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I'm with GCSTroop. I'm not christian. Our family is not remotely christian. But because it was fun for the kids and because xmas is more of a secular holiday now, my parents celebrated it with us and we all continue to celebrate it. It's funny how that once christian day is held in reverence in our family - instead of anything to do with Jesus, it has to do with family, love, giving, and having fun together.
I realize that could happen any day of the year, but it's fun to get with the spirit of good cheer and celebrating that is already going on. In the middle of a dreary winter, it's a spirit lifter. And certainly not a reason to plunge yourself into debt.
In answer to the OP's question, though...when someone asks you how you're spending your xmas, tell 'em...
"Wondering about the lavish gifts you'll be getting me."
I also agree with the Troopster as usual. I enjoy getting together with my family who are widely scattered and if I can take home a haul of gifts that I've specifically requested (I always tell them exactly what I want) then it's all the better. What I don't like about Christmas is the fact that I always have to travel a long distance which always involves flying, busy airports, stress, higher prices, etc. This Christmas will be weird because I'm going to Phoenix which is the city I just moved away from a few months ago because my StepFather has a couple of sisters who live there and they've decided they're going to take about a three month road trip which includes visiting my brother in northern Indiana near Chicago and me in Nashville as they take the long route from Montana to Phoenix. So my sister will fly up from Guadalajara, Mexico, I'll fly from Tennessee, and my Mother and Stepfather will drive to a city that none of us live in. Somehow that seems very odd.
Anyway, ranting aside. Those of you who do not celebrate the holy day, give me some snappy comebacks to lay on people when they inevitably have to ask me questions about my holiday plans. "We don't do Xmas" just doesn't have the impact I am looking for....
Ideas?
20yrsinBranson
Why would you want a snappy comeback? It could be just an innocent question, albeit a clumsy one -- and being snappy, you risk insulting the asker's religion. Me, I tell the truth. Every Christmas, I, like many other New York Jews, dine out in Chinatown. If I want to be facetious, I point out that this is a Jewish tradition (which it actually is, at least among non-observant Jews in New York).
We are Jewish, and for more years than I can remember we have volunteered with a small group to help cook, package and deliver meals to the elderly and ill in our almost exclusively Christian, predominantly Roman Catholic community. So, when people ask what our plans are, we tell them. It's interesting that many people respond with a comment about how we are living the "real meaning of Christmas," not knowing that we aren't even Christian...
We are Jewish, and for more years than I can remember we have volunteered with a small group to help cook, package and deliver meals to the elderly and ill in our almost exclusively Christian, predominantly Roman Catholic community. So, when people ask what our plans are, we tell them. It's interesting that many people respond with a comment about how we are living the "real meaning of Christmas," not knowing that we aren't even Christian...
A blessing Leorah on your head from another njg in MO.
I have to say that I love Christmas, and not for the gifts! I really love the season because unlike most of the year,
it is a time when my family actually gets together and everyone seems happy. I like to be around happy family
having a nice dinner with all the pretty decorations around. Its not about gifts, but it can be about giving. Sure, I know its not Jesus's birthday and even if it was most people never even think of Jesus during Christmas time. Pagan
or not for me it is about family and getting together with friends with other things on your mind than normal life and business as usual. You don't have to be Christian to enjoy Christmas just like you don't have to wait until Christmas
to give and be joyous. But that time of the year holds so many wonderful memories for me as a child on up through adulthood. I just can't see how that can be a bad thing. My family has always been together for Christmas, and its
one of the most wonderful times of the year for me. And as for snappy comebacks, why do you feel the need for them. Why can't you simply say, "I don't celebrate Christmas." Do you simply assume that everyone who does
celebrate Christmas is a mindless corporate drone just going through the holiday gift buying motions. So that means you have to try to demean them with statements like this:
"You'll have to pardon me for not partaking in a pagan holiday which was conscripted for xtian use. The venal and crass commercialization of it leaves a sour taste in my mouth." We aren't all like you and we aren't all like this. Christmas is a feeling, a joyous time, not a shopping spree.
So maybe the next time someone asks about your plans you will think about your answer a little. Because that person might be just like me, genuinely interested in what you plan to do over this joyful season. Don't automatically presume you should attack them or put their holiday down. That starts to border on prejudice.
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) then it's all the better. What I don't like about Christmas is the fact that I always have to travel a long distance which always involves flying, busy airports, stress, higher prices, etc. This Christmas will be weird because I'm going to Phoenix which is the city I just moved away from a few months ago because my StepFather has a couple of sisters who live there and they've decided they're going to take about a three month road trip which includes visiting my brother in northern Indiana near Chicago and me in Nashville as they take the long route from Montana to Phoenix. So my sister will fly up from Guadalajara, Mexico, I'll fly from Tennessee, and my Mother and Stepfather will drive to a city that none of us live in. Somehow that seems very odd.
Xmas
Xmas
