Christmas Thread: Santa, Reindeer, Elves & Yule Goats

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    Christmas Thread
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The discussion revolves around holiday traditions and experiences related to Christmas, Hanukkah, and Yule. Participants share their favorite holiday songs and videos, express relief over gift-giving simplicity, and discuss the challenges of finding safe toys for children. There is a strong emphasis on enjoying the festive atmosphere through decorations, food, and family gatherings rather than focusing on commercial aspects. Recipes for traditional holiday treats like eggnog and cookies are shared, along with nostalgic memories of childhood gifts and family rituals. The conversation also touches on the commercialization of Christmas and the desire for a more meaningful celebration. Participants express mixed feelings about holiday music and the timing of decorations, highlighting a preference for maintaining the distinctiveness of each holiday. Overall, the thread captures a blend of humor, nostalgia, and a focus on the joy of togetherness during the holiday season.
  • #51
I like my eggs over easy, and make a bacon and egg sandwich out of them, using toast. Then when you bite into the yoke, it spills onto your plate and you sop it up with the next bite of sandwich :)
 
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  • #53
I love Creches too! A long time ago I started collectings the angles and sheep from very old sets, they are just beautiful.
 
  • #54
Oooooo! I'd love to see close up pictures of them! I just love nativity scenes. I have a small collection myself. I'll try to remember to take pictures of them this year.
 
  • #55
My uncle and I were very naughty. We used to line up the nativity scene in a conga line and make them dance. :redface:
 
  • #56
Math Is Hard said:
My uncle and I were very naughty. We used to line up the nativity scene in a conga line and make them dance. :redface:
Damn it, I just spit my Hawaiin Fruit Punch all over the monitor! First Pervect, now you. Twice in one day!
 
  • #57
My mother's younger brother used to challenge us kids to games of cribbage and if he won, he would grab some piece of bric-a-brac as his "trophy" and we would have to beat him in the game to get it back. It was almost always an exercise in luck and chance, but it was always fun, since he made such a big deal about the "trophy" and if we won, we got to get back our "trophy" and if we won another game, we got to take something of his.
 
  • #58
Math Is Hard said:
My uncle and I were very naughty. We used to line up the nativity scene in a conga line and make them dance. :redface:
Cute! :smile: Fortunately, I didn't have a mouthful of punch when I read this.
 
  • #59
I've just been cornered in the kitchen here at work by a co-worker inviting me to his family's annual christmas party. There will be dozens of small children there. NOOOO. I have to get sick for Dec 15th now. :redface:
 
  • #60
Evo said:
I've just been cornered in the kitchen here at work by a co-worker inviting me to his family's annual christmas party. There will be dozens of small children there. NOOOO. I have to get sick for Dec 15th now. :redface:
Tell him you have a previous engagement. Meanwhile we'll think of something.
 
  • #61
Oh, that's easy, you're still moving, so just tell him that's the day you have helpers finally lined up for the move. If you're still not done moving by then, and he asks how it went, you can just grumble about them not showing up again and how sorry you are that you missed his party for nothing. :wink:
 
  • #62
Moonbear said:
Oh, that's easy, you're still moving, so just tell him that's the day you have helpers finally lined up for the move. If you're still not done moving by then, and he asks how it went, you can just grumble about them not showing up again and how sorry you are that you missed his party for nothing. :wink:
I can work this move to my advantage for the next year. :approve:
 
  • #64
We had a bumper crop of carrots this year, so my wife is making loaves of carrot bread with spices and unsweetened shredded coconut for us and to distribute to the neighbors. The wife of my organic-grower neighbor who gives me garlic in return for my hot relishes and salsas, made us a huge fully-decorated Christmas wreath out of spruce boughs and they dropped it off yesterday. I put it on a front door in the center of the house that doesn't get used. It's wider than the doorway! I like spruce wreaths - they are very bushy. Hemlock and fir wreaths tend to look thin and flat unless you really load a lot of bough tips onto the wreath-frame.
 
  • #65
Perhaps going a little overboard with Christmas decorations. :rolleyes:

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/9436/percypy9.jpg​
[/URL]

His name is Percy :biggrin: :smile: He is a Pomeranian.
 
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  • #66
Astronuc said:
Perhaps going a little overboard with Christmas decorations. :rolleyes:

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/9436/percypy9.jpg​
[/URL]

His name is Percy :biggrin: :smile: He is a Pomeranian.
That's adorable! Is that your dog?
 
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  • #67
Percy is my sister-in-law's dog.

You should have seen the expression on his face when he was being dressed. Talk about an expression of incredulity. :smile:

He reminded us of the little dog who pulls the sleigh on the animated "The Grinch Who Stole Chrismas".
 
  • #68
Why do atheists celebrate Christmas?



It just proves how much of a commercial joke Christmas has turned into.
 
  • #69
Astronuc said:
Perhaps going a little overboard with Christmas decorations. :rolleyes:

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/9436/percypy9.jpg​
[/URL]

His name is Percy :biggrin: :smile: He is a Pomeranian.

:smile: It could have been worse, they could have dressed him as a pointsettia. "Percy the Puny Pointsettia" is on the same album as "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer."
 
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  • #70
gravenewworld said:
Why do atheists celebrate Christmas?

It just proves how much of a commercial joke Christmas has turned into.

For the same reasons as all others who celebrate Christmas celebrate Christmas; because it is fun and you can spend time with loved ones.

Furthermore, Christmas is not a Christian holiday, but has pagan roots. Christianity made it up so that the transition would be smoother in the Roman Empire. Notice that the Winter solstice is right around Christmas. If you read the bible carefully, you will also notice that the supposed birth of "Jesus" does not seem to take place in the winter at all.
 
  • #71
gravenewworld said:
Why do atheists celebrate Christmas?



It just proves how much of a commercial joke Christmas has turned into.

The real question is why do Christians celebrate the solstice, which is the real reason for the season. Christ was NOT born on Christmas day. Most of the traditions of Christmas are pagan in origin.
 
  • #72
Integral said:
The real question is why do Christians celebrate the solstice, which is the real reason for the season.

We know that answer: Competition.
 
  • #73
Moridin said:
For the same reasons as all others who celebrate Christmas celebrate Christmas; because it is fun and you can spend time with loved ones.

Furthermore, Christmas is not a Christian holiday, but has pagan roots. Christianity made it up so that the transition would be smoother in the Roman Empire. Notice that the Winter solstice is right around Christmas. If you read the bible carefully, you will also notice that the supposed birth of "Jesus" does not seem to take place in the winter at all.

Right, Christmas really isn't about the birth of CHRIST at all...Christmas is first and foremost about celebrating the birth of Christ.

Yeah Christ supposedly wasn't born on Dec. 25th, but so what? That doesn't change the fact that Christmas celebrates the birth of Christ. Christmas traditions only exist today because Christianity preserved the pagan practices of gift giving and tree decorating. The birth of Christ is associated with the pagan traditions because many of the people who converted to Christianity still held onto some of their old folk traditions. Christians aren't celebrating the solstice, they celebrate the birth of Christ. The traditions that go along with it are pagan, but again this does not change why Christians celebrate Christmas in the first place.So you want to celebrate pagan holidays? Why not celebrate something like Samhain as well?
 
  • #74
gravenewworld said:
Why do atheists celebrate Christmas?



It just proves how much of a commercial joke Christmas has turned into.
It was originally a pagan holiday. The early christian priests were losing customers, so they decided to create a holiday at the same time for christians. December 25th has absolutely nothing to do with the time of year that Jesus is believed to have been born, it's all bogus.

It's the holiday season, I enjoy the lights, ornaments and food, I don't have a religious celebration.
 
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  • #75
Right, Christmas really isn't about the birth of CHRIST at all...

Indeed. In other languages, Christmas does not contain references to "Christ".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule
 
  • #76
Moridin said:
Indeed. In other languages, Christmas does not contain references to "Christ".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule
Christmas is derived from Olde English from the phrase "Christ's Mass" or "the festival of Christ".

Yule still refers to the birth of a sun god, so either way you look at it--Christmas as the celebration of the birth of Christ, or a pagan holiday, it is still a religious celebration on all accounts.

It was originally a pagan holiday. The early Christian priests were losing customers, so they decided to create a holiday at the same time for Christians. December 25th has absolutely nothing to do with the time of the year that Jesus is believed to have been born, it's all bogus.

It's the holiday season, I enjoy the lights, ornaments and food, I don't have a religious celebration.
I'm not religious at all either, but if you are celebrating Christmas you are celebrating the birth of Christ by the very definition of the word Christmas. Okay so you don't celebrate the birth of Christ, then don't say you celebrate Christmas, say you celebrate the winter solstice through gift giving. Once again, it doesn't matter that Jesus wasn't born on Dec. 25th, Christmas is still the time of celebrating the birth of Christ. No one knows exactly when Christ was born.

The tradition for the celebration of the winter solstice by Roman pagans is even dumber. All it was a festival of lawlessness for 1 week in which no one would be punished for damaging property or harming another person during the celebration. 1 person from every community was also chosen to represent an enemy of Rome. That person during the entire week was forced to indulge in food and physical pleasures. At the end of the week/festival that innocent person was brutally murdered.So what is dumber?

celebrating the holidays as the birth of Christ or the festival of Roman indulgence and murder?I'll go with the latter.In fact if you want to go even further back to ancient Babylon, Dec. 25th was celebrated for the festival of the Son of Isis. Again, no matter how you look at why you celebrate the holidays, you celebrate it based on religious traditions. Thus, it makes no sense for an atheist to celebrate in a religious tradition.
 
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  • #77
Why in the world should I not celebrate the solstice, just because some wacky cult decided to adapt the day for their sort of religious celebration? It it the dark days of winter, so I put out lights to chase away the darkness, I bring in evergreens to recognise the regeneration of life in the coming spring. I share food and gifts with family and friends in recognition/celebration of yet another year survived.

What of these traditions is Christian in origin?
 
  • #78
We're thinking about celebrating Festivus at my parents' house this year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festivus

The holiday includes novel practices such as the "Airing of Grievances", in which each person tells everyone else all the ways they've disappointed him/her over the past year. Also, after the Festivus meal, the "Feats of Strength" are performed, involving wrestling the head of the household to the floor, the holiday only ending if the head of the household is actually pinned.

Can't wait to see Mom put Dad in a headlock. :smile:
 
  • #79
Integral said:
Why in the world should I not celebrate the solstice, just because some wacky cult decided to adapt the day for their sort of religious celebration? It it the dark days of winter, so I put out lights to chase away the darkness, I bring in evergreens to recognise the regeneration of life in the coming spring. I share food and gifts with family and friends in recognition/celebration of yet another year survived.

What of these traditions is Christian in origin?

You are missing the point. EVERYTHING ABOUT THE HOLIDAYS IS BASED OF SOME RELIGIOUS TRADITION. It makes no sense for an atheist to celebrate the holidays, because everything originated from some religious practice. Any atheist that has any figure in their house of Santa Claus is a hypocrite.

Lights? Sorry based on a religious tradition

Tree? Sorry based on a religious tradition

Mistletoe? Sorry based on a religious tradition/ "magical powers"

Holly? Sorry based on a religious tradition
 
  • #80
gravenewworld said:
It makes no sense for an atheist to celebrate the holidays, because everything originated from some religious practice. Any atheist that has any figure in their house of Santa Claus is a hypocrite.

Atheism just means absences of belief in a god. It doesn't mean an atheist can't find the festivities fun and celebrate them as a purely secular event; who doesn't like lots of decorations, good food, and brightly wrapped presents? Just because the traditions originated from religious celebrations doesn't mean people can't celebrate them without believing in any of the religious associations; they just celebrate them a bit differently.

Please don't spoil an otherwise fun thread by turning this into a religious battle.
 
  • #81
Yeah, let's all stay on topic and complain about the shopping. :-p
 
  • #82
Moonbear said:
Atheism just means absences of belief in a god. It doesn't mean an atheist can't find the festivities fun and celebrate them as a purely secular event; who doesn't like lots of decorations, good food, and brightly wrapped presents? Just because the traditions originated from religious celebrations doesn't mean people can't celebrate them without believing in any of the religious associations; they just celebrate them a bit differently.

Please don't spoil an otherwise fun thread by turning this into a religious battle.




So people who constantly attack religion (aka Atheists) can choose which religious traditions they attack while others they celebrate? That is hypocrisy in its purest form.



Fine, I won't spoil the thread. I am done now.
 
  • #83
gravenewworld said:
So people who constantly attack religion (aka Atheists) can choose which religious traditions they attack while others they celebrate? That is hypocrisy in its purest form.
Who is attacking religion here? Your posts are the only ones attacking anyone's beliefs, and it's not going any further than this.
 
  • #84
gravenewworld said:
You are missing the point. EVERYTHING ABOUT THE HOLIDAYS IS BASED OF SOME RELIGIOUS TRADITION. It makes no sense for an atheist to celebrate the holidays, because everything originated from some religious practice. Any atheist that has any figure in their house of Santa Claus is a hypocrite.

Lights? Sorry based on a religious tradition

Tree? Sorry based on a religious tradition

Mistletoe? Sorry based on a religious tradition/ "magical powers"

Holly? Sorry based on a religious tradition

Udder and complete nonsense
These are all pagan concepts adapted by the cults
the solstice is a physical event, no worship is needed to recognize its occurrence

Edit: Perhaps I ought to explain myself further:
While you can find religious justifications for each of those traditions you fail to understand that the traditions PREDATE the religion. Your adaption of pagan rituals is independent of my holding to these traditions. The difference is that I am not lying to myself and everyone else about their significance. I gave you non religious reasons for each if the traditions, the fact that you have found other justification is not my problem.
 
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  • #85
Ivan Seeking said:
Yeah, let's all stay on topic and complain about the shopping. :-p

What's so hard about shopping? Gift cards all around, and I did not even miss 30min of PF.
 
  • #86
Integral said:
What's so hard about shopping? Gift cards all around, and I did not even miss 30min of PF.

So you give Mrs Integral a gift card for Christmas?
 
  • #87
Ivan Seeking said:
Yeah, let's all stay on topic and complain about the shopping. :-p
I heard a comment that the season of re-gifting will soon be upon us. :smile:
 
  • #88
Ivan Seeking said:
So you give Mrs Integral a gift card for Christmas?

Oh .~^ I am supposed to ger her something?
 
  • #89
Integral said:
Oh .~^ I am supposed to ger her something?

A puppy!
 
  • #90
Integral said:
Oh .~^ I am supposed to ger her something?

Ivan Seeking said:
A puppy!

Do they come in any smaller sizes than what you already have? :biggrin:
 
  • #91
gravenewworld said:
So people who constantly attack religion (aka Atheists) can choose which religious traditions they attack while others they celebrate? That is hypocrisy in its purest form.



Fine, I won't spoil the thread. I am done now.


Athiests could be celebrating holidays because their families do, and they want to spend time with and bond with their families. Ever think of that?

And people like you are the reason I gave up on organized christianity and the reason atheism is sky-rocketing. You can't be a representative of a religion that espouces love and brotherhood and spread hate and prejudice without coming off as a huge hypocrite. Isn't pushing people away from God one of those Instantly-Hell-Worthy sins? Because spreading those kind of attitudes around is exactly what you are doing. I gave up on organized christianity because of people like you, because I felt and still feel I can't be associated with christianity without pushing people away from God. Disorganized religion has nowhere near the same level of discriminiation and out-right contempt for their fellow man. Not to mention greed and hypocrisy.



But this is a christmas thread, so it's time for an attempt at a happy message.

Puppies are yay! Some are very ugly, like Boston Terriers. I seem to be alone in that opinion however so knock yourself out.
 
  • #92
Moonbear said:
Do they come in any smaller sizes than what you already have? :biggrin:

Their smallest dog weighs less than what one of our cats eats every day. What they need now is a 90 pounder that will play in the house with the rest.
 
  • #93
Years back when my wife and I were operating an ad-hoc ferret rescue, we placed a pair of inseparable females with a family that had a fairly good-sized dog. It was around Christmas, and I know Christmas pet adoptions are discouraged, but their son loved those ferrets, and we knew they would be in good hands. Those girls drove poor Gollum to distraction. The house had cast-iron radiators that they could fit under very easily, and they would taunt him, nip him, and urge him to play, then one would hide under a radiator and bait him while the other would stage commando attacks on his back legs and tail. If he decide to go after the one that was nipping him, she'd head for a radiator, and the other girl would tease him for a while. Poor Gollum! He had had the house to himself for years (except for a rat named Al) only to be saddled with two VERY active little buddies who could out-maneuver him.

In fairness, I should mention that the girls loved him and curled up with him to sleep every night. Bill put up a barrier at the bottom of the stairs to the 2nd story, so if the girls wanted to play in the middle of the night (part of the ferret schedule) Gollum could go upstairs and get some sleep.
 
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  • #94
Ivan Seeking said:
A puppy!

:!)

A gift card sounds real good.

No more puppies, Please. :smile:
 
  • #95
Integral said:
:!)

A gift card sounds real good.

No more puppies, Please. :smile:
How about a gift card to a pet shop that cannot be used for food, bedding, toys, etc? Don't you need a nice conure, ferret, or some other critter?
 
  • #96
I just made the Hidden Valley Ranch Oyster crackers. I do make one slight change, I mix half the vegetable oil with half extra virgin olive oil.
 
  • #97
Oyster crackers?

These guys?

http://www.scottsbt.com/fishids/idcom/phoysta1.gif

Oyster cracker
 
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  • #98
Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer is on tonight! I know the Fruit Bat, Dr foofer and I will be sipping eggnog and watching with my Abominable Snowman live action figure the girls bought me. It's over a foot tall with shaggy white fur. :approve:

http://www.scifi-toyz.com/abominable.jpg
 
  • #99
Evo said:
Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer is on tonight! I know the Fruit Bat, Dr foofer and I will be sipping eggnog and watching with my Abominable Snowman live action figure the girls bought me. It's over a foot tall with shaggy white fur. :approve:

http://www.scifi-toyz.com/abominable.jpg

Heh, I always loved Rudolf.
 
  • #100
Evo said:
I just made the Hidden Valley Ranch Oyster crackers. I do make one slight change, I mix half the vegetable oil with half extra virgin olive oil.
I forgot to mention earlier, that when I visited my sister's family at Thanksgiving, the day before, we had Ninfa's fajitas - with the green tomatillo sauce/dressing. Mmmm, Mmmm!

I thought Evo might appreciate that. :biggrin:

http://www.ninfas.com/default.asp?ID=74
 
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