My view of Christmas has changed as I've gotten older. When I was a young child, Christmas truly was magical. However, as I've gotten older Christmas has become more and more a burden to cope with. People, instead of becoming happier and more friendly, actually become more agitated and angry as fight their way through mobs to get that last present or ingredient. Very few people wish each other a Merry Christmas anymore and I used to think it was sales staff not wanting to offend some politically correct bastard, but now I realise is because no one really cares and everyone is going through the motions and theirs no spirit in it.
When I used to work in the Emergency Dept Christmas day was always one of our busiest times of the year. Arguments, fights and stabbings amongst family members were quite common. But then again that's what happens when you bring together family members who otherwise go out of their way to avoid each other. The media like to constantly repeat that Christmas is about giving, about being with the family, about helping the poor and unfortunate and all that other shit. To a degree it is all these things and yet it isn't.
Because all that other stuff matters jack shit if you don't remember just why we celebrate it. And for you dumb bastards who want to forget I'm here to remind you that it is to celebrate the birth of Jesus. If you take this one trivial aspect away from the celebration then the day becomes another orgy of excess or sentimental banality. The Christmas magic come from the reason for the event. So instead of stuffing your face with food you don't need and giving presents to kids who have so much shit that they don't know what to do with it, how about you go to Church and bend your knee to the babe given to us by God and be thankful for His mercy. For the Master honours those who honour him.
And enough of the Seasons Greetings, Festive Tidings and especially Happy Holiday shit. All of which are an attempt to secularise an otherwise religious spirit. Grow a pair of balls and tell those who get offended by hearing Merry Christmas to fuck off. It's a time of peace and goodwill and if they can't get with the program then they can go to hell. I'm sick of the miserable bastards.
To the rest of you, a hearty Merry Christmas to you all.
11 comments:
In Poland and western Ukraine, and I guess in other CE/SE Slavic countries, the traditional Christmas greetings are "Christ is being born!" (on the Eve) and "Christ is born!" (on and a few days after Christmas) and the response is "(Let us) glorify Him." Same thing for Easter: "Christ is risen!" — "Truly (He is) risen." Arguably it's easier to remember the cause of the celebration this way.
lol Merry Christmas SP!
The irony for me is that I would actually be happy to celebrate Christmas with my family if any of my siblings actually paid deference to the cause of the occasion. I find it irksome when not enraging.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFNqvcTtfz8
And to anyone who tries to deChristianize the holiday by trying to call to mind the "pagan" "solstice celebrations"--
pre-Christian Swedes were vicious bastards, not the Ikea-selling wimpy socialists that the postwar era has made them out to be.
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I'm an ER doc, worked Christmas, and saw influenza all day long.
Merry Christmas. Ours was wonderful and started with Divine Liturgy. More will follow as its busy until Epiphany/Theophany.
This post is a blast!
I would point out, though, that us Catholics really asked for it back in the day by placing the feast of Christmas at the Solstice...in attempt to win over pagans by co-opting their celebration.
While it worked, it only works when we actually have a religious culture. It's a big screw-up when we become practical cultural agnostics. In my view, we should simply move the holiday to another day to avoid pagans from stealing it!
Myself, our family has a very subdued Christmas - few gifts, no running around...and besides, we take Advent seriously, so basically, we don't even celebrate Christmas "season" at the same time as the broader culture anymore (and this includes most Christians). So I really don't care much anymore what the rest of the world does...it's back to the catacombs for a new dark age.
Actually, NO ONE has ever objected to a Merry Christmas from me. It's my standard response to "Happy Holidays", and always brings a measure of relief from the utterer, like the have now been freed.
The greatest irony? The people LEAST afraid to wish me an explicit Merry Christmas are my Muslim colleagues. I recall as well one older Jewish woman who explicitly referred to what the office called a "holiday" party AS a Christmas party. It seems only the Christians are cowed!
MDavid,
Dr. William Tighe has a good article posted somewhere on the dating. He makes a solid case for it NOT being co-opted.
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