Merry Christmas or Happy holidays

i agree, i used to never see anything about christmas until thanksgiving day, now i see it on halloween

 

I've had a similar thing happen to me, and I just said, " Well fuck off then"

Not one of my prouder moments, but I got a few laughs from passers by. I don't seem to have a filter on what comes out of my mouth sometimes, and it's quite often best for me to remain silent, regardless of the season.

( I took an online test for Asperger's and it told me I most likely have Tourette's heh. Seems likely )

 

My standard is now "Happy Solstice!"

Then, when I see the confused look, I continue with "'Tis the reason for the season." and a smile.

 

I really didn't care but people going out of their way to make things politically correct with 'happy holiday's are annoying. I thus jumped on the merry christmas bandwagon

 

I don't really celebrate anything so I tend to not wish anyone anyone anything.
If someone says something to me, I tend to respond with "same to you".

 

Kwazy Kwanzaa, everyone!

 

I think it is weird too that the people most upset by this are not atheists like myself. I *like* Christmas, but I have no need to be all "religious-y" about it
--- merged: Dec 13, 2011 5:30 AM ---

I find it funny that this date in December is flagged as "Christ's birthday", when it is not clear (and there is evidence that points away from this date) that this actually was his birthday.
This website:
http://themoorings.org/apologetics/chronology/Chrmas.html
suggests that his birthday was actually 6th January, and may have been on the 25th day of (April or May) different months in the Egyptian calendar.

My understanding was that the church wanted Christmas in December at replace the Pagan mid-winter festival.

 

I suppose if you're a conquering Roman caesar in the northernmost reaches of your empire and are attempting to win the hearts and minds of the pagan locals, it behooves you make compromises and insinuate your religious control carefully.

Sort of like, "On this high holy day of the Yule, we politely request that you celebrate and worship the birth of the Savior, Jesus Christ instead of the moon goddess now."

"Can't we worship them both?"

"Um, it's not really done but I'll tell you what, If you promise not to sacrifice virgins on the winter solstice anymore you can still have all your other cute little pagan traditions. We don't think Jesus would mind if you continued to give each other gifts or brought evergreens into your peat palace. He's good like that."

 

I want to wish everyone a Happy Saturnalia, but I don't think anyone would know what the hell I was talking about. A week of festivities? Those Romans knew how to party!

 

Sappy Holidays, everybody!

 

for some reason i just didnt have it in me to say that to her, maybe its cause it was an older lady, had it been a man, then fuck yeah

 

For me, when it's Ramadan, then it's RAMADAN, if Divali, then DIVALI, and Christmas, then CHRISTMAS. Etc.

I get wished happy x, y and z throughout the year from people of various cultures. They get wished all kinds of positive stuff from me. I see it as people sharing freely their own specific ingredients from the salad bowl. Someone Salaam alikums me, I'll alikum Salaam them.

It's great for inclusiveness .... and pushes the salad-bowl mentality - unity in diversity. Rather than the dang melting-pot model which is, to me, the tightening of the social PC muscles whereby the corners of potentially crucial cogs in new, possibly evolutionary/revolutionary iterations human machine simply get worn down. Or, selectively built up ... through factors external to the basis of the cultures involved (cf positive discrimination by local councils - England - to build cred and garner votes and/or extra government funding)

 

I try to bite my tongue with older ladies too. It doesn't always work, unfortunately.

 

OK, look, yeah, Christmas starts with "Christ" it's right there in the word. I don't need to be a theologian to recognize words in type. And, to be fair, given the number of Christians in this country, yes, it is about Josh bin Joe's Birthday. Huzzah, JC. That said, it is also a national, secular holiday, that's about disgusting white crap falling out of the sky and appreciation of Stop Motion and Chuck Jones animation, and fat guys in red suits in the mall or shilling Cocacola. It's about lights and trees and stockings and reindeer and cookies and turkey and Uncle Marlon drinking too much eggnog and asking if you want to see his other tattoo. It's about the spirit of sharing and unfettered capitalism. It's about dorky, chirpy, obnoxious music in mostly major keys designed to remind baby boomers of how much better things were when they were kids. It's about seeing the family members you miss and remembering how to behave yourself around the ones you don't.

Why get all bent out of shape because it's not your religious holiday on the one hand? If the answer to that is that it pisses off the fundies, then good for you. Why get bent out of shape if it is? Nobody's taking it away from you.

But I would also have to argue that recognizing the religious roots of a national holiday does not amount to the same thing as endorsing that religion. So put a Creche on the town green. But you darn well better have a Santa Claus and a Tree there too, and a Menorah if anyone asks. And if someone puts up a Festivus pole, live with it (and I will live with a Kwaannnzzaaa... whatever that thing is. No, I don't really care.)

For the record: I'm a recovering Catholic, former Atheist, currently wavering between Agnostic and Apatheist. I enjoy pissing off the Fundies, but I just want everybody to shut up and enjoy their Christmas.

So Merry Fucking Christmas, everybody. Ho ho fucking ho.

Pass the goddamn turkey already.
--- merged: Dec 13, 2011 9:22 PM ---
Oh, but let's be clear, whatever the reason for the holiday, Axial Tilt is the reason for the season, not some 2000 year dead poor kid whose mom came up with a really quick excuse when her man started counting months.

 

After 5 years of servicing point of sale terminals, I still suffer PTSD every Christmas season. You couldn't pay me to set foot in a mall.
I try to keep things secular and try not to let my crappy attitude spoil the season for anyone else. "Happy Holidays" seems more appropriate than "Eat shit and die".

 

i keep my mouth shut and give the 1000-yard stare to everyone this time of year because if i try to wish nice things upon people but use the wrong words to do so, then its fire and fucking brimstone for me not being sensitive enough to other cultures. it seems like its getting more and more popular to be offended these days

 

If anyone is to blame for taking Christ out of Christmas it's the crass consumerism that makes up much of what we call an economy.

I am an atheist. I celebrate Christmas. It's an important family time for me. For me, it has nothing to do with Christ and hasn't since we did the nativity scene as a play in my kindergarten class (I was one of the three wise men... I wore paper crown, with macaroni glued to it and spray painted gold).

I don't care if you use Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas... or whatever. When I was a kid and there was no sensitivity to other religions and seasonal celebrations (you did notice that we did the Nativity Scene in my public school, yes?) we often used Happy Holiday. This isn't a new thing. Like Lindy points out above, New Year's Eve and Christmas make up the Holiday Season.

This song was written by Irving Berlin in 1942.


People need to get over this manufactured war on Christmas.

 

I do miss virgin sacrifices on the solstice, though. Fun times.

 

They stopped the virgin sacrifice, because they could no longer find virgins.