Moniker wrote:She scolded me with, "Well, it's a hard choice between Jesus and Santa, right?" I said, "Not really." :)
Indeed! If given a choice between Jesus and Santa, always choose the one who gives you the most presents, I say.
I decorate like a nutball, we do the cookies for santa, read the Night Before Christmas, turn out the lights, in the morning we'll have a glorious 15 minutes of frantic wrapping paper delirium, and then I'll collapse.
Wait a second--you don't rotate and have one present be opened by one person at a time while everyone observes?
"Finally, for your rather strange idea that miracles are somehow linked to the amount of gay sexual gratification that is taking place would require that primitive Christianity was launched by gay sex, would it not?"
Moniker wrote:She scolded me with, "Well, it's a hard choice between Jesus and Santa, right?" I said, "Not really." :)
Indeed! If given a choice between Jesus and Santa, always choose the one who gives you the most presents, I say.
I decorate like a nutball, we do the cookies for santa, read the Night Before Christmas, turn out the lights, in the morning we'll have a glorious 15 minutes of frantic wrapping paper delirium, and then I'll collapse.
Wait a second--you don't rotate and have one present be opened by one person at a time while everyone observes?
No, it's pretty much a free for all. I observe. After the presents are opened they all compare and play.
God is a petty, jealous type as evidenced by the fact that a good chunk of the 10 Commandments are injunctions to show him the requisite amount of slobbering ass kissing obsequience.
I'd have to disagree with your characterization of God, guy. I think the people who recorded the Old Testament scriptures were petty, jealous and suffered from a case of chronic ethnocentrism.
Just my take.
Agreed, since the God of the Old Testament is fictional, he know doubt reflects the petty prejudices of the times.
God . . . "who mouths morals to other people and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, . . . and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites this poor, abused slave to worship him ..."
As a non-believer in gods, goddesses and their so called prophets (profits?), I celebrate humanity.
As Christmas in a repackaging of Saturnalia, I have know problem with the Holiday season. If people can believe that Santa Claus, the Christmas Tree, Virgin birth, etc., are all part of their religion, I can celebrate the holidays in my own fashion.
I go and see my family, their kids, my parents with my family and enjoy ourselves by eating till we want to puke.
Good times.
Knowledge is Power
Power Corrupts
Study Hard and
Become EVIL!
I just go with the flow. I've never been really fond of Christmas. The retail aspect has always gotten me down considerably. I remember even in high school just enduring the season and I do now. I mean, there are things I do enjoy. I really enjoy being with family and my neighbors and I love getting cards and letters. I'm always so happy on Chrismas afternoon when it's all over and I can stop spending and feeling guilty for not doing more.
My mom always sends us Jesus related presents but that's the only religion I discuss during the Holidays. If I didn't have kids I would go on a tropical vacation this week and do it yearly. Once again it's not my lack of belief that gets me down but rather the retail montster which is Christmas. I've actually worked retail this season which made it so much worse. The complaining, the short tempers, the rudeness. I would enjoy the holiday so much more if there weren't presents attached.
Insert ironic quote from fellow board member here.
Most of Christmas has very little to do with Christianity. This can be observed by the constant whining of Christians to put Christ back into the holiday. Well, he was never really there so there is no back to return to.
For years, I felt guilty for not doing the "Mormon" things, like reading in Luke or in the Book of Mormon. I was so busy trying to put it all together on a shoestring budget, I never got around to reading those to my kids. I enjoyed going to Mass the one year I went while I was in college, and if I don't get to watch the Christmas movies with Bing Crosby at least once during December, I am severely bummed. I like to get cards and Christmas letters but I never seem to get around to putting one out until about July (which probably explain why I get fewer and fewer cards every year).
My ward did "Christmas in Bethlehem" a couple of years, and although I enjoy going, it just seems so odd to me. I mean, everyone dresses up in bathrobes and caftans, with towels on their heads, so we can all troop into the gym and eat stew? Weird.
We had 27 people here in the last 2 days. We had them sleeping in the bedrooms (those with babies get first dibs), on the couches, and in the camper. We opened presents on Christmas Eve with the ones who had to leave and go elsewhere, and again about noon yesterday with the 20 that were here then. It's always a mammoth undertaking, and takes hours, as Santa and Santa's helpers (two 4 year olds) handed out the presents individually. We had some tears, some "oops", and some very excited children with ripping paper flying. We realize we won't always be able to have them all come home for Christmas, so we're enjoying it as much as we can now. And we know that when we sell the farm and move to town, the house won't be as big as it is now, and we simply won't fit. So we laugh loudly, eat too much, play a lot of games (one bedroom was dedicated to the video game tournament that was going on, the older kids (8-12) were playing Twister in the kitchen, and the dining room table was taken over by the Hand and Foot tournament), and the babies get handed around from lap to lap. It's noisy, it's chaotic, it's messy, and it's us.
They've all gone home now. It's so quiet, I've got a Disney DVD playing, just for company. Geez, I miss them.
harmony wrote:My ward did "Christmas in Bethlehem" a couple of years, and although I enjoy going, it just seems so odd to me. I mean, everyone dresses up in bathrobes and caftans, with towels on their heads, so we can all troop into the gym and eat stew? Weird.
So you're saying your ward put on An Al-Quaeda Christmas?
"Finally, for your rather strange idea that miracles are somehow linked to the amount of gay sexual gratification that is taking place would require that primitive Christianity was launched by gay sex, would it not?"
harmony wrote:My ward did "Christmas in Bethlehem" a couple of years, and although I enjoy going, it just seems so odd to me. I mean, everyone dresses up in bathrobes and caftans, with towels on their heads, so we can all troop into the gym and eat stew? Weird.
So you're saying your ward put on An Al-Quaeda Christmas?
Well, we didn't have any machine guns and the women's faces weren't veiled. ;-)