There's very divergent views about the holidays that occur at the end of 1 year and the dawn of the next year. Many people, perhaps most love the holidays and the time when families from far flung areas all come back inside one house to celebrate. Many think it's the time to celebrate the birth of Jesus and the amazing, positive, far-reaching impact he has had through 2 milleniums.
Others are upset about the holidays. The holidays are a reminder of how dysfunctional their families are. Or they're reminded of how rough, traumatic and screwed up their lives are. XMAS brings no pleasure or solace and the new year is a reminder of a bleak future.
Many others fall between these 2 poles.
What do you think?
I've been very fortunate to have a lot of intelligent, interesting people write and share their views on a wide variety of topics. I would dare say that I've made some friends. I'm surprised, even moved, with the depth of concern a few have shown me.
The year isn't over, but it's a year of progress for me. There's some worrisome challenges that I must face, but they seem more manageable than the ones I faced back in Jan. of 2005. More will be discussed about my opinions of the year later.
I'm just listening to NPR. They're discussing the fact that the region/people most affected by Hurricane Katrina don't even have a sense that the holidays are coming up. So much devastation........
6 comments:
Holidays huh? Well, I think that we've taken a holiday that seems to soley be celebrating winter and turned it into something celebrating the birth of Jesus. But the truth is, what we do at "Christmas" doesn't celebrate him at all. It's an awesome holiday, and probably my favorite time of year, but i think we should separate celebrating Jesus, and the winter solstace. What do you think?
Thanks for the comment, Jessica. You raise a good point. XMAS is very commercial. I think that there needs to be some big celebration around winter solstice because I can't stand winters. There's no one to hug; it's cold; it's dark; it's a pain in the a-- to drive to church, work, see family north in Wisconsin or whereever!
What Jean said is what I have in mind: talking about a good memory during the holidays.
Here's another example.
I remember Christmas of 1986 was great. It was my last full year in college. It was the first time I had a camera. The presents I received have long been forgotten but what I don't forget is the nice pictures that I took. I remember taking a number of pictures of Scott and Emily, my nephew and niece. Emily was so cute in the pictures, now she's a beautiful 23 year old. After celebrating XMAS inside, I remember we tobagganed down the hill next to my parent's house. It was so fun! I love tobaganning and have done it for 30 years (give or take a few).
the holidays make people nicer in some ways; bigger tips, gestures of kindness, whatever. But a lot of it is about consumerism. And people get bitchy because it takes too much time to get anywhere because everyone is out buying crap. And all the kids care about is presents.
You deserve the better tips, L12. When I was delivering pizza about 15 yrs. ago I didn't get anything better around the holidays. Maybe it's because I didn't always deliver in 30 min. or less!
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