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Christmas Love it or hate it

Christmas Love it or hate it

  • I'm Christian and I celebrate it for a valid reason

    Votes: 11 13.4%
  • I'm not Christian but I like to overindulge myself in an orgy of mass consumerism

    Votes: 19 23.2%
  • Not too keen on it, its too commercialised

    Votes: 27 32.9%
  • Hate it with all the red hot fiery hatred of an imploding star.

    Votes: 25 30.5%

  • Total voters
    82
  • Poll closed .
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Mojo

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I quite enjoy the Christmas season, for example seeing town/city centres lit up with nice lights can help take away from the down of the dark evenings.

One thing I don't like is how everything shuts down for 9-10 days though.
 
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SS4

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For the record, I hate New Year's Eve etc too.

That has got to be the biggest anticlimax of the year
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I despise the commercial aspect where it's rammed down your throat, "January" sales that start on boxing day, the implication your child won't be happy without the latest toy.
 

YorkshireBear

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Its commercialsed too much yes. Its lost its true meaning to most yes. But as mojo says seeing the lights up brightens things up. And looking forward to a time to see family and share a few presents is something to look forward to in the dark winters of the UK. Its not perfect but the way i enjoy christmas makes it a very nice time of year. It only stresses you out if you let it....
 

gnolife

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The only good thing about christmas for me is the market that comes to Albert Square in December. Everything else can go whistle as far as I'm concerned. As an athiest I find it disgusting that this Christians festival is rammed down our throats, and everyone, including people of other faiths and no faith have to face a lack of services that it causes - its pretty infuriating if you run out of something like milk and cant go out to buy more. I'm lucky that I live on the 43 bus corridor (thats Man Airport to Man Piccadilly via Rusholme for those of you not from Manchester, and it gets an hourly service on christmas day), so I can still go to my other-friends who-dont-do-christmas' houses if I want to.
 

phil8715

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For the record, I hate New Year's Eve etc too.

I can relate to that too. You go out on New Year's Eve the bars are packed some pubs you have to pay to get in, some are ticket only, then you get the numpties that can't handle their drink and start fights to anybody who looks at them the wrong way.

Then you get a taxi home that is double the price if you can find one. I've not been out for New Year's Eve for about 6 years now, I don't miss it. I used to enjoy going round town getting new year snogs off girls.
 

SS4

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gnolife:848014 said:
The only good thing about christmas for me is the market that comes to Albert Square in December. Everything else can go whistle as far as I'm concerned. As an athiest I find it disgusting that this Christians festival is rammed down our throats, and everyone, including people of other faiths and no faith have to face a lack of services that it causes - its pretty infuriating if you run out of something like milk and cant go out to buy more. I'm lucky that I live on the 43 bus corridor (thats Man Airport to Man Piccadilly via Rusholme for those of you not from Manchester, and it gets an hourly service on christmas day), so I can still go to my other-friends who-dont-do-christmas' houses if I want to.

I hate the implied Scrooge that comes with not wanting to partake no matter how sound one's reasoning is. By partake I mean pretty much everything the media says you should be doing.
I would just like to see something with real meaning celebrated instead or a few more bank holidays based upon secular (dare i say provable?) events
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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Being the age that I am, I remember the old joke about commercialism at the time of Christmas, where the old Jewish man reminds his son in the words of the hymn....

"What a friend we have in Jesus "!!

I wonder how the Muslim people view Eid, as I do not think they would allow one of their religious festivals to be tainted with the same commercialism as with Christmas in our country.
 

bb21

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I hate Christmas, not least because none of my immediate family is in this country and I really don't like being on my own during the festivities.

On top of that, I have to endure having it shoved in my face for a whole three months before the date itself.

Add to that, the complete shutdown on Christmas Day almost everywhere. I would go spend it with some friends, but don't have any public transport to go there on unless I am prepared to pay double the (already inflated) rate for a taxi.

Think it's gonna have to be a very long nap this year again.
 

BlythPower

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I wonder how the Muslim people view Eid, as I do not think they would allow one of their religious festivals to be tainted with the same commercialism as with Christmas in our country.

This year some of the advertising hoardings around Birmingham had huge posters up for an Eid Shopping Spectacular...
 

SS4

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Although I do like the busy football schedule around that time of year:D

but hate the drop in internet speed that comes when everyone logs on
 

anthony263

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I like seing all the christmas lights and decorations, but I also think it has become too comercialised.
 

Nonsense

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To me christmas has about as much significance as ramadam. Why does this country have to go nutty over a Christian festival when half of those who are celebrating arn't Christian.

I am far from being Christian, but to me its mostly about Family, Friends, Parties, Feasts, overindulgence, time off work, and for the little ones, the magic of Santa.

I used to dread xmas, the pressures on time and money to do things, buy things and be places I had no interest in, until I drew a line under the nonsense and started to do it my own way. Now I love it, and have my own traditions to look forward to.

I agree it does start too early though, but to me that just highlights the gap round that time of year. Ocktoberfest - Diwali - Halloween - Bonfire Night - GAP - Xmas - New Year - Chinese New Year - Valentines Day. Clearly another celebration is required end of November.
 

Ivo

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I'm a bona-fide (sp?) atheist (I remember calling that seven-day theory "impossible" aged 5; I think I've said that before), and for the most part christmas is no exception to the no-interest rule. It is far too commercial and far too important for our modern multi-cultural society (I wouldn't do a Cromwell though and ban it). What I do like though is the peace that comes with being on your own at that time of year (unlike most of the year, you are unlikely to hear me complaining about being single around Christmas, and that's without thinking about how much cheaper it is! :D), and it gives me a good and low-cost excuse to both go anywhere I please and also see my niece. So I can't complain too much, and thus chose the "over-commercialised" option.
 

SS4

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I chose the bottom option despite it's astronomical inaccuracy (a star imploding would burn much hotter than red :lol:)

By and large I couldn't care about Christmas (btw Ivo you can always celebrate Newton's birthday unless of course you're a believer that Leibniz invented calculus :lol:). What gets me is the fact that I am expected to partake in everyone else's mania and that I am some sort of Untermensch if I choose not to join in and allow myself to get into debt.

Often I am glad to get out of the house, it would be nice to have public transport on Christmas Day but I cannot deny the drivers and support staff a guaranteed day off
 

Ivo

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By and large I couldn't care about Christmas (btw Ivo you can always celebrate Newton's birthday unless of course you're a believer that Leibniz invented calculus :lol:).

True, but highly controversial. At the time we were still using the Julian calendar, which gives a slightly different date to what is considered accurate in the modern Gregorian calendar (the dates 03-09-1752 to 13-09-1752 didnt exist owing to the change! :lol:); according to the Gregorian calendar, he was born in early January and died on my birthday [coincidentally, Déscartes was born on it]. To be honest, I just don't see the point in celebrating the birth(day) of someone who died centuries ago.

Oh wait...

On a side note, is anyone else interested in the rather low number of people voting for Option 1? Less than 10% (4 in 43)...
 
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SS4

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True, but highly controversial. At the time we were still using the Julian calendar, which gives a slightly different date to what is considered accurate in the modern Gregorian calendar (the dates 03-09-1752 to 13-09-1752 didnt exist owing to the change! :lol:); according to the Gregorian calendar, he was born in early January and died on my birthday [coincidentally, Déscartes was born on it]. To be honest, I just don't see the point in celebrating the birth(day) of someone who died centuries ago.

Oh wait...

On a side note, is anyone else interested in the rather low number of people voting 1? Roughly 40 voters; just 4 choosing the "correct" option.

True, but it's closer than another person I could mention


IMO Option 1 is encompassed by option 3. Celebrating it the "proper" way does shun consumerism
 

Nym

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I always found Leibniz's work to be rather derivative.

*gets coat*

I nearly thought I was the first person to get that joke....

What about Laplace, he transforms everything every time I look at Mathematics... (You're worse if you get that!)

There isn't an option for really don't give a _____ on the poll....

Lets see...
I dislike one side of my family
The other side I will proberbly spend some time with, mainly because we're all of work/uni, but they don't really like the stupidity of the holidays either.

Then when I do go to see the side of the family I get on with, because I'm the only child with a driving licence, I'll be driving so can't drink, and can't get the train home because it's 3 hours anyway, and won't be running.

To add to that, the side of the family I don't get on with will spot my car outside of the house of the side I do get on with and will then phone me or that house repeatedly to find out why I'm not there having an orquard conversation with them, or getting ****ed off at their seeming self indulgance while they can't afford their unemployed and technically homeless child some help buying food this week, then going on about how their jobs in sales etc. are hard at the moment. One is a car salesman and the other an ex HR manager that left to persue other things. Telling somone who is currently on the dole (I was then) and has bigger bills than they do that life is hard is not a good idea.

As you can possibly tell, this ____s me off quite a lot so I proberbly won't add much more to that.
 

43021HST

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Results of the poll are quite interesting, I was expecting No.2 to be the most common seeing as the majority of people up and down the country do it.
Maybe the majority of users of on RUK are the minority in the real world.
 

sprinterguy

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Results of the poll are quite interesting, I was expecting No.2 to be the most common seeing as the majority of people up and down the country do it.
Maybe the majority of users of on RUK are the minority in the real world.
But there's no option for those who aren't religious but like to celebrate christmas for reasons other than the consumerist side of things, such as getting to spend some time with family, which seems to be a popular trend on this thread.
 

43021HST

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But there's no option for those who aren't religious but like to celebrate christmas for reasons other than the consumerist side of things, such as getting to spend some time with family, which seems to be a popular trend on this thread.

Quite often people use the, "spending time with family alibi" as an excuse for all the greed and guttony for christmas. The real fact is you can spend time with the family at any time of the year. Why limit it to one pagan festival
 

sprinterguy

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Quite often people use the, "spending time with family alibi" as an excuse for all the greed and guttony for christmas. The real fact is you can spend time with the family at any time of the year. Why limit it to one pagan festival
I never suggested that Christmas should be the only time of the year that people spend with family, and in many cases it is not possible for people to spend time with family at any time with the year if they live many miles away and have work or study committments or financial constraints.

Because so many services, places of work and other daily distractions in life are shut down on Christmas day, Christmas can act as a valid and convenient focal point to bring family members together in one place at the same time with all other considerations put aside that would otherwise not be acheivable.
 
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newbie babs

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Its sometimes the one time of the year all members of the family are together in one place at one time.
When your children grow up , you are all doing different things on different days off.
I like Christmas, I am not religious, I don`t overeat or buy stupid expensive presents.
But
I do like catching up with my grandchildren, my children and getting out the board games, where two of my sons conspire to cheat.
 

Nym

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Quite often people use the, "spending time with family alibi" as an excuse for all the greed and guttony for christmas. The real fact is you can spend time with the family at any time of the year. Why limit it to one pagan festival

Because it's the only time of year everyone in my family isn't working?

I have always worked unsocial hours including weekends (and I don't just mean nights, I'm talking 2am starts), this trend sticks for most of my family, so it is the only time of year you can get us all under one (well actually two if you count my immediate family) roof.

The only part I do like is the getting to spend time with them without thinking of all the work I need to get done as well, and it's the same for most of them.

I don't actually celebrate anything because there isn't anything left TO celibate, just happens to be a pair of handily placed public holidays.
 

SS4

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I don't actually celebrate anything because there isn't anything left TO celibate, just happens to be a pair of handily placed public holidays.

I assume you mean "celebrate" since "celibate" is something many people are not at Christmas :lol:

The holiday would mean a lot more if it weren't diluted by Boxing Day sales immediately afterwards though. "Poor" weather adds a feeling of forced jollity because escape is tougher

What would you say to people like me who'd rather treat it as any other bank holiday and having chips for dinner? Society and the Media say I should be forced to join in and be happy...
 

newbie babs

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SS4

I have friends who don't do the normal at Christmas, on Christmas morning they wake, drive to the countryside, have a walk and go home for Beef Stew and Dumplings.
 
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