Thursday, December 24, 2009

Wishing You All A

Merry Christmas!

AND HAPPY NEW YEAR.


16 comments:

Mike aka MonolithTMA said...

And a Merry Christmas to you and yours as well!

Karla said...

Thank you.

CyberKitten said...

Merry Christmas Karla....

Karla said...

Thank you Cyber. Have a Happy New Year. After today I won't be commenting much if at all until after the 1st.

DS said...

Hmmm.. My bible study teacher always says that we've gotta reclaim the territory that Santa has taken over Jesus. Due to the fact that most people "worship" santa now instead of celebrating the important baby's birthday.

Ali P said...

'instead of celebrating the important baby's birthday'

What baby? I've been celebrating the winter Solstice :-)

Mike aka MonolithTMA said...

I've been celebrating the building of the temple to Saturn. ;-)

I watched two episodes of Nova yesterday. One was about The Cave of Letters and the destruction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, in 70 a.d., the other was The Lost Treasures of Tibet. Both dealt with the topic of proponents of other belief systems destroying religion based rich cultural heritages.

I wonder what the world would be like if some religions hadn't destroyed others in the past.

Karla said...

DS, I took that picture at a local amusement park decorated for Christmas. It was spectacular there.

Actually St. Nicholas really lived and was a devout Christian. So the legend born from his life isn't really all that secular.

Ali, do you really celebrate Winter Soltice, or Christmas?

Mike, are you serious or joking?

I am honestly interested in knowing if atheist celebrate Christmas in any fashion.

Mike aka MonolithTMA said...

Am I joking about Saturn? Of course. I'm still an atheist, but Christmas usurped Saturnalia, which celebrated the building of the temple to Saturn, it began on the 17th and culminated in the 25th as I understand it.

CyberKitten said...

karla said: I am honestly interested in knowing if atheist celebrate Christmas in any fashion.

What do you mean by 'celebrate'?

Karla said...

Cyber, by "celebrate" I mean commemorate, honor, observe in some fashion -- giving gifts, going to Christmas parties, having Christmas dinner, decorating your home, putting up a Christmas tree, sending Christmas cards, etc.

Do you guys do any of that?

Mike aka MonolithTMA said...

"You guys" meaning us, I assume? Not all atheists. ;-)

My family has always celebrated Christmas. They and Robyn, my fiance, are all believers of one sort or another. I'm usually the one who picks the reading. This year I chose this: http://www.beliefnet.com/Inspiration/Chicken-Soup-For-The-Soul/2009/11/A-Gift-of-Love.aspx

We also sing Happy Birthday to Jesus on Christmas morning, we even stick a candle in a pastry and blow it out like at a real birthday party. ;-)

CyberKitten said...

karla said: giving gifts, going to Christmas parties, having Christmas dinner, decorating your home, putting up a Christmas tree, sending Christmas cards, etc. Do you guys do any of that?

Except for the Christmas cards, yes. I also don't go to church and I don't sing carols...... Personally I wouldn't call any of that 'celebrating'.... It's holding with tradition and having a bit of fun.

Ali P said...

For me, its a family 'get together'.

Karla said...

So it sounds each of you who responded are honoring the tradition of your family or culture rather than actually celebrating the holiday as an American would celebrate Independence Day on July 4th?

Thanks for answering, I was curious because of how fully Christianized Christmas is that it is nearly impossible to celebrate Christmas which means "Christ Gathering" without participating in a celebration of Christ in some way. But I guess you could if you were doing so to respect your family rather than to share personal celebration of the holiday (holy day).

CyberKitten said...

karla said: I was curious because of how fully Christianized Christmas is that it is nearly impossible to celebrate Christmas which means "Christ Gathering" without participating in a celebration of Christ in some way.

On the contrary - it's very easy to 'celebrate' Christmas with no reference whatsoever to Christ or religion in general. Just about everything about it is either pagan in origin or a Victorian invention. Christmas itself was co-opted by the Christians (as with many other special events such as the pagen festival of Easter) precisely because it was already widely celebrated for other reasons. If you want to avoid Christian religious aspects of Christmas it's not a problem - at least on *this* side of the Atlantic - thankfully!