The Bah-Humbug thread!

[9to5cynic]

Holidays are stressful.

 

[lunatic59]

One little trip to the grocery store and I am in almost three accidents. One was an elderly lady who looks like she drove her car last when Eisenhower was president. She cruised right through a stop sign and I don't think she even saw me. Of course seeing over the steering wheel would probably have been helpful. 51 weeks out of the year she is wise enough to know she shouldn't be driving, but Christmas must happen, regardless of public safety.

The next was someone on a cell phone as they pulled out of parking space. I was walking back to my car and they just kept coming and they would have surely backed over me if I didn't jump out of the way. I slapped the fender and they didn't even look up ... just kept on yakking.

And then there was the monster pickup truck that was riding my bumper so close he could count the bugs on my license plate. I was coming to my turn and slowing down, and he inched closer and closer until he had to slam on his brakes and swerve. Good thing there wasn't any oncoming traffic.

The pressure to fulfill holiday obligations has everybody distracted, aggressive and lacking in common sense. I think this is the Christmas I build the bomb shelter in the back yard and stock it with supplies for about two months. Next year we go in right after Halloween.

 

[breadnatty08]

Luna, the latter half of this bit may amuse you.
Brian Regan Video | Comedy Central Stand-Up | DMV
But the whole thing is hilarious anyway. :rofl:

 

[wyndslash]

I gave my student a chance to make up his finals and oral exam since he was in the hospital with dengue fever. I'm still waiting for him to show up:banghead:

 

[TheAtheistReverend]

"Merry Christmas!" says the stranger.
"Happy Birthday" says I.
"It isn't my birthday..."
"I'm not Christian."

 

[wyndslash]

"Merry Christmas!" says the stranger.
"Happy Birthday" says I.
"It isn't my birthday..."
"I'm not Christian."

But why is there a need to take offense in the first place?

 

[Liamo_210]

I gave my student a chance to make up his finals and oral exam since he was in the hospital with dengue fever. I'm still waiting for him to show up:banghead:

Typical . We try do something nice and people don't even stop.to think about the time your giving up just to help them

 

[wyndslash]

Typical . We try do something nice and people don't even stop.to think about the time your giving up just to help them

Yeah well, I did my part. He can't complain that I never gave him a chance. So he'll fail the class.

 

[Liamo_210]

Exactly wynd you can't do all the work for him

 

[Gmash]

Is it over yet?

 

[argedion]

Is it over yet?

well let see we have

24+24+24+24+

um we still have a bunch of hours left

 

[wyndslash]

but i'm going out with friends on the 21st!

 

[lunatic59]

But why is there a need to take offense in the first place?

Because it's a lie.

If our recorded history is accurate and stories from the scripture are true that Joseph was called to the city of his birth (Bethlehem) for the Roman census along with his very pregnant wife who gave birth to Joshua ben Joseph (aka Jesus) shortly after their arrival, then it would have been some time in the month of April, by the current calendar.

Christmas is an artificially constructed holiday under the thinly veiled guise of the birth of Christ to compete politically with the Pagan solstice festivals and coincidentally at the slowest time of the agricultural cycle to give people something to keep them occupied between harvest and planting.

The jolly old elf mythology is just a recent addition to bolster the mercantile nature of our society post-industrialization.

 

[wyndslash]

Well, I'd like to think I'm pretty sincere when I wish someone to have a merry christmas. It's just too petty to take offense, I think, because someone is wishing you well and I'd rather look at it that way rather than be cynical.

 

[TheAtheistReverend]

I appreciate the intentions, but I don't appreciate that everyone thinks everyone else shares the same beliefs.
I don't celebrate Christmas. Why would I have a merry Christmas any more than I would enjoy a movie I won't be going to see.
"Merry Christmas" to a non Christian is just nonsensical.

 

[zuben el genub]

Happy Holidays, then.

Some places give extra time off, so if you get any time off, you should be happy.

I used to work holidays - happy because of double overtime.

 

[Liamo_210]

But im not getting my nexus till that very night

 

[TheAtheistReverend]

Happy Holidays, then.

Some places give extra time off, so if you get any time off, you should be happy.

I used to work holidays - happy because of double overtime.

I can get behind the happy holidays thing. That, to me, is more "P.C." and just plain more polite.

I have to admit i struggle with this.
My son is just over 3mo old, and so we don't have to worry about it this year, but we soon will. The rest of our families celebrate Christmas, and expect us to as well. We want to see everyone and enjoy each others company, and we know our boy will get presents from grandma and grandpa, but we don't want to teach him that a bearded fat white man with little slaves actually exists.
We'll probably teach him about the "magic" of Christmas and that Santa is pretend. But he will also learn about the other holidays, religions, etc the same way.

 

[wyndslash]

This is strange. My battery is draining pretty quickly when I'm not even touching it

 

[lunatic59]

I can get behind the happy holidays thing. That, to me, is more "P.C." and just plain more polite.

I have to admit i struggle with this.
My son is just over 3mo old, and so we don't have to worry about it this year, but we soon will. The rest of our families celebrate Christmas, and expect us to as well. We want to see everyone and enjoy each others company, and we know our boy will get presents from grandma and grandpa, but we don't want to teach him that a bearded fat white man with little slaves actually exists.
We'll probably teach him about the "magic" of Christmas and that Santa is pretend. But he will also learn about the other holidays, religions, etc the same way.

That IS a dilemma.

I don't ever remember believing in Santa Claus, or being asked to believe in him either. I will have to check with my brother on this issue, but I can think back to as early as 6 and recall that I knew the presents under the tree came not from some overweight, redsuited interloper, but from family and freinds. Perhaps, just perhaps, it is the horrible trauma of finding out the reality of Santa Claus that has driven it totally from my mind, but . . um . . . i don't think so. I always saw myself more as the Charlie Brown/Linus type searching for profundity and getting nothing but superficial fluff. And when the depth of spirit and feeling were there, no one else seemed to be that interested.

I suppose that is why i never propagated the legend/myth [nice euphemism for a lie] of Santa to my own son.

Hmmmm . . . what should you tell them. . . that is again a tough one. Is it not better for them to know that gifts they get at the holidays are given by people who love them and care about them, and are given in the spirit of generosity and sharing, rather than it is payment she deserves for their behavior from some anonymous clown? In the Santa tradition, remember, poor behavior is punished by the withholding of those deserved gifts, so children who get nothing, or worse, less than they think they deserve, are obviously flawed in some respect.

The real story [or as historically real as anyone knows it] of St. Nikolaus would be way over their head as would be trying to explain the subtle cultural differences between Father Christmas and Pere Noel and good ol' Kris Kringle. Or you could do as any other Christmas loving parent would do and compound the lie with yet another misrepresentation by saying "Santa asked us to keep them, because Rudolph was arrested for flying under the influence of eggnog and he wasn't sure if he would be able to bail him out by the 25th."

While we are on the subject of holidays . . . .Happy Chanukah . . . Explain THAT one to them

This is strange. My battery is draining pretty quickly when I'm not even touching it

That's Christmas. It sucks the energy out of everything. :vroam:

 

[Liamo_210]

Great to hear your opinion on this subject. It was long but worth reading

 

[TheAtheistReverend]

The spirit of Christmas is worth sharing if you're talking about love, caring, giving, etc. But the culture of "want" is not.
I don't remember believing in Santa, but my wife does. She also remembers being devastated when she found out he wasn't real, mainly because it hurt her to know her parents had lied to her. I don't blame her. That is very much why our boy will understand Santa to be what he is: a story, make believe, even magic. But that is all.
A friend at work was telling me about the 120+ presents they had at their family gathering, and all i could think about was the dozen or so leaf-bags full of wrapping paper and packaging thrown out after. Makes me sick that we create so much waste for a holiday that has become more about getting than giving. A thin veil of generosity covers what i see as a sickness. A willingness to harm our environment, take take take, and fill our lives with stuff.
Just think if everyone spent that money on education, nutrition, housing, etc. Our world would actually be a better place.
Bah...
Hum...
Bug!

 

[wyndslash]

Then donate the money instead. We all have choices.

 

[9to5cynic]

... remembers being devastated when she found out he wasn't real...

This.

But, as someone who once (>.> okay, still ) believed in Jolly Elf, it did at a bit of mysticism to the holidays.

--

Here's something interesting that I read... it was how little lies (santa, easter bunny) prepare kids for larger lies (or other strangely placed trusts [traffic laws, currency]...)...

It was in an interesting read, but I don't know enough to make such grand social commentaries...

Bah-Humbug!

 

[zuben el genub]

That's precisely why I never started either tradition.