# So, who's on the SDMB instead of celebrating and why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 24, 2009, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-on-the-sdmb-instead-of-celebrating-and-why/522432 "2009-12-24T12:35:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-on-the-sdmb-instead-of-celebrating-and-why/522432/41 "2009-12-25T02:14:32Z")
It’s just after 6pm on Xmas Eve. We’re Jewish so we have no reason to celebrate. In a little bit I’m going to grill some steaks and make artichokes for dinner. After we eat, we’ll watch a DVD. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-on-the-sdmb-instead-of-celebrating-and-why/522432/42 "2009-12-25T02:25:32Z")
Wait a minute…are you suggesting that hanging out with other Dopers isn’t a good way to spend Christmas Eve? Au contraire, mon frere! ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-on-the-sdmb-instead-of-celebrating-and-why/522432/43 "2009-12-25T02:32:06Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > It’s just after 6pm on Xmas Eve. We’re Jewish so we have no reason to celebrate. One of my Jewish friends says he celebrates the birth of one of the most famous Jews ever. 🙂 That steak and artichoke combo sounds wonderful. We celebrated with all the family on December 19th, a huge dinner party. Tomorrow my son and his wife are coming over, day after my brother and his wife are flying in from Edmonton, then we’ll be heading east for a big family celebration. Tonight is the ONLY night I’ll have peace and freedom for another 10 days. I’m happy to be chillin’ at the Dope. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-on-the-sdmb-instead-of-celebrating-and-why/522432/44 "2009-12-25T02:44:02Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > Quit takin’ it personally. We won’t be offended when you celebrate whatever you deem celebratable. Oh, I’ll take it personally, because it’s been happening by people who know full well that this is not my holiday, namely members of my own damned family. That my faith and my traditions are important to me either never occurs to them or they just don’t care, and yeah, I’m going to take that pretty personally and honestly, how patronizing can you be to tell me how I should react to something? Police your own reactions and stay away from mine. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-on-the-sdmb-instead-of-celebrating-and-why/522432/45 "2009-12-25T02:48:20Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I’ve celebrated a few holidays that way myself. Poor thing! He started to feel better in the afternoon and pretty much stopped throwing up, but when we went to Gramma’s for Christmas Eve dinner, he didn’t want much of anything besides water, and he went to bed early, which is unusual. But at least he kept down what he had. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-on-the-sdmb-instead-of-celebrating-and-why/522432/46 "2009-12-25T02:53:03Z")
I live alone and my family lives in another country, so my Christmas day is a bit sad and empty. As usual. But there are tentative plans to hook up with some of my mates sometime today, so that will cheer things up. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-on-the-sdmb-instead-of-celebrating-and-why/522432/47 "2009-12-25T04:09:28Z")
> [@MoodIndigo1](#): > > That steak and artichoke combo sounds wonderful. The steaks came out good but I’m pretty handy on the grill. The gf is a bit under the weather so I made the artichokes which is one of her specialties. I guess that I did ok for my first time trying her recipe but they weren’t up to her standard at all. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-on-the-sdmb-instead-of-celebrating-and-why/522432/48 "2009-12-25T04:15:25Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > Oh, I’ll take it personally, because it’s been happening by people who know full well that this is not my holiday, namely members of my own damned family. That my faith and my traditions are important to me either never occurs to them or they just don’t care, and yeah, I’m going to take that pretty personally and honestly, how patronizing can you be to tell me how I should react to something? Police your own reactions and stay away from mine. Season’s Greetings. :dubious: Alas, ya can’t pick your relatives. So what ARE your traditions, that we might give them the respect they deserve? ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-on-the-sdmb-instead-of-celebrating-and-why/522432/49 "2009-12-25T04:25:44Z")
I’m at work, with time on my hands, as per usual. Working tomorrow night, too. This year I’m missing both of the big traditional family things to the job - Christmas and Thanksgiving. The hazards to 24/7 operations when you are on the junior end seniority-wise ( only 19 years, instead of 25 😛 ). Though I did take off last night to have a big prime rib dinner with friends, so that’s partial compensation at least. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-on-the-sdmb-instead-of-celebrating-and-why/522432/50 "2009-12-25T05:20:46Z")
We had our celebration, and then our traditional family fight about my evil half brother! ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-on-the-sdmb-instead-of-celebrating-and-why/522432/51 "2009-12-25T05:29:37Z")
I don’t really celebrate Christmas. I mean, I hung out with my family earlier tonight, and I probably will again tomorrow since it’s a day off, but no hardcore celebrating. More like grabbing dinner and watching some movies/TV with my brother. And bugging y’all the rest of the time! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-on-the-sdmb-instead-of-celebrating-and-why/522432/52 "2009-12-25T05:38:45Z")
We’ve got a two-week old son, so the holidays have been turned upside down (E.g. no travelling, no family). I’m just taking a short break from changing diapers. ---
**Author:** ![Umbriel2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/4af34b/32.png) [@Umbriel2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Umbriel2)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-on-the-sdmb-instead-of-celebrating-and-why/522432/53 "2009-12-25T05:43:32Z")
Just killing time until our daughter actually goes to sleep so that Santa can visit. ---
**Author:** ![BethCro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cdc98d/32.png) [@BethCro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BethCro)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-on-the-sdmb-instead-of-celebrating-and-why/522432/54 "2009-12-25T06:02:30Z")
Started watching Midnight Mass, while hoping the dog would brave the blizzard to do his business. Heck, this is Oklahoma, he doesn’t know from blizzards! Will crash soon, cook eggs benedict in the morning and give dad the Moshi talking clock he decided he didn’t want even before he knew I got it for him. He’s blind, quit asking me for the time every 5 minutes! After that, cook a turkey open pan method, tho my mother always cooked closed pan method which is the “only way to cook a turkey”. Dad will have forgotten the T’giving open pan turkey was lovely. I figure the Bloody Marys will start flowing about noon. Dinner will be at six, plus or minus a few vodkas. Apparently the woman who tackled the Pope was the same woman who did that last year. How’s that for weird Xmas traditions, Pope-tackling? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-on-the-sdmb-instead-of-celebrating-and-why/522432/55 "2009-12-25T06:04:31Z")
My wife and her mother are watching _It’s a Wonderful Life_ downstairs. I couldn’t bear watching it again, so i came up here to mess around on the computer. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-on-the-sdmb-instead-of-celebrating-and-why/522432/56 "2009-12-25T06:25:10Z")
Waiting for the hyper 4 year old to knock it off and go to sleep so Santa can start wrapping presents. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-on-the-sdmb-instead-of-celebrating-and-why/522432/57 "2009-12-25T06:56:39Z")
Just about ten on Christmas morning here in Saudi Arabia. Somehow it doesn’t seem like an old-fashioned Christmas. No decoration, no reindeer, no snow. I have been in country only two or so weeks on this contract so am feeling a bit isolated. But the first bit of a new contract is always the roughest. If not a Merry Christmas, I am looking foreward to a very happy New Year. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-on-the-sdmb-instead-of-celebrating-and-why/522432/58 "2009-12-25T07:06:16Z")
Wishing you a happy new year, **Paul.** ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-on-the-sdmb-instead-of-celebrating-and-why/522432/59 "2009-12-25T07:17:16Z")
Christmas is pretty much over. Just sitting here, with that post-prandial torpor which is typical for me for Christmas Day. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-on-the-sdmb-instead-of-celebrating-and-why/522432/60 "2009-12-25T08:01:42Z")
> [@SecondJudith](#): > > I don’t remember the bit in the Gospels where Jesus said, “O and by the way, there shalt be no travelling in London at all on My birthday.” :mad: Maybe it’s after the bit about the dark satanic mills. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-on-the-sdmb-instead-of-celebrating-and-why/522432.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whos-on-the-sdmb-instead-of-celebrating-and-why/522432.md?page=4)