What does Christmas mean to you?

[Carol]

I don't currently celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday, although my family did when I was growing up.

To me, Christmas means...the birth of Jesus. To me, he's a fascinating person. To other people, he is much more important.

It also means a time of festival and celebration, fellowship.

A time to celebrate the spirit of giving, and a time of optimism...peace on earth, good will towards men.

Call me a hypocrite, or a heretic, but I have colored lights strung out all across my apartment and a tree lit up in the corner of the living room. Its a nice time of year

What does Christmas mean to you?

 

[terryl965]

Carol my take on Christmas is the same as any other day try to be the best person I can and also try in help those that need are help. The best part about Christmas is alot more folks feel the need to help those less fortunite than them. I wish everyday was Christmas so this wonderful feeling of giving would go an all year.

 

[Kacey]

I'm with Terry on this one - being Jewish, Christmas means to me that most people are happy, and I get out of work... and not much else. Too many times, I hear or see advertisements touting "give for the holiday season" - I give what I can, when I can, because there are people in need, not because it's a particular time of year. I am more likely to give in the winter because more people are in need then - not because of a particular holiday.

 

[Ray]

For me it is the commeration of the birth of the Son of God.

If there were had been no Easter, there would be no Christmas.

 

[Makalakumu]

Christmas is a multicultural holiday that has many different meanings to many different people. It is like any other holiday, however, it serves an evolutionary need.

So, what does it mean to me? It provides an excuse for pomp and ritual and tribal bonding.

 

[Ninjamom]

Christmas is what changed my understanding of the Creator from being "Mr. God, Sir" to being "Emmanuel, God with us".

 

[Flying Crane]

Christmas for me, more and more, is becoming a time to grit my teeth, hunker down and just get thru it.

The commercialism of it is infuriating, my family members go temporarily insane, all kinds of unreasonable expectations are put upon us in the name of Holiday Spirit, and it all just rings false.

I was brought up in a pretty conservative Catholic family, but I and my wife are not practicing in any religion. But I think Christmas has been so heavily removed from what it was supposed to be, it's almost become a dirty word...

 

[IcemanSK]

To me, it means the commoration of the birth of Christ, as others had mentioned. Being an Episcopalian, we celebrate Advent (the 4 weeks prior to Christmas) as a time of preparation for Christ's coming. (Many other Churches celebrate this as well: but some do not). It's a great reminder to me that it's not all about several very long days at the mall & eating too much.

It's a struggle to keep that focus sometimes. But that's what it means to me.

 

[Arizona Angel]

To me Christmas is a time of year when you can spend time with family eating all the wonderful food and enjoying the company of friends, and where you make memories that last year to year, mostly good ones. It's a time of year to remember the significance of the birth of Jesus. It's a time to give and to teach our children the value of giving. It's a time to shop! (lol, I do like that part). A time to make and keep family traditions. And, it's a time to reflect on ourselves, a time to be grateful, and a time to share. A time to remember and reflect on past and refocus our goals for the coming new year. This is a very special holiday to me. It's a season of hopes, dreams, dedication, humility and peace, and of course, the season of the Christmas music.

 

[heretic888]

What does Christmas mean to you?

Christmas represents, to me, precisely how "Jesus Christ" is nothing more than a literary construction derived from pre-existing sources (both Jewish and Pagan). Outside of that, the season also means good times with friends and family.

Laterz.

 

[Ninjamom]

Christmas represents .. ......nothing more than a literary construction ..... yada yada.......

Oh, Uncle Ebeneezer, won't you please join us for Christmas dinner this year ?? :wink1:

 

[heretic888]

Oh, Uncle Ebeneezer, won't you please join us for Christmas dinner this year ?? :wink1:

Apparently, one has to compromise one's intellectual integrity and abandon critical thinking skills to join others at Christmas dinner.

Looks like my "friends and family" idea was way off, I guess....

 

[Haze]

The birth of Christ. Not saying I agree with all the dogma and theology of various churches but I have my beliefs.

This time of year seems to root me, or center me. Get me back on track to what life is realy all about. Kindness, giving, being an asset to society and not a liability. Family and friendship. Just touching someones life in a possitive way. That's what Christmas is to me.

 

[someguy]

What does christmaa neab to me? A head ache. Gifts I don't want. Gifts I don't need. Appricoation of getting a gift but annoyance t the emphasis given to comericalism.
Humor that Christmas in decmber probably has little to do with the real time for Jesus to be born. An irony so immesne when compared to the fact that christma now is selling goods instead of religion. Further irony that this over comercialized spirt of the season is contradictory with being taught not to be greedy.
Ah but it is time to spend with family and freinds. That is the real value of it. Those I love... that is why I bother with this season. Yeah they are worth it.
Oh oh oh I also get to eat great food. Spitzspuben, baklava, pralines, sugar cookies, homemade fudge(the real kind not the kind made with marshmellowcream) oh and thats just the sweet stuff. Tis the season to get fat.

 

[Mariachi Joe]

The birth of my Lord

 

[ed-swckf]

christmas to me has nothing to do with religion or christ. For me its just a time of year i enjoy, i like the late night shopping although i don't get to caught up in the consumerist side of things. I like the family meals and the time spent with loved ones, giving gifts because i want to rather than because a holiday suggests i should. taking a bit of time out to appreciate stuff - i like to do this a few times a year and i usually enjoy doing so around christmas.

 

[elder999]

The lab closes for Christmas week each year, so it means vacation, for one. I like sailing, the wife likes skiing, so we alternate with Mexico, where I keep my boat, and someplace with snow. In between, like last year, we’ll go somewhere and work on a house for Habitat for Humanity, or something else, because Christmas, among other things, is about giving-about loving your neighbor as yourself just a little bit extra.

 

[Carol]

The lab closes for Christmas week each year, so it means vacation, for one. I like sailing, the wife likes skiing, so we alternate with Mexico, where I keep my boat, and someplace with snow. In between, like last year, we’ll go somewhere and work on a house for Habitat for Humanity, or something else, because Christmas, among other things, is about giving-about loving your neighbor as yourself just a little bit extra.

That's really cool, elder999. My sister and her husband worked with Habitat for Humanity at least once as well. They said it was an amazing experience. :asian:

 

[Kacey]

That's really cool, elder999. My sister and her husband worked with Habitat for Humanity at least once as well. They said it was an amazing experience. :asian:

It really is - I donated hours to a friend of mine, years ago - that's how I learned to lay bricks and use a paint sprayer!

 

[Andrew Green]

A multi-cultural holiday celebrated around the world for various different reasons around the same time. It's current name comes from the Christian church "stealing" the celebration from older beliefs, essentially rewriting its history because people where going to celebrate anyways, might as well give them a "good" reason.

Now it is more commercial and secular then anything, its current form enginereed by advertising telling us to spend more and more on there stuff.

In the end it comes down to the need for a celebration to break the winter, which is cold, dark and tends to keep people indoors more, especially before we all had cars.