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Post by JennyWrenn on Nov 15, 2006 17:52:05 GMT
Does Christmas to you mean chaos chores relatives dropping in for a good feed Presents to buy you cant afford Extra stress etc etc etc Or do you remember the True Meaning of Christmas which is of course the birth of Jesus Christ How many of us forget this when we see Christmas cards of silly snowmen and hardly any showing the Nativity No wonder children are confused by it all  I love Christmas and try to remember what it is all about but it gets harder each year They were playing Frosty the Snowman continuously in Pound Stretcher last week - had to leave after a while  |
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Post by Plocket on Nov 15, 2006 18:51:24 GMT
Interesting question Jenny!
I'm not a religious person so I don't really spend a great deal of time remembering the birth of Christ. However I do regard the season as a time to remember friends and family, to take the opportunity to thank them for being around, and to spend some quality time with as much of my family as I can.
I see the exchanging of Christmas cards as a part of this, and whether they are silly snowmen cards or posh glitzy expensive jobbies that's up to the sender - the important thing is the sentiment. To me anyway!
I do get fed up with the shops that seem to be desperate to get their decorations up first, want to play the loudest and naffest music, and generally forget all about the basics of the season. It's only actually one day after all! And I do my best not to go OTT with gifts, especially with LP.
But the thrill of LP opening her stocking (and OH, and M&D opening theirs) is wonderful. The excitment of LP during breakfast is almost too much, when she knows there are presents to be opened, but we make her wait. And then seeing everyone open their gifts and hopefully like them. It's just brilliant!!
Then we all prepare lunch. It's easier now that mum and dad have a bigger kitchen, and there are less of us around - that means less chance of a family row!!! And when we are sitting down ready to eat we make a toast to family who aren't with us. It's going to be quiet this year with only five of us at the table.
So I've bought or made pretty much everything now, the free-range local turkey is ordered, I've got to check about a ham with mum, and everything is hidden from LP. OH is delighting in organising what wine will be nice, and planning when we can visit his mum and when it will fit in with BIL who has to work on Christmas Day.
I'm even going to make an effort to talk to my sister when she telephones on Christmas Day!!!!!
So whether it's the "true" meaning or not - that's an idea of what Christmas means to me.
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Post by Susie Snowdrop on Nov 15, 2006 19:14:03 GMT
For me, Christmas for me is spending precious time with my family and remembering those who are no longer with us. I don't have the thrill of watching children opening pressies but I love watching OH and my Mum and Dad open theirs. I like to spoil them all at Christmas! I just LOVE buying pressies for people and seeing their faces when they open them!
OH and I have a ritual on Christmas morning......................we get up around 6.30 am, I put the bird in the oven while OH rummages around the house trying to find pressies!! We then pour ourselves a glass of bucks fizz, sit under the tree and exchange gifts! This normally takes quite a while as we tend to go a bit mad at Christmas! OH then runs me a hot bath, lights candles and I have a lovely soak while he prepares the veg! We then visit close family to take gifts. Then we rush back and I frantically prepare dinner in time for my parents arriving!! I LOVE CHRISTMAS..............whatever the TRUE meaning may be!
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Post by sweetleaf on Nov 15, 2006 19:37:16 GMT
Well it depends really what mood Im in, sometimes Christmas is a hard slog with work and graft to season it, and other times its a not unpleasant experience....religeon doesnt come into it as OH is catholic and Im Cof E we have let the children make their own minds up and they have opted out altogether.
Christmas hasnt been the same since I lost my parents but I try to make it memorable for my own children, we have a ritual breakfast first before present opening, and then I don my santa hat and sit under the tree dealing out the prezzies and open my own last. Everyone gets slippers ....its the law! They get other presents too obviously.
Veggies have been prepared the night before and the turkey has been in all night with a foil jacket on a low heat, I have to have a Very big Turkey!I have a G&T while I prepare the rest of dinner (in my mums honour) and then drink wine with dinner in our wedding present crystal which then gets rewrapped in tissue and back in the box for next year. Its the same every year but its what you want, really, to provide continuity.
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Post by isabella on Nov 15, 2006 19:37:50 GMT
I love Christmas! For me it is a time for family and friends. We are very lucky that our sons don't live too far away -one year they will come for Christmas Dinner and the other year on Boxing Day and it is wonderful to be together even though it can be a bit chaotic when the big boys (sons aged 42,39 and 38) turn into little boys for the day and play with our Grandsons toys!!!He is 5 years old and loves action games! This year my Sister,BIL, and 2 nephews will come for lunch on Boxing Day and anyone else who is around is welcome! Hopefully we will see other family members and friends. I send Christmas cards and letters to old friends who live a long way away just to catch up with their lives. I love giving pressies! On Christmas morning I make OH a cup of tea (don't drink tea or coffee myself) and we sit up in bed and open our pressies. We have breakfast to the sound of Christmas carols and prepare the dinner and set the table. The family arrives at lunchtime and we always have a wonderful time!  |
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Post by JennyWrenn on Nov 15, 2006 20:09:42 GMT
You all seem to have the right spirit about the Event which is good
So many of my friends are totally stressed out by Christmas Eve; I feel very sorry for them - it is after all a joyous time of year and nice you all seem to bond with your family and friends in the way it should be
I mentioned Christmas cards of Silly Snowmen - I quite like them and this year I have bought Silly Snowmen Christmas wrapping paper - as that is all you seem to be able to get
Nothing with say Baby Jesus in a cradle, rather cute on cards some years ago
J W x
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Post by Cheerypeabrain on Nov 15, 2006 20:10:07 GMT
I was brought up in an atheist household and am still an atheist. I tend to call it 'Yuletide' and wish people 'Greetings of the Season' because I really do enjoy the celebrations and festive cheer.
My Daddy always comes to us for his dinner (if I'm not working)on the big day and he and my OH slowly get pickled on whatever whisky we happen to have handy (I always hide the good stuff because they wouldn't appreciate it the rate they go at it!)
I enjoy buying presents for family and friends, we just give token gifts really, last year people got Oxfam-donation-gifts from me and they loved them. (Didn't ya 4P!?) I put a lot of thought into buying things that people will really like. It would be nice to be able to afford extravagant gifts...but we can't so we make do...it's not a problem.
Yuletide for me is a time to take stock, be thankful for the love and company of good people in my life. We have loads of family gatherings and usually end up reminiscing (usually drunkenly) and laughing a lot...we always talk a lot about people who have died, like my darling Mummy, sweet young Julian (my nephew who died at 24).
ooh I'm getting maudlin who started this?...let's see...shall I ask the inner Cheerypeabrain what it's all about?
MOST OF ALL IT'S ABOUT PRESENTS...HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA..what you got me huh? huh?
avaricious little tart, that's me.
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Post by 4pygmies on Nov 15, 2006 21:42:11 GMT
I don't mean to offend anyone but you know, I really don't get this Christmas stuff at all. I am not a believer as I've always thought it was much more logical to appreciate nature or worship the sun and moon but I CAN see that if you have religious beliefs it has a special significance. It's all the awful commercialism and terrible triteness of it that upsets me. And the pressure to conform too. I love my family but I don't need a special day to celebrate them - much nicer to spontaneously buy a gift or tell them how I feel as the mood strikes me. As Christmas approaches I'm more likely to want them all to **** ***! I've never been very good at being told what to do or how to feel. Christmas is a Victorian invention anyway. The only bit I enjoy is watching the children's faces as they find their sacks. My daughter believes Father Christmas is a big pagan fairy!
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Post by sleepysunday on Nov 16, 2006 7:49:25 GMT
A total non-believer? What???
I thought everyone believed in Santa!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2006 8:22:53 GMT
The Meaning of Christmas... mmmm Total non believer, but it is a lovely story. Great time for family gatherings and spending time together Same for me/us |
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Post by Juliet on Nov 16, 2006 23:28:59 GMT
Well, I'm a Christian - and I sort of agree with 4pygmies, really (apart from the bit about worshipping the sun & moon, obviously) - all the commercialism & the pressure to conform really shouldn't be what it's about. Jesus was probably born in April anyway, and the celebration of His birth was just tacked onto a convenient pagan festival. Many of the things people do to celebrate Christmas - stuffing themselves silly, for instance - have more to do with the original festival than with the birth of Jesus (& most of the rest, as 4P says, are Victorian inventions). To my mind, Easter is a much more important date in the Christian calendar (or it would be if they'd fix a date for it instead of changing it every year  ). And as I'm a veggie & R doesn't like Christmas much (his birthday is on 27th December & he resents the fact that everyone forgets it) we don't tend to do many of the traditional things. We certainly don't do chaos, chores, relatives dropping in, overeating, presents we can't afford, or any kind of stress. We do buy presents, but we set a price limit and we buy people things we know they want (we all do lists) rather than wasting lots of money on things which won't be appreciated - and we do our shopping online, which is much more restful than rushing round packed shops. We do really like sending and receiving Christmas cards though - it's an incentive to keep in touch with all the friends we might not have seen or been in touch with for a while. I make most of our cards myself, or buy them from this site: www.charitycards.co.uk/index.php, which gives profits to charity. I like the idea that Christmas should be about giving - not about pointless spending & running up debts, which is what it seems to have become - but about thinking about people & giving something meaningful to them. |
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Post by Jonah on Nov 16, 2006 23:33:18 GMT
I feel a bit like you 4P. I'm not happy to follow a religion, but consider myself quite a spiritual person in my own little way. While I appreciate to some [though not so many these days] it is a religious time, for me it is a time to spend with family and seeing the childrens faces after Santa has been. And the little events at the schools, fairs, pantos and school plays, it's lovely! I think also when it is dark and gloomy out, it can help lift your spirits to have something happy to look forward to! |
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Post by anneliesje on Nov 17, 2006 7:09:46 GMT
Thanks for the link for the Christmas cards Juliet. There are many cards which I like and I too have the habit of sending a lot of Christmas cards. I hope the send the packages to Belgium too. Prices are very reasonable.
I don't like all these things around Christmas. Too much food, too much booze, too many people in the city. Of course I do buy presents for the kids. But even when they were smaller they knew Christmas was about useful gifts. Pyjama's, a book, something they nice which they needed. Now they are bigger they make lists.
The OH and I told each other that this year we would only buy each other a small gift.
I love the thought of Christmas "peace on earth" but haven't seen a lot of it the last years.
I think that peace, whether it is with yourself, the people around you or further, is the most important message, and the one that is the most easy forgotten.
Anneliesje
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