xaeris
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Post by xaeris on Dec 19, 2010 2:53:09 GMT
I didn't put this in the Religious/Rutting/Programming Rants section, because this isn't really about the Religious Holiday of the same name.
Yes.... there ARE two different Christmases:
The Birth of Christ (the Religious Day) The Capitalization of Christ's Birthday (The thing I'm ranting about)
Anyways, with that said... I'm not interested in going into the religious aspect of Christmas; if requested I can start a thread about it in the appropriate area of the forum.
That said, Anyone else so freaking tired of Christmas?
I know I am.
Whether it is the parents bringing their whiny brats into the stores, the Christmas Music playing 24/7 on most radio stations or in any store/mall/etc you go through, etc, it is just getting very tiresome.
I'm almost 31 years old; I've had to put up with this crap for many years after I grew out of it (well before I was 18; I started getting tired of all of it in my late teens), and it just gets plain old after awhile.
First off, the Christmas Music. The biggest offender.
I would love to find just who the fuck thought it was such a great fucking idea to play nothing but the same 5-6 songs repeated by 5+ people/bands 24/7 from fucking Thanksgiving clear to 11:59:59 Dec.25.
Just how much of this shit do they think we have to be subjected to!? Honestly. Nothing annoys me more than this. Everyone says "Be of Good Cheer!" and "It is a happy time!" "Merry Christmas!" blah blah blah. Yeah, well, fuck that. I'm tired of it. Maybe if you wouldn't ram those same 5 tunes into my skull 24/7, maybe I could actually take a moment to appreciate what Christmas is really supposed to be about.... okay I said I wasn't going there, so I won't.
And why is it the same dozen or so songs repeated over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER[/u] again!? Why can't anyone make any NEW Christmas Songs (with NEW Lyrics, not the same Lyrics re-used for the past 60+ fucking years)?
Okay, I think I said enough about Christmas Music.....
Now, about the brats...
Okay, parents. You know your kids have been taught about Santy Claus (yeah, so you like to LIE to your kids, that's nice... then laugh at them when they pout their eyes out when they learn the cold truth... sadistic parents anyways...), you know your kids want this, want that, want that thing over there....
Why the fuck do you take them to the gorram store in the first place!?
Honestly, I don't want to listen to your loinspawn. I just....don't. It is going to keep crying its head off and wailing its little lungs out every time it sees something you don't want to buy it. If you don't have any intentions of buying any of the shit you know it is going to want, leave the damn thing at home with a babysitter. Jeez. Nobody wants to listen to the damn thing. If you simply MUST take the blasted thing with you, at least have the courtesy to be a good parent and shut the damn brat up or something.
And no, making "sshhh" noises does NOT work. It never does. Nor do idle threats. Threats only work when kids know you will make good on them. Most parents simply don't have the balls to actually punish their kids at home, let alone in public and they know it. You can easily separate the bad parents from the good -- watch the kids. If they kids keep disobeying their parents left-and-right, you know the parents are just pushovers who'll cave into their kids easily. The stern, disciplining parents have the kids that'll shut up pretty damn fast with that scared look on their face.
And to you people who are pessimistic lazy to the last: Please learn something called PLANNING AHEAD.
You know, that whole December 25th Holiday? That day that is marked in BRIGHT RED on most Calendars? It says in big, bold letters, "CHRISTMAS DAY"? You know, that holiday you've been celebrating every single year of your life?
That wasn't invented just yesterday!
Nobody walked up to your door on Dec 20th and said "HEY, THERE'S A MAJOR HOLIDAY IN 5 DAYS! BUY EVERYONE YOU KNOW A BUNCH OF SHIT NOW!!"
You knew about this ahead of time. You've had all freaking year to think about it. Everyone who works retail and everyone who has to do mundane grocery shopping would sure as hell appreciate it, if you'd PLAN AHEAD and buy your Christmas Gifts ahead of time. Stop putting shit off to the very last second and do us all a favor.
Christmas the Holiday itself wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for all of the morons out there ruining it for those of us who do respect the Holiday for what it is really supposed to be. I might actually enjoy a Christmas someday, if there weren't a million other people out there ruining it for me.
Edit: gah... not Pessimistic... I forget what word that was really supposed to be, which is highly unusual for me. I guess while ranting my head off, steam coming out of my ears, that word I wanted there totally slipped off the tip of my tongue, so I'll use 'lazy' instead.
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Post by Darkwater on Dec 19, 2010 4:26:45 GMT
+1
Of course, I don't care about the Jesus aspect either. It has nothing to do with Jesus, he wasnt born on dec 25. Rather it's just another pagan holiday that got hijacked by the imperial church.
Myself, I just don't bother with presents anymore. Only thing it represents to me is a family get together and a nice excuse to pig out on good food.
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xaeris
Apprentice of Rant
Posts: 462
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Post by xaeris on Dec 19, 2010 5:46:40 GMT
No offense to you/your family/etc, but I think all Holidays (not just Christmas and Thanksgiving) are excuses to eat way more than one should, and to spend lots of money on things that aren't really necessary, lol.
Even something like Memorial Day (for those who live in the USA) is starting to turn into that too. I wonder just how getting smashed/tanked/sloshed/drunk and stuffing one's face with whatever food was made is supposed to "honor" those who died defending the USA/Democracy/whatever. That just... that doesn't make sense to me, to be honest. Especially when one considers how many people die to car crashes due to said alcohol use on Memorial Day.
I could just picture it...
"Happy Memorial Day! Time to remember our [family member/friend/coworker/etc here] who died in a horrific alcohol-related car crash last year after celebrating Memorial Day!"
People lately seem to be just losing all Common Sense.
I know Common Sense is the greatest oxymoron known to Mankind, but jeez. Do people really have to strive to new lows to prove that fact?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2010 12:02:58 GMT
Its all about family and the kids for me. We bought gifts, but just for the kids. And we always try to do things that aren't just the latest toy figure or gun or doll or video game, like books or board/card games or drawing/art supplies. Christmas music around here started playing in october. I actually quit listening to one of my radio stations because they alternated a regular song with a christmas song. Talk about annoying. I just keep in mind that christmas is different for everyone and to some people its about stuff. There are lots of people in the US and the world who would like to celebrate christmas with stuff, but can't. Heck, lots of people who can't even afford to eat, much less pig out.
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Post by Pharcellus on Dec 19, 2010 17:24:52 GMT
I've been over it for decades. The only part of it I actually enjoy is getting to see family members I rarely get to see anymore. I stopped buying gifts for anyone outside of my immediate family, and then only small things that I know they want/need.
I particularly hate the hyperconsumerism that has been institutionalized in the West. It particularly disgusts me. I try and avoid it like the plague, but inevitably, I get impacted by the mindless stupidity.
For example, I go to my grandmother's for Thanksgiving. On the way there, there is this Super Outlet Mall in this little podunk rural town. We're far enough out in the country where traffic, even on the main divided, non-access-controlled 4-lane state highway, is never more than a few cars every mile. Going down for Thanksgiving, it was rather light. Then, after midnight, on the way back, I ran into this goddamn traffic jam about 10 miles away from this outlet mall. It took me almost an HOUR, at 1am, where I was stuffed, happy, and sleepy, just wanting to get home, to get past the outlet mall. A full 99% of the vehicles creeping along at 10mph the whole way were going into this mall, with plenty of assholes who were running up the emergency lanes to jump ahead every chance they got.
WHY were all these fucks on the road clogging up a rural highway at 1am in the fucking morning? Black Friday "sale". Needless to say, I was pissed; my holiday evening was ruined at that point. It wasn't just the locals, either. As I crept along, I noted counties on license plates. Most of these morons had driven between 30 and 120 miles to come to this mall.
What is even funnier is that retailers admit to raising their prices slowly up until Thanksgiving, so that they can "slash" them back down to normal levels, and pretend like they are cutting prices to the bone. In many cases, these "sales" save you hardly anything over buying other times of the year; the whole point is the "consumer buying frenzy" that comes over people, making them stupid, thinking they are getting this "so AWESOMELY good deal", that they have to drive to hell and gone at ungodly hours of the night to save a few pennies (that they just more than blew in gas parked on the highway for an hour), if that.
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Post by FrithRae on Dec 19, 2010 20:14:05 GMT
*laugh* good rant - I'll be with you on the xmas music - and yea it starts here before Thanksgiving too. I WISH stores just waited till thanksgiving to start with the Xmas (and yes for me its Xmas) decorations and music. Seems like day after Halloween it all goes up! GAH! We even have neighbors who put up their yard-decor (and it IS their ENTIRE yard) before Thanksgiving. UGG! I like Xmas actually, I enjoy xmas music AT Xmas - like the few days before - I'll listen to it. And I really prefer classic Xmas music - the stuff sung by crooners in the 40s/50s, or just all instrumental. But I hold off/change stations/avoid stores so that I can enjoy the music on the few days of the year I listen to it. Not the 8 weeks prior . I don't go shopping much at all, if I can avoid it, in the holiday season. We have the Galleria here in town, which is like the biggest mall in the SEast or some such stuff - so starting with Thanksgiving we AVOID that area of town at ALL costs. The traffic is HORRID. Its at a major intersection of two main state highways, and it may take a rounder-about trip but its best to just steer clear of the area until after New Year's. But I'm not "over" the family gathering, the great food my parents cook (and yes I"ll pig out for any reason or none at all..), and the gifts we give and get. We only buy for immediate family, but my parents give me some badly needed cash - home items - etc. Its fun in our family - we have a large extended family who all live here. So xmas is the family blowout - 3 meals, 3 houses - all day affair. And I love it. The Tradition, seeing everyone, sitting at the kiddy table. Whatever. Love it! The rest of it, I ignore . Kids are bratty in stores all year long, not just as Xmas. Since I avoid shopping as much as possible during this time my exposure to such annoyances is limited so I'm able to enjoy the season.
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Post by sheral on Dec 20, 2010 0:11:03 GMT
I just get a big old case of the 'Bah Humbugs' from the moment the crap hits the stores and the stupid music starts playing.
I do like Christmas, you know, the actual holiday itself. I like trying to find gifts that are fun and personal for my family (I only buy things for my immediate family too). I like the get-togethers and the over-indulgence in food and drink. Of course, it was so much better when my kids were younger, but it's still fun to me now. I just hate the fact that the whole insanity gets stretched out from before Thanksgiving. luckily, back home, we didn't have to put up with having two 'Holidays' so close together, but the commercialism starts just as early.
However, the traditions go back a long, long time before Jesus was ever a twinkle in whoever's eye. Gift-giving, over indulging in food, decorations, holly, mistletoe, partying and all that (the things I actually enjoy) have been part of winter 'holidays' for eons. It's always been about that. So the only people who are ruining what it's supposed to be about are the ones who try to make it something it's not and claim it for their particular religion. It's all about celebrating the return of the sun after the longest night. The only reason people think it's Christ's birthday is because some Pope decided it was, about 300 years after Jesus died. It was more than likely to make the pagans more accepting of the religion that was being forced upon them. I mean, if you can carry on having the same parties and so on, who cares what they call it, right?
As for the kids, well people don't teach their kids how to behave any more. Spanking is bad for them, apparently, as is the word 'no' (biggest load of bollocks I ever heard). There's no wonder they're fucked up. I only had to lean over and whisper in my kids ears 'do you want me to pull your pants down and spank you in front of everyone in the whole store?' and they would behave. I never ever had to go that far, the warning was enough.
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Post by tantalyr on Dec 20, 2010 1:45:18 GMT
A defense of Christmas . . .
You complain of bratty kids and rude shoppers and other folk. They are with us year-round, and do not change their ways with any season.
You complain of rampant consumerism. That, too, is with us year-round. It is what the American economy is built upon.
But you do not mention the all too-often overlooked gems of the season . . .
Christmas has inspired some of the greatest literature, music and movies of the ages. In literature, Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" immediately comes to mind, though there are countless other stories and novels I could name. In music, both aged and current carols are among the art's greatest wonders--"O Holy Night" and "The Holley and the Ivy" among the aged, and "Hallelujah" among current classics. And just pause to consider the inspirational holiday movie classics--"It's a Wonderful Life" and "Miracle on 34th Street" come to mind immediately. (I still take great, albeit guilty, pleasure in watching "A Christmas Story" every year.)
The season turns most folks hearts outward in many ways. Statistically, year over year Americans donate more during this season than any other time of the year--to churches, to free kitchens, to the Salvation Army and on and on. Years ago I had a very dear friend and client who decided that the homeless really didn't want donated food or trinkets. So he formed an actual, honest-to-God foundation (I drafted and filed the papers setting it up) called "Wine for Winos." And every Christmas Eve he and five or six friends (I went once) purchased around $1,000 of inexpensive (not MD 20-20 cheap) wine, drove around the homeless gathering areas in Houston, and handed out bottles of wine to them. And the recipients without exception were truly, truly grateful for a bit of a free toddy on Christmas Eve. I loved my friend, and I miss him greatly still (he was unfortunately murdered by a robber a decade ago).
It is a time when our hearts, as well as our bellies, grow larger. For those feasts we attend are not so much for the nourishment of our bodies as they are nourishment for our hearts and souls. Cherish those memories for they are your everlasting treasure. The family and friends at those feasts--the ones you otherwise see perhaps once or twice during the rest of the year--will be gone too soon.
In short, Christmas inspires us to be better than we are the rest of the year. There is a Light in this world. Call it Hope--in the betterment of Man. Call it Faith--in the finer qualities within us. Call it Love--of those around and among us. Or call it just plain ol' Goodness. The Light lies within all of us, and there is something about this season that encourages us to remove it from the darkness where we've hid it the rest of the year.
I grow long of tooth now, and grey of beard. I hope I never "get over Christmas." And I pray that the great mass of mankind never does either.
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Post by Darkwater on Dec 20, 2010 1:46:18 GMT
Family get togethers are evil because some people get drunk and do stupid things? By all means, lets ban them and save the stupid people from themselves.
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Post by Pharcellus on Dec 20, 2010 4:26:35 GMT
Yes, Tantalyr, the people may be with us year-round, but their behavior at this time of the year is particularly odious and atrocious. In other times of the year, you don't see people get into fistfights over the last couple units of a popular toy. You don't see people crushing and trampling each other to death or serious injury just to get into a damn store. So, yes, the rampant consumerism, bratty kids, and jerk-off people are with us year-round, but the depths to which people sink spike this time of year.
Maybe it is some kind of freaky karma balance, where so much good cheer has to be counterbalanced by so much bad attitude, I don't know. If so, I would rather tone down the extremes a bit so it doesn't get so out of hand. That's one of the big reasons why I don't participate in that part of it -- the mindlessness.
Many years ago, when I was in my late teens, a favorite sorta-uncle of mine casually told me his philosophy of Christmas. He felt that it was an excuse that people used to put on fake faces and act out feelings they didn't really have. What he said was that "if you hate me 364 days of the year, don't come to me on the 365th day and pretend that you love/like/care about me". His part of the family didn't celebrate Christmas because his mother was a Jehovah's Witness, so that likely contributed to his outlook a bit. However, I understand where he was coming from.
As for the season turning our hearts outward, I try to give as much as I can all the time throughout the year. I don't want to tie that "giving spirit" to a particular time of the year or holiday, lest it become the only time I bother, like it is with so many other people.
I guess, based on my experiences with people in this season, I have to take the "glass is half empty" view, where I think people have let it become the only time when they take that light out of the darkness, rather than share it all the time when and where it is needed. Instead of inspiring people to be better than they are, it does the reverse; it gives them an excuse to be shits to one another the rest of the year because they'll "make up for it" at Christmas.
It kinda goes hand-in-glove with another rather atrocious notion of Christianity -- forgiveness of sin -- which has nearly been institutionalized itself. People figure they are saved anyway, so they'll do some of the worst things imaginable, because all they have to do is ask God or Jesus for forgiveness, maybe do a little paltry penance, and everything becomes just peachy all around.
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Post by sheral on Dec 20, 2010 16:13:57 GMT
I think the people who put the 'fake' face on are usually the same people who are fake 365 days out of the year too. The same people who go to church every Sunday and act like they're good little Christians but inside are mean, petty-minded and intolerant. You know the kind I mean: their lips may be praising God and love for mankind but their actions speak otherwise (sorry to say that's a large percentage of the Christians I've met - the ones I call friend are exceptions to that rule).
I will say this, though in defence of what Tant said: while I try to help and 'let my light shine' whenever I can, year round, I find that Christmas makes me glad for what I do have, and therefore I feel for those who don't even more at this time of year. It's not that I don't feel for them at any other time, just that I feel it more acutely when I'm surrounded by the ones I love and having a good time.
As for music, well there are songs I love but mostly I like the carols. Yes, I know, this sounds strange coming from an opinionated atheist, but I do. I grew up in a Church of England school, and was in the choir, and carols were a big part of Christmas for me back then. So now, hearing them and singing along is very nostalgic and while I may not believe in the entities that are being sung about, I still like to hear them. Weird, I guess.
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Post by Pharcellus on Dec 20, 2010 17:58:09 GMT
Well, I think that's what I am getting at, Sheral. Many people don't feel it at all, except during Christmas.
I am glad for what I do have and feel acutely for those who don't year-round. I wish more people did, and maybe we wouldn't have so many broken aspects to our society.
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Post by FrithRae on Dec 20, 2010 18:42:34 GMT
Yea Tant, I agree - I hope I never "get over Xmas". I love Santa Claus (yes he does exist, and yes he still brings me presents!) and decorations, and lights, and the music, and food, and gathering with friends and family. I ignore the parts that aren't as pleasant (year around I ignore them really, not just right now), they won't ruin my Xmas Spirit! Though I have to admit, I dont like Miracle on 34th Street or A Christmas Carol. I know I know...ba humbug right?! LOL. But the family always has "A Christmas story" marathon running all day on the tv as we celebrate.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2010 19:19:27 GMT
Ugh... I can't watch Its a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, or A Christmas Carol ever again! Seriously overplayed and after the tenth or twentieth time of seeing them...
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Post by sheral on Dec 20, 2010 21:02:56 GMT
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