There WAS a War on Christmas...

...but it was launched by Madison Avenue and was so highly successful most middle-class American Christians don't even realize how extensively they've been overcome by it.

Christians want to take Christmas back, huh? So I guess this year there will be a swell of charitable donations. Average folks won't be buying loads of retail goods but rather will stick with simple, yet meaningful, gifts and acts. People won't be running around at breakneck pace stoking ill will between themselves and other stressed shoppers.

Yeah, right.

Everytime you see footage of riotous mobs at the stores, of people in fisticuffs and running over others, of cars burning gallons of petroleum (paid for with the blood of young Americans) in massive gridlock, just remember the war was over long before the beseiged even lifted a finger.

I suggest you either make gifts, purchase meaningful gifts from progressive businesses, or donate money in someone's honor to a charity. That's what I am doing.

for a friend, then I'll be finishing off a scarf for another. All my friends get homemade stuff this time of year.

I always preferred the homemade scented candles and soaps to the mall junk. How about you?

My mother sent me stories about her childhood one year, complete with drawings. When my grandmother was alive, she'd sew me dresses made from feed sacks-I thought they were really neat! My dear late stepfather always carved something and sent it to me for Christmas-and now that he has passed away, I can look at the bowls and other things he carved and think of him. Same with a Sufi brother who was a potter. You know, I'm sure both of these gentlemen gave me, over the years, things they bought, but I couldn't tell you what they were. But now that both have passed away, it is a comfort to look at these items and remember them.

... instead of the traditional employee bonus (yeah, it's only $50 but for schleps like me, that's groceries for Christmas Dinner, etc) ... the execs decided that they would make donations to 'selected charities' in our name. WE have no input into which charities our Christmas Checks are going to.

So the company gets to write off several thousand dollars, the execs get cash bonuses -- and the employees get shafted one more time. :mad:


/rant

If you want to donate to a charity, that's fine. But I can't imagine the boss deciding which charity he'll donate to in my name--knowing him it would be some football team (I don't watch or enjoy sports). At least I know it wouldn't be some RW cause, as his opinion of repukes in general is as low as mine.

asshole boss on Christmas Eve, like they did ol' Ebenezer...

Every kind of piece of crap I can find. I may go out and rebuy a whole nother round, even though I'm finished. And even though our family already agreed to a gift exchange and $40 gift limit.

Cuz I'm sick to death of self-righteous, holier-than-thou posts like yours telling other people what is politically correct to do for their own family and holiday.

Some people only get toys and special items, like toasters and coffee pots, at Christmas. Did you know that?

Do what you want, but save the snootery.

On edit:

Oh, and go buy some family a slow-cooker or television. Something that will really brighten somebody's holiday. Food, medicine and housing are supposed to be a given, not a charitable holiday treat.

not one that I am personally going to take either, but only a suggestion non the less.

Fifty times a day is cramming it down your throat.

I think I've posted twice about what I was doing at Christmas and for Christmas-I hardly call that overposting. Perhaps you have my posts confused with someone else's.

You and who knows how many other people. I really don't understand the need for everybody and their brother to post about their PC Christmas. It's gone from charming to annoying.

And sometimes people are at a loss as to what to give someone. Reading a post about some of the different gifts that people give can give another an idea as to what to give that "difficult" person who you're not sure what they want. I certainly will not condemn or judge someone who chooses to give gifts that are different than the ones I am giving.

I told what I do personally. I grew up in a poor household-a single parent back in the '50s. I laugh that you feel my post was "holier than thou" or "snooty" because I was looked down upon as a child from being from a broken home and living on the "wrong side of the tracks". I don't know if you've ever lived with limited income, but I have and perhaps that is why my mindset about Christmas is different than yours.

I've always had a limited income. I've always helped whoever and whenever I could. Still am. And don't feel the need to post about it or suggest that everybody else ought to spend their holidays the way I do. Because maybe Chinese junk from the dollar store is the only way they'll have a Christmas at all and I'll be damned if I spoil anybody's happiness with smug, anti-corporate, PC tripe.

and that's fine. But kindly remember I don't call your beliefs tripe-after all, what's the point in calling names? Simply saying you disagree with my beliefs is sufficient.

I didn't join a hoard of other people in telling everybody what they should do about holiday spending. That's why.

However, I wasn't trying to tell you how to shop or not to shop for
Christmas. I was just giving suggestions and telling what I was doing. I am sorry you took it the wrong way. I would suggest that since you feel so very strongly about it you start your own thread about it, because from your posts it is obvious that I was not the only person whose posts irritated you.

Because that's the point. When the holidays started we had some threads about varying approaches. It was nice and cheery and different people sharing their plans and ideas. It has gone from that to a never-ending barrage of hating the holidays, hating the shoppers, hating the stores, hating everything, topped off with a smug "suggestion" to give money to charity or make gifts or some such thing. It's self-congratulatory and gotten to the point of nauseating. As would be 50 posts a day about nothing but gluttonous shopping sprees. Just sick of all of it.

This Christmas, there IS a war. Iraq, I think. Being sacastic;>)

A few decades back, in response to the overwhelming commericialism associated with Christmas, conservative Christians tried to disassociate Christmas from the commercialism of the period between Thanksgiving & Christmas. They did this by saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas"... so, it would no longer be only Christmas associated with such crass commercialism.