Christmas: Are they shoving it down our throats too early?

[MikaelaMuppet]

Music Choice is already starting to play Christmas music.

 

[D'Snowth]

That's what I said earlier, they kept the Halloween music up through the rest of the week after Halloween last Thursday, then switched to Christmas music.

I find it a little surprising, however, that they seem to have a rather slim/limited selection of Christmas music to play, however, they're the only one who play my favorite rendition of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus", which is a simple, yet really swinging jazz version.

 

[Sgt Floyd]

I have gone to Christian schools throughout middle school and I swear there is more bullying in Christian schools than I have ever encountered in a public high school. But that's a topic for another day.

The problem is that the real meaning is lost on most people, even on a good number of Christians. How many people do you think honestly go to church because they want to celebrate Jesus' birth, and not because its an obligation to celebrate Jesus' birth?

I would also like to add that schools do have prayer time still, except its called a moment of silence. You can do whatever you want. You can stand there and do nothing, you can pray silently to whatever deity you worship. So its not like prayer has been banned from schools, they just can't have school mandated prayer sessions. Of course, schools are still allowed to have religious based clubs because they are after school, and students aren't forced to go.

 

[D'Snowth]

How many people do you think honestly go to church because they want to celebrate Jesus' birth, and not because its an obligation to celebrate Jesus' birth?

I must confess I've always had that kind of feeling about church, even since I was a little kid: like school, or when you have to see the doctor, or whatever, it's not necessarily because you want to, but you have to.

 

[Sgt Floyd]

I must confess I've always had that kind of feeling about church, even since I was a little kid: like school, or when you have to see the doctor, or whatever, it's not necessarily because you want to, but you have to.

Well that's because you were a kid. I'm talking about so called Christian adults who go through the motions rather than actually believe this stuff. It's sad that people have been 'trained' to accept a religion because they have been told to do so.

But before I derail this conversation into a debate about religion any further, I went to walmart on Halloween with my dad and we were laughing at all the Christmas stuff that was out. But it also means I don't have to wait until Christmas to get my Ghirardelli peppermint bark chocolate

 

[D'Snowth]

Bark chocolate? You mean they make chocolate from trees now, or the chocolate woofs at you when you eat it?

 

[Sgt Floyd]

No the flavor is called peppermint bark

It's ground up candy canes in chocolate

 

[D'Snowth]

I think I'll just stick with the blueberry candycanes, even though they make me look like I was playing tonsil hockey with Smurfette.

Oy, that sounded so wrong.

 

[cjd874]

A few days ago, I saw someone in a park DRESSED AS SANTA CLAUS. I'm not kidding. I was pretty upset, because Christmas is already over-commercialized. It seems like every single business franchise breaks out the tinsel, elf hats, and candy canes immediately after Halloween. What's even worse is that TV commercials end up advertising "Big Christmas sales" at Target or Walgreen's when it's FREAKING NOVEMBER 1st!!! It's insane and inane. It's not that I hate Christmas like our grouchy friend , it's just that the holiday spirit doesn't need to come so early every year. I do feel that this holiday is shoved down our throats too often and with too much force.

 

[Drtooth]

Well, it's like I said earlier, atheists get offended by the spiritual meaning of Christmas, and in this day and age, it's easier to remove the spiritual aspects of Christmas so as to not offend them than it is to keep the spiritual aspects in and not offend Christians. In fact, not just Christmas, but we did away with mandatory school prayer, listening to Christian rock or gospel music in public places, and we're on the verge of losing "In God we trust" from money and "Under God" from the Pledge of Alliegence, all to avoid offending atheists. I honestly don't even know if hotel rooms have Bibles anymore.

The "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance is complete bull. It was never in the original pledge and was thrown in during the McCarthy era Red Scare. The hilarious irony being that now Russia's so insanely becoming a religious police state (the bad, far right oppressive kind).

Plus it's one of those stories they throw out to outrage Christians. Of course, I could get into the whole bit about the Pledge being an annoying routine conditioning devoid of the true Patriotism it should be about. I just remember classroom after classroom of students that didn't care half heartedly mumbling through it. That thing isn't going anywhere, especially the Under God bit... which again wasn't even thrown in for the right reasons. They just wanted to make sure you're not a Godless Commie.

The problem is that the real meaning is lost on most people, even on a good number of Christians. How many people do you think honestly go to church because they want to celebrate Jesus' birth, and not because its an obligation to celebrate Jesus' birth?

Ugh... That's kinda what I'm saying. I get the whole "The Commercialism is terrible" bit, even though the commercialism stuff is far older than we think. The commercialism is, unfortunately, the reason we even celebrate it. Only the devout like going to Church, and they drag their unhappy kids to Church away from their new toys on Christmas to be forced to sit still and quiet since they make you go to the adult service. Never was a fan of that. At least on regular Sundays you get to go to Sunday School and hang out with other kids and learn the same lessons in a gentler way.

Anyway... this is the thing that gets me though... ALL Holidays lost their significance, and Christmas isn't so special there. St. Patric's Day is when everyone pretends to be insulting Irish stereotypes, Valentines Day is for buying pink heart shaped crap and little sheets of cardboard with cartoon characters on them, Martin Luther King Day is a three day Weekend that barely removes the monotony of January. President's Day is about car and appliance sales as is Columbus Day (and he didn't really discover America anyway)... and Easter. I mean, you want to talk about a crassly overcommercialized solemn religious celebration? At least the gift giving in Christmas has roots in the Three Kings. How do bunnies and eggs figure into the death and resurrection of Christ? And you don't even get the day off. They either force you to work or you don't cuz it's Sunday anyway.