Post a controversial opinion

(i said yes of course so i have that to look forward to, but aside from this and the perennial chocolate orange the stocking is a clutterbomb.)

I had no problem eating my coworker's diwali cookies, they can have my holiday ones

i want to defend the immemorial secular northern ceremonies of "please bring the sunshine back it's dark and cold and there's nothing to do except drink the endless night away" that christianity has never been able to snuff out

THIS

(said from the 44th parallel)

Thread prompted me to look up other winter festivals, obviously there's Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, among others there's also Sadeh and Pancha Ganapati, both of which are quite cool in different ways (former: FIRE YES, latter: I'm particularly down with the celebration of the arts).

I'm kind of cautious in that being all "every festival is cool, let's celebrate them all" somehow smacks of privilege, but... that pretty much is my attitude to this stuff.

I think the stockings are Christian. Something to do with St Nicholas giving gold to poor women by putting the stockings through the window.

Jesus wasn't enough for a holiday so we combined his bday with some dude who liked to gift

Nuclear Winterval FTW

People who are otherwise not religious or especially not Christian putting up Christmas trees are weird.

My family does this, I participate and (usually) enjoy it, and I agree with you.

what's weird, not to mention kind of an unconscionable waste of carbon, is putting them up in the tropics. love them tho.

trees in your house is always a good idea imo

i mean within reason

that christianity has a hegemonic grip on america is def not a controversial opinion

There are other countries in the world than America, believe it or not.

^ controversial opinion

nah

Ppl worried abt what other ppl do or don't do vis-a-vis Christmas prob could use another hobby

I've been an atheist since I was 12 but I have a Christmas tree every year and occasionally go to midnight Catholic mass on Christmas eve, I still feel culturally connected to catholicism tho, which might seem weird to some but whatevs.

It's the least weird thing in the world imo, I'm exactly the same tho so

more agnostic than athiest but p much the same

christmas is too much fun to be christian, most of the best elements are unrelated

my wife got a "rented" tree this year that will be replanted after the 25th, people come pick it up. pretty cool idea. I only celebrated the Solstice for many years, but my wife is from a Catholic family so I kinda stand by bemusedly while cookies and packages fly everywhere.

I dunno. It just makes me feel weird every year, how overwhelmingly Christmas everything is, and how not Christian I am, and how often I come across people claiming oh it's just a secular seasonal decoration. Meanwhile, even my kids get really self-conscious about their otherness this time of year.

― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, December 13, 2015 2:45 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Did you grow up with a tree? My family is not religious but we always celebrate christmas, idk

oh nvm, awkward

are there any christmas movies with jesus in them?

Thread prompted me to look up other winter festivals, obviously there's Hanukkah and Kwanzaa,

Kwanzaa was devised explicitly as an alternative to Christmas, but Hanukkah isn't a winter festival, per se. It just typically occurs around Christmas. Often well before. Last year - year before? - it started on (American) Thanksgiving.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Christmas lights and stuff. They're pretty and brighten things up. But sure, yeah, in the States I still think of them as Christmas lights, sorry, and when someone has a tree in their house the last thing I imagine is they're just brightening up their winters. I have family in both England and Australia, where Christmas-y stuff apparently prevails yet where they insist it's totally secular and that "everyone does it." Which may be true, to an extent, but it makes me uneasy when the "secular" celebrations that "everyone" does just happens to coincide with longstanding traditions explicitly associated with a specific religion (however rooted in Paganism or non-Christianity many of the traditions may be). Just because I can sing a dozen Christmas songs does not make them secular, it means that I'm the product of decades of more or less innocent indoctrination.

I don't know, man. I guess I'd be more cool with it if it wasn't called Christmas.

are there any christmas movies with jesus in them?

Good question! I'm not sure, to be honest, but scenes set in churches and nativity decorations abound, so I guess he's sort of implicit?

As my wife just pointed out, Christmas celebrates birthday, so there aren't a lot of narrative roles for newborn Jesus to play.

Jesus's birthday, sorry. (Just in case anyone was confused.)

yeah, it was honestly just an aside that hadn't occurred to me until now. i respect your opinion

thought there might be a film where jesus showed up in 1930s london or something and teaches everyone the true meaning of blah blah blah

time traveling jesus

sorry if this offends anybody

the tree isn't about indoctrination though, no more than the gravy or presents. it all works with or without the divine baby shower

mayonnaise is the third best wet condiment behind hot sauce and mustard

on behalf of ketchup, f u

To be more specific, the ranking goes: sriracha, Dijon mustard, Caribbean hot sauce, aioli, chutney, tahini, salsa, prepared horseradish, harissa, yellow mustard, mayonnaise, Tabasco, honey mustard, Barbecue sauce, Hoisin sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, ranch dressing, and then ketchup.

fp all of u

whoa, have we really never had a condiments poll?

Lifetime ketchup fan, but I've since come around to the evils of ketchup, categorizing it somewhere alongside soda as sweet things kids like that adults should not be consuming. It's basically all sugar, and having kids who disgustingly request it on everything has really made me reconsider my misplaced allegiance. I mean, I still eat it, especially on fries and burgers, but my slow re-education usually includes mixing it with at least mustard. It'll be a long road, but I think I can do it, with the help of my friends and family. Definitely an assist that Chicago as a whole almost irrationally hates ketchup. So there's that.

Dude hates Christmas and ketchup I'm off to lay a cheeky tenner on him kicking at least three puppies this week

why do we cast aspersions upon those poor souls who can't enjoy ketchup, mayo, etc, they/we deserve our/your sympathy

Mushy appeasement

i feel awful for people who are capable of enjoying mayo because they are broken

^ evidence of bodhisattva-like compassion in industrial quantities

i am a malthusian. there are too many people using too much oil on the planet, now. we cannot sustain this. i would be willing to vote for a candidate that would institute a two-child policy in the u.s., or any other western state.

i'm kind of okay with a little bit of fascism.

I recently heard that Christmas was originally in the summer but a pope moved it to win over converts. Do any Christians still do it in summer?

australians iirc

fascism is bad monster mash. you might just mean like authoritarianism i think but that kinda sucks too :( regardless you probably have much to look forward to.

Anyone who celebrates xmas in the southern hemisphere celebrates it at midsummer, basically

People who are otherwise not religious or especially not Christian putting up Christmas trees are weird.

My family does this, I participate and (usually) enjoy it, and I agree with you.

― EveningStar (Sund4r), Sunday, 13 December 2015 23:55 (Yesterday) Permalink

I like blinking lights so there.