Mitsukara
12-23-2003, 03:37 AM
Okay, I know this is kind of a general question, but hopefully this post will sort of make sense. Basically, what sort of holidays do you and/or your family celebrate, especially around this time of year? I know that many Americans (and unless I'm mistaken, Europeans and Japanese people) celebrate christmas, but many don't; but in the cases of the ones who don't, there are also sometimes other holidays they celebrate, such as Hannukah (<mispelled, sorry) and in Australia I understand they have something known as the "Summer Solstice", and that's probably among other things. Some people celebrate due to religious beliefs, and others just for the sake of having a holiday and having (hopefully) fun. At the same time it can be a very negative thing for some people because of all the elaborate planning some try to do, or because of family disagreements, or any number of things.
The question I'm trying to ask is, what do you do, if anything? My family celebrates Christmas, both for the sake of having a holiday and because they're Christian and are celebrating the birth of Christ. Personally I'm a little mixed on religion and don't know exactly what I believe, if anything, so I can't say I really celebrate it truly because of that, but I still enjoy the time spent with family (when they're not being stressful or arguing or something, which they usually aren't) and enjoy many of the things which have become associated with Christmas over time (I love Christmas music and decorations, even if they aren't neccesary; I don't know why, I just enjoy them). Although there are monetary concerns, and I don't like there to be pressure on anyone about such things, it is also nice to get gifts for people sometimes, if you know something they would like to have (incidentally, although I don't like to be selfish, it can also be really nice to recieve gifts from people, although I feel like I shouldn't expect such things and try to make sure that I properly tell anyone who gets me something that I'm thankful for it). I will likely continue to celebrate Christmas in this manner even after I have moved out.
As for the kind of stuff we do specifically... somewhere (usually) towards the beginning of December, we put up the various Christmas decorations we've gathered over time (wallhangings, kitchen towels, that kind of thing; some of them are quite old and have kind of a history to them. We have this one thing to hang on the wall that everyone calls the "Christmas Taco" because it looks, well... like a taco full of holly, basically... and that sort of thing). We also put the tree up (we usually use artificial trees, keeping them a number of years; it's much easier to deal with, and less expensive and messy, although I understand that many people think of them as untraditional and cheap; I've kind of gotten used to them, though, because we've always had them. In a sense it makes you get kind of a sentimental value, because you've had the same tree for years... if that makes any sense), and at some point get together (my brother and sisters have moved out and started families of their own already) and decorate it with the ridiculous number of ornaments we've collected over the years. Some of them are just store-bought ornaments, some of them are old ornaments that have special sentimental value to people (my father has this little thing with a fan-like thing inside of it, that's sort of carousel-shaped with clear plastic around it; it's kind of hard to describe... he's had it for several years, though, since he was younger than I am now, I believe... and then there's this thing I made when I was about 2 or 3, where I basically took a piece of unused round plastic canvas and tied a shoelace through it to make a hanger; the canvas was broken in one place, actually, so I tied the shoelace in and out around it to hold it together. The intersting thing is that no one was watching me or had told me anything about doing it until after I had; apparently I just picked it up and made it on my own. My mother has always remembered that). And then we've got a bunch of weird ones that relatives made or that we ended up taking home from when my mother worked at craft stores; a set of canvas animals with uneccesarily bright sequens on them, or a little red football helmet with a football with holly on it hanging from it by a piece of fishing string (did I mention several of the ones they brought home were because no one else bought or wanted them? >.<), or the Cossack/Jimi Hendrix snowman (it's a little snowman made out of styrofoam balls and yarn, but it has this big black fro-ish thing on it's head. It's very odd-looking). Anyway, then we buy gifts for each other; sometimes each person buys something for everyone else, but there have been years when not everyone could afford to do that, so it's considered perfectly acceptable to only buy for some of the family (although no one goes around being selective out of spite or anything like that). When we buy the gifts, we usually wrap them whenever we get around to it and put them under the tree (we don't wait for christmas eve or anything, we only do that for stocking stuff and "Santa" presents from Mom and Dad). Then we all get together and open them on Christmas morning. It's kind of nice.
It's not really a tradition or anything, but we also usually, as available or interested, listen to Christmas music (we have this stack of vinyl records that we've had for a long time that we usually listen to; we add to it occasionally with newer music we've bought, but mostly we just listen to the records. I have this Burl Ives tape that I bought last year that I enjoy listening to, but I'm pretty sure everyone else despises it, hehe) and watch, well... for lack of better-sounding terms, Christmas movies. Occasionally I'll get out our DVD of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (the Rankin/Bass claymation special; I've loved that movie ever since I was really little, although there were a few years when I didn't see it) and watch it, or if the version of A Christmas Carol called "Scrooge" starring Alistar Sims (<-definately mispelled) comes on TV we'll watch that, or that kind of thing. There are some very good stories that have been written that have to do with Christmas, but some of the movies have also come to be kind of a sentimental thing to some of us... such as me with Rudolph.
Anyway, I don't know, that might sound kind of flat to others... I enjoy it, and that's how my family does it. Mostly it's about being together and having fun, the traditions and material items/practices related to it are of interest but not really the most important part. To the rest of the family it's also about celebrating the birth of Christ, and I can tell they often think about it that way.
Sorry if that was a really long and boring post. But anyway, it would be interesting to hear about what other people do... so if anyone feels like talking about it or describing how you personally like to do things, feel free to do so. And I hope whatever you do or have done, that you had a good time and that everything went well for you. :)
The question I'm trying to ask is, what do you do, if anything? My family celebrates Christmas, both for the sake of having a holiday and because they're Christian and are celebrating the birth of Christ. Personally I'm a little mixed on religion and don't know exactly what I believe, if anything, so I can't say I really celebrate it truly because of that, but I still enjoy the time spent with family (when they're not being stressful or arguing or something, which they usually aren't) and enjoy many of the things which have become associated with Christmas over time (I love Christmas music and decorations, even if they aren't neccesary; I don't know why, I just enjoy them). Although there are monetary concerns, and I don't like there to be pressure on anyone about such things, it is also nice to get gifts for people sometimes, if you know something they would like to have (incidentally, although I don't like to be selfish, it can also be really nice to recieve gifts from people, although I feel like I shouldn't expect such things and try to make sure that I properly tell anyone who gets me something that I'm thankful for it). I will likely continue to celebrate Christmas in this manner even after I have moved out.
As for the kind of stuff we do specifically... somewhere (usually) towards the beginning of December, we put up the various Christmas decorations we've gathered over time (wallhangings, kitchen towels, that kind of thing; some of them are quite old and have kind of a history to them. We have this one thing to hang on the wall that everyone calls the "Christmas Taco" because it looks, well... like a taco full of holly, basically... and that sort of thing). We also put the tree up (we usually use artificial trees, keeping them a number of years; it's much easier to deal with, and less expensive and messy, although I understand that many people think of them as untraditional and cheap; I've kind of gotten used to them, though, because we've always had them. In a sense it makes you get kind of a sentimental value, because you've had the same tree for years... if that makes any sense), and at some point get together (my brother and sisters have moved out and started families of their own already) and decorate it with the ridiculous number of ornaments we've collected over the years. Some of them are just store-bought ornaments, some of them are old ornaments that have special sentimental value to people (my father has this little thing with a fan-like thing inside of it, that's sort of carousel-shaped with clear plastic around it; it's kind of hard to describe... he's had it for several years, though, since he was younger than I am now, I believe... and then there's this thing I made when I was about 2 or 3, where I basically took a piece of unused round plastic canvas and tied a shoelace through it to make a hanger; the canvas was broken in one place, actually, so I tied the shoelace in and out around it to hold it together. The intersting thing is that no one was watching me or had told me anything about doing it until after I had; apparently I just picked it up and made it on my own. My mother has always remembered that). And then we've got a bunch of weird ones that relatives made or that we ended up taking home from when my mother worked at craft stores; a set of canvas animals with uneccesarily bright sequens on them, or a little red football helmet with a football with holly on it hanging from it by a piece of fishing string (did I mention several of the ones they brought home were because no one else bought or wanted them? >.<), or the Cossack/Jimi Hendrix snowman (it's a little snowman made out of styrofoam balls and yarn, but it has this big black fro-ish thing on it's head. It's very odd-looking). Anyway, then we buy gifts for each other; sometimes each person buys something for everyone else, but there have been years when not everyone could afford to do that, so it's considered perfectly acceptable to only buy for some of the family (although no one goes around being selective out of spite or anything like that). When we buy the gifts, we usually wrap them whenever we get around to it and put them under the tree (we don't wait for christmas eve or anything, we only do that for stocking stuff and "Santa" presents from Mom and Dad). Then we all get together and open them on Christmas morning. It's kind of nice.
It's not really a tradition or anything, but we also usually, as available or interested, listen to Christmas music (we have this stack of vinyl records that we've had for a long time that we usually listen to; we add to it occasionally with newer music we've bought, but mostly we just listen to the records. I have this Burl Ives tape that I bought last year that I enjoy listening to, but I'm pretty sure everyone else despises it, hehe) and watch, well... for lack of better-sounding terms, Christmas movies. Occasionally I'll get out our DVD of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (the Rankin/Bass claymation special; I've loved that movie ever since I was really little, although there were a few years when I didn't see it) and watch it, or if the version of A Christmas Carol called "Scrooge" starring Alistar Sims (<-definately mispelled) comes on TV we'll watch that, or that kind of thing. There are some very good stories that have been written that have to do with Christmas, but some of the movies have also come to be kind of a sentimental thing to some of us... such as me with Rudolph.
Anyway, I don't know, that might sound kind of flat to others... I enjoy it, and that's how my family does it. Mostly it's about being together and having fun, the traditions and material items/practices related to it are of interest but not really the most important part. To the rest of the family it's also about celebrating the birth of Christ, and I can tell they often think about it that way.
Sorry if that was a really long and boring post. But anyway, it would be interesting to hear about what other people do... so if anyone feels like talking about it or describing how you personally like to do things, feel free to do so. And I hope whatever you do or have done, that you had a good time and that everything went well for you. :)