My Opinion on the Holiday Season

My opinions on Holidays in General

Its the time of year, where you get what you want and really need!. (Both family and presents )

Its nice to be able to see other family members once in a while...
I think the main reason why there are holidays, because it gives you a break from work, school and other work related stuff. Helps you relax your mind, lose stress and enjoy the people who you havn't seen for quite some time. However the draw back with holidays, is that you lose money
but thats ok... I will do anything to see my far away relatives. Some of my friends don't like Christmas that much. (I think its because they work on Christmas day, or something) but thats why we have a couple weeks off. Anyway, I'll stop it here. Happy Holidays!

 

My sentiments exactly. I guess I'm among the lucky ones that actually gets along with my in-laws. My FIL has a strange sense of humor, like I do, and can be quite hard to get sometimes also, but we keep each other rolling when we get together...and our wives rolling their eyes.

Merry Christmas everyone!

 

The Christmas, Hanakkuh, Kwanza, New Years season combines many differing themes into a single cultural result...good will towards "man". It's a time of year when many people become receptive to setting aside differences in favor of friendship. While "family" is a common focus, this term often grows to include friends and even strangers who might be in need of a friend. It's a wonderful, magical time of year.

 

What? Don't all families do this? The constant fighting, arguing, and sniping is what makes the holidays special. How else would we know we are loved? If my grandmother didn't complain about the dishes and my cousin start raving about politics while my mother turns a pale shade of green with anxiety, and in the corner my great aunt starts shouting about the greedy "rich people" while my brother's well-to-do mother-in-law sits stonily at stares at the Christmas tree, my other aunt shrieks at the dogs to get out of the kitchen while my uncle hands out snide, deprecating comments to me and my husband while my other cousin ignores me or pretends to give a crap about what's going on in my life, and all the while my husband, my brother, my sister-in-law, and I are all chatting and drinking heavily while my dad pretends he's a bonafide sommelie and the next Bobby Flay... well... if that all didn't happen it just wouldn't be Christmas. Honestly, I'd be disappointed if any of that was missing. It's my family. They're annoying and irratating and I try to avoid some of them like the plague for the rest of the year, but at Christmas... it's expected and welcomed. Like putting on an old sweater with the patched elbows and threadbare sleeves. Old and smells funny, but wraps you in familiar comfort like none other and the instant you put in on you remember why you love it, and why you hate it.

The holidays are the only time I get to see most of my family, and the majority of us live in the same state, a few live maybe 20 miles away at most. But even then we all have such busy lives that we don't see each other for weeks on end, sometimes months. Family is important, but the holidays are the one chance we get to ALL be together and socialize, complain, whine, and celebrate being a family, dysfunctional or not. It's hard to explain... but I look forward to putting that old smelly sweater on every year for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Hanukkah. I'll miss it when it's gone again, and be just as irritated next year when we repeat the process. But I wouldn't give it up for all the world.

 

Oh, there goes Mr. Humbug
There goes Mr. Grim
If they gave a prize for bein' mean the winner would be him
Oh, Scroogey loves his money 'cause he thinks it gives him power
If he became a flavor you can bet he would be sour


^^ Hah, I had to. Scrooge lyrics from muppet christmas carol.

It's gonna be a difficult christmas this year but I think we'll get through it.
Besides, most families argue cos you're sposed to get along in a confined space for 24 hours haha.

 

I hate this 'Holiday Season'

It's a time of overwhelming commercialism and greed
It’s just an overrated, over-cooked celebration of self absorption and the grotesquely grandiose

Seems people have just forgotten what it’s all about. It’s really sad that these days’ kids will grow up understanding Christmas as being about presents and candy and Santa- they'll never be able to appreciate that Christmas is more than just masquerade of materialism, but an actual celebration of the birth of Christ and his teachings of recognising God before self and others before self

Only a very select few people (that I know of) actually celebrate what Christmas is supposed to be about and usually these people haven’t ornately decorated their houses, they haven’t bought like five hundred dollars worth of food for a ‘Christmas Dinner’, they’ve instead used their money and time to help those poor and needy feel not so crappy during the holiday season (seriously, it's bad enough struggling to make rent or being seriously sick at Christmas time, let alone having to put up with people jolsting around their better fortune) and have taken the time to attend Mass and pay their respects to the Lord.

I’m not Christian, and nor is my family, so we don’t celebrate Christmas (No offence to Christians of course, I have the upmost respect for people of faith and am infact SICK of atheists saying Christianity is full of crap and picking on people who believe in God and then having the gull to go off and then celebrate occasions like Easter and Christmas- seriously that’s hilarious)

 

Christmas and Easter use to be Pagan holidays.
Christians stole most of their holidays from different religions.
Why shouldn't I celebrate Christmas the Pagan way?
Even though now its a Christian holiday...it still once was a Pagan holiday.
I'm not overly religious, but I still celebrate Christmas.
I just don't like the "oh the family can get together...I haven't seen them in five years" "oh do they live far?" "no they live just right around the corner?"[over exaggeration I know, but I'm making a point]
I don't like the commercials and I don't like the greed either.
I try my best to give back to what I get.

 

I love the greed. I love the whole "eat all you can, drink all you can, hog as many presents as you can" attitude around christmas.
It's just all about gorgeing yourself and being happy.
Besides, If I was an avid charity giver then surely i'd be doing that all the way through the year, and not just at christmas?

I think it was on some Tony robinson programme about the worst jobs in history,and he actually said that the old way of celebrating christmas was to eat and drink til they pass out as a way of celebrating all their hard work (e.g logging in the horrible cold, pulling out turkey guts, making toys & clothes by hand all year etc). Sounds pretty good to me, and I think that's what most people do now. They're happy at christmas 'cos we're miserable the rest of the year.

Besides, not everybody is religious. Plus i'm selfish and greedy HAH.

 

That's not wholly correct, Leaka. Christmas and Easter are Christian holidays - the dates/time of year was combined with the Pagan holiday to make Christianity more acceptable to Pagans back in the day. There are a lot of theories why Christians superimposed their holidays over those of the Pagans, the most prominent being that it was thought "if you can't beat them, join them", meaning that Christians knew they wouldn't be able to convert the Pagans away from their spiritual festivals. So the Christians said "Hey, look! We've got festivals at those times too!" Christianty seemed less strange if it was presented in a more familiar packaging. In retrospect, it was a very smart move for the missionaries who were set on converting the Pagans, but it has left some baggage for us future generations on both sides. But it is what it is. Christmas in itself is a Christian holiday, as is Easter. It's the seasons that people quibble over.

 

I like public holidays - just wish there were more of them! As it is I have to work Christmas Eve ¬_¬ ...rubbish.

I hate the overly commercialised, money grabbing side of it but then I don't need Christmas to hate that - it just emphasises it! But I love good food, good drink and good company and not having to worry about work the next day!! I love sleeping in and bumming around in my PJs, I love the lights and the tree and the fire.

Can't think of many things better then that and it's made even more special because it only happens once a year.

 

You've obviously never been poor

= D

 

We are this year!

DAAAMNNN you credit crunch! *shakes fist*

Besides, we haven't cos my parents work so hard to keep a happy life.
I dont take any credit for how well off we've been so far.
I feel sorry for those who are less fortunate, but sadly, i cant save the billions of homeless people.

I was watching on "the real hustle" how they make fake charities and make it a legal loop hole so they cant be put away for it.
The amount of those charties ive come across is unbelievable!
"If I can just get you to write down your credit details, you can save everyone in africa"

Pffft. I'm no fool.

 

That's not what I'm really saying..

I'm talking about people in our own context that should be on par in circumstance as ourselves but aren’t

situations which are relieved (not solved but at least, relieved) through sharing or by just simple consideration

if we all did one kind act that involved sharing to someone who isn't going as great as we are, then I think there would be alot more sincerity in Christmas and alot more people would be able to enjoy and appreciate it

for example, last Christmas my neighbours weren't doing so well money-wise, they told us they were upset because they just paid their rent so they couldn't afford presents or a Christmas dinner.. now, obviously we couldn't solve their problem so we just did something small by making them a cake and inviting them over for lunch... and it was good, they liked it... and it was nice to know that at least a fraction of their Christmas wasn't completely crap ...

 

It's called that because there are multiple holdays that happen at once, not to take away from what Christmas is. Christmas, Hanuka, Boxing Day, New Year's Day, Eid, Kwanzaa, and the whole season gets kicked off with the American Thanksgiving.

 

Lol

Thankyou for that insightful post Rei

(and i'm referring only to Christmas, just to clear that up)

 

Poor to me is living on the streets in the cold.
And that is just what me and my family had to once.
Live in the streets while everyone else was warm and feeding themselves.
I guess that is another reason I'm not a particular fan of this Christmas or any Christmas.
Its because the greed that comes with.
"I get lots of presents"<---That's great to know, what about your family
"I get to eat a lot...I'm not doing my stomach justice"<---eat till you are full then stop eating
"Because there is a lot of food and I want to be nice to the people who cooked"<----take a goody bag

 

hmm... about the eating part...
you know how you go to subway and you get a footlong sandwich, and you know that's not enough and you get a second footlong sandwich, and then an hour later you're hungry again? or how a large one topping pizza is for one... yeah...

so 'overeating for the holidays' is more like 'just eating' for me.

though i did eat kimchi in south korea, which made my stomach 'explode', and i've been eating more or less like a regular human since then.

 

That's exactly what I'm saying

 

Well then we agree.

 

My point is that the term is supposed to be inclusive. If you're talking about Christmas, say Christmas. No need to pretend to be inclusive.

 

LOL

it wasn't deliberate dude

it's all good

 

I can only eat a six inch.
How do you...??

 

Most people don't mean it. Just educating.

The stores do take it too far, though, with promoting the most expensive gifts and all that. However, for those who are not religious, since Christmas did absorb the pagan festival that happens at the same time, why not have big parties? And part of the way we celebrate Hanuka is with feasting. No reason not to go all out and create the biggest feast you can.

 

In the end you can do whatever you want

just do something nice for someone else that isn't as well off as you

 

Yes, and sadly I cant do that for everyone. I'm sure your neighbours were grateful but that doesnt account for everyone else.

You know why I dont spend christmas day worrying about others?
Because I have the rest of the entire year to not just worry about other people but myself aswell.

I'll tell you what I hate about christmas - the sanctimonious bullcrap that comes with it. People practically ramming their "good will" down my throat. I know exactly how to give to charity and I do so frequently. If me and my family wanna spend a whole day being greedy then quite frankly, we deserve it.