Be honest, Do you really Enjoy Christmas?

BluesBrother

Dansk's Christmas tree thread got me to thinking .. In this house we do not celebrate since my wife is still a die hard dub. I have no complaints about that, it was our joint choice for decades and I an the one that changed .But as Witnesses we were always given the negative view of the holiday time :-

"People feel that they just have to do it although they do not really want to"

"They get so stressed by it all that they secretly admire us (J W's) and wish they could join us and not celebrate"

"They eat too much, drink too much, waste money on presents that are not wanted and then spend all year paying it off"

O K , so what do YOU think?, As the only group of people that have seen it from both sides....Is Christmas a stress making hell that you could well do without? or a lovely family occasion?

or ?

mavie

I put my first Christmas tree up last Sunday with my partner. Yes, it was fantastic.

Gopher

I like the music and the festive lights. Being raised a JW, I was denied any joys of Christmas while a child. So now as an adult I have no emotional connection to it and could take it or leave it. However there are some children who are important in my life, and they enjoy it a lot. So I have a small sense of vicarious enjoyment of the season and the day through them.

bubble

I love Christmas, but it still doesn't feel 100% natural. 35 years of not celebrating I suppose. I reckon another 5 years of celebrating should kill that feeling.

drew sagan

If you allow yourself to act like a fool about the holidays, you reap what you sow.

There are plenty of people that go overboard for the holidays for a variety of reasons. They foolishly go beyond their means to outshine their neighbors light display, eat to many cookies, and buy way to many presents.

Happliy I am not one of those people and never really have been. Christmas can be really fun but it is all about you decide to celebrate it.

Like many other things Christmas can be we balanced and fun, or overindulged to the point of insanity. It's up to each and every person to decide how they want to do it.

chickpea

i wasnt reared jw so i did have an upbringing that included holidays.... thing of it was that a bunch of drunks and family bickering made holidays hellish ......

so now that we are permanent "faders" ( LOVE the term) i dont care what my kids chose to do, but have told them i truly do not want to re-incorporate the folderol/fa la la la la of the spendfest into my life...

there is little discontent for me in refraining from all of that ..... but i do like the lights!! especially when they are still up around 4th of july

Emma

I really do like it; I wish the season lasted longer. The j-dubs are wrong.

misanthropic

"People feel that they just have to do it although they do not really want to"

"They get so stressed by it all that they secretly admire us (J W's) and wish they could join us and not celebrate"

"They eat too much, drink too much, waste money on presents that are not wanted and then spend all year paying it off"

I used to think that when I was a witness, what's funny is being out, the reality is the people I know in my life don't feel that way. Especially when it comes to the kids, they think it's really sad Witnesses don't celebrate for the children.

Another laughable misconception since I've been out (which isn't related to this but is still interesting) is the old JW belief that "the world thinks witnesses are without sin" or that they're perfect. Most of my worldly friends that are older have laughed when reading my parents letter to me about that; because they admitted that's definitely not the case- a bunch of fanatical, strange people they've said, but never perfect or without sin...

Mis- who absolutely LOVES Christmas

OUTLAW

I love Christmas..Always have..When I was a kid,I was told I didn`t like Christmas....One year I told my moms sister,I liked Christmas..Shit hit the fan..

Hortensia

the music, lights, smells and colors, foods, excitement, sharing, parties with friends - yes!

commercialism, endless commercials, equating love with $$$, the religious stuff - no!

Be honest, Do you really Enjoy Christmas?

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