Meh. I’m an atheist Jew and I celebrate Christmas. “The holidays” refers to the whole holiday season, from Thanksgiving to New Year’s.
Just put up a Festivus Pole and call it a day.
Call me when they have a Festivus sale/special. Kudos to the marketing team at GiantCo who manages to squeeze that one in. They’ll have my business!
You obviously haven’t read your Bible closely. From Mark 17:
24 Ye shall honour the occassion of my birth by placing a pine tree in the living room. 25 And thou shalt decorate it with lights, tinsel, and ornaments that your kid made in school, 26 and thou shalt put an angel atop it, for hast thou not heard the joke about the angel with a tree shoved up its ass? 27 Thou shalt place under the tree all manner of gifts, wrapped in carefully chosen paper that will not be noticed. 28 And thou shalt spend ridiculous amounts of money on buying presents for others. (Your Aunt Sally said she wants the latest Stephen King book). 29 This is how My Name will be honoured throughout the ages.
Oh crap, I’m glad you reminded me, I completely forgot! I haven’t bought a single Plunger gift yet! And the sad thing is, I’ve been hearing Plunger carols on the radio for a week now and it still never occurred to me before! :smack: Thanks!
They can call it Christmas shopping, they can call it holiday shopping, who cares? Both terms are wrong.
Everyone knows it’s winter solstice shopping.
For all the crew on the HMS Camden Lock Happy Shoe Giving.
“You will plant the tree of pine in your abode,” says the LORD. And the LORD will be pleased if you decorate it in a shiny fashion. He will destroy those who say the word “holiday”, and make unto them a desolate wasteland, parched like a desert. And gifts shall be given, even unto those who do not want gifts, and say “enough already with the plastic crap from China” (Zephaniah 2:12-15 NLT)
eta Shakes fist at dhkendall
No sweat, I quoted New Testament, you quote Old (and covered the “crap from China” thing)
'Tis all good. 
Call it whatever the hell you want. The honest advertising copy would refer to “the obnoxious, horrible, utterly intolerable dark cold part of the year where you are for some reason obligated to buy people you don’t really like cheap plastic goods made by slave labor, because a long time ago some people spun this story about God getting a woman knocked up and everyone has to celebrate his birthday or else bad things will happen, and to get the pagans on board we decided to do some tree thing and write a ton of really appalling ‘music’, whether you believe this story or not, because Society Says So.”
I’m going to go hide in a cave from now until sometime in January. Bah, humbug.
(In case it wasn’t obvious, this Jewish-raised, completely irreligious atheist loathes pretty much everything about this time of year no matter what you call it.)
Someone’s getting coal in their stocking this year.
Me, I love Christmas.
Yep. The whole fuss is so futile and dumb I just can’t stand it. Who the heck cares?
(And, I like my Christmases very religious, which is why I stay away from the stores as much as humanly possible, and thus avoid the whole stupid fuss. But I also like as much folklore and tradition-encrusted legend as I can fit in. Only not Santa, he doesn’t count.)
I know it’s cliche on the dope to be the exception, but I’m a Christian who actually doesn’t like the gift-giving custom*. It’s a perfectly reasonable family/religious holiday without the consumerism. I also don’t like the Santa Claus myth. But why should a Christian care about seasonal decorations?
*However, everyone around me takes part in the custom, so I’d be the relatively stingy one if I didn’t comply.
I never ever hear this outside of War on Christmas discussions.
“Holiday” has been used for decades.
It isn’t Atheism. There are actual… you know, religions out there other than Christianity. Like Judaism. :rolleyes: (hint: they all celebrate something around this time of year… hence the “multiple” holidays.)
What about New Years? That’s a holiday. It’s not being “PC” to mention that as in “Happy Holidays” to include New Years! (At least, that’s what I always thought it meant growing up)
Yes, I agree that “the holidays” refer to everything between and including Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day and even through Epiphany, but what I object to, like Leaffan, is when people are specifically talking about Christmas and won’t say Christmas. I watch QVC now and then (don’t you judge me! I like to look at jewelry!) and they will sell sweaters with Santa on them and pre-lit trees and actual manger scenes and and they still won’t say Christmas. They’ll offer guaranteed delivery for gift-giving by December 24 “for the holiday.” Wink, wink, nudge nudge.
Song lyric:
http://www.worldofchristmas.net/christmas-carols/the-holiday-season.html
It was sung in the film **Holiday Inn **in 1942.
“Happy Holidays” is nothing new. If I say the phrase, that’s exactly what I mean. I mean Kwanzaa, Christmas, Chanukah, Winter Solstice and Festivus and New Years Day.
I"ll say “On Christmas Day” if I mean just one of the many holidays celebrated during the season. Christmas is just one day. Chanukah and Kwanzaa last much longer and by saying “holidays” (plural) I am being all inclusive since my friends and family seem to celebrate all of these it’s easier than sorting out each holiday for each loved one. Jeesh.(heh-heh-heh)
The point was not to take away Christmas, but to include those people who celebrate Chunnakah and Kwannza during the same time period.
It is only the petty-minded theocrats who want to force Christian belief on everyone else who frame it the other way.
I am not a believer and I say “Merry Christmas” all the time - but not until December. On this my faith is very strong.
Christmas is only one day, the “holidays” last much longer. The retailers would like for us all to start our “holiday shopping” in early September - it’s a little harder to sell the idea of Christmas shopping when we all know that Christmas is months away. With the word “holiday” the retailers are also trying to get everyone onto the buying train. So I welcome the idea of stores using the phrase “Christmas shopping.” It seems slightly less manipulative.
Personally, I like to celebrate Saturnalia in late December but my kids like to celebrate the holiday that involves getting lots and lots of gifts.
In my family, Christmas Eve and Christmas are equally important, and we also have a large family get-together on the day after Christmas. We also celebrate New Year’s Eve and New Year’s day in certain ways. When I refer to the holidays, though, I am trying to be inclusive and not assume that other people celebrate near the end of the year in a particular way. I hope that “holidays” is generic and inclusive enough that it is not an offensive term to those who do not celebrate around the end of the year.
Oh dear gracious, don’t confound them with your earth logic.
Bingo, we have a winner! I won’t be going to WalMart (I shouldn’t anyway) any time before January at this point, because I’m done in by the continual Christmas bleating. Points to The Gap (not that I shop there either) for recognizing that not everyone does Christmas in their big ad that’s getting lots of play right now.
I don’t understand why people who are so keen to embrace and celebrate diversity every other time of the year suddenly don’t give a damn about minority religions when it’s time for trees and stupid songs about sleigh rides and snowmen.