do you celebrate?

[oftheherd]

Last night the wife and I met at my youngest daughter's house with my oldest daughter and her new husband. We had a nice dinner and opened presents. We also had a new grand daughter (4 weeks old) to love. I have new socks and The New Strong's Concordance.

I will go out on bus church this morning, then the wife and I will meet the family at a nice Korean restaurant just outside DC.

It hasn't been quite as nice as usual since my wife suffers much from FM, but we don't forget the reason for the season either.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

 

[johannielscom]

@Ducky: Sorry for your loss. A first solitairy Christmas must be tough. You have friends here.

@Roger: I already did, yesterday evening!

@Paul: congratulations to you, your family, your son and his bride-to-be!

And, celebrating the winter solstice is something I do!

 

[Derwent]

Right in the middle of Hannukah and enjoying it!

Today I spent working in the bush retrieving poles for fence posts, getting very hot and tired.
Christmas to me is a day when the shops are shut and there is nothing on TV or the radio....
Mind you, caught up with a few friends today too and had a pretty enjoyable day!

 

[Ezzie]

I'm not particularly religous, but do celebrate Christmas with wife and kids. Had I been alone I would have gone visiting my sister or mum or both. Its a time for family get-together in the middle of of the dark of winter. Less than 5 hours of daylight here now, my shadow is 25ft long at midday, no wonder people congregate at this time of year - its depressing enough as it is.

I do however feel sick of the fact Christmas has become such a commercial affair, shops start selling Christmas effects end of October for P...'s sake. Once Christmas day has come and gone I'm knackered, even if I try to avoid involving myself in most of the activities deemed "must do" for Christmas to meet with success. They say we spend 7 years of our lives engulfing ourselves in all things christmassy, I think they've underestimated it.

 

[paulfish4570]

amen to Roger.

and amen to Will.

 

[Roger Hicks]

There's also the point that my father made to me, some decades ago. There was a time when 'feasts' were a time to eat special foods that we didn't see/couldn't afford for most of the year. Now, if we want it to be, every day can be a feast day for most of us in rich countries: we have to try harder to find things that are really treats. Whereas when I was a boy (and still more when my parents were children), an orange in midwinter was something of a treat, today, a couple of kilos of oranges is nothing unusual.

Even by the Christian (formerly Roman Pagan) definition, a 'feast' is to be celebrated with rejoicing, as distinct from a fast, and 'rejoicing' needs to be pretty ascetic before there are no treats of good food (and drink) involved. I may press some fresh orange juice later...

Cheers,

R.

 

[paulfish4570]

aye, i'll drink to that. coffee, that is.

 

[ornate_wrasse]

Sincere condolences to Ducky. So sorry to hear of the recent loss of your wife.

Although I'm Jewish, I'll be going over a friend's house today for Christmas dinner. They are friends in my photography group.

My oldest daughter was born on Xmas day 34 years ago, so it's actually her birthday today, but she's in Nebraska today celebrating with her in-laws. I'll call her later to wish her Happy Birthday!

My youngest daughter is currently in Israel and will be lighting Hanukkah candles tonight in Jerusalem.

Ellen

 

[dave lackey]

just wondering how many of us actually celebrate the holidays?

i don't...i'm not anti christmas or anything like that...but i have no family here in town...the friends that i used to celebrate with got divorced years ago and half of them moved out of town and the other half re-married.

i turn down every offer of dinner now and have for years so my friends have stopped asking, except for a few optimists...

do you celebrate? or is it just another day?

I understand that, Joe. I really do...But just the same, we are celebrating with you! Albeit at a long distance from the southern US.:angel:

 

[Schlapp]

We were off to a family in the village for luncheon today but they have the vomiting virus - so we have decided to stay home. All will be well.

 

[dave lackey]

I celebrate everything in opposite of so many depressed members posting in this tread

Christmas or not, lets rock..

Yeah, me too! Life is too short to do otherwise!

So, today, the Leica R4 and the motor drive will get a workout. BTW, if anyone does NOT want to celebrate, post your name and I will do it for you complete with egg nog. LOL...

 

[dave lackey]

This year I'm doing nothing. For the past two months I have been withdrawing from social activities. I was overly active earlier in the year, but now I'm keeping to myself much more. This Christmas and general holiday season, I'm doing nothing much and did not spend time shopping for presents.

Last year I had a girlfriend and my oldest son was visiting me from the U.S. So, I spent plenty on Christmas presents for them--not many, just a good bit of money. This year without a girlfriend, I've bought none. I'll just send my kids (they're in the U.S.) Amazon gift cards for a couple hundred dollars each so that they can buy what they want. Not very personal, but it seems to be alright with them now that they're older. So under my Charlie Brown Christmas tree, I only have fake presents for decoration (see me and tree in the photo).

Oh, I did get one present, though. I opened it a little while ago. A friend of mine bought me a ceramic kitchen knife because I said I was curious about them. I didn't see how they could work well. I thought they couldn't be sharp. I was wrong. I slashed the palm of my hand trying lightly to see how sharp it was. That was a merry surprise present indeed. Actually, now that I think about it, I fared better on presents this year than I did last year. Last year I gave the girlfriend diamond-stud earrings and she gave me nothing. At least this year I didn't buy her anything and a friend gave me a kitchen knife. See, there's a positive side when you tally things.

It's certainly not a happy feeling, being alone and doing nothing, but it's not a sad one. It's just neutral. Several friends tried to get me to visit them today, but I dodged and refused invitations. I could also have hosted a lunch at my house. I cook moderately well. I thought of roasting a turkey and making pumpkin pie and all and inviting a bunch of friends. But I just didn't feel like being upbeat. Since the girlfriend ran off on New Year's Eve night last year--when she was supposed to be on her way to my place--I'm more conscious of the fact that I'm finishing a year without a girlfriend. No big deal, but I feel the pain. I don't like to ignore or suppress my feelings. Instead, I prefer to let them play out in my way.

So, I would say that I have chosen to do nothing special for Christmas, but would prefer to have been with someone special to me. I would like to have bought gifts for such a someone and have had them give me a gift that shows they know me well. But it didn't happen and that's alright. Plenty of other good things happen for me often and have happened all year. This day and New Year's Eve are not report card days. They are not the days in which my life is judged and my happiness is assessed. It's not like any other day because others are doing what they do. Instead, for me it's a day alone for reflection and relaxation. It's kind of nice.

Ha, I love this portrait Russell...thanks for posting. BTW, love Charlie Brown.:angel:

Oh, btw, photography, motorcycles, cars, you name it...all are much cheaper than girlfriends. So celebrate the New Year as a new year..OUT with the old and in with the new! Can't escape it, so embrace it.

 

[raid]

My two little girls still debate about Santa and his address at the North Pole. We have a Christmas tree and our children celebrate Christmas. Jesus has an important place in Islam, and as long as the children are happy, we celebrate the holidays season. When I was a little boy, we lived in Germany, and we had each year a Christmas tree with ornaments, and we received gifts. "No harm done" .....



Frohe Weihnachten!

 

[hipsterdufus]

I wouldn't have said anything in this thread, but I do want to wish my sincerest condolences to Ducky. I wish you all of the best.

Since I'm already here: No kids here and I'm non-religious, but I still like to celebrate Christmas with my familiy (and my wife's family). Good food, good friends, and a time to reflect on the year. Even for non-religious folks, I have trouble faulting a day that celebrates these things.

 

[raid]

My Condolences, Ducky

My Condolences, Ducky

My wife passed away just before Christmas (we are both too old anyway), ."

I am very sorry to learn about your wife passing away. My late mother's birthday was Christmas Eve, and I was sad ...

 

[FrankS]

After presents this morning for the kids, (wife and I bought ourselves a tv), we all had a cry remembering our dog that is no longer with us. Some of the presents where images of our dog - a photo collage, and an ink drawing. I still have not printed negs I made during his last days.

 

[gb hill]

You can still welcome the turning of the year, which is what this festival is really about. It wasn't hijacked by the Christians until almost 400 years after His death. No-one knows when Christ was born (or even if He was born, though I think He was), and choosing the last day of the Roman Saturnalia was a blatant attempt to hijack a pagan festival.

The bible does tell when the Christ child was born, one has to study to find it. Revelation 12:1 gives us a major clue most readers just read over. The woman clothed with the sun is the constellation Virgo. Virgo is of course the virgin. The moon under her feet represents the Jewish feast. Virgo falls in the late months of August & Sept. Just happens that the Jewish New Year falls during this time, Feast of Trumpets. Since the Feast of Trumpets can come as early as Sept. 6 & as late as Oct 5 scholars entered data into a computer to find the date when the sun was directly under the feet of Virgo & the computer calculated September 28th 2BC which was the the high holy day for the Jewish new year. This explains also why there was no room in the Inn. Everyone came to Jerusalem to celebrate. I agree with you Roger, It's ashame that Christians have abandoned their Jewish roots to adopt pagan festivals.

 

[gb hill]

Ducky, I too am saddened by your loss. I know it must be hard on you right now. My thoughts & prayers are with you.

 

[Roger Hicks]

The bible does tell when the Christ child was born, one has to study to find it.

Dear Greg,

Thanks very much for the detailed analysis. I had of course encountered the date of September 28th, and I was well aware of the likelihood that Jesus was born 'B.C.', which as Cecil of The Straight Dope observed, "was a good trick, but hey, this was no ordinary dude." (I quote from memory). Even so I was not aware of this particular computerised derivation.

It does however depend on trusting the Revelation of St. John the Divine, which was written (at the very least) a decade or two after Jesus's demise and quite possibly half a century later, and I would not put it past some scribe to have 'improved' the story at some point, not least to make it match the holy day.

In other words, it's the best we've got, but it still ain't quite up there with a birth certificate. Even so, as I say, thanks for the analysis.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Ducky]

Many thanks to all who mentioned my wife passing. We are both strong in our beliefs and, at age 76, content to accept such things. That fact I will celebrate.
Thanks again.