Merry Christmas?

[Scheherazade]

I love this time of the year... Everything seems so... jolly.

However, I also have to admit that I wish it were over already so that the radio stopped playing the same songs over and over again and shops took down all the decorations so that we could do our weekly shopping without being pressured to buy some more gifts.

Here is a thread to share why you like and dislike Christmas... As well as the most (dis)liked seasonal songs.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town ~ Springsteen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khpk9274gMg&feature=related)

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

For the most part, I do enjoy the Christmas season; it coincides with winter, my favorite season, the relaxed pace in the work world, days off and the music too or at least that which I have control over.
Of course shopping can be a pain, when caught up in traffic.

Your Springsteen selection is right there at the top of over played Christmas songs.
Another one that get's a lot of air time is that infernal "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas"
I never grow tired of Vince Guaraldi's Peanuts Christmas music...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-BprS1uyxQ&feature=related
and
Ave Maria
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bosouX_d8Y

[Maximilianus]

Here it's summer and I hate summer, but I don't think it's the main reason why I don't like Xmas very much. I would say it's because of the memories it brings back, mostly about family trouble and bitter times that somehow get revived around this time of year. I remember how well other families seemed to be doing, of which I was a mere spectator, at least as far as appearances allowed a young boy to see. Anyway, I do like classical music related to Xmas, such as the Ave Maria, to name one.

[cafolini]

Enjoy your music, Max and have the best of times.

[Maximilianus]

Thank you, cafolini. Same to you http://smiles.kolobok.us/personal/hi.gif

[irishpixieb]

I love Christmas bc this time of the year just seems so magical? theres that feeling of Christmas magic in the air and it just warms the heart!

Also, I like being able to say Merry CHRISTMAS!! heck with all those people who get fussy over it. It's a christian holiday! Get over it!

Anyway, Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer annoys me. haha

[BienvenuJDC]

I love Christmas for my daughters' sake. However, the commercialization has ruined it all. I hate to see people fight over stuff in stores. All they want is to get something for nothing. People argue about who or what is the reason for the season, but in turn they become so hypocritical. I love to recite the poem "Twas the Night Before Christmas" for kids, but there's always those kids that parents refuse to "lie" to them about Santa Claus. That's fine, I guess, but what's wrong with feeding a child's imagination?

Ok...I'm done....

[MarkBastable]

I hate to see people fight over stuff in stores. All they want is to get something for nothing.

Surely if they're fighting over stuff in stores, it's in order to buy it? So they don't want something for nothing - though if it's completely ephemeral crap, I suppose you could say they wanted nothing for something.


What I dislike about Christmas - the only thing I dislike about it, really - is that it's the season for people to whinge about how Christmas isn't what it used to be, though you very rarely hear them tell you about any Christmas they had that was like it used to be. Christmas certainly lends itself to nostalgia, but it's as if the only way that such people can reference the past is by suggesting that it's a far better place to live than the present.

No one alive today has lived through a Christmas that wasn't - to use the current example - commercialised, whatever the hell 'commercialised' means. What might have happened, though, is that that people have grown up and had to start paying for it, whereas when they were seven they just woke up on December 25th and there it all was.

On the subject of music, I could very happily struggle through life without ever again hearing Mary's Boychild, When a Child is Born or Last Christmas (the George Michael abomination). I do like Once in Royal David's City, Ding-Dong Merrily on High and Wizzard's I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day.

[JuniperWoolf]

What I dislike about Christmas - the only thing I dislike about it, really - is that it's the season for people to whinge about how Christmas isn't what it used to be, though you very rarely hear them tell you about any Christmas they had that was like it used to be. Christmas certainly lends itself to nostalgia, but it's as if the only way that such people can reference the past is by suggesting that it's a far better place to live than the present.

No one alive today has lived through a Christmas that wasn't - to use the current example - commercialised, whatever the hell 'commercialised' means. What might have happened, though, is that that people have grown up and had to start paying for it, whereas when they were seven they just woke up on December 25th and there it all was.


I have this same discussion whenever people I know in real life bash Christmas based on it's "commercialization." Isn't commerce a good thing, a concept upon which a large part of our society relies? What's wrong with stimulating commerce? Besides, people have been giving gifts to each other for their winter solstice festivals since ancient Rome's Saturnalia, so anyone who clames that Christmas has "become" commercial has been around for quite a while.

Anyway, I once got suspended for singing the joke version of Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer instead of the real one during a school Christmas play, so I don't like that one. Bad mental association.

[Lokasenna]

I love the day, but abominate the build-up.

Christmas day itself is great - good food, family, relaxation and so forth. When I was a kid, before my parents retired, it was often the only whole day of the year we could all be together and free of the family business.

What I really hate is the mass consumerist orgy that precedes Christmas by a longer period each year. For months (literally!) it is continually shoved in your face - the message is that the only way you can prove your good wishes and general benevolence towards your fellow man is through throwing money around. When I wish someone a merry Christmas, I genuinely mean it - do I really need an overpriced scrap of card to prove it?

And then there's Santa Claus, who really gets on my goat. I may not be a Christian, but I respect Christianity - very few people look objectively at Father Christmas and see just how anti-Christian he is. The main source for the legend of Father Christmas, of course, is the god Odin - a figure that medieval theologians saw as analagous to Satan. And this makes sense - he usurps God, taking the spirtual centre-ground away from Christ. He judges in God's stead (with his naughty and nice list), but his rewards are material rather than spiritual. And yet, I seem to be the only one to find this horrible pagan boogeyman sinister...

[kensington]

I love the day, but abominate the build-up.

Christmas day itself is great - good food, family, relaxation and so forth. When I was a kid, before my parents retired, it was often the only whole day of the year we could all be together and free of the family business.

What I really hate is the mass consumerist orgy that precedes Christmas by a longer period each year. For months (literally!) it is continually shoved in your face - the message is that the only way you can prove your good wishes and general benevolence towards your fellow man is through throwing money around. When I wish someone a merry Christmas, I genuinely mean it - do I really need an overpriced scrap of card to prove it?

And then there's Santa Claus, who really gets on my goat. I may not be a Christian, but I respect Christianity - very few people look objectively at Father Christmas and see just how anti-Christian he is. The main source for the legend of Father Christmas, of course, is the god Odin - a figure that medieval theologians saw as analagous to Satan. And this makes sense - he usurps God, taking the spirtual centre-ground away from Christ. He judges in God's stead (with his naughty and nice list), but his rewards are material rather than spiritual. And yet, I seem to be the only one to find this horrible pagan boogeyman sinister...

It's because we didn't understand it. But now that you've explained it to us... Thank you.

[JuniperWoolf]

And then there's Santa Claus, who really gets on my goat. I may not be a Christian, but I respect Christianity - very few people look objectively at Father Christmas and see just how anti-Christian he is. The main source for the legend of Father Christmas, of course, is the god Odin - a figure that medieval theologians saw as analagous to Satan. And this makes sense - he usurps God, taking the spirtual centre-ground away from Christ. He judges in God's stead (with his naughty and nice list), but his rewards are material rather than spiritual. And yet, I seem to be the only one to find this horrible pagan boogeyman sinister...

My boyfriend loves Santa specifically because he's a pagan boogeyman. He has tons of books on him because he thinks that Santa is creepy, and the fact that he's become a "child's god" (believed in and worshiped by children only) is cool and strange. We have a terrifying Germanic-looking wooden Father Christmas staring at me from atop the bookshelf as I'm typing this. I usually prefer to keep it's head covered with a plush Santa hat.

Incidentally, Dave's also the one who introduced me to Lovecraft.

[Helga]

it was kinda fun reading Lokasenna's post, here on the ice the name we use for Christmas is Jól witch is the name that was used for a celebration this time of year before we became a Christian nation, a name used for a pagan festival. also we have Jewish lights in our windows and many have the David star (I think that is what it is called) and of course we have 13 santas who originally stole from the poor and their mom and cat eat children so here on the ice Christmas is a mix from different directions.

[kensington]

it was kinda fun reading Lokasenna's post, here on the ice the name we use for Christmas is Jól witch is the name that was used for a celebration this time of year before we became a Christian nation, a name used for a pagan festival. also we have Jewish lights in our windows and many have the David star (I think that is what it is called) and of course we have 13 santas who originally stole from the poor and their mom and cat eat children so here on the ice Christmas is a mix from different directions.

Although I'm Christian at heart, I think it's sad that Scandinavia's traditional beliefs were blotted out when Christianity was imposed.

I wonder too, if a cat eats children, how do children grow up to like cats? Because I know you do Helga, you said so on the cat lovers' sub-forum.

Santa Claus in our country became this big deal because department stores used it as a promotion. I think gifts can be spiritual as well as material. It used to be that way when people gave meaningful things, often handmade. But now it's all material here, a spiritual mass homocide.

Where I live most people see Christmas as pagan, and many Christians don't really celebrate it, though I'd never thought it through as Lokasenna described it.

[hoope]

I wish you all a very Happy Christmas with loved ones,
Families and friends :)

[kensington]

I wish you all a very Happy Christmas with loved ones,
Families and friends :)

How lovely, and you're of the Islamic faith?

[Emil Miller]

I don't hate Christmas but I do dislike the whole tedious contrivance of it. For many years I went abroad to escape the boredom and on one occasion I was on the Paris metro when it pulled into a station and a small boy pointed out of the window and said 'Look mummy! There's Father Christmas.'
I looked and sure enough there was a figure on the platform dressed in the traditional costume and holding a bulky sack. It was of course a store hireling on his way to work but that didn't stop the mother replying; "There, I told you he was real." Unfortunately the man's whole demeanour bespoke a disposition rather more than jolly as he was drunk. My heart went out to him as he was probably as p****d off as I was with the most boring ritual in the whole of, well.....christendom.

[kiki1982]

Thanks for the explanation, Lokasenna, that was enlightening. Then it is really cynical that most of the world seems to be obsessed with Santa, isn't it?

I didn't use to faintly dislike Christmas until I fell out with my father over the existence of my now husband and my family did not invite me for Christmas. Surely, if you are a true Christian (as they deemed themselves, including my father), you do invite a family member you have seen growing up, not on the day that would have been awkward, but at another moment. I found that hypocritical.

My father always gets very excited, puts a 3m high christmas tree in his living room and then goes to the family party in Antwerp where the whole day they watch TV (and it is not BBC).

Since we have moved to Germany, we have had an excuse, but before we were also obliged (you feel that, don't you) to buy presents for 10 people we couldn't pay for. It's nice to see them all, but that could be done without all the huge cost and stress. Now, for the frist trime in a few years we have bought for each other (I hope ;)), and for my parents like every year. For the neighbours we make something they can eat.

And then we had the first Christmas Eve when we were living together in our apartment. We had bought a tree at great expense (for us) and some time around 8 o'clock the police rings the bell. Whether we had seen a neighbour from apartment X. The family had called because the woman had not shown up. We had seen her in the lift the day before. She had died in her apartment... For the rest of my days I will remember the police showing up with a body bag on Christmas Eve. So sad.

However, we went to Nürnberg a few days ago to the Christmas market. Victorian Christmas wasn't far off. Wonderful atmosphere and wonderful people. And you could move!

Man, do i start to hate tourists!

That trip made me feel more christmassy. :)

No Santas here, though, fortunately. Deco only (for now, probably). German Christmas is realer. It is still commercial, but not in such a way. Although the commercial side of Christmas I do find a problem, regardless of whether there is a Santa or not.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I hate how much people worry about what they have to get people for Christmas . . . if they'll like it, if they spent enough, if they bought enough. Ugh, that's not what Christmas is supposed to be about! If they're really loved ones, they won't care. I don't.

And I'm pro-Santa. I loved him as a kid, and I wouldn't want to not have those memories.

Incidentally, isn't almost all of Christmas a pagan tradition adopted by the Catholic church? Maybe this is all an old wive's tale, but I heard the holiday is based on a celebration of nature (bringing a tree into the house, etc.), and rather than the the Catholic Church trying to get rid of it, they just decided to say it's a Christian celebration. Same idea with Santa.

[Paulclem]

Why doesn't Santa allow beer in the toy factory?

It's bad for his elf.

I'm not Christian, but I've always participated in what I see as a cultural celebration. We do love it, though it's hard work. I finished work last Friday, but I haven't been able to curl up with a good book yet. Perhaps that'll happen in the tween times.

[Delta40]

I hate how much people worry about what they have to get people for Christmas . . . if they'll like it, if they spent enough, if they bought enough. Ugh, that's not what Christmas is supposed to be about! If they're really loved ones, they won't care. I don't.

And I'm pro-Santa. I loved him as a kid, and I wouldn't want to not have those memories.

Incidentally, isn't almost all of Christmas a pagan tradition adopted by the Catholic church? Maybe this is all an old wive's tale, but I heard the holiday is based on a celebration of nature (bringing a tree into the house, etc.), and rather than the the Catholic Church trying to get rid of it, they just decided to say it's a Christian celebration. Same idea with Santa.

I think that is why my Jehovah friend doesn't celebrate Christmas because the tree thing is a pagan celebration which some where along the long was integrated into christianity.

Personally, now that my daughters have grown up, we go more for giving to charities like buying a goat for a third world family etc. We usually have a christmas breakfast since its so hot in Australia.

[Scheherazade]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoxQ4Ul_DME

[kensington]

I hate how much people worry about what they have to get people for Christmas . . . if they'll like it, if they spent enough, if they bought enough. Ugh, that's not what Christmas is supposed to be about! If they're really loved ones, they won't care. I don't.

And I'm pro-Santa. I loved him as a kid, and I wouldn't want to not have those memories.

Incidentally, isn't almost all of Christmas a pagan tradition adopted by the Catholic church? Maybe this is all an old wive's tale, but I heard the holiday is based on a celebration of nature (bringing a tree into the house, etc.), and rather than the the Catholic Church trying to get rid of it, they just decided to say it's a Christian celebration. Same idea with Santa.

This is true. Long before Christianity, pagan people celebrated mid-winter to help them through the bleak time. And then the church had difficulty pulling people from their traditions, so they incorporated them. We don't know when Christ was born. The Catholic church has all the women saints and raised Mary to the level of God because pagan people worshiped goddesses. The Irish had Bridget, I think, and she became a saint.

I was told about Santa but I wasn't taught to really believe in him as I was taught about Christ. When I was little I never could figure out what it was exactly. I always suspected that it wasn't true. But I did like the fantasy of it. But then one day I saw a store Santa, like the one Emil mentioned, and that was the end for me. Seeing a man pretending to be Santa was so deficient that it turned me off completely.


I love the day, but abominate the build-up.

Christmas day itself is great - good food, family, relaxation and so forth. When I was a kid, before my parents retired, it was often the only whole day of the year we could all be together and free of the family business.

What I really hate is the mass consumerist orgy that precedes Christmas by a longer period each year. For months (literally!) it is continually shoved in your face - the message is that the only way you can prove your good wishes and general benevolence towards your fellow man is through throwing money around. When I wish someone a merry Christmas, I genuinely mean it - do I really need an overpriced scrap of card to prove it?

And then there's Santa Claus, who really gets on my goat. I may not be a Christian, but I respect Christianity - very few people look objectively at Father Christmas and see just how anti-Christian he is. The main source for the legend of Father Christmas, of course, is the god Odin - a figure that medieval theologians saw as analagous to Satan. And this makes sense - he usurps God, taking the spirtual centre-ground away from Christ. He judges in God's stead (with his naughty and nice list), but his rewards are material rather than spiritual. And yet, I seem to be the only one to find this horrible pagan boogeyman sinister...

I just realized what's going on here. You've always been on that naughty list and haven't gotten all the video games you've wanted, and that's why you're calling Santa sinister.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I also thought Santa was quite sinister one year, but that's just because my older cousin told me he was the devil.

[kensington]

I also thought Santa was quite sinister one year, but that's just because my older cousin told me he was the devil.

The devil figured prominently in my childhood, as well.

As I think on it more, that was an especially naughty year for you, Mutatis - I think that's the truth of it.

[irinmisfit92]

Lokasenna's post is interesting :D I guess people here don't really care about myths and Father Christmas. Santa Claus is still famous, but no one really talks about him here.

I hate Christmas here because it's so warm; there's no winter ._.

[Jack of Hearts]

The religious aspect. It's hard for this nonbeliever. It used to be he could humor relatives and friends and maybe sit through a midnight sermon or whatever. But last year was the nail in that coffin. Last year he was terrified by going to church and he won't go back again.

You can only kid 'em so much. They know when you're apostate. It kind of ruins the 'togetherness' aspect. Somewhere there's a charm to the holidays that can't be ignored, but as this reader gets older and becomes more like... uh, himself, it's easy to lose sight of that charm.







J

[JuniperWoolf]

I also thought Santa was quite sinister one year, but that's just because my older cousin told me he was the devil.

He is, just like Bacchus. :reddevil:

If you're not a good little boy, he'll have his gnarled man-goat slave Ruprecht whip you with willow switches, bind you in chains and tear off your ears.

http://fourbluehills.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/2151483_f520.jpg?w=520&h=799

[kensington]

He is, just like Bacchus. :reddevil:

If you're not a good little boy, he'll have his gnarled man-goat slave Ruprecht whip you with willow switches, bind you in chains and tear off your ears.

http://fourbluehills.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/2151483_f520.jpg?w=520&h=799

That's a cool vintage picture. It's not accurate, however, because it's impossible to catch the really naughty ones.

[MarkBastable]

That's a cool vintage picture. It's not accurate, however, because it's impossible to catch the really naughty ones.

With feet like that, he wouldn't catch any of them.

[TurquoiseSunset]

It's bad for his elf.

Heh. And if Santa was English it would probably be about Elf and Safety, no? :p

[kensington]

With feet like that, he wouldn't catch any of them.

Yeah, but the especially naughty ones out-run anyone they want to. :frown5:

[prendrelemick]

Well, I love Christmas. I like all the family rituals, I especially like going to the carol service, I'm not religious but I do like a good sing-song, and it is one of the few uncommercialized bits of Christmas left

This one really gets the joint jumping, and I love the contrived rhymes.

Ding dong merrily on high,
In Heaven the bells are ringing,
Ding dong verily the sky,
Is riven with angels singing.

Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis

E'en so here below, below
let steeple bells be swungen,
And i-o, i-o, i-o, by priest
and people sungen...


Then that descant on the next to last verse of O Come All Ye Faithfull - those soaring voices bursting free from the rest of us - always sends shivers down the spine. I love it. The best thing is that it is free and real, anyone can turn up and be part of all that wonderful noise.

And no! Fairytail in New York is not the best Christmas song ever.

[kensington]

Me too, Mick. I love the Catholic midnight mass, and the traditional carols like "Hark the Herald Angels Sing."

[Emil Miller]

And no! Fairytail in New York is not the best Christmas song ever.

I couldn't agree more; it's this one:

http://youtu.be/ZxSka_Qt-pc

[OrphanPip]

I wasn't raised to believe in Santa, my parents made it clear that they were buying the gifts.

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

Me too, Mick. I love the Catholic midnight mass, and the traditional carols like "Hark the Herald Angels Sing."

I remember many a midnight mass, the first half of them anyway. I would invariably start pecking corn (the up and down motion of a drousy head - for those across the pond), eventually crashing in the pews toward the latter half, particularly in the early years when Latin was still used.

One year I recall coming back from Mass and we settled in the living room, when suddenly our cat launched from the arm of the couch into the center of the Christmas tree knocking it down, breaking and scattering ornamnents. My father was forced to brace the tree to an adjacent wall.


I couldn't agree more; it's this one:

http://youtu.be/ZxSka_Qt-pc

That's definately a contender, but still not the best.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skt5-Km1yDg

.

[Paulclem]

Christmas seems a bit hollow without the family element. Having kids around and seeing how they enjoy it, and reflecting on how you enjoyed it in the past is really nice.

I was going to start a thread on how you can reconcile the rampant commercialism of Christmas with the real pleasure it gives lots of people until Scher started this one.

The present giving does serve a purpose in that it can train little kids in appropriate giving - for example not just giving things that you like in the expectation that others will/ should like it, but thinking about what the person likes and/ or what is appropriate to the situation. We all have to give prezzies at some time other than Christmas, and it's a safe starting point for kids to handle and manage their money.

All that can then spill over into charity. Having a tradition of giving at a particular time of year is a good idea. Of course you get it all a bit overblown in the media and on TV, but what do you expect? We're all used to that by now.

I know santa's been a bit dissed on the thread, but, whilst the pagan and coca cola roots are interesting, the Santa myth is still what you make of it. Just to add a part of the jigsaw to the image, there is a tradition of a Bishop - Saint Nicholas - in Smyrna, Turkey, throwing coins down a chimney to a poor man's family, and them finding the money in their stockings which were drying by the fire. The reason he threw them down the chimney was that they would not have been able to accept the gift presented conventionally. (I think the money was to provide dowries for the poor man's daughters).

[Emil Miller]

I remember many a midnight mass, the first half of them anyway. I would invariably start pecking corn (the up and down motion of a drousy head - for those across the pond), eventually crashing in the pews toward the latter half, particularly in the early years when Latin was still used. .

Ah yes, I remember them well. Sitting outside a café on the Place du Petit Pont by the river Seine and watching the multitude swarming into Notre Dame as I ordered another beer. Christmas does have its plus points depending on where one is and what one is doing.

[kensington]

Well, I love Christmas. I like all the family rituals, I especially like going to the carol service, I'm not religious but I do like a good sing-song, and it is one of the few uncommercialized bits of Christmas left

This one really gets the joint jumping, and I love the contrived rhymes.

Ding dong merrily on high,
In Heaven the bells are ringing,
Ding dong verily the sky,
Is riven with angels singing.

Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis

E'en so here below, below
let steeple bells be swungen,
And i-o, i-o, i-o, by priest
and people sungen...


Then that descant on the next to last verse of O Come All Ye Faithfull - those soaring voices bursting free from the rest of us - always sends shivers down the spine. I love it. The best thing is that it is free and real, anyone can turn up and be part of all that wonderful noise.

And no! Fairytail in New York is not the best Christmas song ever.


Speaking of Santa Claus: I was just looking through your photo album :blush: - photo #108 - Santa passed out drunk, with his Santa hat strategically placed - is that you?? :blush: You should put the picture on here. :D

And the Christmas picture #124 of the baby in front of the fireplace. :)

[skib]

Christmas music. Stupid commercials of all shapes and sizes with . . . Christmas music. The hollowness. The feigned 'excitement.' Putting up more decorations and other worthless **** for one month than you have in your entire house. Cheesy jewelery commercials. Homeless people standing outside Walmart dressed as an alcoholic, malnourished Santa ringing a stupid bell for hours at a time. Christmas music. Holiday crowds full of mothers and father snapping 'Smile dammit! It's Christmas!' at their children. The rumor that Colorado has 'white, snowy Christmas mornings.' That's a load of ****. The state has 360 days of sunshine, at least half of those are below 0, and the snow hits in May. Just saying.
I like seeing my family for about an hour. Then leave me alone to play around with whatever you got me. Other than the things just listed, I love Christmas!

[Lokasenna]

All I know is that listening to 'Rocking Around the Christmas Tree' makes the red mist descend... When we used to have our family shop, I used to dread December coming around because the piped-in music would go all Christmas on me. Having to endure that for a month really is tantamount to psychological trauma...

But, misgivings aside, let me be the first on here (I think?) to wish everyone on LitNet a very merry Christmas indeed!

[JuniperWoolf]

Does anyone remember those horrible sweaters where Rudolf's nose had tiny glowing strings of light? God those were ugly.

Oh yeah, also, Merry Christmas!

[kensington]

I think Hoope was the first to wish every one Merry Christmas.

This is the song I was traumatized by when I worked in a department store.


Let It Snow!


Oh, the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful,
And since we've no place to go,
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

It doesn't show signs of stopping,
And I brought some corn for popping;
The lights are turned way down low,
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

When we finally say good night,
How I'll hate going out in the storm;
But if you really hold me tight,
All the way home I'll be warm.

The fire is slowly dying,
And, my dear, we're still good-bye-ing,
But as long as you love me so.
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.


Merry Christmas everyone, hope Santa brings you some great books!

[prendrelemick]

I can see I've wandered into Scroogeville here. Awful jumpers, cheesey songs, cheap tinsil, the giving and recieving of socks, too much turkey and sprouts - I love it all.

Think Prokofiev's Troika. That's how I feel going about my jobs on Christmas Morning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsRDpsItq0

[Helga]

my favorite Christmas song is this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv0hlbWpa1w&feature=related

don't really know why it's not very Christmassee but I love it.

I like Christmas and almost everything about it, excitement or overflow of songs and advertising has no affect on me. I start planning and buying Christmas presents in October and I just try and think of something people will like I am not thinking about prices, my presents are usually in the form of books. I don't get stressed and I don't get why people would do that to themselves. look at the situation and think about it don't get all shaken up!

Also when I go to malls and there is one cd in the main speakers and different ones in all the stores I just have my mp3 player and listen to what I want and forget about the rest. it is also very easy for my to close my ears and not hear what is going on around me, you would not believe the things I have missed because I was lost somewhere inside my head.

Merry Christmas litnet!

[Emil Miller]

[QUOTE=Helga;1100842]you would not believe the things I have missed because I was lost somewhere inside my head. QUOTE]


After that song, there's an obvious answer to this but we mustn't be unkind in the season of goodwill, so merry Christmas Helga.

[Helga]

[QUOTE=Helga;1100842]you would not believe the things I have missed because I was lost somewhere inside my head. QUOTE]


After that song, there's an obvious answer to this but we mustn't be unkind in the season of goodwill, so merry Christmas Helga.


haha, merry Christmas to you Emil

[papayahed]

Merry Christmas you guys.


Best songs ever:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S50cf3xIb50

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0grALxJ1Gus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeJsCTdr2G8&feature=related

[Pensive]

Merry Christmas! :)

[Emil Miller]

[QUOTE=papayahed;1100917]Merry Christmas you guys.


Best songs ever:

Don't talk rot. This is the best Christmas song ever.

http://youtu.be/rAvTC-3hk8w

[smerdyakov]

Merry Christmas to All!

My fav xmas song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHNpS-pnH-M

:santasmil

[LitNetIsGreat]

Merry Christmas and stuff.

[Emil Miller]

Merry Christmas and stuff.

Now come along Neely, I've revealed my sneaking admiration for, what's his name? Oh yes, Shakin' Stevens, so let's hear it from you in the Christmas song stakes.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Now come along Neely, I've revealed my sneaking admiration for, what's his name? Oh yes, Shakin' Stevens, so let's hear it from you in the Christmas song stakes.

Oh OK then, here's a major classic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtxcLF5O2HE&feature=related

Great music, wit and sex appeal, what more do you want?

[bazarov]

Merry Christmas!

[Emil Miller]

Oh OK then, here's a major classic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtxcLF5O2HE&feature=related

Great music, wit and sex appeal, what more do you want?


I have to say that I find Shakin' Stevens more amusing. I first discovered him just before Christmas when I was staying with an English friend in Oslo. At the time, he had a Norwegian girlfriend and as he was shortly to leave Norway to return to England, he wanted to buy some music for her to remember him by. We went into a record store and while he was looking I found a recording of Shakin' Stevens. Now my friend's name was Stevens, known since school days as Steve. I held up the record and for a laugh said "What about this one Steve?" He turned it down and chose something more appropriate.
However, his girlfriend decided to return the complement and when he was back in England, she sent him a disc of romantic Italian songs with an intimate note attached. Unfortunately, his wife opened it and nearly went through the roof. I don't think they had a very merry Christmas.

[mona amon]

:santasmilMerry Christmas!

[LitNetIsGreat]

I have to say that I find Shakin' Stevens more amusing. I first discovered him just before Christmas when I was staying with an English friend in Oslo. At the time, he had a Norwegian girlfriend and as he was shortly to leave Norway to return to England, he wanted to buy some music for her to remember him by. We went into a record store and while he was looking I found a recording of Shakin' Stevens. Now my friend's name was Stevens, known since school days as Steve. I held up the record and for a laugh said "What about this one Steve?" He turned it down and chose something more appropriate.
However, his girlfriend decided to return the complement and when he was back in England, she sent him a disc of romantic Italian songs with an intimate note attached. Unfortunately, his wife opened it and nearly went through the roof. I don't think they had a very merry Christmas.

:lol: Oh dear.

[mazHur]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_OBuuuT0Y0U/TvajQyQmQRI/AAAAAAAAHIg/k1nxmnUnL68/s640/Church_Nativity.PNG
Church of Nativity, Bethlehem, Jerusalem

Wa as-salamu AAalayya yawma wulidtu,
wa yawma amootu,
wa yawma obAAathu hayyan.

"Peace is on me the day I was born,
the day that I die,
and the day that I shall be raised up to life (again)"!

- from the Blessed sayings of Isa ibn Maryam (Jesus, son of Mary),
The Holy Quran, Chapter of Mary, 19:33


Greetings of a Blessed Christmas to you all. Merry, Merry Christmas.

[qimissung]

Thank you, mazHur. That is beautiful.

[papayahed]

[QUOTE=papayahed;1100917]Merry Christmas you guys.


Best songs ever:

Don't talk rot. This is the best Christmas song ever.

http://youtu.be/rAvTC-3hk8w


Well, yes. That's very nice as well.:leaving:

[Emil Miller]

[QUOTE=Emil Miller;1100992]


Well, yes. That's very nice as well.:leaving:

But I would bet that you won't get to the end of this one.

http://youtu.be/ggm0SZCWKZo

[papayahed]

[QUOTE=papayahed;1101368]

But I would bet that you won't get to the end of this one.

http://youtu.be/ggm0SZCWKZo

I think you and I both know I'll do it out of spite. (as soon as I get back home):angelsad2:

[Scheherazade]

The OP:
I love this time of the year... Everything seems so... jolly.

However, I also have to admit that I wish it were over already so that the radio stopped playing the same songs over and over again and shops took down all the decorations so that we could do our weekly shopping without being pressured to buy some more gifts.

Here is a thread to share why you like and dislike Christmas... As well as the most (dis)liked seasonal songs.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town ~ Springsteen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khpk9274gMg&feature=related)

[LitNetIsGreat]

This is a very lazy bump Scher. Are you sort of wishing us a happy Christmas by proxy?

I don't like Christmas songs, but I have been listening to Paul McCartney's Mull of Kintyre a lot today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5626WzsfMw

It's not even a Christmas song really but was Christmas no. 1 in 1977 and sold over two million copies in the UK, which is the biggest selling record apart from Live Aid. It was also popular in Oz but not the US. I have been reading Wikipedia. Personally, I just like the little white house in isolation from most of the world. That Scottish band on the beach would have to go though - imagine waking up to that every morning when you want to be alone?

Anyway, what do I like about Christmas?

1 I am not at work. Really enough said on that point. It is a time to therefore get a bit of life back - to not get up in the dark to the sound of an alarm clock and endure torture for money.

2 I have a lot of legitimate alcohol in the house.

3 It is good for the kids.

What I don't like:

1 Christmas cards. Christmas cards are a pain. I don't send them and I hate receiving them. I get grief both ways. Mrs Neely now buys, writes and sends them on my behalf because she knows how stressed they make me.

2 Wrapping Christmas presents. Like above it stresses me out. Mrs Neely buys and wraps my Christmas presents on my behalf because she knows how much it stresses me out as well. However, I have her two presents to wrap and that has been stressing me out for weeks and weeks now. At least she doesn't demand a card. Good god I can still remember when she did!

3 Obligations. Having to 'go places' at Christmas that you don't want. I hate having to leave the house for parties and Christmas day is one big Neely abuse. I would rather stay in and do my own things or go out on my terms, with my friends, to my places, not to be abused by the in-laws.

Yes, yes and commercialisation and TV and 'jolly' people and all of that is also annoying. Oh I hate going in the loft for the tree too because it is terribly dusty. I don't do decorations on the tree either because that is a nightmare as well.

Merry Christmas.

[Sancho]

Merry Christmas everybody. Let's put a couple of jalapeños on the tree.

José Feliciano, Feliz Navidad
http://youtu.be/ihW56Xa3XGQ

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

Merry Christmas everybody. Let's put a couple of jalapeños on the tree.


and a couple more from Tijuana...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo2vUZSrwMw

How about some Burl Ives...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY-XDQN6ipE

[qimissung]

The best Christmas song ever!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxm1FlLSfe4


The other best Christmas carol ever!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfKE04qp8Xw


The most beautiful and gorgeous Christmas carol ever!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g4lY8Y3eoo

Don't forget to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and A Christmas Story. Optional: White Christmas and Holiday Inn.


And the best Christmas cookies ever-my mother made them every year:



Ingredients
2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
1 cup peanut butter
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 cups oatmeal
Waxed paper
Directions
In a heavy saucepan bring to a boil, the sugar, cocoa, butter and milk. Let boil for 1 minute then add peanut butter, vanilla and oatmeal. On a sheet of waxed paper, drop mixture by the teaspoonfuls, until cooled and hardened.



A few lights, some candles, a few presents, what else do you need? I would love a fire, but my fireplace doesn't work. :( Other than that, I'm good.
Oh, and a little Dickens, too.

God bless us, everyone!

[YesNo]

The most beautiful and gorgeous Christmas carol ever!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g4lY8Y3eoo


I recently saw Meet Me in St Louis which is where I think this song was first performed.

Last year I received Susan Boyle's Christmas album as a present. The song I liked the best was her version of Cohen's Halleluia. Although this is not a particularly Christmas song, I liked where she ended it and think it is a fitting one for the holidays: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPJFB0nfLAg

[qimissung]

Yes, yesno, that song is from "Meet Me in St. Louis."

Susan Boyle's rendition is quite lovely.

[Sancho]

Still one of my favorites. In fact, I think it is my favorite.

John Mellencamp, I saw momma kissing Santa Claus:

http://youtu.be/Mg0nTCZ6kxY

[Scheherazade]

I don't do decorations on the tree either because that is a nightmare as well. Let us guess!

Mrs Neely decorates the tree on your behalf because she knows how much that stresses you...

[Delta40]

It's funny but Mull of Kintyre is a really popular song played at New Year here along with Auld Lang Syne.

Giant christmas stockings are hanging from the unused fireplace while the air-con goes at full throttle. I really do think intense heat takes all the fun out of Christmas. The thought of turning my oven on to bake anything is frightening!

Salad, salad and more salad.

[qimissung]

Let us guess!

Mrs Neely decorates the tree on your behalf because she knows how much that stresses you...


:lol: I don't envy Mrs. Neely. She always sounds a trifle overworked.

[Buh4Bee]

Bah Humbug!

[cafolini]

I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year. God be with you.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Let us guess!

Mrs Neely decorates the tree on your behalf because she knows how much that stresses you...

Exactly. It was about 10 years ago when I last helped decorate the bloody tree. I was there labouring away for about half and hour when I stopped and suddenly noticed that Mrs Neely was taking every single decoration I was putting on and 'rearranging' them to suit her tastes. What was the point in me doing it then? Apparently I wasn't doing it right?? What the hell. I wasn't putting them in the right places?? Naturally an argument erupted whereby I vowed never to decorate a tree again for the rest of my life. I still haven't. Mrs N is not bothered because I 'don't do it right' anyway.

Right now I'm very stressed because we are about to depart on the dreaded annual Christmas shop. The supermarket will be rammed. Now this is the stuff of nightmares.

[Emil Miller]

Saturnalia - the original “Christmas”

The early church, in an attempt to convert the heathen and pagans “Christianized” the Roman pagan holiday of Saturnalia by celebrating Christ’s birth on that date.

“This festival on December 25th was in existence long centuries before Jesus was born. It was a pagan festival, to which a Christian terminology has been applied and most of our Christmas customs (nice though some of them have become) are of pagan origin. It was the old Babylonian Feast of Bacchus, the drunken Festival. In Rome, December 25th was the Feast of Saturn, and like the Babylonian feast from which it derived, was also a feast of unrestricted drunkenness. What is perhaps our commonest Christmas custom, the Christmas Tree, was just as common in pagan Egypt and Rome, but in Egypt it was a palm tree while in Rome it was a fir tree.”

“Saturnalia was an ancient Roman festival held in December that contained many of the elements of pre-Christian paganism that later influenced modern Witchcraft/Wicca. The character known as the Lord of Misrule is one example. This particular mythos was to have more influence upon later European customs than perhaps any other. In the pre-Republican calendar the festival started on December 17 and usually ran for several days, ending on the Winter Solstice. Bonfires blazed during this time, and the celebration was marked by orgies, carnivals, transvestism, and gift giving. Masters and slaves changed places and the world was turned upside down for a short period. All of this was overseen by the Lord of Misrule...The person chosen to play the Lord of Misrule had to be a young attractive man, strong and virile. For thirty days prior to the festival he was allowed to indulge himself in any and all pleasures as he pleased. He was dressed in royal robes and treated like a king. The young man represented the god Saturn in whose honor the festival was originated...At the end of the festival he was slain upon the altar of Saturn by having his throat cut.


Now that's what I call a real Christmas.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Yes, that certainly beats walking around Morrisons.

[Emil Miller]

Yes, that certainly beats walking around Morrisons.


Well I didn't do too badly in the supermarket today as I whizzed round with my list and
was served by a pretty Chinese girl at the checkout. I was feeling reasonably benevolent
as I made my way out of the store, only to be greeted by a couple of guys outside playing
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer on accordions and the Christmas depression descended
again.