CWK #43: Celebrate Smithmas!

[Moksha]

I am trying to imagine GA celebrating a birthday.

They eat birthday cake one mouthful at a time like the rest of us, although we do not have people standing when we raise the fork to our mouth and exuding a grateful breath when we do not choke.

[Kishkumen]

I guess I feel reassured. I am sure something like this could have been lost in my memory banks.

Sorry, huck. Was not gainsaying your experience. I don’t recall celebrating it when I was growing up. I’ve seen plenty of evidence of other Mormons marking the day is all.

I confess I do not know how to relate to this. I am trying to imagine GA celebrating a birthday. Perhaps a colorful hat and a paper whistle. Ok maybe i should just shut up , I don't know what I am talking about.

You relate to it or not as suits you. As an ex-Mormon Christian, you might choose to have nothing to do with it at all, I am guessing. Nothing wrong with that.

[Gadianton]

I did as a kid. This is a perfect setup for those skeptical. We typically had a Christmas gathering for extended family, that’s not going to be the 25th but the 23d is a perfect day for it.

[Dr. Shades]

I guess I feel reassured. I am sure something like this could have been lost in my memory banks.

I confess I do not know how to relate to this. I am trying to imagine GA celebrating a birthday. Perhaps a colorful hat and a paper whistle. Ok maybe i should just shut up, I don't know what I am talking about.

If you don’t want to celebrate Smithmas on December 23, then you can always do what I do and cerebrate Kashiyuka’s birthday instead. She turned 36 this year.

[Kishkumen]

I did as a kid. This is a perfect setup for those skeptical. We typically had a Christmas gathering for extended family, that’s not going to be the 25th but the 23d is a perfect day for it.

Thank you, Gad. I have seen plenty of accounts of Smithmas celebrations, not by that name, of course, from various individual LDS people. I can't say that my family ever marked the day in any way. I doubt I was even aware of Joseph Smith's birthday as a kid. It was just not something my family was interested in. In a way, the family's sense of connection to Joseph Smith, on my maternal grandmother's family's side, was so internalized on account of my great-great-great-great-aunt's marriage to Joseph Smith, that it had turned into a kind of narcissism about family greatness that never brought Joseph Smith explicitly into the picture. No Smithmas for us. I feel slightly robbed by that. Imagine if they had been more open about the cause of their grandiosity! I could have been celebrating awesome Smithmases my entire life!

[Kishkumen]

If you don’t want to celebrate Smithmas on December 23, then you can always do what I do and cerebrate Kashiyuka’s birthday instead. She turned 36 this year.

There you go! Another great day to celebrate in your own way.

[Gadianton]

In a way, the family's sense of connection to Joseph Smith, on my maternal grandmother's family's side, was so internalized on account of my great-great-great-great-aunt's marriage to Joseph Smith, that it had turned into a kind of narcissism about family greatness that never brought Joseph Smith explicitly into the picture. No Smithmas for us. I feel slightly robbed by that. Imagine if they had been more open about the cause of their grandiosity! I could have been celebrating awesome Smithmases my entire life!

Fascinating. I hope that you share these feelings with your family should the occasion arise.