Are you going to put up holiday lights?

[Blackjack200]

Is it that time of year again? I guess I'll have to drag the twin cannon of reason and obnoxiousness out of the shed and do my part in the war.

I lost my reason cannon a long time ago.

 

[Kaido]

It kind of kills the point. We celebrate these holidays out of tradition. Taking the tradition out of it takes the magic out of it. Should we take Santa out of Christmas because Santa isn't real?

And see, this is what bothers me, as I was discussing in the Amazon "Sunday shipping now available" thread - we are getting rid of our holidays, we're getting rid of our weekends, it's just getting kind of ridiculous. I think the overall agenda is to make every single day exactly the same, no breaks from the week, no special events with a historical heritage, bah! :thumbsdown:

 

[Eureka]

No, we should take Christmas out as a holiday because it's purpose is merely to increase sales at the end of the year. It is a consumer holiday. You can have a family gathering at any time of the year. Christmas is centered on the exchange of gifts, and a holiday exclusively for that is stupid. I refuse to participate in such nonsense for the sake of businesses.

Don't give you kids gifts for Christmas, and they will hate it.

All the major holidays are consumer holidays now.

Don't give your kids gifts for Christmas, and they will miserable.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Not unless I'm forced - although it will probably happen.

We still have the three cat-paw stockings up from last year.

 

[IronWing]

Don't give your kids gifts for Christmas, and they will miserable.

This is agood plan. They will be less tempted to live in your basement as adults.

 

[smackababy]

And see, this is what bothers me, as I was discussing in the Amazon "Sunday shipping now available" thread - we are getting rid of our holidays, we're getting rid of our weekends, it's just getting kind of ridiculous. I think the overall agenda is to make every single day exactly the same, no breaks from the week, no special events with a historical heritage, bah! :thumbsdown:

Christmas doesn't have historical heritage besides Christians stole it from Pagans and then tried to retcon some Jesus into it. Coca Cola then decided Santa should be wearing their signature colors.

 

[mmntech]

<--- Atheist. I keep Odin in Yuletide.

Yes, I will be putting up Christmas lights eventually. Wish I hadn't been so busy last weekend or I would have done it then. Was so nice outside, now it's supposed to be cold. Tree won't go up until December.

 

[Kaido]

No, we should take Christmas out as a holiday because it's purpose is merely to increase sales at the end of the year. It is a consumer holiday. You can have a family gathering at any time of the year. Christmas is centered on the exchange of gifts, and a holiday exclusively for that is stupid. I refuse to participate in such nonsense for the sake of businesses.

Don't give you kids gifts for Christmas, and they will hate it.

I think there is a lot to be said about commercialization, but that doesn't mean that that's the heart of it. If all you do is watch the news and read about sales online, then yeah, it's going to look extremely commercial to you, but that's not the case for everyone everywhere. It is nice to be able to look forward to a holiday every year, and it is nice for employers to give employees a few days off to schedule some dedicated time to spend with their families.

But I can also understand your unwillingness to participate for the sake of businesses. I have a friend who moved here from the middle east and married an American. She wants the kids to celebrate Christmas, and to him (being Muslim), all he sees is a horrible holiday that has turned his kids into complete brats. He's told me his kids are generally good all year long until Christmas, then they go bananas and get super rude around the holidays.

Yes, the commercialism stinks. I like it to some degree (it was awesome getting presents as a kid!), but it's overboard these days as far as the news & advertising goes. But it really boils down to how you deal with it as an individual. If you get sucked into the hype, then yes, it's ridiculous. If you use it to spend time with your loved ones or go do charity work or something, then you have the right idea for the spirit of the holiday. All depends on how you take it.

 

[Kaido]

<--- Atheist. I keep Odin in Yuletide.

Soooo does that mean you'll be watching Thor on Christmas morning? :hmm:

 

[Kaido]

Christmas doesn't have historical heritage besides Christians stole it from Pagans and then tried to retcon some Jesus into it. Coca Cola then decided Santa should be wearing their signature colors.

That's history, baby! :awe:

 

[lxskllr]

<--- Atheist. I keep Odin in Yuletide.

Yes, I will be putting up Christmas lights eventually. Wish I hadn't been so busy last weekend or I would have done it then. Was so nice outside, now it's supposed to be cold. Tree won't go up until December.

Mjölnir makes a fine gift for anyone ;^)

 

[DrPizza]

There's a small herd of those mechanical deer with white Christmas lights up overhead in the garage. I have to admit, it looks really nice at night when the ground is covered with snow & they're all lit up (plus another half dozen non-mechanical deer.) Then there's the lights around the roof line, garland on the porch, and all those damn candy cane things that line the side walk.

Here's the thing: the ground isn't solid at the moment. By Jan 1, the ground is going to be as hard as concrete. And, those things anchoring those deer will NOT come out easily (if at all). So, if we put those damn things up, it'll take me a couple hours going back and forth from the garage, moving the ladder around the house 5 or 6 feet at a time. That's not the killer though. The killer is that the boss will require me to take them down on the first Saturday of the year that I have nothing else going on, which coincidentally, is also the first day when the outside temperatures never rise above -5 degrees. That's F, not C.

So, hopefully, it's bah humbug.


If I have my say, it'll be the biggest live tree that we can possibly fit in the living room. As I'm going to remodel that room during the next year, I'd even consider cutting a hole in the ceiling to add another 3 feet to the height of the tree. I don't mind taking down Christmas trees - they're inside, where it's not eleventy below zero in January. And, it makes a nice snack for the goats.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Soooo does that mean you'll be watching Thor on Christmas morning? :hmm:

I actually don't have any better ideas than that.

 

[Eureka]

Christmas doesn't have historical heritage besides Christians stole it from Pagans and then tried to retcon some Jesus into it. Coca Cola then decided Santa should be wearing their signature colors.

So we should kill any source of joy because we don't like where it came from?

Regardless of what started it, it's a positive, valuable family tradition. Unless you take it to the extreme (getting overinvolved in the consumerism part of it), there's nothing negative about celebrating Christmas. I don't think any of us complained about the religiosity of Christmas when we were opening Christmas gifts, or getting to spend time with the complete family. Heck, my family wasn't even Christian and we celebrated it.

All I see is a bunch of people complaining about Christmas because they didn't get enough attention as a kid.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

not this year, traveling

 

[BoberFett]

Never have, never will. Waste of resources: money, time, electricity.

 

[smackababy]

So we should kill any source of joy because we don't like where it came from?

No, we shouldn't teach our kids that joy comes from receiving gifts because society was duped by businesses that they are required to give gifts at that time of the year. And we damn sure shouldn't pretend it is because of some religious tradition. Santa Claus has nothing to do with Jesus; they didn't even live in the same time period. Christmas decorations also nothing to do with Jesus. If you want to use the holiday as a way to spend time with family, I am all for it; but don't pretend the meaning of Christmas isn't about gifts.

 

[sixone]

No, we shouldn't teach our kids that joy comes from receiving gifts because society was duped by businesses that they are required to give gifts at that time of the year. And we damn sure shouldn't pretend it is because of some religious tradition. Santa Claus has nothing to do with Jesus; they didn't even live in the same time period. Christmas decorations also nothing to do with Jesus. If you want to use the holiday as a way to spend time with family, I am all for it; but don't pretend the meaning of Christmas isn't about gifts.

It's about whatever you want to make it about. If you can't find something good out of it, that's on you.

 

[Mixolydian]

Definitely! I'm in no way religious but I think Christmas lights are fun! So many different kinds and some of the "animated" ones look really cool.

I'm not sure where in IL you are, but can I come over next year?

It's right next to his post!

 

[poofyhairguy]

It's pretty sad in my area. The local high school used to do a Christmas concert every year. Then it became a "Holiday" concert. Okay, I can deal with that, I realize there are people with different beliefs. We just received a notice that this year's Holiday concert has been rescheduled to after Christmas and is now renamed to a "Winter celebration". We've sucked all of the culture out of it, arg!!

The culture got sucked out when the marketers got ahold of it. Honestly I prefer "Holidays" because I hate "Christmas" ads the entire week AFTER Christmas but before New Years.

And yes I will put up lights. I have nice trees in the front yard and it is fun to show them off.

 

[JulesMaximus]

The PC crowd and the anti-religious crowd feels the need to win battles wherever they can, especially if it means destroying traditions in order to rename it something 'PC'.

It kind of kills the point. We celebrate these holidays out of tradition. Taking the tradition out of it takes the magic out of it. Should we take Santa out of Christmas because Santa isn't real?

That's the goal! The complete obliteration of Christmas baby!!!

Let the war on Christmas wage! :twisted:

 

[BurnItDwn]

It's amusing that you think you have to explain this :biggrin:

Well, there are SOME theists on the forum. Thought they could use the education

 

[BurnItDwn]

I'm not sure where in IL you are, but can I come over next year?

Sure. I'm in western Lake County, about 40 miles or so NW of Chicago. It's a bit of a hike from Indiana, but it is a joyous time and it's always fun to have some new people around.

 

[SparkyJJO]

If I have some decent weather after Thanksgiving then yes, I'll put some Christmas lights up. I put a string around the roof line on the front. It is a straight shot so super easy to do

They do NOT go up before Thanksgiving however!

 

[Chaotic42]

No. I grew up in the woods, where no one would have been able to see them. Even though I live in the suburbs now, it was never a tradition, so I'm not going to bother. I do love Christmas though.