The Humbug Thread

[MrJim]

Back again by popular demand...

Yup, this is the place to vent happy holiday frustrations, grinchy Christmas cheer, grump about whatever on the seasons...

Brought to you by

...ho ho ho...

 

[Danfrey]

How's this for a humbug. We don't celebrate Christmas around the Freysinger household.

 

[MrJim]

Tell me more...

 

[ZiSunka]

How can anyone be a humbug about a holiday that allows you to go around putting Bible scenes up in your front yard for everyone to see, when you get to give gifts to people just because you love them and no one thinks it's weird, when you can tell every one you meet to be merry because God lives among us and when people celebrate the birth of Christ by feasting?

I don't know. This is the happiest time of the year for me.

 

[Danfrey]

Tell me more...

There are just too many Christmas traditions that come from a Pagan heritage. Combine that with the materialism that has taken over and it makes for a very good reason not to celebrate it. Interestingly, we have 60 years of Biblical writings after Christs death and there is no mention of celebrating his birth. It has been a while since I put the information together, so I will have to do a little research so that I am not talking off the top of my head. I will try to put together an article for Nipto and post a note when it is ready.

Let me finish by say that I feel that this is one of the issues were there is room for differing opinions. Paul tells us not to be judged on holy days and Sabbaths, so I will not critisize anyone who does celebrate Christmas. I do think that if a Christian is going to celebrate it that they should avoid the materialism that is an American Christmas and any of the practices that are Pagan in origin. You would be amazed how much heat I have recieved for my stand on this one. People get a little upset when you start messing with Christmas.

PS. I really have a hard time with a plastic Jesus. Talk about ingraven image.

 

[catlover]

There are just too many Christmas traditions that come from a Pagan heritage. Combine that with the materialism that has taken over and it makes for a very good reason not to celebrate it. Interestingly, we have 60 years of Biblical writings after Christs death and there is no mention of celebrating his birth. It has been a while since I put the information together, so I will have to do a little research so that I am not talking off the top of my head. I will try to put together an article for Nipto and post a note when it is ready.

Let me finish by say that I feel that this is one of the issues were there is room for differing opinions. Paul tells us not to be judged on holy days and Sabbaths, so I will not critisize anyone who does celebrate Christmas. I do think that if a Christian is going to celebrate it that they should avoid the materialism that is an American Christmas and any of the practices that are Pagan in origin. You would be amazed how much heat I have recieved for my stand on this one. People get a little upset when you start messing with Christmas.

PS. I really have a hard time with a plastic Jesus. Talk about ingraven image.

I find materialism and consumerism intertwined in a religious holiday more evil than Pagan influences.

 

[ZiSunka]

It is possible to have Christmas without paganisms and commercialism.

I buy most of the presents I give at rummage sales and garage sales, I get greenery at work for free, I do minimal decorating and make most of the decorations or use decorations I already have, I never never put up a tree, and the decoration I put up on my front door is a framed print of the text of Luke 2:1-14 that I got for 50 cents , our Christmas meal usually consists of barbeque cooked out on the deck, even when there is 30 inches of snow.

Decorations are mostly tea candles in pretty pottery bowls I already have, plus a nativity set in the front window. A nativity set isn't an idol because I don't pray to the baby Jesus, nor do I worship in front of it or use it as a conduit to God. It's a symbol of the day God was born as a human and mere mortals could finally see God face to face.

Christmas is whatever you let it be. If you buy into the idea that it's PS3 and diamond jewelry, then that's what it is. If you hold firm that it's a wonderful holiday of family and friends worshipping Christ, then that's what it is.

I know what I'm talking about because I used to be a humbug about Christmas, too. Then when I changed my habits and attitude, it really did become the most wonderful time of the year.

By the way, I was all done with my shopping in August and I've spent way less than $200 for gifts for ten important people. It doesn't have to get out of hand.

So grumble all you want. Read A Christmas Carol (I do every year) and pay special attention to the end when Scrooge says, "And I vow to keep Christmas in my heart throughtout the year." Christmas, for Christians, isn't about 30 days of rushing and overspending, it's 365 days of keeping the spirit of generosity, love and grace in your heart and 30 days of shouting it from the rooftops.

 

[MrJim]

OK now this isn't a "debate the merits of Christmas" thread it's reserved for Scroogy Grinches who'll wake up Christmas morning with their hearts 5X larger and have an epiphany moment sending a boy to buy a goose.

So

 

[ZiSunka]

Aren't you the guy who keeps telling me I'm too negative and grumpy??

 

[MrJim]

Aren't you the guy who keeps telling me I'm too negative and grumpy??

Who? ME?

 

[ZiSunka]

Well, humbug on your humbug!

 

[ZiSunka]

And it's a turkey, not a goose.

 

[MrJim]

See, you're gettin' into the spirit of things!

 

[ZiSunka]

Too bad we don't have that smilie that rolls its eyes anymore.

 

[ZiSunka]

Who? ME?

So what you are really telling me is that you get annoyed when my grumpiness doesn't coincide with your grumpiness?

 

[MrJim]

So what you are really telling me is that you get annoyed when my grumpiness doesn't coincide with your grumpiness?

I ain't bein' grumpy, I'm being grinchy--it's limited to Xmas-only issues. Other than that I'm fine... sleepy...but fine.

Just think of it as a sorta PMS thing that I get all at once in December

 

[ZiSunka]

Wouldn't that be PCS?

 

[P_G]

So at my day job they have on the all christmas music all the time station

The speaker is right over my head - LOUD real real loud

I shut them down last Friday and told them to stow that fa la la
No one needs to hear Fleas Navidad 4 times in one day

NO ONE I TELL YOU!

PG

 

[CelticRose]

I like Christmas; I just don't like lots of the hoop-la that goes with it. I get particularly irrate when Christmas stuff appears in the shops in October when I still have 3 birthdays to go before Christmas. It makes me wild about the eyes.

I particularly hate the commercialism though pagan or not I love all the traditions but when we get up Christmas morning & we're all packed into our little church hall with the neighbours who never set foot in church the rest of the year I get that nice happy glow that makes the fraught month of December seem worth it - at least till next year.

 

[MrJim]

So at my day job they have on the all christmas music all the time station

The speaker is right over my head - LOUD real real loud

I shut them down last Friday and told them to stow that fa la la
No one needs to hear Fleas Navidad 4 times in one day

NO ONE I TELL YOU!

PG

Amen

One year when the local Christian radio station went to a 24/7 Christmas music (beginning the day after Thanksgiving) I called to complain-they said that they play a variety. I told them 8 different versions of "O Holy Night" does not constitute variety...