"Death to Christmas!" Topic

I am at my wits' end with Christmas. Surely this is the crummiest, most tawdry and plastic time of year? Here's a quick hitlist of why I hate Christmas:

- Jesus is the reason for Christmas. As an athiest whose views make Richard Dawkins look like Jerry Fallwell I agree wholeheartedly. If you're a Christian then Christmas, in the sense of a religious observance, makes perfect sense. But only if you're a Christian. For the rest of us it makes as much sense as observing Ramadan.

- There's a week to go and I'm over it already. Supermarkets have been playing Christmas novelty songs on repeat for weeks, shops have been selling Christmas stuff since Hallowe'en. People have had their Christmas lights and trees up since early December. I'm BORED OF IT ALREADY!!!

- Shopping for everyday stuff has become hell. Not only have things been moved or removed from shopfloors to make way for aisles full of plastic festive tat so you can't find anything, just going to the supermarket to buy regular stuff like eggs and milk has become a trial by fire as you have to face hordes of miserable faced people pushing trollies FULL TO OVERFLOWING with chocolate, booze and god knows what else in quantities that could feed Africa for decades EVEN THOUGH THE SHOPS ARE ONLY GOING TO BE CLOSED FOR ONE DAY!!!

- Presents suck. I'm an adult with a job. If I want something I will have already bought it for myself. Necessarily anything I get given will be something I don't really want, and will only serve to clutter my home with crap.

- Christmas enthusiasts insist on telling you "oh, it's all about the food/drink/socialising" – but people overeat and overdrink all year long, how is it any different to what you're doing for the other 364 days of the year?!? Or, "it's about peace and goodwill to all men", wishing your fellow beings well shouldn't be a 1 day in the year thing, you selfish pigs.

- Christmas workplace parties. Dear lord, kill me now.

Has any other religious festival become such a trivial, plasticised orgy of selfish idiocy as Christmas? It makes me want to go naked into the woods on the solstice, carve runes into my own flesh and howl at the moon just to experience something genuine at this time of year.

Please submit your own examples of festive hate/rage.

Geeze calm down, I happen to enjoy Christmas and yes I am a Christian, I see through the plastic trappings to the real reason. Yes I agree that the selling/music starts way too early but I ignore it until about now,

This is a beautiful time of year full of love and family memories, as well as future memories to be created. I am sorry it is not that way for you.

I collect nutcrackers. Last night my two year old grand daughter gave me a hand painted nutcracker she painted. Looks like a tied dyed hippie from the 60s and now has pride of place in my collection.

My busy adult sons gave me a coupon for game weekends in the upcoming year.

so respectfully, I disagree.

I'm an Atheist, a "Humanist" to be exact and, in general and to an extent, I have no real problem with the season.

I will actually say "Merry Christmas", ON Christmas Day to friends and family, otherwise it's Happy Holidays. I will engage people who question me about my "HH" reply and I've never had any problems with the ensuing discussion either.

Yeah, some things irk the hell out of me during this season, but it's the one time of year we're all supposed to be wishing everyone the best of everything and I cannot argue that aspect of the holiday.

Besides, it wouldn't be the season if I didn't watch the following programs!

The Wizard of Oz

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol

White Christmas

A Christmas Story

Entire Star Wars series (including the Family Guy version)

Entire LotR/Hobbit series

The Robot Chicken DC Comic Specials

and FINALLY…

The Entire Robot Chicken Christmas Series

Bottom line, I use this time to think about all the good in my life, especially 2016 and I show love and respect to all others, no matter what their beliefs.

So Frothers…tune out what you don't like and turn on what you do enjoy about this season and relax. Besides, why ask for the death of a holiday that has it's roots in various pagan rituals, just celebrate them (or Festivus) instead of Christmas.

I must also Thank ZuluPaul, TexasJack and Waco Joe for their very polite and reasoned replies to your complaints, they are practicing not only what they have been taught but that which has been within their own hearts and minds since they were born. (My Sincerest Compliments to you, Gentlemen!)

Please submit your own examples of festive hate/rage.

I'm and atheist/humanist too. I have no religious connection to the holiday and agree that Christmas is overly commercialized. However, I still happily wish everyone I meet "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays" simply because it is the polite and considerate thing to do when addressing someone.

So I'll decline your offer.

You do know that Christmas was originally a pagan holiday celebrating the Winter Solstice? I'd suggest you take Andrew's good advice, and I'll add take a drink and chill a bit.

@ Andrew, I notice that you left out "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians". There is probably a good reason for this.

YouTube link

I love Yule. Digging the big pit in the back garden, building the fire, stripping down to the waste to sacrifice animal offerings to Wotan, all night, with my bearded axe. Followed by days of feasting with my hirdsmen and wenches… what's not to like?

Finding in your list no intended malice by anyone towards you….may you find a little Tolerance in your not-Christmas stocking. If you don't want to use it…re-gift someone else.

@ Andrew, I notice that you left out "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians". There is probably a good reason for this.

Yes, there is a good reason, but I do like the MST3K version!

Going to be the first Christmas my wife and I have spent by ourselves in nearly 40 years of marriage. No turkey this year. Just…

Well…

We've decided on venison for Christmas Eve, Boxing Day will be seafood, Christmas Day… Snacky. As in, got some caviar – going to try that with vodka. Pumpkin soup at some stage – I made and froze a load around Halloween… And salmon. And… Oh, I don't know, obviously Buck's Fizz at breakfast, but there's the Kir Royale…

Son joins us for New Year. Sadly, his partner can't make it – for her Christmas is cancelled through illness, son coming anyway, his gran is in a nursing home and it could well be the last time he sees her… she's 87, not with us because of dementia (side effect total hatred of my wife)- we couldn't look after her…

So going to be strange this year.

But even though the Christmas tree means I can't do any painting – it blocks my painting table – this is going to be a good Christmas.

Especially Christmas Day.

I insist on it.

I really like Turkey, watching films and not going to work.

Christmas ticks all my boxes!

Even as a non-believer.

Christmas and over consumption actually goes back way before christianity : researchers have found evidence of mid-winter feasting – possibly associated with a ritualistic hunt – at Durrington Walls, near Stonehenge.

If it was good enough for Stig of the Dump, then it's good enough for me.

Oh – and MR James stories on the radio.

And plum duff.

And nuts.

Christmas – it's a midwinter treat. I'll take it.

@Garrisson Miniatures : sounds pretty good to me.

Venison…now that's a thought. maybe for Boxing Day.

Church on Christmas eve, Christmas day will be chicken and veg + some kind of pudding. I will imbibe moderately but enough to be not road legal. My company will be two lovely dogs who I will spoil very much because circumstance might see them put down early next year, at that time I will be sad, very sad. But this Christmas and I shall enjoy their company and my own and hope for a better outcome.

Yes Christmas is a very special time for lots of people especially for the faithful, my hope your understanding is expanded that all are welcome to celebrate, to just celebrate their existence during this time of inclusion for all of Mankind.
Merry Christmas and seasons greetings all.

I will give you a reason for Christmas. Giving. No. Not going to the shop and buying presents but giving to those less fortunate. Helping out where you can. That sort of thing. yeah, really this should be done all year but Christmas is supposed to embody that spirit. It is not what people do in this country and that is the problem I see.

The other day, the kids and I went to a grocery store to get food for dinner. There was a family standing out side and the father was holding a sign that they needed food. I watched person after person walk by the family as if they were not even there. I even did the same. Then I stopped just inside, told the kids to stand fast while I went and explored what was going on. As it turns out, he really needed food for his family so I told him to pick out what he needed and meet me up front. So yeah. I bought him a bag of groceries. It was the right thing to do, not because of the season but because you should never refuse someone's plea for help. My daughter said she was hoping I'd do something.

My father grew up Muslim. Things he taught me from that faith was 1) never lie and 2) be generous but don't be foolish. He said you could tell if someone was looking for money for booze or for food by what they would say if you offered to but them food. I have always taken that to heart.

I really want my family to embrace the same spirit. I think we don't do that enough and instead go through the same rituals complete with the usual family bickering about where we are going for the holidays and what have you. Every year, I get the holiday blues. I suspect the corruption of what could be a fine holiday may be the source.

The Middle East is racked with war and ruin. People are being displaced to this and many other countries. This man and his family, I suspect, came from one of those Middle Eastern countries and would likely have been happy to stay there were things not thrown into turmoil. We owe it to ourselves to help these people, not because we did anything wrong, but because we are all humans on the same planet. We should be taking care of each other in times of need.

Always remember, no matter how annoyed you are with a holidays, no matter how much you think things are so terrible during these times of the year, there is someone out there who has it that much worse.

I think Dicken's 'A Christmas Carol' really makes the point. (please read it, don't take the '101 movie versions' as the story). Past, Present, Future. I am a Christian (The sort other Christians want to burn at the stake because I believe 'God is God, Is God (or Goddess!) regardless of the name), I like the Christian and purely western cultural trappings, I like Burl Ives singing… er.. Rudolph?… Frosty? Whatever. Give. Care. What you are and do makes a difference (the butterfly effect?) Stop ranting and enjoy friends, family, and life.

I like the season despite it's irritating aspects. Bless you all.

Muslim dad, Congregationalist mom, Catholic school, Jewish wife… I love the memories, the good feelings, giving gifts. I put up with the lines, the traffic, the idiots. I'm a little more patient, a little more gentle, and a little more thoughtful. I think I'm a better person at Christmas time. And as stated by other, wiser people on this forum, give. Don't give until it hurts. That's just the beginning. Give until it feels like Christmas.

Bowman (and Andrew)--There's a weirder/worse one than Martians--this one from Mexico,1959:

youtu.be/TjnTFBpm0QY

Features the Devil! At least Martians has Pia Zadora.

But this is the Ranting board! You've all obviously been at the mulled wine already!

Who asked this joker – good on you. That is the true Christmas spirit.

As an antidote, you could come to Kingsport for our Yuletide festival. It's heavily booked, but I'm sure we could worm you in…

Well. I tend to agree with Frothers.

I have no interest in anything religious, but I do accept that a midwinter feast-thing has been around a lot longer than Christianity. So it seems to fulfill a deep, primeval need for a lot of people. This is not a problem. I can cope with this.

If Christmas was confined to a week at the most, it would be OK.

The sheer bloody awfulness of it lies in the interminable inescapability of it! Pointless plastic tat, vomit-inducing music, enforced sentimentality. EVERYWHERE you go, EVERY time you turn on the telly, EVERY time you turn on the radio. For weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks. Until your ears bleed!

I was talking to a mate a couple of weeks ago. He was telling me about a couple of Christmases he spent in America. He reckons Christmas is a much more low-key event there than in Britain. This may explain the flood of replies to Frothers original post suggesting that he chill out and ignore the bad bits. Mostly, they seem to come from Americans! Meant with the best of intentions, I'm sure, but guys, you should come over here and just see what we have to put up with….

It's hard for me to hear Christmas music when:

1) I don't have a radio

2) I'm blasting Deep Purple and Family tunes all day long.

WHY people listen to the radio these days is quite beyond me.

Family,boy there's a name I haven't heard in a while. I almost nominated "Music in a Doll's House" in the "Best Album Cover" poll, but it's the back cover. I've always thought it was a great piece of art:

link

I'm thoroughly Atheist, and I've loved Christmas my whole life. It's a month of preparing for a solid week of parties with friends and family. Don't get no better. We get a fresh tree every year and fill it with Godzilla and Star Trek ship ornaments and about a billion ball ornaments. Hang out, exchange presents, eat, drink and have fun. Not a single religious bit in the whole time.

It gets *so* much drearier when Winter kicks in and the holiday decorations are no longer on/out. The holiday makes the season so much more palatable.

And of course, there is always El Rey network's Kaiju-a-thon all Christmas weekend! ;-)

You are presumably an adult, so have the option to opt out.

It is far less stressful, and maddening if you choose to do that. Also, much easier on the wallet.

Have had to do that for many years, due to unemployment, but don't miss the insanity and the ridiculous expense.

I enjoy simple things like cooking a holiday meal, or special dessert, spending time with others, and going out and enjoying nature, on my time table, and initiative, and not because I have to.

So, blindly follow the other sheeple, OR, choose to opt out if you want. There is a choice.

See, Mako. This is the problem.

I pretty much do opt out. But it is impossible to avoid all the Christmas tat and bruhaha. The rest of the world is metaphorically beating me on the head trying to make me opt back in again!

The only way to avoid it is to go and live as a hermit on a tiny island for a couple of months. And I can't afford to do that….

"Please submit your own examples of festive hate/rage"

The yearly rants from aging hipsters/hippies/communists who think it makes them look sophisticated.

I'd like to do that, e.g. just live on an island for a while. Can't afford it either, sadly.

You could stay home, and read some books, and/or play on the internet, or paint up some minis and game with them.

Don't mean to seem condescending in my first post, but realized it might come off that way. I was just trying to say that some people forget they have choices, and may choose to opt out – difficult as that can be, with family and relatives, but it can be done.

Just let them know you're too stressed out to deal with it.

I suspect they may feel the same way, and be at least somewhat understanding.

The yearly rants from aging hipsters/hippies/communists who think it makes them look sophisticated.

Unlike the real sophistication of rants from the right, I suppose. What's this got to do with "festive hate/rage"?

'Venison…now that's a thought. maybe for Boxing Day. '

The venison went down a treat :)

Frothers:

I can understand your annoyance at non-stop Christmas music during the eight weeks preceding the actual event, but you could experience something far worse.

A friend of mine once worked in a grocery store and voiced the same complaint. They played Christmas music all of the time, 24/7.

But I also knew a chap who worked for "Toys R Us" and had to listen to the Star Wars theme non-stop during a special promotion period of several days. Now please think of that, the Star Wars theme for 24/7, all the time, no escape as long as you were in the store, even in the bathrooms.

Frothers, Andrew, Bowman, et al:

Since Bill has allowed Atheists to express their lack of faith in this thread without being dawghoused, I demand equal time, but I will not preach or witness, I will offer this; I can't remember where I saw it, but on a gravestone it said, "Here lies the body of an atheist; all dressed-up and nowhere to go."

Meth for Christmas:

And a wide-awake New Year!

And,Hafen, MST3K riffed on that one("Santa Claus") too,and on Netflix's revival of the show,Jonah and the 'bots riffed on "The Christmas That Almost Wasn't" from the 1960's