Thread: Ding Dong Merrily or Bah Humbug?

i love christmas although not from a religious perspective im a non-believer lol! i like the films, food, buying and wrapping pressies, getting glammed up and meeting up with old friends part. i have pretty much all of my presents bought so that is one less thing to worry about i hate rushing around the shops its too hectic! i work in a shop and imo it is much busier after christmas with all the bargain hunters, though why anyone would want to traisp around the shops on boxing day baffles me i might ask my boss to give me boxing day off actually, i've worked them for the last 8 years and im sick of it!

I adore Xmas. I have a huge extended family and love to cook so it is one of my favourite times of year.

Originally Posted by Iolair

Sorry, but Bah Humbug! :yuk:

But, Lilly loves it, so I try to make the effort..... :help:

I'll hold my hand up to being of a similar frame of mind. I cannot abide the wretched scrum that is Christmas shopping and all the commercialism. One does enjoy the giving of gifts however.

Originally Posted by The Minister Of Magic.

I don't look at "Christmas" as Christmas any more. I tend to look at it from a pagan point of view in that my/our ancestors were huddling on yurts or caves or mud huts etc and this was the "dead season" when they didn't know if they would survive the winter. I tend to start this on the 21st Dec (Yule) and finish around Imbolg.

On a lighter note, I was thinking about puting together a road show in the South using all the miserable gits that abound at this time of year and call it "HUMBUG A GO GO!":wallbash::censored:

That's also known as the "Terror Time" for the same reasons. The Ewan McColl song "Terror Time" as covered by a good few artists tells an interesting tale.

I totally love and respect that a lot of people here make handmade crafts and are performers that are making a living on their own terms.

I know this is the time of year that you make money from your hard work.

I however in the USA, get to see & hear way too much crap & greed from the public. Which to me is beyond being overly commercial. :yuk:



Rent on dvd, What Would Jesus Buy? :lol:

I'm a ding dong merrily. I adore Christmas! I love the atmosphere, doing the decorations, Christmas carols, presents, having a real fire - everything. But I'm not Christian. I do think it's sad that some people forget/don't know the point of Christmas, but you don't need to be Christian to celebrate it. I do think they start putting Christmas decorations and things in shops far too early though! Decorations shouldn't be put up till at least half way through december, at the beginning of december is ok if it's somewhere like a school that won't be open over Christmas. I doubt my parents will put up the decorations till I get home, seeing as I tend to be the one who makes them do it. They enjoy it once they start but getting them to start takes a while! I'm not looking forward to the years when I will have to work on Christmas day. It's much much worse for the patients though, so I shouldn't feel sorry for myself.

Normally I make every effort to enjoy Christmas but, this year, I'm not holding out any hopes of it being a good one. The lovely, absolutely fabulous and beautiful Pixie Parasol has invited me to her's for Christmas and I would love to go but I am so broke I don't think there is any chance of finding the £65 train fare to get to her from me. Very sad about it. However, her invite and general kindness has made me feel much better.
I do like buying the gifts and wrapping them up though I don't enjoy writing Christmas cards.
xx

Recently, I bought a load of CD's that they sell off in the supermarket, four cost me a tenner. One of them was a digitally remastered Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits.
One particular track I had not heard before, listening to it, I thought, as is my wont, that it was a great waltz. But when I replayed it, I listened carefully to the song.
It's about a street seller at Christmas time, not a market trader, more a big issue seller. Roy sings:
"There he sits all alone on the sidewalk,
hoping that you won't pass him by.
Should you stop, better not,
much to busy.
you're in a hurry, my how time does fly!"
It goes on about how the down and out still finds good cheer whilst the better off ignore him. It just struck me that it's a euphemism for the Christmas story.
But it's still a good waltz. It has a country leaning to it, and is quite cheesy, but I hope you get the message as I did.
YouTube - ROY ORBISON- pretty paper

You can look at Yule from a pagan point of view but still enjoy the sparkliness of the season...these are the joys of modern life

I like the fact that the clothes all get spangly around this time of year. Apparently we're not allowed to wear glitter in the summer or something. Not enjoying it as much as I usually do though, because I hardly have any money to spend. Fiver presents for everyone this year I think!

I do love putting the tree up though. I always put it up on the night of the 20th and try to get it down on the 1st of january. That's quite enough time for decorations! People near mine have had theirs up for a week or so now, and it's usually earlier. There always seems to be a competition in my street to see who can fit the most lights on the inside and outside of their houses without giving everyone cancer.

Originally Posted by Rose Arcana

There always seems to be a competition in my street to see who can fit the most lights on the inside and outside of their houses without giving everyone cancer.

Hah! brilliant. That's the best way of putting it I've read in a long time!

It's a bit like that round mum's way, it's sooo over the top, I quite like it. But then again, I don't have to live there.

I think the indoors of my flat might get 'christmassed' early, because 1) I actually like the sparkly things (to the extent that the last set of twinkly lights became permanent, until they died) 2) It's a small flat, so there's not many 3)I'm not actually here for it.

Unfortunately my wrist is giving my jip this week, so am going to have to delay card-writing a couple of weeks.

I love Christmas - and celebrate the true meaning of it.

The fact that we have come through the shortest day of winter, the days will start to lengthen and we are alive.

Let's eat, drink and be merry, as we can.

The Christianity was just tacked on to it. Even the traditions are based on the ones before the church decided to make it a holiday. So let everyone celebrate in the traditional way - by eating too much, drinking too much and finding someone to be merry with