Stuff you LOVE, baby

[Syna]

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!

It's really the only time I feel I experience any kind of truly meaningful community ritual in our culture. (Hallowe'en and Mardi Gras, perhaps, are other contenders, but those two holidays don't have the same feeling of communality.) I may not be a Christian, but I love the Nativity story, I love singing the hymns*, I can tolerate the Christmas services I'm forced to attend**, I love good Christmas specials (Muppet Christmas Carol!), I love eggnog and hot chocolate and cider-rum, I love pretty holly wreaths and greenery, etc.  

Christmas forces me to look consumerism, Dominionism, and cliche in the eye, but I like the idea of triumphing over it with beauty, good taste, a sense of sanctity, and good spirits! Peace on earth & good will toward men. I don't celebrate the birth of my saviour, but I can sure as hell celebrate that-- and a good Story.

* Though I discreetly change the "he" pronouns to "she" while singing them. What can I say, I'm a troll like that.
** I do have to resist the urge to say "Bacchus himself has liberated me!" during the Nicene Creed. Again. I'm a total troll.
*** Also, for your edification, apparently the myths of Saint Nicholas were based on myths of Odin and the Wild Hunt. This blows my mind. If you ever happen to feel that the magic of Christmas has been bought and sold via an insidiously jolly and saccharine red-faced man, just imagine Odin on his eight-legged horse drunk of his gourd and leading a pack of ferocious ghosts!

[Radical_Dreamer]

Saj, was that a Les Miserables image macro on the last page? Because if so, that's fantastic!

[Thought]

Or Charlemagne, Syna. He took over the Wild Hunt from Odin between the Christianization of Europe and the development of Santa Clause. Apparently, we Europeans love us some old guys flying drunkenly through the sky.


EDIT: Saj, here's something to amuse you:

[Sajainta]

Saj, was that a Les Miserables image macro on the last page? Because if so, that's fantastic!

It was indeed a Les Mis gif!

EDIT: Saj, here's something to amuse you:

/happy flail  That is perfect.

Last one:

[Thought]

Last one:

Or is it?

[Sajainta]

DON'T TEMPT ME.

[Syna]

And who doesn't love old guys flying drunkenly through the sky, I wonder!

(Charlemagne! That's crazy. I'd heard of a few other analogues but not that one!)

[tushantin]

YOU GUYS ARE GONNA SCARE THE KIDS!

[Sajainta]

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!

It's really the only time I feel I experience any kind of truly meaningful community ritual in our culture. (Hallowe'en and Mardi Gras, perhaps, are other contenders, but those two holidays don't have the same feeling of communality.) I may not be a Christian, but I love the Nativity story, I love singing the hymns*, I can tolerate the Christmas services I'm forced to attend**, I love good Christmas specials (Muppet Christmas Carol!), I love eggnog and hot chocolate and cider-rum, I love pretty holly wreaths and greenery, etc.  

Christmas forces me to look consumerism, Dominionism, and cliche in the eye, but I like the idea of triumphing over it with beauty, good taste, a sense of sanctity, and good spirits! Peace on earth & good will toward men. I don't celebrate the birth of my saviour, but I can sure as hell celebrate that-- and a good Story.

Ahhh.  This.  I adore Christmas.  It's my absolute favourite time of the year.  I look forward to December all year round and play Christmas carols in the middle of August.

[Thought]

DON'T TEMPT ME.

Some people have an angel and devil sitting on their shoulders. I have David Tennant.

[Lord J Esq]

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!

It's really the only time I feel I experience any kind of truly meaningful community ritual in our culture.

I agree with you there. The whole holiday season, from Halloween to New Year's, feels unlike the rest of the year--more special and glowing with a human warmth otherwise unseen. It's easy enough to lose sight of that, both in daily routines and in the crass consumerism of the season, but it's also easy enough not to lose sight of that.

Christmas wasn't even originally a Christian holiday, and I for one am happy to reclaim it for the good guys. It is our privilege to interpret longstanding traditions for ourselves, and give our own meaning to them. I like Christmas partially for its gravity in the minds of other people, partly because of its humanistic symbolism, lovely music, and embrace of winter, and partly because it's one of those "flurry of fireworks at the end" holidays, along with the winter solstice, New Year's, and sometimes Channukah.

That's my interpretation, anyhow.

[Sajainta]

Some people have an angel and devil sitting on their shoulders. I have David Tennant.

I screen-capped your entire post.

I hope you're happy.

[Syna]

...so Thought just won at Chrono Compendium. Pack up everyone. It's over.

(Tushantin, you get second prize for the awesome picture.)

[tushantin]

(Tushantin, you get second prize for the awesome picture.)

Do I get cookie?

Somehow that picture reminds me of....

[Syna]

I agree with you there. The whole holiday season, from Halloween to New Year's, feels unlike the rest of the year--more special and glowing with a human warmth otherwise unseen. It's easy enough to lose sight of that, both in daily routines and in the crass consumerism of the season, but it's also easy enough not to lose sight of that.

Indeed. I think it could be traced back to times where the winter was something very much to be feared, and people spent much time indoors; the winter festivals were something to do with the time, something to look forward to. I think that's why I love them so much... I love the idea that human warmth, community, and custom can give you something to look forward to even in the cold and darkness.