Topic: Let's talk about Christmas, Thanksgiving be damned (Read 29402 times)

LeeC · « **Reply #50 on:** 18 Nov 2013, 21:41 »

well its settled. Going to thanksgiving at my uncles. X-mas by myself again.

calenlass · « **Reply #51 on:** 18 Nov 2013, 23:53 »

This year for Thanksgiving I am finally (after two years finally) taking my boyfriend home to meet my family. And then I am throwing a St Andy's Day scotch tasting and making a haggis.

Also I have not made any of my christmas presents yet, so

Grognard · « **Reply #52 on:** 19 Nov 2013, 05:53 »

LOL. love that one ^^

dr. nervioso · « **Reply #53 on:** 19 Nov 2013, 14:48 »

For thanksgiving, I'll be staying in Indiana by myself. I'm not really sure what all I'll be doing, primarily studying, maybe some shopping.

Christmas, I'll be back at home for the first time in a few months, but it's hard to say what I'll be doing besides enjoying good food.

Carl-E · « **Reply #54 on:** 19 Nov 2013, 17:17 »

House rule is no christmas music until after thankgiving dinner's over.

Then my wife puts on the Chipmunks christmas album.

Then I put on the South Park christmas album.

Then we can have real christmas music.

I might actually get the lights up before ... no, never mind, that's not going to happen.

lepetitfromage · « **Reply #55 on:** 20 Nov 2013, 11:17 »

Even though I love giving presents and nomming all the delicious food, I've generally always gotten glum around the holidays (seasonal affective is great for that). However, I decided that I was just going to throw myself into the holidays in the past few years to try and force myself out of it. And it's been working! As soon as the temperatures drop, I'm constantly in the kitchen. Last year, I made 8 or 9 desserts to take to parties. 4 or 5 different kinds of cookies, plus "Reindeer Food" (rice chex with white chocolate and crushed peppermint), lemon fudge, Snickers Muddy Buddies and Mini cheesecakes with cherry pie filling on top. Let's venture out of the kitchen and into the rest of the house, shall we?

I started making ornaments last year to give as gifts. It was like Christmas Crack. I think I started right after Halloween- those things are time consuming!! I think I have some photos lying around, if I find them I'll post some.

My apartment looked like someone deconstructed Santa's workshop, ransacked Michael's and then detonated a glitter bomb.

I stopped trying to keep up with those Jones assholes a long time ago. When I shop for Christmas presents, I generally like to get a few odd gifts and then something useful for each person. 2 years ago, I started my shopping in February and then by the time the holidays rolled around I had forgotten that I bought stuff for certain people already and ended up with extra gifts. Since then, I wait til June.

I like starting early because I like to let gifts "speak" to me. Especially during huge sales. I exchange with a lot of people (roughly 20, between friends, family, coworkers and cats. Yes. Cats. Don't judge me.), so I like to get the biggest bang for my buck- and stretch out my spending so that I'm not completely overwhelmed financially at the end of the year. Nick and I generally set a $100-$150 limit for each other and then I try to get everyone else done for around $400-$500. Spread out over six months, it's a lot less painful!

(In our house, Christmas music generally doesn't start until after Thanksgiving either.)

Linds- We totally have that little blue nerdy owl ornament too! Target?

Lines · « **Reply #56 on:** 20 Nov 2013, 12:39 »

It was a gift, actually! My mother-in-law sent it to me last year.

Also, I'm the same. I used to get really down during the holidays and then I just started making people goodies and handmade things and it made me a lot happier. One year I made my friends a milk liqueur, I've baked, and last year I made mostly knit items for everyone. This year I think I'm just going to bake because knitting gifts for everyone took forever.

Patrick · « **Reply #57 on:** 20 Nov 2013, 12:45 »

Quote from: calenlass on 18 Nov 2013, 23:53

This year for Thanksgiving I am finally (after two years finally) taking my boyfriend home to meet my family. And then I am throwing a St Andy's Day scotch tasting and making a haggis.

this is all well and good but HOLY FUCK DUDE WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN <3

I just met my girlfriend's parents 2 days ago, they're super nice and we're gonna do an early Turkey Day dinner today before I have to go to work. I'm nervous, we've already met and they seem to like me well enough, but this dinner is kinda like putting me on a stage for a captive audience. Which I've literally done before, and it was totally fine. But this isn't a stage, and these aren't strangers I'll never meet 1-on-1. This is my girlfriend's parents and I plan on meeting them many, many times. I know I have nothing to be afraid of, but I'm still shit terrified. -_________-

LookingIn · « **Reply #58 on:** 20 Nov 2013, 12:59 »

Quote from: Carl-E on 19 Nov 2013, 17:17

House rule is no christmas music until after thankgiving dinner's over.

Then my wife puts on the Chipmunks christmas album.

Then I put on the South Park christmas album.

Then we can have real christmas music.

I might actually get the lights up before ... no, never mind, that's not going to happen.

OK please tell me there's a story behind the dueling novelty Christmas albums

Blue Kitty · « **Reply #59 on:** 20 Nov 2013, 13:38 »

You've all purchased your 60in Animated Lighted Christmas Stegosaurus right?

Zebediah · « **Reply #60 on:** 20 Nov 2013, 13:48 »

Quote from: lepetitfromage on 20 Nov 2013, 11:17

I exchange with a lot of people (roughly 20, between friends, family, coworkers and cats. Yes. Cats. Don't judge me.)

Do you truly exchange gifts with the cats, or do they simply accept gifts from you as their due tribute? And are you sure you'd want them to give you anything in return?

Because, frankly, I've gotten gifts from cats before, and they're usually dead animals. Usually. The mouse wasn't quite dead yet.

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #61 on:** 20 Nov 2013, 13:56 »

I've gotten a live mouse from a kitty before. Poor little field mouse was /terrified/ to new dimensions of "oh fuck me I'm scared". I was quite surprised when it came to life in my hands though. I thought it was dead.

Lines · « **Reply #62 on:** 20 Nov 2013, 13:57 »

Better than getting a dead baby rabbit. Worst patheticute gift from an animal ever.

lepetitfromage · « **Reply #63 on:** 20 Nov 2013, 19:54 »

Quote from: Zebediah on 20 Nov 2013, 13:48

Quote from: lepetitfromage on 20 Nov 2013, 11:17
I exchange with a lot of people (roughly 20, between friends, family, coworkers and cats. Yes. Cats. Don't judge me.)

Do you truly exchange gifts with the cats, or do they simply accept gifts from you as their due tribute? And are you sure you'd want them to give you anything in return?

Because, frankly, I've gotten gifts from cats before, and they're usually dead animals. Usually. The mouse wasn't quite dead yet.

Ah, yeahh.....I've gotten my fair share of those. In terms of Christmas though- technically I give a gift to my friend's cat and she gives one to my cat. So....there is kind of an exchange happening?

Blue Kitty · « **Reply #64 on:** 04 Dec 2013, 05:38 »

Still my favorite sweater

Grognard · « **Reply #65 on:** 04 Dec 2013, 08:20 »

:slow clap:
truly awesome

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #66 on:** 04 Dec 2013, 09:18 »

Patrick · « **Reply #67 on:** 04 Dec 2013, 09:19 »

Tom Lehrer is a god damn genius.

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #68 on:** 04 Dec 2013, 09:30 »

True facts.

BeoPuppy · « **Reply #69 on:** 05 Dec 2013, 02:24 »

First, let me get through Sinterklaas alive.

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #70 on:** 05 Dec 2013, 05:59 »

Sigh. I love arguing with Christians, and Christians who can't see why an argument along the lines of "Well Jesus came to save all mankind so that's why I say Merry Christmas to everyone" has the potential to be offensive to literally any one non-Christian. (like say... the majority of the global population)

Grognard · « **Reply #71 on:** 05 Dec 2013, 07:01 »

Merry
Fucking
Christmas
Ya
Filthy
Heathen

BeoPuppy · « **Reply #72 on:** 05 Dec 2013, 07:44 »

Is there a war on christmas?

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #73 on:** 05 Dec 2013, 07:45 »

If there is I'm getting my horse, a horned helmet and going a burnin

Barmymoo · « **Reply #74 on:** 05 Dec 2013, 07:59 »

Garand, can you clarify what you mean? I'm a little confused. Do you mean that it has the potential to offend people who don't believe in Jesus, or is it the justification itself that is offensive, and not the greeting on its own?

LeeC · « **Reply #75 on:** 05 Dec 2013, 08:30 »

Muppet Christmas Carol is still my all time favorite version of the Christmas Carol. Scrooged is a close second.

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #76 on:** 05 Dec 2013, 09:59 »

Quote from: Barmymoo on 05 Dec 2013, 07:59

Garand, can you clarify what you mean? I'm a little confused. Do you mean that it has the potential to offend people who don't believe in Jesus, or is it the justification itself that is offensive, and not the greeting on its own?

I don't really care if someone says Merry Christmas to me. They can celebrate capitalism their own way. The justification was what really grinded my gears. I didn't post the full thing this guy said to me but it boiled down to "Your holidays and way of life are invalid cause Jesus, so that's why I say merry Christmas, you don't get a choice"

Barmymoo · « **Reply #77 on:** 05 Dec 2013, 10:14 »

Yeah, I see what you mean now. I was worried that you meant that saying Merry Christmas was offensive to non-Christians, which I had never even thought about as a possibility (and I don't want to offend people!). I would also be offended by that argument and I do believe the religious side of things.

Grognard · « **Reply #78 on:** 05 Dec 2013, 11:04 »

I start saying Happy Holidays (occasionally 'Season's Greetings) a few days before Thanksgiving.
It's basically a greeting and a wish of Goodwill/Good fortune for the recipient.
And it covers Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas and New Years.

About 2 weeks before Christmas, its purely 'Merry Christmas'.
I'm still wishing you Goodwill and good fortune, but I'm also celebrating my religious beliefs.

After Christmas, it's Happy New Year.

Some people get ugly and militant about things. I fully undrstand not celebrating the commercialization of Christmas.
I don't like it myself. The mass commercialization and capitalization of Christmas is a terrible affront to the real spirit and meaning of the season. The Spirit is a celebration of The Gift and the Giver; not 'gimme' time.

calenlass · « **Reply #79 on:** 05 Dec 2013, 11:23 »

I can't really see how it would be offensive, May, unless those non-Christians are determined to take your faith as a personal insult, or unless you deliver it in such a way as to be judgy and patronizing to the non-Christian. If someone were to say "Shanah Tovah" or "Saal Mubarak" to you, you also have the choice to take it personally, I suppose, or to accept it graciously. You could either be angry that they believe differently than you, or you can just accept their wishes for the good things they believe they are bestowing on you for the new year.

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #80 on:** 05 Dec 2013, 12:38 »

That's basically how I feel about it, every culture in the world and many of the religions has a holiday right around now, celebrating your own shouldn't be offensive. IMPOSING your own on others should be.

LeeC · « **Reply #81 on:** 05 Dec 2013, 12:48 »

Guy at work is vehemently against Christmas and claims to celebrate Saturnalia

Grognard · « **Reply #82 on:** 05 Dec 2013, 12:56 »

some people have the attitude of porcupines with ingrown quills.

there aint never any making them happy.

LookingIn · « **Reply #83 on:** 05 Dec 2013, 13:46 »

Quote from: LeeC on 05 Dec 2013, 08:30

Muppet Christmas Carol is still my all time favorite version of the Christmas Carol. Scrooged is a close second.

I wasn't a fan of Scrooged and could give or take The Muppets version...have you seen the 1951 version? It's been regarded as the best ever version of the book.

pwhodges · « **Reply #84 on:** 05 Dec 2013, 16:00 »

God Jul!

jwhouk · « **Reply #85 on:** 05 Dec 2013, 17:08 »

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

celticgeek · « **Reply #86 on:** 05 Dec 2013, 18:11 »

Hapus Alban Arthuan!

~~mustang6172~~ · « **Reply #87 on:** 05 Dec 2013, 21:05 »

This may be controversial, but I’m not convinced Santa isn’t real.

If the missing children on milk cartons are real, why can’t the old man on the soda cans be real?

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #88 on:** 05 Dec 2013, 21:10 »

Because the old man on soda cans is an invention of Coca Cola based on a Christianized Odin... who is in fact real. So Santa no, Odin yes, which is WAY more metal.

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #89 on:** 05 Dec 2013, 21:48 »

http://infolocata.com/mirovia/irrefutable-proof-that-santa-is-odin/

~~mustang6172~~ · « **Reply #90 on:** 05 Dec 2013, 23:10 »

That doesn't make any sense! How could Coca Cola be credited with inventing Santa in the 1930's, when Clement Clarke Moore's "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" had first been published in 1823?

jwhouk · « **Reply #91 on:** 05 Dec 2013, 23:39 »

You mean, "A Visit from St. Nicholas", do you not?

pwhodges · « **Reply #92 on:** 06 Dec 2013, 01:44 »

Christmas dinner ("tinner") for gamers.

LookingIn · « **Reply #93 on:** 06 Dec 2013, 02:13 »

...Tinner reminds me a lot of this: http://theinfosphere.org/Bachelor_Chow

Akima · « **Reply #94 on:** 06 Dec 2013, 02:43 »

Quote from: GarandMarine on 05 Dec 2013, 21:48

http://infolocata.com/mirovia/irrefutable-proof-that-santa-is-odin/

Dublin is in Great Britain? I think the cartoonist Eired.

The whole Happy Holidays/Christmas argument mercifully does not seem to have take root in Australia. To me, it is just a public holiday, but I'll quite happily give and receive Christmas greetings, while I wait for the important festival - Chinese New Year! The important thing is: don't be a jerk.

~~GarandMarine~~ · « **Reply #95 on:** 06 Dec 2013, 03:54 »

That pun was incredible Akima.

Welu · « **Reply #96 on:** 06 Dec 2013, 15:19 »

Finally bought my first Christmas gifts and I'm really proud of them because the person just mentioned them in passing, to someone else, so it's something I know they want but it will still be a surprise. At least I'm fairly sure they weren't just heavy-hinting because they already told me some stuff they wanted but I know they've also told those ideas to other people and I don't want to end up getting them something someone else wants to get them.

The Seldom Killer · « **Reply #97 on:** 07 Dec 2013, 01:59 »

I used to rail against the commercialisation of Christmas but I've come to the acceptance of it as part of our culture. After all we commercialise everything else to breaking point, Christmas isn't so special that it doesn't deserve the same treatment.

Last night on TV in the space of a couple of minutes I watched about how a buying a certain car would ensure I sleep with a beautiful woman and have wonderful children, how women really need to wash their vaginas to avoid some unspecified social faux pas, how a celebrity has gotten too fat and how shopping at a particular supermarket should be my only concern because I could save money and sleep with the checkout person.

Year on year I see more and more people literally crumbling under the strain of it all. People haemorrhaging money because they feel like they'd feel bad if they don't do what the commercialisation tells them too. Families becoming further embittered because they feel forced together rather than seeking each others company out of choice. There's small respite in organisations offering some relief to those who can't afford even the smallest things and small companies cornering that niche of people who don't want every little thing for two months straight to be dressed up as Christmassy. But what really gets me is that in the face of all of the stress, damage and misery that the current practice of Christmas brings is the abject failure of the greatest potential agency for change to do anything about it. The collective will of the Christian churches is limited to some paltry sermonising to existing congregations about how the real meaning of Christmas shouldn't get lost in the October to December spendfest. Yet the heads of each branch of the faith could easily command the ear of the media and the people to openly condemn and divorce themselves from this. It's a shame that they don't have the spine to do so.

Thrillho · « **Reply #98 on:** 07 Dec 2013, 03:08 »

Well my Christmas plans are now sorted but I am now doing nothing for New Year.

Barmymoo · « **Reply #99 on:** 07 Dec 2013, 03:13 »

It amazes me that we seem to have a culture where it honestly isn't seen as weird that people pay for things with money they don't have.

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Author Topic: Let's talk about Christmas, Thanksgiving be damned (Read 29402 times)