Christmas

[meebs]

Is anybody else actually dreading the whole christmas thing?

I just see it looming ahead and every year it just gets worse.

I dread the card buying thing and the present buying thing. I feel fake and it feels fake. I mean youre buying each other gifts and sometimes people want to know how much your spending so they can match you. You might as well buy yourself something. Also i feel that i have everything i need ever already right now i dont really want anything! (except a PSP but i feel that is something i could get myself!).

I like the idea of having a small christmas tree with nice trimmings and stuff and the family meal, which appeals so much more. Also i fancy the idea of helping out in a soup kitchen to help people who cant eat well or help poor families (i cant do this - nothing nearby)

UGH! western chritmas is so fake and commercial.

And for christians: i know you feel like this is jesus's birthday but i know some of you actually recognise it isnt anyway. but how do you feel?

christmas is great for kids but even then the tradttional side seem better. when you get older presents seem to lose their excitement.

im no scrooge - but i hate christmas the way it is now, so

Bah humbug

 

[ChildByGrace]

i know what you mean about commercial - i really dislike that side of it too. I try not to think about it until at least November because i think it starts way to early in the shops and really takes away from what Christmas is all about.
I guess for me it still holds some of its charm as we have a few kids in the family and they get really excited about Jesus's birthday

 

[Cleany]

Is anybody else actually dreading the whole christmas thing?

I just see it looming ahead and every year it just gets worse.

I dread the card buying thing and the present buying thing. I feel fake and it feels fake. I mean youre buying each other gifts and sometimes people want to know how much your spending so they can match you. You might as well buy yourself something. Also i feel that i have everything i need ever already right now i dont really want anything! (except a PSP but i feel that is something i could get myself!).

I like the idea of having a small christmas tree with nice trimmings and stuff and the family meal, which appeals so much more. Also i fancy the idea of helping out in a soup kitchen to help people who cant eat well or help poor families (i cant do this - nothing nearby)

UGH! western chritmas is so fake and commercial.

And for christians: i know you feel like this is jesus's birthday but i know some of you actually recognise it isnt anyway. but how do you feel?

christmas is great for kids but even then the tradttional side seem better. when you get older presents seem to lose their excitement.

im no scrooge - but i hate christmas the way it is now, so

Bah humbug

i know what you mean, its a present buying fest :/

but i like the atmosphere at christmas, and im too poor to buy presents anyway

 

[martinedwards]

Well, I make our cards with a recent photo of the kids, hopfully something funny..... 2 years ago it was the 3 boys dresed up as wise men delivering Gold, Frankenstein & Myrrh (yup, that second gift IS as written!!)

Family lunch with the inlaws is good cos Nan cooks & I don't have to!

As for presents? well, I'd love a unicycle. Call it mid life crisis if you want, but they're not dear and I'd just love to have a go!!

Guitars & stuff are too personal, but if anyone wanted to drop £2000 on a McIlroy acoustic I wouldn't complain!!!

 

[Cleany]

i wouldnt call a unicycle a mid-life crisis

 

[non-religious]

I love Christmas.... I love to see the look on my daughter's face when she's opening her presents, I love the time I get to spend with family and friends I haven't seen for a while. I love the putting up the tree and decorations, I love the food and alcohol I over-indulge in. And most importantly......

I love the fact that God has trully blessed my life and given me another opportunity to celebrate His Goodness.

People have always bemoaned the fact that Christmas is "fake" and "commercial" there's nothing new in that. Shops are already displaying the mince pies, Christmas puddings etc... and although I agree that it's far too premature to be shoving the Christmas products down our throats, hey..... this is how we do Christmas over here. Perhaps you should save up all your hard earned cash throughout the year and go spend Christmas in the Eastern World and leave us "Westerners" to enjoy our fake, commercial holiday

I'm still trying to decide what chocolate calender to get myself this year
Enjoy it.......

 

[meebs]

I'm still trying to decide what chocolate calender to get myself this year
Enjoy it.......

i admit thats what i do every year - but thats cos its just nice to wake up to a bit of choclate everyday..

 

[bmoynihan]

I don't know if its because I am getting older but I really don't like Christmas anymore! I am not a Christian so I don't celebrate it from that perspective. Plus its getting FAR too commerical, its just a way for shops to sell more! thats all Christmas is now.

 

[steverock]

i love christmas!!!!!!!!
easily the most exciting time of year!!

probably has got too commericial but i dont really care. doesnt effect what i know christmas is about.

im really looking forward to the carol services this year!! its going to be huge. because our Church has grown so much over the last year and it was packed last year so we're having TWO! and im doing audio for them!! we're having a full band (which probably means 3 vocalists, 2 acoustic guitars, 2 electric guitars, 1 keyboard, 1 bassist, 1 flute, drums and percussion), a string quartet (2 violins, a viola and a cello) AND a choir. not all at the same time thankfully but its gonna be BIG!! so at the end of that day there will have been FOUR SERVICES (we have two morning services every week as well) so there will have been two nativity service and two carol services - beautiful but i will be knackered!!

10 weeks 2 Days to go!!!!

 

[Bonhoffer]

I've still not decided whether I want to celebrate Christmas as a religious festival.

Dont get me wrong I strongly believe celebrating Jesus and all God has done, but Christmas doesnt feel like the right time to celebrate it.
I think I'd sooner celebrate Christmas as a secular or a family holiday and celebrate Christs birth at the later date (i.e January the 10th like the Eastern church do!!)

So in effect I will be celebrating Christmas and Christs birth as seperate events. Christmas has always been a celebration of the family unit for rather than anything to do with the birth of Jesus.

 

[Jer]

I love the actual day of christmas, although it's not as good as I remember it being. The family has had too many divorces and is spread all over the place so it's a lot smaller now. Also we don't have a coal fire, which I loved. Although presents aren't everything when you were a kid they were so much fun, and even if they weren't much you still loved them to bits. It is way to commercialised, I've already seen the christmas stuff on sale for a while now, but I try and overlook it and see the nice parts.

 

[teehee]

christmas now is boring
theres no excitement
the emphasis is on the wroing things
and seeing christmas spelled xmas and present in shops in octobver really hcks me off!!!

 

[steverock]

so much cynicism!!
its depressing.

 

[meebs]

I've still not decided whether I want to celebrate Christmas as a religious festival.

Dont get me wrong I strongly believe celebrating Jesus and all God has done, but Christmas doesnt feel like the right time to celebrate it.
I think I'd sooner celebrate Christmas as a secular or a family holiday and celebrate Christs birth at the later date (i.e January the 10th like the Eastern church do!!)

So in effect I will be celebrating Christmas and Christs birth as seperate events. Christmas has always been a celebration of the family unit for rather than anything to do with the birth of Jesus.

i do like this idea a lot better

 

[~*ZEE*~]

I agree with the sentiment...I hate the way Christmas can feel like one big fat obligation.

I really love giving gifts; I deeply enjoy shopping for the receipient's eventual pleasure (despite the horrendous shopping crowds - I'm getting in early this year!). The only shadow hovering over that enjoyment is the expectation (formed by our hording, materialistic society, of course), that we should give expensive/big/'cool' gifts. That's what is fake about the present notion of Christmas celebrations.

I prefer getting my people practical-and-special pressies, things they'll have a use for...and things they'll actually use (i.e. not like the cappachino machine mum had to have but never uses!) Like, if someone gave me a copy of one of my favourite classics, I'd be happy - but if they took the time to find me an early hardback edition in its original leather binding with gold leaf, I'd be chuffed to bits with it...even though it's obviously been through many hands, because I love old books!

I've found that the best presents, the ones most keenly appreciated, are those that are personal...not commercial!

 

[non-religious]

[steverock]so much cynicism!!
its depressing.

Absolutely........

 

[meebs]

Absolutely........

why? you mean me or me and the others?

 

[ScottishJohn]

I love Christmas. I love getting the tree, getting out the decorations, choosing presents for people, arranging to meet up with family and friends all of those things. But I still really enjoy advent, I love those 4 sundays when we look to the coming of Christ, I love the watchnight service, and I love coming together as a church family on Christmas Morning. I couldn't care less that it is not the exact date time and hour, it really doesn't seem important to me, what matters is that we celebrate it and how we celebrate it.

As for commercialism, yeah its a bit of a scunner, but you can choose how much of it you buy into. You can choose not to go anywhere near town, you can choose to turn off the TV. As far as buying presents and sending cards, if you are doing it just out of obligation then yes that does suck. But you don't have to do it out of obligation, and there is no law that says you have to spend hideous amounts of money. My wife is really into buying fair trade and ethically produced stuff for presents at Christmas time, which can be quite interesting. Anyway, I always think if the people you are giving presents to are the kind of people who talk about what you have given them behind your back then I'm not really bothered about what they think!

 

[meebs]

As for commercialism, yeah its a bit of a scunner, but you can choose how much of it you buy into. You can choose not to go anywhere near town, you can choose to turn off the TV.

i think your other agruments for christmas are pretty good except this one. How can i avoid town if i need to go there?, and despite everything i do enjoy the tellly. including the ridicolus amounts of only fools and horses they show at christmas . (though i dont watch TV as much now in general anyway).

lets face it the only way i'll avoid the stupid christmas commercialism is if i lock myself in a room for a duration of 3 months! no thanks. i still like a bit of a life!



and another point: its the commercalism i hate the most... thats the thing, that IS christmas now. i like the family meals and stuff. Even the food industry has got into the commercial christmas, i prefer homemade - though accept it if someone cant cook!

 

[ScottishJohn]

i think your other agruments for christmas are pretty good except this one. How can i avoid town if i need to go there?, and despite everything i do enjoy the tellly. including the ridicolus amounts of only fools and horses they show at christmas . (though i dont watch TV as much now in general anyway).

lets face it the only way i'll avoid the stupid christmas commercialism is if i lock myself in a room for a duration of 3 months! no thanks. i still like a bit of a life!

No you are right, what I said doesn't make complete sense. I suppose what I was driving at is that you don't have to follow the Christmas rush and be in town for every single shopping day. You don't have to watch the rubbish that comes on TV at Christmas, (as opposed to the good stuff that comes on TV at Christmas) you can turn over or turn off. I like to filter out the bumph and enjoy Christmas. I suppose that is what I am getting at. And when you do come across examples of rabid commericalism you have a choice, you can either allow it to really annoy you (and spoil whatever you are doing) or you can laugh, shrug it off and go elsewhere or just ignore the tack. I hope that makes more sense!

and another point: its the commercalism i hate the most... thats the thing, that IS christmas now. i like the family meals and stuff. Even the food industry has got into the commercial christmas, i prefer homemade - though accept it if someone cant cook!

I suppose on this it is again down to choice. Nobody can come into your home and force you to do anything at Christmas. I don't think that the commercialism IS christmas at all, its not a part of my Christmas. As far as the meals, one of the things me and my friends used to do at Christmas when we were students, we used to cook Christmas dinners for each other before we went home. Anyone can boil and roast tatties and veg, and its not the hardest thing in the world to cook a Turkey.

I suppose it all depends on your approach and the approach of those around you. I am fortunate in that I have always managed to find people who enjoy celebrating Christmas in the same kind of way I do. One thing we used to do where i used to live which was fab was Christmas eve carol singing - we used to stand in the centre of town and sing carols unaccompanied and try and get a few stressed last minue shoppers to join us for a carol or two and chill out a bit. We also went round the local hospitals. It was fantastic!