Do U Like Christmas Or Hate?

[LuvAmy]

A: I LOVE IT!

B: I HATE IT!

C: WHAT IS IT?

D: GOOOOO BACK!! I LIKE(and want) THE DEVIL!

[TheSkronkDonkey]

I love Christmas. Always have, hopefully always will.

It's not only a time of charity and family (ideals in themselves), but also a time for recuperation and reflection.

Christmas has a special power, I think. Not even the billions of pounds of tacky commercialisation can ruin it. In fact, commerce can sometimes add something to Christmas. I love getting the Boots Christmas catalogue, for instance. And I do enjoy all the decorations in shop windows.

I also love Christmas music and Christmas films ("It's A Beautiful Life", "A Christmas Carol", "Miracle on 34th Street", "The Snowman", "Home Alone 2"). This year, I'm also looking forward to a brand new "Wallace and Gromit" short on TV. And all the great food! Man, I can't get enough mince pies or snowballs down me! Does everyone know what a snowball is? It's a mild alcoholic beverage, very sweet and creamy. << Try not to read any shemale metaphors into that last one. ;) But there *is* even something a little, I dunno, sexy about Christmas.

Yep, I'm goofy and hopelessly romantic.

[SweetCharmer]

Donkey i'm right there with you on the wallace and gromit special and home alone........i don't know what it is abhout christmas but for me it shoots down a sense of nostalgia and i love that

[Big_Willie]

E.) Don't care anymore.

It's not about what it should be. At some families maybe, but mostly it's just business and about the presents. I could go on a long rant but it's Christmas, I don't want to ruin other's joy, maybe later. :D

[ocinteeni]

E.) Don't care anymore.

nicely put, I agree it brings a feeling of nostalgia like said above but at this point in my life I just don't care about the holiday anymore. It was fun when I was a kid but I feel like people are still living this holiday out as a fantasy just like when we were kids and we believed in Santa. The reality is it has become a disgusting celebration of our materialism and consumerism and that the real elves are sitting in sweat shops in china and india while "Santa" is really just a giant corporation like Walmart, Target, etc. Tradition needs to be questioned and I can't simply celebrate the holiday year after year just because its what everyone did last year. ya thats what I think

[i love Saenz]

I hate Christmas! In my country (Norway) it's all stress and fuckedup formalities that has nothing to do with Jesus being born. All we do is buy shit we don't need. And eat so much that we need to diet for three months before putting on our regular clothes, while kids around the world is starving to death!

Fuck Christmas!

[Mel Asher]

I have a dispersed family ( deaths, emigration, divorce ) and it has always been my dream to have all the grandchildren sleeping under a family Christmas Tree, while the adults giggle alcoholically wrapping up presents to stuff down the children's beds ( variation on the Christmas stocking ).

I cringe at the over schmaltzification of modern Christmas stories. I think Christmas stories for children should be simple and filled with discovered happiness even for the poorest of people.

I love Christmas Presents that people have made with care overthe preceding months.

I loathe expensive Christmas Presents bought either to impress me or the giver.

I love Traditional Christmas Carols in any language.

I love celebrating Christmas with my Muslim, Hindu and Jewish friends who share mine with me in the same spirit that I share their festivals.

And yes, I am from a Gnostic Christian background, if you want to label me, and the more multinational friends I make, the more Agnostic I become.

I sigh at the frenzied Commercialism appearing even before the leaves begin to fall in the woods near me, but I don't let it bother me, as I have a roof over my head and food on the table for anyone who drops by.

Yes. On the balance I think we would lose a lot if Christmas suddenly disappeared.

:D

[TracyCoxx]

I like the Winter Solstice celebration, which is where all the good parts of christmas came from.

[Be_my_nude]

I have a dispersed family ( deaths, emigration, divorce ) and it has always been my dream to have all the grandchildren sleeping under a family Christmas Tree, while the adults giggle alcoholically wrapping up presents to stuff down the children's beds ( variation on the Christmas stocking ).

I cringe at the over schmaltzification of modern Christmas stories. I think Christmas stories for children should be simple and filled with discovered happiness even for the poorest of people.

I love Christmas Presents that people have made with care overthe preceding months.

I loathe expensive Christmas Presents bought either to impress me or the giver.

I love Traditional Christmas Carols in any language.

I love celebrating Christmas with my Muslim, Hindu and Jewish friends who share mine with me in the same spirit that I share their festivals.

And yes, I am from a Gnostic Christian background, if you want to label me, and the more multinational friends I make, the more Agnostic I become.

I sigh at the frenzied Commercialism appearing even before the leaves begin to fall in the woods near me, but I don't let it bother me, as I have a roof over my head and food on the table for anyone who drops by.

Yes. On the balance I think we would lose a lot if Christmas suddenly disappeared.

:D

You seem like a nice guy, Mel - probably too nice. The reality is probably too harsh for you to contemplate. :respect: for the sentimentalism though.

:hug:

[Jenae LaTorque]

Christmas to me is the Christmas Spirit, the coming together of friends and family to celebrate life. Like several have said above, it was originally a celebration of the time of year when the days began to get longer again, and the promise of life through the beginning of a new year was renewed. This celebration long predates it's appropriation by the Christos believers and the blatent commercialization of it by the capitalist merchandisers. And Mel is right about the gift thing. I remember as a child knowing that I was going to recieve a sweater from Grandma every Christmas which didn't excite me so much at the time. But it is those hand knitted sweaters, done with love, that I remember now. And what do I remember most vividly from the last Christmas? It is that my sister made me some raisin filled cookies like the ones Mom made for Christmas when we were kids. I don't even remember me mentioning them to her some time, but, she did! That is what Christmas is about.

From some of the posts above I am sorry that you can not find the joy in Christmas. Perhaps you could/should read O'Henrys story, The Gift of the Magi

http://henry.thefreelibrary.com/The-Four-Million/2-1

I realize it is harder to celebrate the change of the seasons for those who live in cities as it is where i live in the boondocks. We have some damn tough winters here in Wyoming and the holiday season is a way of girding ourselves for the trevails of the oncoming winter. While I am a non-believer in the nativity thing, I never make a fuss over it here. It brings so much pleasure and comfort to so many: why would anyone want to burst their bubble at this time of year. If you object to the commercialization, then just ignore it. If you have children, then be sure to teach them the real Spirit of Christmas. But by all means, do give presents to children. Be Santa Claus. And be like Santa Claus who knows what every little boy and girl wants. Observing kids opening gifts is one of the best ways to recapture your childhood. A gift that you have made or selected especially for that person is so much more meaningful than just the latest fad thing or more especially, a thing you might have wanted as a child yet does not fit the recipient.

YES! I say to the Christmas Spirit. In the overall balence, it is a positive thing. For those who bemoan the season, I say look for the silver linings and you may even discover the gold.

[The Conquistador]

Christmas generally makes people more tolerable so I'd have to say +1pts. for Christmas.:innocent:

[DSL]

I love christmas and all ways will til the day i die...
can't see anybody that does hate christmas,

would be scrooge.

[modman1996]

I don't care anymore. Christmas time is a very sad time of the year for me.

[robbo971]

I love it. It's great in about a months time when the leaves start faling off the trees, it gets colder and then you get halloween and bonfire night. Then you know it's only about a month to the festive season!

[The Conquistador]

Christmas is that time when people universally come together and put aside differences and rejoice in festivities. I've read accounts of troops during WWI who met their enemy out in No Mans Land and were smoking and joking with them and giving each other presents and stuff. It completely blew me away! Only during Christmas time...

[gorilla]

I hate Christmas! In my country (Norway) it's all stress and fuckedup formalities that has nothing to do with Jesus being born. All we do is buy shit we don't need. And eat so much that we need to diet for three months before putting on our regular clothes, while kids around the world is starving to death!

Fuck Christmas!
Alle fuckin lujah! What are we doing to our children promoting all this greed?
I liked your reply....it made me laugh. Concise and eloquent.:respect:

[johndowe]

I like the Winter Solstice celebration, which is where all the good parts of christmas came from.

Hi there.

The Wicca ritual?

Do you take part?

JohnDowe.

[ila]

Hi there.

The Wicca ritual?

Do you take part?

JohnDowe.

I am pretty well indifferent to Christmas. However, the company of the right person can make all the difference in the world and change my mood and attitude.

[johndowe]

Hi there.

Like christmas, not too keen on the OVER-COMMERCIALISATION of it, and using kids as extortion tool to cohearse parents into spending way too much on the gifts, and in turn, making kids selfish little creeps that have no respect for themselves, their parents or anybode else for that matter, most kids today would DESERVE a lump of coal.

JohnDowe.

[aw9725]

For the most part, I like the holiday season very much. I have many fond memories of Christmases in Michigan with my family. The "over commercialization" of it is unfortunate but I think what one should do is try to overlook that and find their own unique way of celebrating the season.

This year, I am most likely going to Arizona to visit family and then from there go to San Diego and then Las Vegas to see friends. We decided to not buy any gifts this year but instead choose something personal (or make something) to exchange with another family member. It will be my first Christmas "alone" and so I would like to get away for a while. We usually get about 4 weeks off between semesters so it will be a long time to fill.

"TheAngryPostman" mentioned what occured during WWI in an earlier post. That really did happen. If anyone is interested, I recommend "Silent Night: The Remarkable Christmas Truce of 1914" by Stanley Weintraub.

Anyway, this is getting too serious so I will just say that this year I am asking Santa for Kelly, Yeidi, Foxy, and Camila. Hope the old SOB comes through! ;)

Later...