I mean, I really hate it. Not the actual event of the birth of Christ, but the holiday itself.
I, for years, have been surrounded by friends who are cynically disposed towards religion if not condescenignly cruel about it, but who expect gifts to be exchanged and convivial dinners to be hosted. Not so cynical now, are you, you hypocrites?
More aggravating, is that I am now surrounded by the children of such people, who demand gifts, and for whom the holiday has no other reason for being. This is particularly disheartening as they're not deciding to be ignorant; they are, if you will, innocently ignorant. Further, because their parents, for 48 weeks of the year, think churches are pedophilic institutions dedicated to graft, any attempt by me to evangelize the True Meaning of Christmas(tm) would be suspicious.
This means that I spend about all my Christmas (with the exception of the bits where I sing) with large crowds of people who don't see the event the same way I do, and who are not open to my distress or discomfort about it.
But, ever Stealthy, I have hatched an insidious plot.
Plot part 1: I like to give prezzies... so I will. Christian recipients get Christmas presents on or around the 25th of December (thanks, I think, to Constantine) and non-Christians will get New Year's presents.
Plot part 2: I will be very careful about who I spend Christmas Day with. If it's a giant stress mess and not a celebration, I'm not doing it! This is a religious day first, not a holiday day first. Also, my cats are good company on such days.
Plot part 3: December 6th is the Feast of St. Nicholas of Myra, and seems like a good day to do random gifting. That seems to be more Christmasy than satisfying the consumerist ravings of small children.
Plot part 4: I'm getting gifts I want to get for people. If they don't like 'em, tough bananas. Oh yeah, and I already have your gift, so don't even ask!
7 comments:
I love Christmas; does one have to be a believer to think that a day surrounded by friends and family, with good food and fun and love and warmth and laughter is a beautiful thing?
I love buying gifts for the people I love; I love baking for them; I love the pretty wrapping paper (or bags); I love everything about it.
And I may not believe in God, but I certainly have the greatest respect for his purported Son, if not the people who came later to muck it up.
You should come to our house for Christmas... I figure, we'll start with a little mimosa at about 10am, and then keep going from there until the scotch comes out at approximately 6pm, before we eat heaps of yummy food and then maybe play some games.
I love all the social things as well, but for me it's about pushing away the dark and drear of winter. I'm choosing the New Year's gifts because it's a really secular occasion in mid-winter (rather than give Solstice presents)
Can you get New Year's paper? I was planning to make my own...
Chorus, I realized in this thing that I have talked myself into going to church Christmas morning, otherwise I'd rather have missed my own point... ;)
I have to play for church on Christmas day in the morning anyway - so we can postpone mimosa's for post-service!
Perhaps we could put together the family quartet for that service.
The establishment of December 25 as Christ's birthday is actually a bit of a murky subject. It's mentioned in early 3rd-century writings, and then went in and out of fashion until the late 4th century.
The date actually corresponds to a Roman Soltice holiday called "The Birthday of the Unconquered Sun." It's also immediately after the Roman festival of the Saturnalia (Dec. 17-23), which involved eating, drinking, being merry, and giving gifts, and is generally thought to be the source of those things as Christmas traditions.
[/historical digression]
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