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Thanks for the greeting. I would like to caution against being too judgemental, though. In many societies the family Christmas gathering can be quite large so two carts full of food might not be out of line. When I was growing up we often times had fifteen or more people at the dinner table. I will be at my sons house and there will more than likely be at least ten people and that is a lot of food.

Also, in our family it is a tradition to portion out the leftover food so that everybody takes food home with them. So what looks like gluttony may actually be something entirely different.

Yeah, you are of course right on this one. I just needed a symbol to get the entry started, and this anecdote was a good fit, and I'm fairly sure you get what I'm hinting at there .

Additionally, in the village where that supermarket was located (one village up north from mine) everybody knows everyone, so we kinda know for whom those trollies were meant .

I'd second that. And add a bit. Some of us have the Christmas gathering taking more than just the Christmas eve.

Last night we got a reunion of our family, for like six hours, it's pretty much a tradition for us. Now, each one went to their homes and I'm getting ready to keep the gathering happening for like 10 or 12 hours.

And hey, let's talk about a lot of people on those gatherings, to emphasize your point: My family came from Portugal to Brasil 60 years ago. My grandfather and grandmother are already gone, but we are still a family of 5 of their sons with each one's wifes/husbands and "children". And we have their children's children too!

Add to that a few of the friends we got for living a family large as that in the same neighborhood (in a 2 miles radius around our late grandmother's house) and you'll understand that we easily count our gathering guests by the dozen

Yesterday we had 31 people present at our dinner and pretty much all of them stayed for the celebrations after it. And I'm guessing we'll have a few more today, because there were no outsiders yesterday, they were probably all with their families.

We are simply a too-big-of-a-family and we incorporate our friends as part of the family too. So, can you imagine the size of our trollies ?

Now, A Merry-Continuation-Of-Christmas for you guys, for I'm going back there.

See ya at night.

It's not a good vs. bad comparison, there are good things and bad things in western civilizations, like in other civilizations. People just have to be humble enough to admit it otherwise we will still have wars everywhere on Earth like we've had so far because of egoitism.

Back to topic, yeah, I'm happy that we have this new release right for Christmas. I'm gonna grab me a copy right away

You probably want to use a different name than "bloodandsoil". Last time that frase was used it was by an Austrian. We didn't like it back then and we don't like it now.

Who is 'we'?

Your neighbours.

Would you please be more specific?

You are from Denmark and you are not my neighbor.

So who are you talking about when you say 'we' didn't like it then and 'we' don't like it now?

I wasn't referring to that bit - I was referring to the religions thing in general.

In the UK, there is no real thust to using a non offensive and 'pc' term.

Besides, 'holiday' means something different here anyway. Your holiday is your 'annual leave' or what you would call 'vacation' in the US. We refer to Christmas as just that, or to be pedantic maybe 'Christmas holiday'. We do the same with Easter too. We'd therefore need to say 'Happy Christmas holiday' to get the same meaning. To a Brit, 'happy holidays' sounds really false and meaningless.

Good Yule to all, anyway!

Finally something I can agree with the UK'ers on. Personally, there is one single meaning to Christmas, CHRIST, that's why his name gets top billing for the season you know.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Personally, there is one single meaning to Christmas, CHRIST, that's why his name gets top billing for the season you know.

Christmas got nothing to do with christianity, and I can't believe that you really don't know that...

Maybe it would be good if we all just happily agreed to disagree on stuff like that in this thread. It is a time for reflection upon, and celebration of, our own personal philosophies, whatever they may be. I happen to be atheist; And I celebrate along with everyone else. I don't mind it being called Christmas. That which we call a rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet.

Edited 2007-12-25 00:45

I too am an atheist, and I too will be eating vast amounts of food and consuming large amounts of alcohol with my family and friends over the next few days.

I also know that this time of the year was picked to mark the birth of the Christ, as it is the start of the nights getting longer in the northern hemisphere.

However, I have noticed that with all the bickering among the different religions, it is people like me, and sbergman27 who seem to enjoy Christmas the most, as we do not associate anything deeper to it, other than an excuse to pig out with people you care about.

And

Although I do not care for any of you in the slightest...

Have a peaceful, relaxing and most of all a Happy Christmas.

Merry Christmas

A good Christmas - a time to eat, drink, too much, be with family (or at least think about them) and generally have a warm fuzzy feeling about humanity. No bad thing.

To the Christians try not to be too ideologically committed to your doctrine, remember this is supposed to be a time of good will (I think in the UK the only people to ban Christmas were Christians) and I suppose the same goes to every one else.

Have as good day.

Actually Christmas has a lot to do with Christ - but Yule has little to do with Christmas.

It's just that we from Scandinavia has managed to blend things better (taking the traditions from south and keeping our own terms).

Imagine a Dane calling "Jul" for "Kristmesse" - oh dear...

"Christmas" is a Christian holiday derived from the German tribes, and other tribes, tradition of the celebration of the winter solstice. Many of the traditions -- dragging a tree into the house, lighting it, a giant feast, are all from those "pagan" traditions. The religious component is the part that makes it Christmas. Everything else is a celebration of Winter and the solstice, nothing more, nothing less. Even though I'm not a practicing christian, I still say "Merry Christmas", even my *** friend says "Marry Christmas", simply because that's what December 25 is -- Christmas Day. Not "Festivus day", "Holidays Day", or "Seasons Greetings Day", it's "Christmas Day". Anyone who gets their panties in a knot over that just wants to start something.

So I end this rant with a belated "Merry Christmas to all" -- to all the jews, muslims, christians, hindus, buddhists, everybody. Now go hug your husband, kiss your wife, tell your girlfriend, boyfriend, kids, that you love them, and thank $DEITY that you're around for another winter. That's what the real meaning of Christmas is.

By BurningShadow:
> Christmas got nothing to do with christianity, and I can't believe that you really don't know that...

Christmas has pagan origins, that's correct:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas#Pre-Christian_origins

"...In part, the Christmas celebration was created by the early Church in order to entice pagan Romans to convert to Christianity without losing their own winter celebrations..."

But how about reading the whole article? ;-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas

"Christmas is an annual holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus. It refers both to the day celebrating the birth, as well as to the season which that day inaugurates, which concludes with the Feast of the Epiphany."

Click on Epiphany:

"Epiphany (Greek: ..., "appearance" or "manifestation") is a Christian feast intended to celebrate the "shining forth" or revelation of God to mankind in human form, in the person of Jesus."

So Christmas has definitely a lot to do with Christianity.

Edit: Original message from BurningShadow inserted

Edited 2007-12-27 10:26

Uhm... even if you ignore every other religion's holidays around this time, "Happy Holidays" is also a way of saying "Happy New Year" too, the origin of the phrase... ^_^;

Myself, I'm a happy pagan, and I don't mind Christians who also celebratate my holiday -- it's the day to celebrate selflessness, charity, and goodwill towards others, after all. :>

The issue is that there is a group of people who are constantly in the mode of "ooh, I better ensure that so-and-so doesn't feel left out by saying 'Christmas'" - for me, I'm not a Christian, but I certainly don't feel offended if someone says 'Merry Christmas' and I say 'Merry Christmas'.

PS. Side note the person raising about Christmas, yes, we know it was a 'dart board' guess in regards to Jesus's birth but I think that the birth, rather than the day it actually occurs on, is the more important thing to consider. Trivialities such as 'is this the right day' simply serve to distract.

The issue is that there is a group of people who are constantly in the mode of "ooh, I better ensure that so-and-so doesn't feel left out by saying 'Christmas'".

While that's no doubt correct in some cases, I believe it's actually mostly due to a specific political philosophy that wishes to do away with religion so do all they can to remove all references to it. They used to be called communists but that's unpopular these days so they're known as the "politically correct" these days.

(Surely unintentional) Comedy gold.

Hold the nog, just pass me the rum.

Merry Christmas everyone, from my liver to yours.

Yes, but what distro? =P

That's not the important thing... it what desktop environment He would choose. I myself see Jesus as a Gnome user who recently has been trying XFCE a bit...

Merry Merry Christmas to everyone, regardless!

Naw, Jesus is a *box user. Probably Flux or Openbox. They're nothing more then he needs but are still modern.

Happy Holidays!

Gnome user myself but everyone knows, Jesus uses Enlightenment. However as is my position on most things,

Gnome is evil
Gnome is sin
Sin is forgiven
So Gnome is in!

Cheers.

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I heard, through the grapevine, that he uses current versions of SLS on his desktop, and Yggdrasil on his laptop. (There are advantages to having ready access to the afterlife.)

That was intended to avert a flame war. But just watch one break out among the greybeards here anyway! :-P

Edited 2007-12-25 01:02

Well, I'm installing Ubuntu for my Mom this Christmas.

Arch of course.

More importantly, Jesus is a vi man.

Ubuntu Christian edition.

Edited 2007-12-25 13:22

If Jesus used anything it'd be Haiku...think about it

Well, if it's explicitly about redemption and freedom, then:

http://dynebolic.org/

;-)

Wow that's a lot of bitterness and baggage to be carrying around on a holiday that promotes love and giving. Merry Christmas to you. I don't say that as any kind of snide remark, but I genuinely think maybe you need it as much as anyone here.

Who said I believe in religion? I believe it is sheer hypocrisy to say Merry Christmas or any other religious mantra babble while we have religious wars going on today. As long as one human being oppresses another we really need to check our religions.

Maybe, just maybe, I am just an extremely jaded 44 year-old New Mexican. I doubt it. My green eyes have seen way too much violence in life to not believe we are descended from apes. Apes with violent and self-destructive tendencies. I am just waiting for the next religious nut job or mentally-imbalanced paranoid to prove me right ... again.

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Hi mind!dagger,

We're both 44. And I live just a state or two over from you in Oklahoma City, OK. (In what part of NM do you live?) And I'm also atheist. So that gives us a lot in common. I also see much harm derived from