they should go back to their Christian roots and realize that Christmas shouldn't be about placating your spoiled children and family but rather about celebrating the birth of their savior. That's just me though. I enjoy getting my friends and family presents around the holiday but lets call is what it really is...a consumerism and marketing ploy. I'm not Christian but I celebrate Christmas...not for the Christian reason but rather to show my family and friends how much I love them and appreciate their support over the last year. Maybe to rid myself of this whole drama I will start doing my "christmas" in September...
Posted by Jess | Friday, December 23, 2005
3 comments
Or at least your Christmas shopping.
There was a movement in the Catholic Church to change the celebration of the birth of Jesus, the Christ Mass, to sometime in June or July. The actual date escapes me. The reasoning was, as you no doubt have already guessed, to give Christians (i.e. Catholics) time to celebrate the meaning of Christmas that Christmas no longer easily allowed.
Christmas, however, by various other names, is a holiday of very long standing, and quite worthy of celebration. Gift giving and sharing love seem to have always been a part of it. So, both your respect for a religion not your own, and the desire to connect with your family the third day after the winter solstice seem completely right to me.
Well put. And Merry Christmas.
I do think that Christmas should be about spending time with your family-which for me, frankly, is always a trying experience-but I honestly don't think that these days that is vastly what it is used for. Seeing and hearing about the extravagant wish lists and the stress I see people going through either trying to afford the every whim of their kids or family is nauseating. It shouldn't be such an effort and stressful time to give to your family. I hate the feeling of obligation and the stress over whether someone, anyone will like what you got them or if they will think you are cheap or don't know them very well, thus explaining the ridiculous gift you gave them. To me that always seems to happen. There are a few people on my list who are notoriously hard to shop for and it does seem like if you can't find the PERFECT thing that epitomizes their taste then you are a failure of a friend/family member and are unattentive of their personal tastes. Again that gets back to the point that you should be able to give a gift, any gift, and not have to worry about reprecussions because the person would actually live by the old adage that it is the thought that counts. I can admit, being a first time aunt, that I went slightly overboard this year--I spent way too much, luckily though not using a single credit card, but again I spent way too much--but at least it was on a four month old. Weirdly that plays as excusable in my book. So I guess the intial point of this post was to comment on the interesting issue surrounding what phase one chooses to say to another during the month of December and although I realize it technically is a Christian holiday that has not what it has evolved into--is wrong to even mention something evolving while speaking of Christianity??? It was a realitively arbitrary decision to celebrate Christ's birth in December--it was to absorb a pagan celebration that was already taking place at the time and it made it easier to convert the said heathens--so if Christians want to have their Christmas cake and eat it too then they should just move it to another month...
Exactly.
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