Some people just don't understand

[rancher hicks]

Well here goes,

One, I'm old.

Two , You can't come unglued cuz someone, even family, disagrees with how you do or don't do things. Unless it's against the law of course.

Three, the world will not end if you don't celebrate the holiday as everyone else does.

Four , if the co-worker had called your husband a monkey's uncle would that make it so? Well then why bother entertaining such ridiculous name calling?

Five , one sign of maturity is being comfortable with your decisions.

Six did I say I'm old?

Have a Merry Christmas

Rancher

 

[cassie]

There are a lot of people that do not "do" Christmas for various reasons, both religious and personal. We are not celebrating christmas this year because we just moved across the country, all our Christmas stuff is still packed I don't know where it is, and I don't feel like dealing with it this year even if I did. So far no one has accused me of worshipping Satan. But I am prepared for that. I will tell them that if I were, I would be putting up a black tree and hanging little skulls and what not on it. That co worker is a good person to avoid. She is ignorant, self righteous, narrow minded, and mean sprited.

 

[chickmashnoon]

I've been thinking, and re-reading this. Is your husband okay with the way your family celebrates Christmas? His negative answer (no, we don't do anything) and your worry that you are a big grinch kinda makes me wonder if this is more about an internal family struggle rather than just what co-workers think. I mean, if he were proud of it, wouldn't he answer something more positive, like "We really focus more on time spent with family as opposed to what we can buy them". Or "we are celebrating by going as a family to the foodbank to donate, then going home to a home cooked meal with all our favorite holiday treats" Is this maybe why his coworkers comment bothers him so much? It could be that he still clings to the pagentry of Christmas, after all, we get attached to our idea of what Christmas should be ( I can't feel I've had a proper holiday without tamales and mole poblano, despite the fact the holiday is about Christ and not filling my belly

) Maybe he's missing some of the excitement in the frill and decorations around the holiday season. And they aren't bad, as long as they don't distract you from the meaning of the day.

Or I could just be reading waaaay to much into this . . . so sorry if I'm off base

 

[llrumsey]

What is the real meaning of Christmas??? Does it have to do with decorations, gifts, lights, spending so much money you are in debt for the rest of the year?

NO. It has to do with the birth of Christ...How you go about celebrating his birth is your own business. I think that you have a wonderful plan, you dont go into the "celecbrate" because you dont spend money or time unwisely.

Who's business is it anyways? Yours and your family. If you are contented with that GREAT, I think you are so much better off than most people.

We celebrate our way also, some years I put up alot of decorations other years I dont, I put them up because I like the look. Some times we exchange gifts ( by we, I mean my companion and my self). sometimes we dont, we spend the day together, watching old movies and enjoying the day but most of all remembering what christmas is about.

I hope that you have a very beautiful day.

God bless and Merry Christmas

 

[goobhen]

First off, I am a Christian, and I am just about ready to get off the "commercial" Christmas train. I want a simple Christmas to be shared with family and friends. I want to exchange homemade gifts, that is my goal for next year! We have our, theirs, etc, etc. I am tired of agonizing over if "Cindy Sue" will like the gifts I have chosen and bought for her family. I used to enjoy Christmas, but the greed of the holidays has hit me hard this year. It was funny, two years ago my brothers and I exchanged Christmas gifts. What did we exchange? We all "bought" each other $50.00 gift certificates!! I choose TSC, my husband chose Lowe's..... We all could have simply had Christmas dinner & kept our $50.00. I appreciated the thoughts, but one brother said my gift certificate for Applebee's was no big deal, he had won $600.00 in restaurant gift cards at a local fund raiser! I love your idea of Christmas, family dinner next year, no TV, games with the family, sounds like heaven to me!!

 

[fuzziebutt]

We are Christians. And we have come to the point in our lives that we can say no. No, we won't be there, no, we're not having it here, no tree, no presents for people that we don't know, no presents from people we don't know, and for God's sake, no shopping and pissing away mone just to make it "look" right to you. Christmas is my husband and I here, sharing in cooking a nice feast for ourselves to enjoy. We will drive to see his sisters, and check in on them, but we won't be bringing and presents, or expecting any. Our kids are welcome to come over, but there won't be any presents for them here. Don and I will be buying a gift for ourselves, when we figure out what it is. Last year, it was an electric fireplace, the year before it was a 2010 Buick LaCrosse. Don't know what it'will be this year. For the man that thought that it was of the devil not to have a tree, get him the scripture Jeremiah 10:1-5
1Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:
2Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
3For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
4They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
5They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Christmas is about many things for many people. Some celebrate it in the winter solstice sense, with complex attention paid to natural phenomenon. Some celebrate it in the secular sense (again, it was destined to be a secular holiday when it was made a government recognized holiday), ie. using it as a general time to celebrate family/friends. Some celebrate its pagan roots (actually, most do whether they realize it or not, ie. Christmas tree/yule tide tree), which ties back to why the holiday was *outlawed* in the 1600s. Christmas did not become a federal holiday in the US until 1870. Some use Christmas to celebrate the birth of Christ, or may focus on other Christian traditions. Some focus on Germanic or Scandanavian traditions, some focusing on Christian St. Nicholas, others focusing on figures such as Odin, or Scandanavian dieties tied traditionally to reindeer, such as:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaivi
What a great time for many to celebrate what they hold dear. And yes, this is materialism for some, and a chance to be extremely bigoted for others. X) It does sound like the main concern is actually whether the husband is content with how Christmas is being celebrated within their family. I would definitely sit down and have a very open and honest discussion about that. You might find the word choice is being read into too far, or you might find that a new middle ground and tradition will suit everyone.

 

[Spookwriter]

I disagree with what Christmas has become. And to that extent I
really don't do the present thing. By what notion should I love my
wife and daughter more on Christmas Day than any of the other
364?

I'll do everything I can to give them whatever they want on any day
of the year. Because I love them every single day.

But I don't do the gifts-for-Christmas-because-its-Christmas thing.
What I spend here, we'll donate it others. Most of that will be done
in secret. Quitely.

My wife on the other hand, likes to buy. So she does it, with my blessing.
Makes her happy, go for it. Doesn't hurt me.

The thing I like best about Christmas is simply being with my family. My
entire family, crazy cousins and uncles and aunts, close friends.

But the whole concept of going into this massive debt to buy junk presents
to prove you love someone I don't get. Haven't done that for years.

 

[desertdarlene]

It sounds like you already "do" Christmas to me. It's not about stuff, anyway.

 

[Mattemma]

Lol,that co-worker sounds like the 6-8yo kids that hounded my ds for not believing in Santa. Lol,and here I thought that type of behavior ended in the elementary years of school!

We celebrate holidays.Winter break and Christmas is just a winter holday to be spent at home together relaixing,eating good food,and sharing a gift(note I say GIFT not piles of gifts).

I agree,you do celebrate the holidays.Not going into debt to create a huge pile under the tree is good. The co-worker was inappropriate and I would just avoid that person,because they obviously have a very narrow view of what is acceptable in life.The intolerance of others by some people is often suprising.