As I get older it's getting damn closer every year. I'm sure it's the mile marker for death, as it seems to be the most significant of annual recurrences for us Westerners. It's how I measure the amount of wasted time in my life.

* eats shotgun *

Anyway, I posted this to a Facebook friend's wall just now in response to her asking me "Are you all set for Christmas?" Honestly, it's got to be the biggest scam we knowingly let ourselves in for. These *******s play on an instinctual level, it's all very base.

I find Christmas a little difficult to deal with. I don't like the idea of being forced in to buying gifts for people because the time of year dictates it, under the threat of losing ties with people if I fail to get them something in return. With this attitude it's easy to put the blame on businesses, thinking they create the culture, which of course they do, it's undeniable. I could be like other people and 'lose myself in the fun' but I don't like the feeling I'm being pushed in to anything. So each year I struggle with it mentally, at some point decide that it wouldn't be a bad idea to buy some gifts for people but have spent so long thinking about it that I have little time left to do it, and the thought of going out shopping when it's so near the big day brings back the feelings I mentioned before and the sense that I'm being hypocritical and have let myself be taken in.

Can you feel the love in the room?

I enjoy a day where my entire immediate family can get together, and a day that inspires my dad's side of the family to get together with us for the one time through the entire September-March time period

It's really only about the presents if you make it about the presents, if you don't want to succumb to corporate brainwashing just make something for someone else, even a hand-made card shows someone that you were actually thinking about them (and you were)

I like the togetherness of Christmas, but that's about it.

i like how the american religious right uses this time of year as an excuse to fire up the old "war on Christmas", wherein they boycott stores which say "happy holidays" rather than "merry christmas" because of how it apparently ignores the true reason for the season

http://www.citizenlink.org/Stoplight/A000005834.cfm

they don't seem to realize the inherent irony of their proclamations

My family has decided that this year, we won't exchange gifts during the family get together, since certain relatives have a hard time buying things for everyone.
Can't say I'm disappointed. I honestly don't want very much this year.

http://www.citizenlink.org/Stoplight/A000005834.cfm

Damn, I thought that was a parody at first. :(

Look, people. There's another holiday around this time of year, and it just so happens that there is gift giving during that holiday as well. The stores say "happy holidays" because that is saying "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Hanukkah" and "Happy whatever" at the same time, so it is a greeting to everyone. "Merry Christmas" applies only to Christians, and companies are not going to do that because that would exclude non-christians, which would be idiotic.

......kay, that guy's going on my Death Note. Cause of death: He realizes how stupid he is and starts banging his head against a wall in shame until he dies.
Alternate cause of death: Someone yells "MERRY TOSSMAS!" at him and tosses a brick to his head.
*scribble scribble*

I don't think I'll enjoy this christmas much. It's allways been nice to hang out with my family, but this year it seems everyone will be split and a lot of hate is hovering around.

Christmas is just one of many scams we're surrounded by in life, so you've just got to ignore the scam side of things and enjoy the rest. Buying gifts isn't much fun, but receiving them is, so I think it makes it worth doing the buying. The routine of cities/malls/shops/everywhere feeling obligated to put up decorations every December is a bit tiresome.

I can understand the exchanging of gifts and such. But I find it strange that all this hype is created just for one day that always turns out to be on hell of an anti-climax.

Of course, there's the whole commercialised aspect which I hate. It must be one of the biggest marketting scams in existance.

I also find it midly amusing that the majority of people say they are celebrating an event that they don't actually believe had much significance.

I also remember my History teacher ranting about Christmas to Year 10 and 11, saying how he basically dislikes a lot of the concepts. Happy Hipocrisy day was basically what came out in the end.

Christmas was the best thing ever until I found out Santa wasn't real :(

Christmas was the best thing ever until I found out Santa wasn't real :(
That's what they want you to believe. But I know the truth. :cool:

I just think of it as International-Winter-Is-Crap-Let's-Cheer-Each-Other-Up Day*, in the same way that November 5th and July 4th are National-Excuse-To-Let-Off-Fireworks Days.

*Admittedly this doesn't account for the Southern Hemisphere. Or areas in the Northern Hemisphere where winter is the dry season.

Speaking of fireworks, the local club about 600m down the road just let off a whole bunch for no apparent reason. Just walked outside to see what the noise was and got drenched in the rain watching. Best fireworks I've seen in ages though :D

The problem I have with the "war on Christmas" camp is that Christmas is an entirely secular holiday. It always has been. Almost every civilisation that's ever lived in a temerate climate zone has had a midwinter festival just to break the monotony. And it gets called Yule, Christmas, Winterval, Hannukah, the weird Druidic thing with trees, or whatever, and sometimes there's a religious excuse behind it, but really it's never anything more or less than a good excuse to get drunk, give presents and generally be happier than your life strictly speaking warrants you to be. Then a bunch of pathetic Christians thought it'd be a swell idea to try to shoehorn Jesus into it and to a point it works -- they got the name changed in the public mind and they got a whole bunch of nativity scenes everywhere (although they do flatly contradict two more gospels than they agree with so their religious significance is questionable), but they never made Christmas anything more than a vaguely Christian secular party instead of a vaguely Pagan secular party. They altered nothing more than the branding.

And now whenever anyone does anything secular ar Christmas they get all offended and start banging on about "the true meaning of Christmas" as if they have any idea what that is.

I just think of it as International-Winter-Is-Crap-Let's-Cheer-Each-Other-Up Day.

Exactly.

Christmas was the best thing ever until I found out Santa wasn't real :(

http://www.edthefuture.com (not http://www.idthefuture.com)

My only problem with Christmas is I don't have a job. My only income is Christmas. (and possibly birthdays) Therefore I have to inevitably spend my income in order to keep my income going (buy gifts for others so they'll keep buying for me in return), or feel like an ass all year long.

And now whenever anyone does anything secular ar Christmas they get all offended and start banging on about "the true meaning of Christmas" as if they have any idea what that is.

you have to bear in mind that these are the same folks who think that america is a "christian nation"

i find it best to just ignore them, but it's really difficult this time of year

you have to bear in mind that these are the same folks who think that america is a "christian nation"
Well, in fairness it is a Christian nation in all but name.

How would a name be Christian?

Catholic States of America?

My only problem with Christmas is I don't have a job. My only income is Christmas. (and possibly birthdays) Therefore I have to inevitably spend my income in order to keep my income going (buy gifts for others so they'll keep buying for me in return), or feel like an ass all year long.The only purpose of my birthday is to spend the money on Christmas presents for others.

* Or areas in the Northern Hemisphere where winter is the dry season.

Wait, I've never heard about this.

What's winter like when it's the wet season?

What's winter like when it's the wet season?
Wet .

Early Christmas! Kindof.
I bought a new USB mouse, finally got around buying the Orange Box online, I figure it will run on my pc, even if it runs like poop. Also, I bought Halo2 to install it on my sister laptop, but it doesn't work. :p So that's one game I'll get to play after I get my new pc... if I ever do get it.

I saw one of those macs with a GIANT screen and it was freaking sweet, and I can actually afford it. I'm thinking of buying that since it's perfect for almost everything I need for art making purposes, the downisde is lack of games but... maybe I should just stop playing games. :-/
I'm not sure what to do.

the downisde is lack of games

Not if it's an intel Mac.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boot_Camp_%28software%29

Not if it's an intel Mac.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boot_Camp_%28software%29

Well, yeah, but I doubt it comes with a really powerfull graphics card that will let me run good games the way they are suposed to run, particularly on such a large screen.:-/
edit: Well actually, it seems to do a fairly good job, judging by youtube videos of the imac+bootcamp playing crysis... :p

edit: Also, It's taking ages to download the orange box. :(

I like Xmas because the rest of the world accepts that I'm going to take time off and see my family. At any other time of the year it's too difficult. Whether you consider Xmas a religious or a corporate thing, the results are the same. People are more forgiving and consider one another in ways they usually don't. Also, I might have to start calling it Xmas all the time to remove religious connotations. Alternatively...

Not too shabby unlikely birth of a fictional witch doctor 24-48 hour period one and all! (Merry Christmas one and all, roughly).

Also, I might have to start calling it Xmas all the time to remove religious connotations.

Yeah, that isn't going to work. The X is actually Chi, the Greek letter meaning "Christ", and not the mathematical unknown.

Of course, you could mean it as the unknown, but nobody would be able to tell so I think the connotation would survive.

I thought it was 'X' as in 'Criss/Cross'.

All I get off is Christmas day. The surrounding days I'm working, including Boxing day, New Years Eve and New Years Day.

I'll be heading home to see my family over christmas. :)

Yeah, that isn't going to work. The X is actually Chi, the Greek letter meaning "Christ", and not the mathematical unknown.

Of course, you could mean it as the unknown, but nobody would be able to tell so I think the connotation would survive.Unless you actually say Ex-Mas out loud.

Unless you actually say Ex-Mas out loud.

Well, the English word "X-mas" isn't actually spelled with a chi -- I'm talking etymologically here.

Yeah, that isn't going to work. The X is actually Chi, the Greek letter meaning "Christ", and not the mathematical unknown.

Since we're not writing it with the Greek alphabet, I'm sure it wouldn't be much of a problem to replace the Greek letter. Therefore I shall call it Pimas and we can all celebrate pies for a day.

I shall call it omegamas just because it sounds good.

Time for a signature fad? ;)

I like to refer to it as ChristMAX, but that's probably not going to help.

I shall call it omegamas just because it sounds good.

Time for a signature fad? ;)

Having given it some thought, I'd like to use Sigmamas and celebrate my favourite maverick.

Σmas.

It even looks cool. Sig fad... ACTIVATE

meh, random holiday with random religious excuse for existance. sorry, but decorated trees and a fat man in a red suit don't scream any religion to me, and as such it's friggin christmas and screw anyone who says anything else. I don't care if you're atheist or whatever, the holiday is called christmas, it's the name of the holiday, not the religion you have to belong to in order to celebrate. if I believe buddha will save my soul from reincarnation into a newt, I can still wish people a merry christmas if it's that time of year. it's irrelevant, and so I just ignore all the whiners.

and as for the "I have to give gifts or I feel bad" thing: why? if someone feels like giving me a gift it should be because they want to give me a gift based on the fact that it's a tradition. if I don't give them a gift in return, they can choose not to get me anything the next time around, but that shouldn't effect our relationship in the least. personally, I like giving gifts as well as recieving gifts, and as such I'm going to do so. if someone doesn't get me one in return, oh well, that wasn't the point. that obligation shouldn't be there with friends and family regardless of the time of year. giving =/= asking in return. giving = giving.

For Σmas i'd like you to use capital letters where appropriate.

Also, Christmas is a religious holiday which celebrate the birth of Jesus. The fact that it has been distorted/*******ised by our society merely undermines that fact. The fact that you celebrate it is due to your cultural background. If you were born into a Hindu society you wouldn't celebrate Christmas at all, even as a seasonal holiday free of religious binds. Of course, I'm generalising and some people with a Hindu background probably do celebrate Christmas but that does not mitigate the fact that it is a religious holiday.

Edit: I just noticed the censored word in my post. It should read b-a-s-t-a-r-d-i-s-a-t-i-o-n, which I'd like to point out is not a "bad" word (though in my opinion there are no bad words; swear words are excellent words because they bear so much power).

I just happen to exchange gifts on Xmas.

For Σmas i'd like you to use capital letters where appropriate.
why sigma-mas

i mean it's cool but kind of hard to pronounce

why sigma-mas

i mean it's cool but kind of hard to pronounce

Maybe Σs would be better.

For Σmas i'd like you to use capital letters where appropriate.

Also, Christmas is a religious holiday which celebrate the birth of Jesus. The fact that it has been distorted/*******ised by our society merely undermines that fact. The fact that you celebrate it is due to your cultural background. If you were born into a Hindu society you wouldn't celebrate Christmas at all, even as a seasonal holiday free of religious binds. Of course, I'm generalising and some people with a Hindu background probably do celebrate Christmas but that does not mitigate the fact that it is a religious holiday.I just used a random religious example. buddha came to mind first, not for any particular reason :p

Maybe Σs would be better.
I like that. Merry Sigmas!

We could get that by "Merry ΣΣΣΣ" if we wanted to be really obtuse.

We could get that by "Merry ΣΣΣΣ" if we wanted to be really obtuse.

While we're being really obtuse I'd like to point out that "Merry ΣΣ" would suffice.

I like saying Sigmamas. It's no harder to say than bananas, really.

Maybe Σs would be better.
oh yeah, that's cool

oh yeah, that's cool

great super

great super
Reggie Perrin reference?

I thought it was 'X' as in 'Criss/Cross'.

I thought so too. And then we have "ped xing" for "pedestrian crossing" and the like - it seemed to fit in with that...

I thought so too. And then we have "ped xing" for "pedestrian crossing" and the like - it seemed to fit in with that...The first time I saw one of them, it took me ages to work out what it was supposed to be. Chinese? Japanese?

Damn it, get some stripy black and white poles with flashing orange lamps on top. Everyone knows what they are [/irony]

Looks Chinese to me. I bet it's something filthy in Mandarin.

I bet it's something filthy in Mandarin.

It's the Mandarin equivalent of donkey-punching. The twist is that it includes a Cleveland steamer and a dirty sanchez.