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Hello fellow Christians! It's that time again. Spend, spend, spend....
Let's turn Christmas into a way of doing good in the world.
Here is an idea of how. (and NO, this is not a holiday Rick Roll....)
My daughter (6) came to me and asked how we could help the world for Christmas instead of buying tons of gifts, bless her lil' soul, then I see this and it's just perfect...
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So at work, it's all Secret Santa this, Friday night Christmas Party that, Thursday potluck, some other crap I think I forgot about.
And.....wouldn't you know it, it's Wednesday, I'm home cause my wife has a gut bug and now my daughter has an ear infection. I've got kinda a full plate.
You know what I want for Christmas? I want to be forgotten. I want to be not given a gift.
I want to be uninvited.
I want to step out of the mad wheel of karma of it all. I've been jostled by douches twice allready walking around, and I'll f%@%ing snap and break some s~#@ on somebody, man.
So at work, it's all Secret Santa this, Friday night Christmas Party that, Thursday potluck, some other crap I think I forgot about.
And.....wouldn't you know it, it's Wednesday, I'm home cause my wife has a gut bug and now my daughter has an ear infection. I've got kinda a full plate.
You know what I want for Christmas? I want to be forgotten. I want to be not given a gift.
I want to be uninvited.
I want to step out of the mad wheel of karma of it all. I've been jostled by douches twice allready walking around, and I'll f%%%ing snap and break some s@#@ on somebody, man.
Yep, I can sympathize. Rockstar needs to crank out a Grand Theft Christmas game for holiday stress relief.
Fight the Grinches! Blitzkrieg!!
Fight the Grinches! Blitzkrieg!!
That's not very loving and Christmas-y. My heart will never grow three sizes some day if you're busy trying to lop off my head. Don't be tyrannical in your happiness. :)
Happy Holidays!
;p
Fight the Slaads, too! Blitzkrieg!
Hello fellow Christians! It's that time again. Spend, spend, spend....
Let's turn Christmas into a way of doing good in the world.
Here is an idea of how. (and NO, this is not a holiday Rick Roll....)My daughter (6) came to me and asked how we could help the world for Christmas instead of buying tons of gifts, bless her lil' soul, then I see this and it's just perfect...
I have to say, it's refreshing this time of year to see real Christians getting into the true spirit of things rather than the usual hypocrites screaming about the "war on Christmas" while trampling one another to get an Xbox 360 at half price.
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I have to say, it's refreshing this time of year to see real Christians getting into the true spirit of things rather than the usual hypocrites screaming about the "war on Christmas" while trampling one another to get an Xbox 360 at half price.Hello fellow Christians! It's that time again. Spend, spend, spend....
Let's turn Christmas into a way of doing good in the world.
Here is an idea of how. (and NO, this is not a holiday Rick Roll....)My daughter (6) came to me and asked how we could help the world for Christmas instead of buying tons of gifts, bless her lil' soul, then I see this and it's just perfect...
Thanks! Whether we are of one religion, 1,000 religions or no religion it would be nice to see some unified effort to end the problems in the world, like hunger and/or clean drinking water, on the same scale as we can put into buying another batch of toys and stuff to be jammed in the back of our closets because it's not quite our tastes during the Christmas season.
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Happy Holidays = Merry Christmas + Happy Haunnaka + Blessed Solstice + Merry Yuletide + Happy Kawannza
Christmas is NOT the only holiday. Therefore Happy Holidays is the most appropriate thing to say, unless you know you're among christians.
Also, Jesus is NOT the reason for the season. Yuletide was around way before he was born, and early Roman chistians chose this time of year because it coincided with many other festivals and holidays.
Away from the rant:
I do agree that this season should be about celebrating with the ones you love and care about. Gifts aren't as important as the meaning behind them, or the activities done together.
Our church joined the support for the Advent Conspiracy, though my wife and I have been fairly much doing this for years. After multiple trips to Africa and working with kids dying from lack of water and food, buying the latest random iGadget or a bigger TV seems pretty irrelevant.
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Honestly, I can't stand Christmas. A special season for buying expensive s$*~ no one needs, pushing through crowds, listening to crappy mass-produced music, overeating, and spending time with my obnoxious family? I think I'll pass.
What galls me the most, though, is that the Christmas season is touted as "the season for giving." F*@$, I don't need a special time of the year to do right by my fellow human beings. I see everyone on a case-by-case basis. If they're a jerk, I'll deal on them, but if they're good to me, I will be good right back, and do everything I can to help them out.
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Our church joined the support for the Advent Conspiracy, though my wife and I have been fairly much doing this for years. After multiple trips to Africa and working with kids dying from lack of water and food, buying the latest random iGadget or a bigger TV seems pretty irrelevant.
Good job brother! That's the spirit we need!
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My comments are spoilerized because I don't want to derail this thread, come off as a troll, or appear disgruntled because my Xmas/Holiday threads have all bombed. That said...
I notice a distinct antimaterialism here on the Paizo Messageboards whenever Christmas is mentioned anywhere in a post. To clarify, I notice that this year.
A quick messageboards search simply using the word 'Christmas' shows years of much happier posts; people detailing what they want and what they plan to give, and including plenty of posts from those who simply want to share their fantasy wishlists ($1M Pirate Treehouse, anyone?).
What happened this year? The economy, I am sure.
I am almost just as sure that if things look substantially better next year, there will be a dearth of anti-Christmas, anti-consumerism posts.
How many of us who are vocally bitter this year will suddenly (and so rationally) change our tune next year...?
Just something to think about.
Ahhh, the season for getting.
I love it....
** spoiler omitted **
Word, man.
I don't care how much BS has accrued around Christmas. I don't give a s@!& if it was borrowed from pagans. And what's the point of a church complaining about commercialism of Xmas? Christians made the whole thing up anyway! I mean what does Christmas actually have to do with the substance of Jesus or his divinity. Someone tell me. Please!
Christmas is fun. I'm in China. I miss Christmas.
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I just don't like getting somebody else's big trip laid on me, man.
Now I gotta deal with all this stuff, and I allready have a full plate. I want to be left alone.
I get Christmas, and I get my kids stuff; just I feel like I'm getting a trip laid on me by some people.
It's their trip and that's fine, but don't lay your deal on me, man. Cos that's rude.
You're a border collie. I'm a greyhound. I deliver in bursts, then lie around for extended periods. Leave me alone, or grok me when I'm bursting, but you can't expect me to herd all day like a border collie.
It's not me, so don't lay your deal on me. You'll be let down, and I'll be pissed off.
Victory is letting sleeping dogs lie.
Victory is stepping softly on the grass and hiding your tracks.
Yah I'm cool with that. I've been in the same zone, dude.
What's funny for me is that seeing the crappy echo of Christmas commercialism we get in China has made me miss all the BS back home. ED: even the mind trippers!
I hope enough s@!& pulls together that you guys can have some cheer amid the storm.
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I'll be allright, even cheerful.
I just think it's good for one's cardiovascular health to vent.
It's also time for family members to write me and try to talk to me and stuff, and......well, there's a reason I'm all the way in Texas and they're not, cept for my mom. Nothing about me is accidental except for my good looks.
** spoiler omitted **
Andrew, your note about the economy may well have something to do with it, but I've been pegged as a scrooge for decades. I even invented my own holiday, Jeffmas. Since its my holiday, it doesn't have to happen on the same day every year, or even on the same day for more than one person. I just look around and find somebody I know and say "Hey, that person deserves a break/a little something extra/is someone I haven't shown my appreciation to in a while" and Bam! It's Jeffmas. I tend to prefer it to the commercial alternative.
Nothing about me is accidental except for my good looks.
What a great quote. Well done.
Me? Staunch atheist.
Still, I love Christmas as a winter holiday, I have many good things in my life to celebrate each year — even if the birth of your god isn't important to me, I do kind of like the aesthetic.
I have no problem with the word Christmas, and I wholly support your effort to de-commercialize it. In the end, though, it should be about love, family, and the brotherhood of mankind — I think your god would prefer that over his own worship if his book is to be believed.
I do take issue with O'Reilly and his 'take back the holiday' campaign, because it alienates me and is in every sense commercial, mediated, and preachy. He is to your belief what Chris Hitchens is to mine: an arrogant prick with a megaphone, making everyone seem hostile and unreasonable.
I would love O'Reilly to act a little more in the spirit of Christ instead of the self-aggrandizing spectacle he is.
I do take issue with O'Reilly and his 'take back the holiday' campaign, because it alienates me and is in every sense commercial, mediated, and preachy. He is to your belief what Chris Hitchens is to mine: an arrogant prick with a megaphone, making everyone seem hostile and unreasonable.
I would love O'Reilly to act a little more in the spirit of Christ instead of the self-aggrandizing spectacle he is.
Ha! Don't hold your breath. It's his shtick, it's what pays his bills, annoying as it is to listen to.
Annoying pays his bills? F#~*, I've been doing it for free!
Me? Staunch atheist.
Still, I love Christmas as a winter holiday, I have many good things in my life to celebrate each year — even if the birth of your god isn't important to me, I do kind of like the aesthetic.
I have no problem with the word Christmas, and I wholly support your effort to de-commercialize it. In the end, though, it should be about love, family, and the brotherhood of mankind — I think your god would prefer that over his own worship if his book is to be believed.
I do take issue with O'Reilly and his 'take back the holiday' campaign, because it alienates me and is in every sense commercial, mediated, and preachy. He is to your belief what Chris Hitchens is to mine: an arrogant prick with a megaphone, making everyone seem hostile and unreasonable.
I would love O'Reilly to act a little more in the spirit of Christ instead of the self-aggrandizing spectacle he is.
Just a couple of comments...
First about this (emphasis added myself):
"I think your god would prefer that OVER his own worship if his book is to be believed."
Just exactly what is there in "his book" that leads you to believe this?
About this:
"I do take issue with O'Reilly and his 'take back the holiday' campaign, because it alienates me and is in every sense commercial, mediated, and preachy. He is to your belief what Chris Hitchens is to mine: an arrogant prick with a megaphone, making everyone seem hostile and unreasonable."
Then I do not believe you actually have been paying attention to what has been happening over the last thirty years. The big beef is that the anti-Christmas mentality has grown to where retail stores have been telling their associates to NOT say merry Christmas. People wishing to personally spread the (true) Christmas cheer (read as love) even while at work being told not to by their superiors IS an attack on what the Christmas season is about.
So, I believe that you are incorrect in your assessment of why the topic angers Christians.
Right, well.
I'd say they're both wrong. People who get up tight about what the holiday is called (on both sides) are fighting an ideological battle that has nothing to do with the actual holiday. I'm fine with calling it Christmas, even though I'm in the camp who (presumably) should be offended.
Who cares what it is called? The middle of winter is a really good time for family, food, mutual respect, love, football, and most importantly helping those in need. That last one, I think, suffers most from the commercial spectacle the OP wants to get around.
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I agree that it doesn't matter what it's called, for it is a time to remember and get warm feelings. Does anyone remember what it was like as a kid? To wake up and want to use the new sled you got? To visit relatives and eat until your could bounce a coin off of your stomach?
But the one thing I have missed the most these past few years is going to my grandmother's for the Christmas. Those days are what I will remember the most, and it saddens me that I will not be able to share them with my future children.
The winter holidays mean something different to everyone, and you shouldn't take that away.
End of Rant.
I don't have any family so I give my Christmas time to the Rapid City food bank where a gift of food, warmth and company is appreciated more than an iPod is to a 14 year old.
Remember a gift of $20 to a food bank can feed ten hungry people on Christmas so please think of giving a gift to people who you don’t know this Christmas.
I don't have any family so I give my Christmas time to the Rapid City food bank where a gift of food, warmth and company is appreciated more than an iPod is to a 14 year old.
Remember a gift of $20 to a food bank can feed ten hungry people on Christmas so please think of giving a gift to people who you don’t know this Christmas.
Damn, Xab, that's nice. I haven't done a homeless outreach around the holidays in a while, and my wife is going to be in Cali, so I might see if I can give the people at the homeless outreach part of my job a call and see if they need any help.
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Yep, I can sympathize. Rockstar needs to crank out a Grand Theft Christmas game for holiday stress relief.So at work, it's all Secret Santa this, Friday night Christmas Party that, Thursday potluck, some other crap I think I forgot about.
And.....wouldn't you know it, it's Wednesday, I'm home cause my wife has a gut bug and now my daughter has an ear infection. I've got kinda a full plate.
You know what I want for Christmas? I want to be forgotten. I want to be not given a gift.
I want to be uninvited.
I want to step out of the mad wheel of karma of it all. I've been jostled by douches twice allready walking around, and I'll f%%%ing snap and break some s@#@ on somebody, man.
And see I just want to see Grand Theft Zombie Set in New Orleans myself.
Annoying pays his bills? f*%~, I've been doing it for free!That's a shame, you're twice as annoying as the professionals.
