"The War on Christmas"

[Pekka]

No, you buy your own flight. Merry Christmas!

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Az



best solution, IMHO, is to answer "thanks!"

"are you ready for Christmas"

"thanks!"

"huh?" (thinks - what a loon)

[Lul Thyme]

On related news, that semi-famous video with the "holiday lights house" ("christmas lights house"?, "winter lights house")
is NOT stop-motion. It's actually timed, and if you put your radio to the right station you can get the accompanying music...

here's the video :

http://members.cox.net/transam57/lights.wmv

and the explanation:

http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/xmaslights.asp

[Az]

"are you ready for Christmas"

"thanks!"

"huh?" (thinks - what a loon)

read that as "merry christmas", sorry

What is there to be ready for, anyway?

[Guynemer]

Originally posted by Pekka
Nothing wrong with merry christmas. If someone has a problem with it, they can fight me.

As I've said:

Of course there is nothing wrong with Merry Christmas. You'd be hard-pressed to find a non-Christian who gets upset when they hear that.

The current movement consists of religious conservatives who get upset when they hear Happy Holidays.


Look, it doesn't bother me at all when someone says Merry Christmas to me. When people grow up in a Christian family, that is their setpoint. It's just human nature, nothing to take offense at. It doesn't really occur to them that other people don't share their beliefs; they don't mean anything malacious by it. But this new movement assumes there is something sinister about people not sharing their beliefs, saying Happy Holidays. It is insane.

[Pekka]

Yeah they are weird too.

It's like a non-issue the whole thing. Someone taking offense of any kind is being an idiot and they can fight me.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Az

"are you ready for Christmas"

"thanks!"

"huh?" (thinks - what a loon)

read that as "merry christmas", sorry

What is there to be ready for, anyway?

I guess the gentiles here can explain better than I, but from what i understand it theres

A. Gifts - not just for close friends and family but for a huge list that includes every known relative, and lots of friends.'

B. The tree, which must be purchased, and decorated.

C. Decorations outside the house Colored lights, figurines, etc.

D. Clothes for the rounds of parties (which am shelanu also must acquire, since we are also invited to "holiday parties")

E. Preparations for various customary foods and drinks

F. Prepartions for visiting relatives (or to travel to visit)

Of course E and F are familiar to am shelanu, on our own occassions. My sense is that A, B, and C are the overwhelming tasks.

Heck, I dont even want to go near a mall during the month of December. The crowds, the noise, are terrible. And the traffic is so bad that if you happen to work near a mall, you need to adjust your work day to avoid the traffic during the last couple of weeks leading up to Christmas.

[lord of the mark]

Wedding planning - many years ago.

We were contemplating holding it in December, though we moved it up to late November.

QOTM: We could have poinsettas, theyre pretty and widely available.
LOTM: Maybe a little too Christmassy?
QOTM: My parents (ultraorthodox) parents wont get it, and your (Reform) parents wont care.
LOTM: What do you mean my parents wont care? Grrr...


Needless to say we did not use poinsettas (sp?) There WERE of course christmas (holiday?) lights at the inner harbor, (visible from the room where our reception was) which was fine.

[Spiffor]

In France, all christmas lights say "Happy holidays", considering that we have new year's eve one week after. The period is called "Holiday season", because that week is often a vacation with quite a bit of partying.

On Christmas night, people and TV say "Merry Christmas", while on New years Eve, people and TV say "Happy New Year". Is it any different in the US?

[Last Conformist]

Originally posted by loinburger
This is just a manufactured "culture war." Christmas has already been so popularized and consumerized that it's less a religious holiday than it is a national holiday (at least in the US) -- even the atheist couple I'm friends with celebrates Christmas (they've put up a tree and everything) because the whole gift-giving Santa Claus candy cane Yule log Christmas tree business doesn't have a whole helluva lot to do with Jesus.

I suppose this is indicative of a cultural difference - where I come from, saying that even atheists celebrate Christmas is like saying that even rural people vote GOP. Duh!, that's what they're expected to do.

Since the JWs don't celebrate Christmas, it's probably the case that a higher proportion of atheists celebrate Christmas than of Christians here.


Saying that Christmas is a specifically a Christian festival is just daft, as far as Scandinavia is concerned - it's been celebrated since before Christianity was a factor, and has not become less celebrated as the proportion of Christian believers has fallen precipitously in recent generations.

[Last Conformist]

Originally posted by Spiffor
In France, all christmas lights say "Happy holidays", considering that we have new year's eve one week after. The period is called "Holiday season", because that week is often a vacation with quite a bit of partying.

On Christmas night, people and TV say "Merry Christmas", while on New years Eve, people and TV say "Happy New Year". Is it any different in the US?

In Swedish, there is no expression like "happy holiday", altho people do speak of Christmas and New Year as "the holidays". The lights etc say "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!", or just "Merry Christmas".

[Last Conformist]

Originally posted by Guynemer
But this new movement assumes there is something sinister about people not sharing their beliefs, saying Happy Holidays. It is insane.

If someone says "happy holidays" purely as a way of conveying friendly wishes, there's no rational reason to object (tho I still find it jarring on an emotional level), but one often gets the impression the people saying it are being deliberately PC, which is sinister.

[Pekka]

That's right. Saying 'Happy Holidays' might implicate that if I say Merry Christmas, you think I'm insensitive jerk-o-holic. That attitude should be encountered with fist in the face.

But.. like I said.. not worth the trouble, many people must say happy holidays for many reasons. But if they are jerks about it, trying to teach me how to say their PC little crap, they're going to get a beat down and I will break them and their racist friends.

[loinburger]

Originally posted by Last Conformist
I suppose this is indicative of a cultural difference - where I come from, saying that even atheists celebrate Christmas is like saying that even rural people vote GOP. Duh!, that's what they're expected to do.

Come to think of it, all of the atheists I know celebrate Christmas. But aside from the atheist couple I mentioned, that accounts for one buddy from college (and his parents/siblings), so I have no idea if they're the exception or the norm.

[Dr Strangelove]

I think that what really gets the fundies upset is the attempts by some groups to eradicate public acknowledgement of Christmas and displays of Christmas themes. The phrase "Happy Holidays" has been around since I was young. It was spread around the country by advertising agencies at a time when the advertising industry was centered in New York, a city with a large non-Christian population and nobody got offended. Only now that the tradition of school Christmas pagents and the manger displayed outside city hall have been challenged do these guys get their pantied in a bunch. If everyone would leave harmless displays alone this would all go away. If people continue to make mountains out of molehills they're going to become more vociferous and militant.