Christmas and Thanksgiving

[SilentFeathers]

Christmas and Thanksgiving has become so commercialized and ridiculous that if it wasn't for my little girl and nieces and nephews I'd fire Santa, the turkey, and everything else that goes with these disgusting holidays....especially now that they have become so ridiculous; massive materialism and traditional/spiritual corruption.

It's not so much the holiday itself, it's the greed and pathetic behaviors that dove-tail with them. I'm not knocking those who do their best to keep love, reason, and good intentions in their hearts during these holidays, but I am knocking the flip side of this coin so to speak.

China loves this season!!!!! our own economy/craftsman/mom and pop stores suffer....most money spent on junk mostly goes over seas; support your local community and merchants!!!!!!!

Instead of spending the little money you have this year on China junk toys and BS useless items for others.....make something for someone, purchase something useful for someone, like shoes, cloths, food, or even underwear and socks!......get someone heirloom garden seeds for someone you know that plants a garden every spring....get children arts and crafts stuff instead of idiotic video games!!!!

We really need to start getting wise folks and common sense needs to align our spirit and soul with reality more.....

[pyrangello]

Lots of truths silentfeathers, and I couldn't agree with you more, It's definately a time to slow down, cook with family or friends and truly reflect on who we are. For me it's a time that I have a block of days off where I am not concerned about anything in my business or my personal as everything is taken care of and I can truly be free of all responsibilities except for immediately around me.

When I hear on the stupid tube sales are not going to reach the expected numbers becuase of a certain weather tragedy, I just think to myself , so damn what, so big deal there not going to top last years numbers, isn't enough enough. How much is enough. The more commercialized this gets the further away I am pushing back to the basics.

It's the things you can't buy that make life the most important and enjoyable.

[WanderingRogue]

I was raised without these holidays being a part of my childhood and I never missed them. I remember adults feeling sorry for me because we didn't celebrate them and I always thought it was funny because I didn't even get why they were a big deal. I thought that if people were feeling sorry for me, that maybe these holidays represented some great, magical, and fulfilling experience on some level I had never explored before. So, when when I got older I thought maybe I was missing out on something and I began celebrating. It was fun to get things, but the celebrations never seemed to be as exciting as I thought they should be. However, I still felt maybe something was missing, so when I had my own children I tried celebrating again. The kids liked getting things and the celebrating, but for some reason it just wouldn't sit right with me. Telling my kids about some big old fat guy in a red suit who flies with magical reindeer to bring presents to good kids made me laugh because it was so ridiculous. Telling them about how we have a special day for thanks that was overshadowed by the slaughter of millions of Native Americans was just wrong. I tried to uphold the facade for a couple of years.... but couldn't do it. The more I thought about it, the more I started seeing it as a bad experience for my children. I didn't think creating more fantasies for them to wade through made it easier for them to see reality. I didn't see how teaching them to be good for gifts would teach them to choose behaviors with unselfish intent. In fact, it seemed that I couldn't find any good reason to continue...so we stopped. They have never cried about it, asked for it to come back, or accused me of taking something special away from them. I have 5 children, my youngest is 5 and my oldest is nearly 18, it would seem that one of them would miss it if it were important. What I did instead was look at what I would hope a holiday would give them and then find other ways of doing it. We now have random "celebration because we feel like" it days throughout the year. Usually for no reason, but sometimes we do it to celebrate their personal achievements. We try to see everyday as a thankful day. If I am at the store and I see something that reminds me of someone, I get it and give it to them. Some gifts we make. sometimes one kid gets a gift and not another. Sometimes everyone gets something. Sometimes, there are no gifts, just fun family time. Teaching children to truly celebrate life has been very rewarding for me, and my older children have thanked me for doing it this way. They are still young, but for them to already see the benefit makes me think that maybe I've stumbled upon a better way.

[Ellisa]

Australia has no Thanksgiving, Christmas has no snow, the Christmas season is insanely commercialised, Christmas falls in the summer so it's often boiling hot, none of my family want a Christmas pudding and we are a non-religious family who have no belief in god too, but, I love Christmas and see it as a time to get together with the family and have the traditional meal together. (But without pudding, which I am upset about because I want to set it alight!)

To me, and I think many around the world, Christmas is a time for celebrating the good things. Maybe the lack of Thanksgiving everywhere except for America, has enabled Christmas to slowly secularise itself elsewhere in a way that has not happened in a religious country like America. Certainly many Asian countries now celebrate at Christmas, and in Eastern Europe Grandfather Frost is a very important part of this time.

Like many other families in Australia we do not give adults' presents. The children (under 18- we had to define it as some ex-children were making out a case for presents when they were students at University!) all get lots of gifts. We actually have a small nativity crib so the the children can understand the origin of the day. Santa or Father Christmas is an luke-warm optional extra. 2 out of 4 grandchildren believe he brings stockings with goodies in them- but parents give the presents! The other 2 have worked it out!

We have a lovely day, and I'm sure if there was a god he/she/it would love the happy atmosphere and enjoy themselves here too. I think it is silly to get too wound up about Christmas, the important thing is reconnecting with people who mean something to you, and enjoying their company.

Perhaps there is a difference between celebrating AT Christmas, and celebrating Christmas.

[DeDukshyn]

I have this theory for improving Christmas ... If you can't create your own gifts to give (in whatever form you can), they're useless!