Who can defend Xmas??

Christmas began as a pagan celebration of the solstice to celebrate the mid winter. The tree was brought into the house to remind the inhabitants that it would soon be time for the earth to turn green again and to plant crops. It was very family oriented. The Christian church, probably in Germany, in their effort to destroy paganism, stole the yule as they stole so many of their holy days from the pagans. The giving of gifts was traditional, but the real commercial exploitation of Christmas began in America with the huge stores in New York who thought it was a great idea to sell stuff.

How you react to Christmas depends on your attitude really. I'm a pagan, I still celebrate yule. I love Christmas. If you're a Christian, you can celebrate it as the day of Christ's birth. Either way, if you look at it as a time to be especially close to family and friends, it's not a bad thing.And remember, Scrooge discovered the error of his ways in finding the true meaning of Christmas.

Whether you get sucked up into the candy coated commercialism of the holiday or not, it's still a time to share with others and try to rekindle the warmth in your soul that gets snuffed out during the rest of the year.

You can cynically deconstruct any good thing; there are those who think that love is a "humbug" and it's just a way to use and manipulate people.  I feel sorrier for them than for those who foolishly fall head-over-heels in love.  At least the naive ones are happy.

The true meaning of Christmas?  Show someone you care.  Even if the only way you can do it is by casting out your sullen spirit and blindly enjoy the season.

You make Christmas what you want it to be.  If you are easily influenced by commercialism, then Christmas becomes a money sucking experience.  If it is a time of love, sharing, joy, family, then you can do what my family does and make all your gifts.  You can write poetry to your siblings, crochet blankets for your aunts and build the perfect birdhouse for your father.  You give of yourself and you put your heart and soul and love into what you create.  Christmas is a wonderful time to slather love all over your friends and family.  I adore Christmas!  It has no religious meaning to me whatsoever, but it is, for me, a time to invest myself in the happiness of the people I care about.  Christmas is about love, as is the meaning of life.  Love is everything.  But, our world makes it difficult to be able to show our love to everyone every day.  So, having a holiday that gives you that opportunity is a precious thing.

On that note, I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!  Revel in the joy of your blessings!!

Egad!!  Stop celebrating Christmas?????  Yer killing me, Gaz!  Yer killing me!