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My parents made Christmas a joy for me. That feeling has never ended and I have tried to give it back to my kids and my wife's.
I agree. I love Christmas and it really has nothing to do with gifts. In fact, I'd rather not get any at all. I like the feeling Christmas gives me because of all the fond memories from childhood. I like the decorations, the music & the food. I'm also a Christian, so it has an extra special meaning for me (regardless of the actual date of Christs birth).
I don't mind if people don't want to celebrate, or be part of it at all. The wonderful thing is we all have the ability to choose what makes us happy, and what doesn't. The spirit of Christmas is love and kindness and sharing that with others. We could all use more of that IMO.
Location: In a rural place where people can't bother me ;)
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The older I get the more I see its all about money also. I mean we have all year to make up excuses to hang out with family and give to one another. I like to hang out with my family during summer and give them a cold beer and take their empty to the trash....Why wait till Christmas?
I am I'm doing half summer solistice (which is today dec 21)by wearing a flower crown on my head and half getting into the Xmas spirit by watching Xmas cartoons.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KathrynAragon
Then celebrate however you want. Who's stopping you?
I really appreciate people who will work and take vacation at a different time of year so that people who DO celebrate Christmas can have that time off to mark the holiday.
Yeah my son would always do that too. Holidays, weekends, he owned them. Had no use for them, figured others should enjoy them, and besides, it was usually time and a half.
I agree. I love Christmas and it really has nothing to do with gifts. In fact, I'd rather not get any at all. I like the feeling Christmas gives me because of all the fond memories from childhood. I like the decorations, the music & the food. I'm also a Christian, so it has an extra special meaning for me (regardless of the actual date of Christs birth).
I don't mind if people don't want to celebrate, or be part of it at all. The wonderful thing is we all have the ability to choose what makes us happy, and what doesn't. The spirit of Christmas is love and kindness and sharing that with others. We could all use more of that IMO.
Not feeling it and I have practically zero "fond memories from childhood." I missed out on mine and envy those who had one.
I have a different view of Christmas and that is it brings out the worst in many people. Nastiness is definitely up a notch this time of season. Except for scattered toy, clothing, and food drives there is no increase of any love or kindness. I wish the world and my surroundings were like that all through the year I'm looking forward to it being over as in many cases tempers are short and people are stressed out. I try and avoid.
OP, no one forces you to participate. I haven't done so in 35-40 years. As a non-religious person Christmas means nothing to me.
Nothing sociopathic about it. There are plenty of people that don't get into Christmas. Not everyone has a close-knit family, not everyone cares for the overcommercialization of the holiday, and others don't celebrate for numerous other reasons. I have been on my own for 22 years and I have never had a tree. I think that, for the most part, decorations are a waste of money so I just don't do it. I did hang up stockings for my cats though
You just happen to be one of those people. I used to volunteer to work the holidays too, so that my coworkers could spend time with their kids. But New Year's Eve - that's mine and no one is touching it! :P
Christmas is what you make it. If you want it to be about gifts, then it is. If you want it to be about spending time together, then it is. If you want it to be about making the world a better place through charity or spreading joy, etc., then it is. If you want it to be nothing, then it is. If you want it to be about a vacation weekend, then it is. If you want it to be about Jesus (as) and/or worship then it is. So the question is - if you imagine your ideal Christmas, what is it? And are there any aspects of that that you want enough to do something about it - to create new traditions in your family or anything like that?
I'm sorry that you have no deep inner connections that would allow you to appreciate the real meanings of the Christmas event. Its unfortunate that western religion has eliminated all its esoteric traditions which are what explain the outer ceremonies. Eliminated from dogma perhaps, but not eliminated for those who are willing to search.
To me, Christmas has never been about gifts. Or even about family. Or even about kids. To me, Christmas is a religious holiday about celebrating the birth of Christ. All the other stuff is whatever you embrace and incorporate into it - or don't. Get this - it's pretty easy to avoid the crowds. I haven't been to the mall or WalMart during the Christmas season in years. I just don't go. I do buy some presents (mostly for the kids and dogs in our family) but my husband and I ran out the other evening at about 8 pm and did all our Christmas shopping in two stores and were done by 9 pm. No biggie. If that's too much stress for other people I can't help that but it wasn't a big deal to me.
Decorating? I enjoy that but I enjoy decorating for MANY holidays throughout the year. If I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't do it. My only regret this year is that I didn't do an Advent wreath - usually I do one of those and I will definitely do one next year.
Big meal? Not this year. This year my husband and my brother and sister in law and I are going out to eat at a fancy restaurant together, dressed to the nines. I am excited about that!
Gifts? My husband and I are not buying each other gifts. My mother and I aren't either. Basically we bought for the kids (grandkids) in the family. Luckily we can afford that that so it wasn't a big strain - but then we don't spend a lot per child either - about $25. The great thing about the kids in our family is that they are also being raised to celebrate the birth of Christ for Christmas, so none of them are into expensive gifts. Sure, they enjoy opening the presents but they like the entire season of Advent.
This will be an entirely new Christmas Eve/Christmas Day mode this year because we usually celebrate it with lots of family around but this year we're all burned out on that due to a recent death in the family (my dad) and then Thanksgiving, which involved lots of visiting, company, everyone seeing everyone else and eating copious amounts of food...so this year we're all sort of splitting up and doing out own individual family unit things - and that's great too. Maybe some new traditions will evolve.
To everything there is a season. Families change. Dynamics change. Priorities change. Beliefs change. Seasons change. Embrace the change. Make your own traditions - or sweep them all away. At the end of the day, believe it or not, the vast majority of people won't care and you don't answer to them anyway. And if you're honest with yourself, you don't care all that much about how other people celebrate or don't, or believe or don't, either. So just focus on your own inner peace and what your own actions are and don't worry about what others think or do.
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