YES, We celebrate a mix of American and Swedish Christmas/Jul in our house. I personally think we finally found a nice mix of the two. We are not religious, so no church, nativity sets or anything like that. The kids have their own advent calendars, counting down the days until the 24th. (Swedish Jul) We also tend to celebrate each Sunday leading up to Christmas with some glögg and ginger cookies. December 13th (The darkest day of the year) is also a huge day when we celebrate Lucia. The kids are getting older, so they think it's a little bit embarrassing But they did participate in the Swedish Lucia a few years ago! Hmm, now that I think about it, I think our Christmas is more Scandinavian than American. The kids love it though! :grin:
With you 100000% on b. My admonitions for how to celebrate Christmas are for the Church...not for what the rest of the country/world are celebrating. I think there are some Christians who feel ashamed of that issue...that's what she meant, I'm sure, though I hate to speak for her.
I agree on both A and B. As for who is asking Christians to apologize or be ashamed, it seems to be what is implied every time someone feels the need to "inform" Christians that their celebration has pagan roots. I do agree that it is more than a little annoying, perhaps counterproductive, for Christians to insist that others observe Christmas in a strictly Christian way. For one thing, it would be absurd to ask non-Christians or even nominal Christians to do so. For another, you miss an opportunity for building relationships with others by maintaining a questionable standard for the holiday. We're trying to teach our kids to view Christmas as first a religious holiday but also a holiday that is incredibly important to their non-Christian family members and an opportunity to share in their joy at this time without turning every conversation to a more uncomfortable religious battle.
We do. We tell our daughter that Christmas is Jesus' birthday & he is the one who is providing her gifts (not Santa).
To me, Christmas is about the kids and surprising them. It just doesn't work as well when it is mainly adults. We stopped exchanging gifts because everyone is such an old fart that they don't need anything. There are no surprises. Our mantra is "you need something, then you go buy it" or "if you really needed it, then you would have bought it for yourself already". Bah hum bug. I will, however, donate some money which would have gone to gifts to charitable causes. That is where my money goes now...to someone who really needs it.
I think that's a good thing. Christmas doesn't have to be about giving gifts. If you're getting together with your family and spending time,that's a great holiday...provided you like your family
Yea...we get together. But, so soon after the Thanksgiving debacle, and it just feels like we are going through the motions. I would almost rather just sleep in this year. lol.
As you can see, we like to start with the airing of grievances. We've got a lot of problems with you people and you're going to hear about it!
Gotcha. I'm an atheist but I have no problems with people saying "merry Christmas" or putting up nativity scenes or whatever else they want to do to celebrate Christmas. The only other non-Christians I know only remind Christians of Christmas' pagan roots when they are defending themsleves against the ignorant statements so-called Christians make regarding the holiday, it's origins or how the community should celebrate it. I guess it really boils down to personal experiences. I'm more than familiar with people trying to make sure the holidays are fully "Christianized" but I suppose if I was a Christian I would not notice that. On the other hand, maybe I don't notice some of the anti-Christian sentiment out there because of my non-religious nature. I like this. We show the same respect toward different views in our home as well. I wish the people who feel the need to shoot down Christmas with no provocation and the people who feel the need to shove Christianity down the throats of others could act this way.
My Uncle married a Jehovah Witness and no they dont celebrate any Pagain(Sp?) Holiday. Although, I do always get a "Care Package" in the mail from them around the week of Christmad just showing their "Love" for me. As far as their religion, their 2nd biggest issue with Christmas (Besides not believing that Jesus is our Savior) is they fact that it is celebrated in December. They think that it would have been too cold in the hills of Bethleham for a child to be born in an open barn.
I CANT STOP LAUGHING My wife has recently 'converted' to Judaism (is that the right wording for becoming Jewish?). But anyway this will be the first Christmas we dont celebrate and instead celebrate Hanukkah. I don't know, I feel as if I am spending more. Will probably buy a crap load of candy though, for Xmas day to 'slip' the children's. But doesnt matter to me which we celebrate as long as were together and as long we know what we believe.
We MEXICANS celebrate Christmas "EVE" much more than we do Christmas Day like you peeps from the United States, and another difference is that we have "Los Reyes Magos" who come to visit baby Jesus (or "El Niño Hay-zeus" as we call him down south) on the 6th of January instead of Santa Claus' visit, but since we're more americanized, we believe in Santa as well... it's the perks of having the culture clash. ¡Feliz Navidad y un Próspero Año Nuevo! My name is SwoLy-D, am Mexican and Catholic, and I support/sponsor/approve this post.
