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08-13-2005, 05:22 PM
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Outlaw Sniper
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: Feb 2005
: AFX - I'm Momma Employed
: 1,544
Rep Power: 0
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Maybe the Christmas spirit does not rely on your view of what Christmas should be - undoubtedly a 'genuine', home-made affair, where people slave over the oven for 7 hours for little reward.
An enjoyable Christmas spirit does exist, but not because of the tacky, fake Christmas you spoke about.
What rubbish. As it Christmas is about the effort you put into the decor and the food.
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Let me start by saying this is very much a personal view. If others want to celebrate Christmas, that’s fine. If they want to give each other gifts they don't really want, eat a meal where they always complain about the turkey being “too dry” (but refuse to eat anything else on that Special Day), then fall asleep wearing a cheap novelty paper hat, well that’s just great - good luck to them I say! It’s just that I don't want to. And for the record, that doesn't make me Charles Dickens' famous miser. I don't know anyone called Tiny Tim for starters. It just means I don't want anything to do with Christmas.
I'm an atheist: I don't believe there's a divine being, higher power, God, Allah, Yahweh, Krishna or Buddha watching over us - so naturally I find the whole "Son-of-God, born into being by Immaculate Conception" thing a little hard to take in. I'm not saying it didn't happen - I'm just saying that I personally don't believe it. It requires a little blind faith and I don't have any, let alone the blind variety.
My view is that I shouldn't be celebrating a religious festival when I'm not part of that religion. After all, I'm not doing Ramadan; Yom Kippur passed me by - and I plum forgot when Diwali was. So why should Christmas be any different to me? Just because the rest of the country's prepared to supposedly remember the birth of little baby Jesus on the 25th, why should I have to?
Also, I know for a fact that it isn't a real Christian celebration, and that actually it was assimilated from the pagans. So even if I was Christian, I would probably still have little to no inclination to celebrate Christmas. At least not when it's not celebrated on the proper day of the year.
But that's not the reason I hate Christmas. I'm tolerant of all (well, most) peoples' faiths and religions and I'm a firm believer that you should follow your own beliefs. I would never want to stop anyone from celebrating anything, and would hope to receive the same in turn. The reason I hate Christmas is because it feels like there’s no choice but to celebrate it, and because it feels like people are only celebrating it because they feel they're expected to, and not why they want to - but also because it's so fake these days, and so overcommercialised, that people just don't put any effort into it, and it turns out to be a real farce. If I wanted to buy my vitamins, I have no choice but to endure row upon row of decorations, gift ideas and adverts featuring models frolicking in the snow with big goofy grins on their faces. Christmas is rammed down my throat at every turn, in every shop, on every street, in every newspaper and on every television show, and it's annoying to boot.
Surely even the most ardent lovers of Chrimbo (shudder) must hate that ultra-nauseous version of jingle bells - which by December is everywhere, gnawing into the brain like some terrible fog from a 1950s B-movie until you're left a quivering wreck on the shopping centre floor jabbering something about pine needles in the carpet. The music is awful, the TV is awful, the whole thing is just the most awful, farcical pile of steaming crap with no feeling, spirit, atmosphere, or anything whatsoever. I'd rather watch paint dry, because at least that would mean I'd be getting the redecoration of my room done.
Why would I want to subject myself or anyone else to that kind of shite? Why SHOULD I subject myself to that kind of shite? And can you think of any reason why I shouldn't hate it?
Don't even get me started on Santa. Jolly fat man in a red and white suit? It was Coca-Cola's invention in the 1920s, and the greatest marketing success of all time. OK, so there is Old Saint Nick, but who can tell me what he looks like? Anyone? Thought not. Santa and Saint Nicholas are the very epitome of a religious festival distorted and manipulated for commercial gain.
When I tell people I don't celebrate Christmas I get asked the strangest questions:
"But you still get presents don't you?" – NO.
"Well you still have Christmas dinner though don't you?" – NO!
"So you don't get any presents?" – Sheesh! Which bit of not celebrating Christmas don't you understand?
I have lots of people sympathising with me and saying how they hate Christmas too. Yet when it comes down to it they still do it all – the dinner, the presents, everything. But I suppose that makes sense, you can only hate something if you do it, and you are pretty much expected to do it. Children obviously love it - these days Christmas is the big payout. Parents have no choice but to accept it unless they want their kids to be ridiculed. Christmas is lodged so far into our consciousness that you're an outcast if you don't go along. And let’s face it, kids don't need much encouragement do they?
Some people think my feelings come from some bad experience, but I remember having lots of good Christmases as a child. I was a kid, and people were giving me things, cool things, so why wouldn't I have fond memories? It was much later I realised that so much of the day, the season, is just empty rhetoric – sentiment as thin as the paper around the pointless gifts. But there were a few christmases that really stuck in my mind, that I would later learn were traditional christmases, and would look back on with fondness. A time to light the wood log fire, have a home cooked traditional meal, surrounded by home made decorations that smelled of pine, and glowed with the flicker of a candle or two. Later we'd go to a big hall, where there would be traditional dancing, games, good food, and plenty of alcohol. That's what christmas should be, a time to have a really cracking good time, and it's something that people should do by choice, not because they feel they're expected to, and not because society and supermarket corporations pressure them to,
There are those who say the real meaning of Christmas is to be with family and loved ones, to give them presents and let them know how you feel. That’s very commendable and I can't say it's wrong to show such feelings, but why should I have to reserve that for one day per year? I often buy people presents, not because I have to, but because I want to – because I love them and don't need Christmas as an excuse. To me it's just like any other two days on which I don't have to do anything, and can just have fun. I feel that family and friends is important at christmas, because you get a good reason to round them all up and have a big bash, but why do that if the time together will just be spent sitting on a sofa, watching shitty TV programming, and eating cheap supermarket snacks off of plastic plates? There are better times and better ways to enjoy each others company. Sitting around a TV set is the way boring people who don't have a clue how to enjoy themselves spend their time during "eventful occasions". They don't ever go out and do something fun, exciting or interesting. They don't ever have a real good time.
So what will I be doing on the 25th? Pretty much the same as I do most days. What will I be eating? Pretty much what I'd normally eat. If you're planning on 'doing Christmas', I honestly hope you enjoy it, but for me it'll be celebrated without the "christmas" bit, unless we decide to bring back the traditional christmas.
Last edited by Dino; 08-13-2005 at 05:25 PM..
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! Okay, this one may not die, so how many of you celbrate Christmas but aren't Christians? I myself celebrate Christmas though I'm an atheist. Basically, if you don't belong to a particular religion (except Christianity excluding Jehovva Witnesses) you celebrate Christmas too in America, to most that is.
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I don't go to church, either, but usually we just get together on Christmas Eve and then I get together with my parents on Christmas Day. Yeah, I believe Christmas has been "commercialized" as well. 
! I mean, I, and everyone else for that matter, spends a fortune on gifts that season, so you'd expect everyone to want a little piece of the cake when the day comes.
