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I was "got" today by JW's. The doorbell rang and as I was close by, I answered it rather than use the intercom. In a moment of weakness, having just got up after night shift I did not twig on that there were "two people" indicating fairly accurately who they were before they even spoke to me. The opening question was what did Christmas mean to me. Not thinking, I started to answer, before I realised who they were and explained my position, wished them luck in our cul-de-sac (I know my neighbours well) and sent them on their way. However, What does Christmas mean to you today?

Being a no believer, and celebrating Christmas, is that not a bit hypercritical? Well it would depend on why you are celebrating. For me, Christmas is more of an end of year party. We have (well most of us) worked dam hard all year and deserve a pat on the back and a couple of days off for free that are not deducted from our annual entitlement!!
Those expensive special presents, not the sort of thing one usually buys out of the blue, but saving up and then buying presents for people, you have a defined goal at the end of the year and one a whole are not so likely to put it off to next month. Lets face it, a room full of people ripping off reindeer covered wrapping paper (don't recall reindeer in Bethlehem), the looks of surprise and fun (unless granny has just given you monikered hankies for the third year running) is a nice social event when everyone in singing from the same sheet and is fun.
Christmas dinner, it is the one day a year (unless you are American) when 95% of people are not working and getting everyone around a table to sit eat TOGETHER and not in shifts as it is with my family is possible. So if that is the case, why not have a big dinner and glass of red or two (or three).
This Christmas, I am not working. First time in the last five years I have not had either early or late shift. Although with earlies and lates, at least I get to see my children drowning in a sea of wrapping paper. Working at Christmas, it has a small irony. You would not believe the amount of people who want to fly on Christmas day. I have a colleague who is a regular Sunday man. He takes Christmas very seriously. You should have heard him complain when we had an aircraft flying that had a bunch of nun's and priests flying off to sing in a concert somewhere Christmas day. It would seem in today's society, Christmas has lost it's collective meaning and taken on the mantle of many different meanings........

Anyway, that is just my view of Christmas......


Matt

i only read about,7 lines of what you typed.
but to me christmas is pretty much the same,more of a party then a celebration,i don't even HAVE a religion...

Xmas, to me, is just another day of the week, when I shop and cook exactly the same stuff for myself...

..and definitely NO religion involved. (more trouble that its worth)!

...maybe partake of an extra bottle of wine...

..and maybe wear a funny paper hat.. ...!

Paul.... 8-)...!

I have spent the past 35+ years on my own...including Xmas...So I am getting quite used to it now... [smiley=2vrolijk_08.gif]...!
Peace and Goodwill.
Certainly Peaceful...and I don't know a bloke called "Will"... ...!

oh yeah,forgot about the school play.

i always try to get the least lines possible,but in the end,i always get a role that has something embarrasing or anoying,this year(last in primary,staid a year to learn english) i was jack frost.
well.
a 'potion' was thrown over me.
the 'potion' was flour.
and it went down my shirt.

I don't belong to any religion, though my family is catholic, mostly, but I always like to see my family united, having supper together and laughing during this season...

I always live in terror of Boxing Day at mums, it is a chance for various branches of the family to further their feuds whilst we continue to demolish turkey!
That said I really enjoyed Emi's school play the other day. Personally I think Xmas is over-commercialised (Thank you Victorian people) and as it really is a religious celebration for Christians I'm always surprised to say lots of people of other faiths celebrating. I don't do Diwali! Well not unless Dipesh invites me over then I stuff myself silly So I guess I'm just an ole hypocrite!

I always live in terror of Boxing Day at mums, it is a chance for various branches of the family to further their feuds whilst we continue to demolish turkey!
That said I really enjoyed Emi's school play the other day. Personally I think Xmas is over-commercialised (Thank you Victorian people) and as it really is a religious celebration for Christians I'm always surprised to say lots of people of other faiths celebrating. I don't do Diwali! Well not unless Dipesh invites me over then I stuff myself silly So I guess I'm just an ole hypocrite!

I think it appeals to so many faiths (and the unfaithful) because at heart, it is the sort of celebration Matt describes... having survived another year, and being able to share what one has tucked away for the winter. The roots of the holiday go back to solstice celebrations, Yule, etc... the Christian version has just had better PR, ever since that religion was co-opted by the Romans.  And of course, for a lot of non-Europeans far from their homelands, they play along for the sake of "when in Rome..." 

But I agree that it's become an orgy of commercialism... dazzling friends and loved ones with shiny new stuff seems more important than celebrating together. The pressure to buy, buy, buy takes a lot of the joy out of sharing.

what it means to me ?
  it used to mean a lot when I was a kid , xmas is a spirit or psychological effect , most of the humans of this world celebrate the life , the love and the end of the year in the same last month
its to be with our loved one our family,or with our own memories of good experiences of the past when we are alone in this month of the year

  its a tradition that does not need to have a religion (the root is based on religion),  The majority of this world feels the same spirit   

My wife and I are devoted Christians like our parents so Christmas to us is very much about the birth of Christ. Part of our tradition is reading the Bible and going to the evening Christmas service. That said, the actual date of birth of Christ is pretty well known to NOT be on December 25, the date chosen for the celebration was also for family gatherings. Which is what the rest of Christmas means to me, a time to get together and enjoy the day with friends and family.

I'm jewish, and as such I get pretty annoyed this time of year.  I have nothing against Christmas, but the non-stop Christmas music and the constant 'Merry Christmas' from every person working in retail or otherwise just irritates me because it seems to show little respect for the other holidays that are celebrated this time of year.  At the same time, it feels like Christmas has become overly commercialized.  I mean, does it really need to be drilled into everyone's head that it's 'Christmas Time' a full month in advance?

It's annoying that media and otherwise ignore Hannukah, the story of Hannukah is a great one and quite inspirational, and while Judaism isn't nearly as widely observed as Christianity, there's still plenty of us in the world.

That being said, I've celebrated Christmas every year with family friends and will continue to with my significant other who is christian, but to me it's always just another excuse to get together for a nice dinner after Thanksgiving

[quote]I have nothing against Christmas, but the non-stop Christmas music and the constant 'Merry Christmas' from every person working in retail or otherwise just irritates me because it seems to show little respect for the other holidays that are celebrated this time of year.

My daughter's enjoyment .. beyond that .. skepticism of the whole ridiculous commercial madness but a kind of respect that - it may still be a good human goodness moment when we think about others an not just ourselves ....

.. & yes I also have respect for other religion times ... But if I went to India, Iran or Israel, I'd know I have to put up with & respect the predominant religious days .. That's just the way it is ...

X-mas for me has changed meaning over the years.  As a child it was definitely about the gifts.  In my twenties it became a time to be with family, as Mom & Dad were living overseas and my only brother halfway across the U.S.  In my early thirties the family ideal strengthened as my parents moved close by as well as my brother.  In addition, the joy of being a parent at x-mas manifested with the birth of my daughter.   Now that I am in my late thirties the meaning of x-mas has solidified into seeing and bringing together all of the family.  I see my parents weekly as they require caretaking (too many power-tool accidents for dad, too much senility for mom) but even though my bro lives 20 minutes away I see him only 4-5 times yearly.  Great opportunity see his new wife and newly acquired nephew and niece.  X-mas to me is FAMILY

If you want annoyed at Xmas with the tunes can I recommend Hungarian shopping malls, where they have a looped tape of the most cheesy Xmas songs ever... in English! So Bing Crosby etc. And 75% of the people in Hungary have never learned English

I'm not religious, and neither is anybody in my family. We celebrate Christmas (no point calling it X-Mas, or any of that rubbish, we all know exactly what day of the year it is).

It's very much a family thing... My sister moved out to California a few years ago, so this year we are over visiting her. Usually we do a webcam chat and have presents and the such. It's a day just to do a lot of nothing. Dinner is easy - We have our favourite meal. Sometimes that is steak and chips, but this year I am cooking Beef Wellington (with Buffalo) just to spice things up a bit.


Christmas and New Year are also key dates in my calendar to get absolutely rat arsed, as my exams are a few weeks afterwards. The end of exams is also a date in the diary