What does Christmas mean?

Does anyone here still have a traditional christmas - be honest what does christmas mean to you?

 

Double time

 

Yeah - my Christmas is like Eastenders - the comedown version. And in this version I don't get £50/day as an extra and am forced to be a method actor - all those rows - I could be an Oscar winner.

My parents are great, but I'll have to put up with the wicked bitch of the North for 3 whole days (my sister!) so that sucks.

It's not even Jesus' birthday anyway, and all the debt it gets people into sucks - I'd rather put some money in a pot and have a huuuuge family party instead of buying a load of stuff no-one else really wants, and receiving a load of tat *I* don't want.

NYE is what *I'm* waiting for....

 

Christmas for me is recieving loads of uselss torches and pocket radios.

 

My view - Christmas is now driven by greed. We all have to be good little consumers and keep the economy ticking over. Retailers tell us we must spend money on our loved ones or they won't love us any more. Even more unforgivable is the fact that it's approached from the opposite direction too. If someone doesn't buy you enough stuff they obviously don't love you.

As such even if you can resist advertising you're still buggered because you get ear-ache from spouse/children. The retailers are laughing - they just set the ball rolling and we do the rest. The whole nation ends up in a butt load of debt from buying shite none of us wants/needs anyway.

Scrooge was right before the ghosts visited...

 

Am I the only person who feels the true meaning of Christmas has been lost? We really need to have a long hard look at what exactly we are celebrating at this time of year, and get back to basics. It's just become Jesus this and Jesus that. Why do these Christians have to keep getting in the way of the commercial message?

 

I love Christmas

I've 2 brothers and it's quite rare that we're all (3 of us and the folks), togeather at once.

For me Christmas isn't about the birth of Jesus, it's about me and my family and friends.

Some people hate going out xmas shopping, over crowded and fighting with some stressed out MOther over the last turkey! I enjoy it The lights, the cheesy music, the fat bloke in the Santa outfit.

And the look of joy on the li'l ones faces

However, I do agree that there is far too much pressure to spend, spend, spend! The aMOunt of dept people must put themselves into! My folks no doubt did it with me and my two brothers. And me and my girlfriend have gone a bit OTT over the last 3 years too. Her birthday is on the 22nd, which is a double hit! And, if I had kids I'd no doubt do the same.

Who'll be first to say how they used to just get an apple? Or a change of socks?........ you swop with him to the left, and then so on....

I think those of us fortunate enough to be in a comfortable, or at least far MOre comfortable position, than many others, should take time to reflect on that. Chances are if you're reading this you're better off than many people. You (me too ) are sat in a warm(ish) place, food in the kitchen, and you're reading this on a computer and an internet connection! And then, come christmas, you'll also have that "useless" cr@p too! Some people would be happy for just the roof!

I don't get payed till Xmas eve! So I look forward to the last minute chaos

 

chrismas to me means a week from hell " working 18 +hours a day followed by 3 weeks of "he's behind you" "o no he isnt" " o yes he is" from screaming brats,and the kids in the audiance are just as bad,yep its panto time again.roll on 5/1/04 when i can escape to amsterdam for a few days.o and anyone else celabrating the tradional festival for this time of year,the winter solstice

 

It is a landmark. I meet my family, and they are still all there. I like to watch the children play and remember the Christmas of my childhood.

Also, a good log fire in my parents' enormous fireplace, certain kinds of foods - which I don't necessarily like.

At home I listen to certain records I hardly ever play during the year - Schütz, Praetorius. I turn the heating off and light a big log fire.

It brings back memories - some fond, other not.

Christmas is intimately linked with the New Year because, you see, the 31st December is my birthday - so when I was a kid it was a time of sheer joy.

I never get drunk at the New Year or Christmas (come to that I very seldom - perhaps never - get drunk socially). I have respect for those traditions, and treasure many memories from past events.

Corny? No. I'm just not denying myself a bit of sentimentality. It is once a year, you see.

P.S.: I hate the buying gifts bit, except for one item: a particular brand of cake my parents used to have for Christmas - it comes from the other side of the town and one has to order it several days beforehand, and when one gets there the place is full of irritable and tired folk queuing for their orders. Yet, it is something I like to do.

 

Put in simple words, Christmas has become sooooo commercialized to the point that it has become a burden already. Everytime it comes, you worry more about the expenses.

 

now that coca-cola has taken ownership of santa the commercialism of christmas is complete, however this all gets swept away in a flood of good will chrismas morning when you see the joy of your kiddies opening their presents.
it's a funny time of year and is really what you make of it. if you are determined to be cynical and concentrate on the commercial sapects and sneering at others then you'll get nothing out of it but if you bask in the warmth of a log fire and your familys company then you'll have a great time. it's up to you.
cheers


julian

 

This may well be urban myth, but I believed that Coca Cola more or less invented Santa as we know him. The whole red coat and white beard are the red and white corporate colors.
Anyone veryfiy this or know otherwise?

 

http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/santa.asp

 

#It's Christmas time, there's no need to be afraid
#At christmas time, we let in light and we banish shade
#And in our world of plenty, we can spread a smile of joy!
#Throw your arms around the world at christmas time
#But say a prayer - pray for the other ones
#At christmas time, it's hard, but when you're having fun
#There's a world ou<SCHHHEEEEEETZZZZZZZ>

Mo has a point - but I'd rather be warm and NOT overdrawn than warm and paying out on all this useless crap that no-one really needs; the presents I've got my nieces and nephews will be broken in 5 minutes, my parents act like I'm an alcoholic if I have more than 1 beer and my sister puts on all the useless tat they've shown every year since TV was first invented (including the original 30 line 15 fps version using Kipkow disks, judging by the picture quality of some of it!).

I'd rather be warm in a mud hut (with food and water preferrably) than dealing with all that hassle thanks - not everyone likes having their whole family together in one place... In small subsections it's much nicer.

 

:shame: oops.

Christmas is the only time I will see both my brothers, and their respective partners and children all at the same time. In fact it will probably be the first time all year I have spoken to one of them at all.

We all go to my Mums for Christmas lunch, we swap presents that have had very little though put into them, we argue about what we should watch on the telly after lunch, then we play trivial pursuit, and argue about that too. And then we will spend the evening arguing, before all agreeing that we should make a better effort to keep in touch next year.

Wouldn't swap my Christmas for the world. :MILD:

 

From "An evening (wasted) with Tom Lehrer" (early 1960s):

One very familiar type of song is the Christmas carol, although it is perhaps a bit out of season at this time. However, I am informed by my disk jockey friends, of whom I have none, that in order to get a song popular by Christmas time you have to start plugging it well in advance, so here it goes. It's always seemed to me, after all, that Christmas, with its spirit of giving, offers us all a wonderful opportunity each year to reflect on what we all most sincerely and deeply believe in - I refer, of course, to money. And yet, none of the Christmas carols that you hear on the radio, or in the street, even attempts to capture the true spirit of Christmas as we celebrate it in the United States, that is to say the commercial spirit. So I should like to offer the following Christmas carol for next year as being perhaps a bit more appropriate.

Christmas time is here, by golly,
Disapproval would be folly.
Deck the halls with hunks of holly,
Fill the cup and don't say when.

Kill the turkeys, ducks and chickens,
Mix the punch, drag out the Dickens.
Even though the prospect sickens,
Brother, here we go again.

On Christmas Day you can't get sore,
Your fellow man you must adore.
There's time to rob him all the more
The other three hundred and sixty-four.

Relations, sparing no expense, 'll
Send some useless old utensil,
Or a matching pen and pencil.
("Just the thing I need, how nice!")

It doesn't matter how sincere it is,
Nor how heart felt the spirit,
Sentiment will not endear it,
What's important is the price.

Hark, the Herald Tribune sings,
Advertising wondrous things.
God rest ye merry merchants,
May ye make the Yuletide pay.
Angels we have heard on high,
Tell us to go out and buy!

So, let the raucous sleighbells jingle,
Hail our dear old friend Kris Kringle,
Driving his reindeer across the sky.
Don't stand underneath when they fly by.

Actually, I did rather well myself this past Christmas. The nicest present I received was a gift certificate good at any hospital for a lobotomy... rather thoughtful.

 

Santa as we currently know him (colours included) is a product of Victorian times, somewhat before an Atlanta drugstore owner called Pemberton had an idea for a cola drink and somewhat more before Pemberton's drink became the icon it now is. See, for example:

http://www.lone-star.net/mall/main-areas/santafaq.htm

P.S. Something from the Urban Legend website:

http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/santa.asp

 

The correct address for sending a letter to SC is:
Julenissen
N-1440 Drøbak
Norway

There's a picture here of the Christmas House, which has its own postcode and post office.

SteveC

 

I like Christmas me; probably my favourite time of year actually It's the one time of year when I really get to put asside time to see friends and family I hardly see the rest of the year.

On the present side, my family relies quite heavily on lists of suggested present ideas we all come up with. This does remove some of the sponteneity of course, but it does mean not too much money is wasted on stuff no-one ever wanted. I can't remember the last time anyone gave me a pair of socks for instance .

 

How to save a few quid this christmas