Society & Culture

How do you feel about Christmas? Love it? Hate it?

Society & Culture

Posted by: Rainbow

17th Nov 2011 04:22pm

Do you wish Christmas would come and go quickly or do you look forward to it with great enthusiasm? Do you believe Christmas has lost its meaning given all the materialistic connotations associated with it or does it still have a special place in your heart?


sneakierbiscuit
  • 26th Nov 2011 04:21pm

It was sad reading some of the negative replies. Christmas, being a religious feast, is more than just family - although because of the joy and hope of the season, family was always an important part of it. Secular society still gets the family part, but because our families are often separated or broken, and because of the commercial shopping push, the season can seem less than it should be.

We avoid most of these difficulties by doing the following:

1. We observe Advent, which is like a mini-Lent. It's is a time of reflection, sober contemplation, and even fasting. It prepares our minds and spirits for the rejoicing and feasting to come. Observing Advent rituals keeps our minds from obsessing about shopping and presents, whilst building anticipation for the holiday.
2. We don't watch television during this season. We will watch DVDs or stream shows, but we avoid TV and all those ads. :) It's liberating.
3. I do a lot of my Christmas present shopping throughout the year when I find a good deal on something I know a particular person will like. That means I don't have the pressure and stress of madly trying to buy a bunch of presents during the Christmas rush. And it gives me more time to find a gift to show my love.
4. My husband and I cook together. Sharing the kitchen duties brings us closer. There is a lot of religious imagery about shared meals and feasts for a reason - there is a deep socio-cultural and spiritual aspect to it.
5. We remember those less fortunate than us and volunteer for various charity Christmas activities.
6. We invite a person with no family nearby to celebrate with. Lonely people are welcome at our Christmas table.
7. We keep gifts to a minimum. One or two each, and nothing crazily extravagant.
8. We have lots of family Christmas rituals. The advent calendar, the candles, the special prayers. Preparing the house. We put up the Christmas tree only a few days before Christmas and decorate it on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day we turn on the lights. And that's when we start playing the Christmas songs as well. We then celebrate Christmas right up to the Feast of the Epiphany (after the 12 days of Christmas, there is feast celebrating the arrival of the 3 Wise Men.) Some cultures exchange gifts here instead of Christmas Day. We don't, but we do mark it with a special dinner. We have a nativity set which includes a pregnant Mary. On Christmas Eve while the children are asleep, I switch pregnant Mary over to the Mary with the baby Jesus in her arms. The 3 wise men aren't in the nativity display yet. We move them a little closer each day until finally at the Feast of the Epiphany they arrive.

We have lots of treasured memories. Christmas hasn't lost it's meaning, although I think a lot of us have forgotten it. It doesn't have to be that way.

Even if I were without family, and without gifts, Christmas would still have a special place in my heart for the hope and love it signifies.


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