What does Christmas mean to you?
Nonnahswriter
Member Posts: 2,520
in Off-Topic
Hello everyone!
As most of us know already, Christmas is only three days away. (Yikes!) So I was curious to hear what some of you have to say about this time of year.
What is Christmas all about (Charlie Brown)? What do you value the most--the shopping, the lights, the little baby Jesus statue in the manger? Or is it more about the little things, like spending time with loved ones, or watching the snow fall in the night?
And if you don't celebrate Christmas, for whatever reason, what holidays do you celebrate instead? Share with us! Maybe you're Jewish and enjoy the flickering candles of Hanukkah instead. Or maybe you're atheist and don't do much of anything--that's okay too! There are no judgments here; just the chance to share your thoughts as we draw closer to this time of year.
For me, I'm not much of the religious-type, so while I admit that Jesus was a cool dude, he doesn't take my Christmas's center stage. For me, it's about spending as much time with my family as I can. Not just my parents and siblings, but my boyfriend's family, my friends, my relatives in other states... They're all precious to me, and I find that Christmas is one of the few days of the year where we can all come together somehow. I also love giving presents to those closest to me (something I've only started doing for the past few years XD), from the small to the extravagant. Although you won't see me anywhere on Black Thursday Friday; no gift is worth getting stampeded over. >_>;;
Share, discuss, and be merry! Rejoice!
As most of us know already, Christmas is only three days away. (Yikes!) So I was curious to hear what some of you have to say about this time of year.
What is Christmas all about (Charlie Brown)? What do you value the most--the shopping, the lights, the little baby Jesus statue in the manger? Or is it more about the little things, like spending time with loved ones, or watching the snow fall in the night?And if you don't celebrate Christmas, for whatever reason, what holidays do you celebrate instead? Share with us! Maybe you're Jewish and enjoy the flickering candles of Hanukkah instead. Or maybe you're atheist and don't do much of anything--that's okay too! There are no judgments here; just the chance to share your thoughts as we draw closer to this time of year.
For me, I'm not much of the religious-type, so while I admit that Jesus was a cool dude, he doesn't take my Christmas's center stage. For me, it's about spending as much time with my family as I can. Not just my parents and siblings, but my boyfriend's family, my friends, my relatives in other states... They're all precious to me, and I find that Christmas is one of the few days of the year where we can all come together somehow. I also love giving presents to those closest to me (something I've only started doing for the past few years XD), from the small to the extravagant. Although you won't see me anywhere on Black Thursday Friday; no gift is worth getting stampeded over. >_>;;
Share, discuss, and be merry! Rejoice!
7
Comments
Also, it's nice that at least for those three days people aren't acting like total pricks.
- Working overtime.
- Hordes of merry, hungry and loud customers that get on my nerves.
- Musical pollution of the environment.
- The celebration of what is known as winter sales.
If you work retail it sucks and if you are a new employee it sucks even harder not being able to get the few days before christmas off so you have to travel on xmas day.
I love secret santa, but with my family it's always a gamble because even though we put price suggestions and make lists of what kind of things we want, my grandma will ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS gift her person something broken from the remate (flea market or swap meet) that she probably got for like 3 dollars. We tell her every year no don't do that, and she doesn't and then she gets mad when people complain about her gifts. Um, no I dont want a stained lamp shaped like a trumpet for xmas, really.
Christmas music is the worst seriously.
Also, family that tries to give you advice about your career or major choices. Um you never graduated from college and are unemployed and have children and I'm pretty sure you smoke weed on the side, please don't tell me how to live my life.
But it's still nice to see relatives and cousins and the food is always great, so that part of Christmas is nice.
I also enjoy my family much more now than when i was younger, mostly b/c i accepted who they are and love them despite anything i find less than perfect. Hopefully the same happens for those posters above.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Now that I'm more than 8,000 miles from my family and haven't been home for Christmas in years, I look at it as a time that I would like to do exactly that. Since I was recently married, I'm also hoping--like @Wilbur and @Qbert--that I will be able to eventually bring back some of the magic I felt when I was young by giving it to my own child in the future. That's still likely years away, though.
One other way I've started to see Christmas--and I hope I can establish this as one of my own family traditions--is a time to help others. I'd like to spend some time simply volunteering, or giving away food or other necessities to people who haven't been as lucky as I have. It seems like the world could use a bit more of that rather than dozens of presents for people who already have so much...
Still, I definately see that christmas can be a difficult or mixed-feelings type of holiday. Especially the pressure about having a "wonderful jolly time" - at all times. Even I can get tired of that, and I love christmas!
I hope everyone here on the forum has a peaceful christmas (unless you want action all year long that is
With that said I've been working during the holidays for so many years (especially when I was in the military,) the spirit of it all is more or less gone. When I get home I just want to sleep.
On the plus side, I get to spend time with family who I haven't seen in a while. Not to mention all the great pot luck food every brings. Since I'm working Christmas Eve I figure I'd show up after work with some White Castle sliders. That's festive, right?
Also, every year my cousins and I do this thing called a White elephant gift exchange. Basically everyone buys something random, puts it all under the tree, and then each person selects a random gift. Hilarity usually ensues.
This was my gift that one of my poor cousins got last year =p:
This is my gift for some poor sap this year:
If you can't tell what it is (I don't know why my phone took it upside down,) it's supposed to be a racist gift basket. We're Filipino and all the items in the basket are food items normally associated with Filipino culture. I got the inspiration from when I heard comedian Gabriel Iglesias tell a story of how he and a friend made a racist gift basket for their black friend (suffice to say, a little racy, but ultimately hilarious.)
Eggnog -makes vomiting noises-
~
Everything you know about Christmas is a lie.
It's the time when Christians celebrate the birth of a Jewish savior by receiving gifts beneath a pagan tree from an obese German trespasser. (not mine but fits nicely on how I think of the holiday)
With that said, I have learnt to enjoy Christmas. I enjoy being thankful for the people that I have in my life, spending a day with them and leaving the hassle of daily life behind.
Boxing day on the other hand....
oh man, how awesome would a Grinch/Irenicus be?
No, really it is a good day to meet good ppl. Including family.
But I get to watch my Lakers play and wear my Lakers Santa hat and that always brings a smile to my face. Presents are fun, especially when you can be proud of the gifts you buy. And this time of year my old friends come back into town which is always a blast.
Also, working on that day really helps take the stress off a "perfect Christmas" because figuring out how to just HAVE a Christmas means the specialness is just in the having. Don't get me wrong, I wish I was 10 again and in awe of everything, but it's nice now...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas
And that Jewish savior was Middle Eastern, not white like most churches like to represent in their iconography. In other words, he looked like what most Christians would call today "Dangerous Dark Muslims".
As for me, I am also an Atheist. I like helping people and making them feel good. I am dangerously soft-hearted myself- one person treating me like shit can make me upset and leave me crying for a day afterwards, especially if it is someone I consider a friend, or even just "a friend over the internet". I don't take 'jokes' well at all, especially if it's a mean-spirited one. And the reason why being I got teased a lot as a child, and I have very few walls to people I consider my friends. If I don't know you, I don't care about your opinion- but otherwise, like I said, I am a dangerously soft target.
Anyhow, back to my views on Christmas. I like spending time with my friends, and it's them I want to make happy. My family is mostly gone, except for my Dad, and most of the rest are just horrible people and users who I wouldn't want to spend time with anyway. My friends are a family I chose, and want to spend time with, and there are precious few of those as well. I do give them gifts, which I choose according to what I know they want or need. I hope they do the same for me.
Feel the same about birthdays, really. It's a good excuse to do some baking, but otherwise not really emotionally attached to a very arbitrary day.
Anyway, geez, this topic is depressing. It gives me the feeling a lot of people just don't even try to give the day a meaningful thought, a chance, even. For me, Christmas is the most special day of the year. I really am looking towards it at all times. I just love everything about it: Christmas tree, presents, the warm, cozy feeling, the decorations and lights... And especially snow. Which didn't occur this year in my country, sadly. All of these people complaining about their families...be happy you got a family in the first place. A lot of people can't say the same, are all alone and have it much worse than having to work on Christmas. Anyway, Christmas was kinda sad for me this year, because I had to study for my exams and thus could not fly over to my boyfriend's place. Same with New Year's. I even got ill. But guess what, I still stayed cheerful, because I just love Christmas that much, despite many delusional people thinking otherwise.