To counter that it's a world where we have less and less time with family because of shift work and travelling to and from work, if you're not religious then use the natural break to spend time together.
Totally unchristian of me but I use the time for gluttony ...the family and friends can share in my gluttony so it's technically a time of goodwill to all.... unless it's the last bit of something ....then wrath...
That's not counter to what I said, it goes hand in hand with it. Live and let live. I accept and respect that not everyone's religious and whether or not they are, if Christmas is just a good reason to spend more time with the family then I'm all for that
Christmas and religion parted ways a long time ago in our neck of the woods. Here in FI, it's not the mad cash grab it is back home, people don't go out of their minds spending fortunes in a commercial meltdown. It's more a traditional thing.
I'm looking to stop spending so much on presents and tune it more to going out as a family. We don't have a lot of time and it would be nice if we used our money wisely.
I don't think overeating at Christmas counts as gluttony mate. Gluttony would be continuously overindulging.
If people use it as a time for peace and harmony, reconnecting with family or just keeping up national/cultural traditions then it's doing mankind a service. Even Frank's self confessed overindulgence provides him and his family with a reason to be joyful.
I meant in general. I live the holiday through my kids, so it's great. I get all that other stuff several times a year when I go back to Ireland to see the fam
Yes I got that. If ''Christmas and religion parted ways a long time ago in our neck of the woods.'' it matters less (or at all) if ''Here in FI, ..... people don't go out of their minds spending fortunes in a commercial meltdown. It's more a traditional thing.'' The holiday still has some significance or it would have disappeared altogether.
no holiday has an significance to corporation's including media who drive the **** out of it too. all holidays are basically family or self orientated. as an example I am boycotting our works Christmas choir. this year some tool has decided no religious carols are to be sung. strangely they have their musicians but are badly struggling for singers... another example of pc bullshit as they leave their jobs for 2 or 3 hours a week min to "practice" including senior managers..... so one awhile decides it's holiday songs not Christmas songs and no.. have to sing jinglebells only. I've already said that when they start in restaurant I will walk out.
Christmas itself I'm fine with ... i.e. the couple of weeks where it is actually Christmas and New Year What I absolutely loathe is how big retailers (and people too I guess) push it for commercial interests to start on Nov 6th. Personally it spoils the above for me as I'm sick of it by then since decorations, trees and markets have been up for so long. It just opens the floodgates for any saddo with nothing better to do to start decorating their house in the middle of November which is frankly ridiculous. Once it's Advent, fine, start doing stuff and preparing, not that about 90% of people in the UK ever see the inside of a church except for weddings, and in my experience not even for those these days. So in terms of a religious occasion I think for most people Christmas is absolutely meaningless and something they never even think about, unless we're talking about corporate/consumer worship in which case they'll all be sitting right next to God on his right hand and he'll still be laughing emptying their bank accounts posthumously. For the majority, Christmas is a social occasion now based around spending money shopping or eating/drinking out, at home via supermarkets or posting on Instagram about what stupid jumper or festive outfit they're wearing, and that's the only significance of it. The family stuff, fine, that's good, we live in a fractured society where for many reasons family has been broken down and it probably makes people feel better ... the rest of it is a shill geared around over-indulgence and the usual practices of treating people like meat to be ground up in the corporate profiteering machine.
Church attendances actually go up at Christmas. In fact for some it's the only time they go to church. I've never been to a midnight Mass anywhere that wasn't packed to the rafters so to say it's meaningless as a religious occasion is wide of the mark. Also interesting that you used the Christian term 'Advent' to describe December. You are right though in terms of your inference to it being a time of excessive consumerism.
I think you have to avoid what you dislike and get on with what you do like, make it your own whether that be the religious part or family time.
Love the sweets Not much of a gin fan tbh My Xmas tipple as always will be..and in no particular order. Bailey's Tequilla Becks (bottles) Woods rum
