by SweetBabyCheezits 29 Replies latest jw friends
I love the holidays too, and I hope I can celebrate them one day. We didn't have any traditions or special dinners growing up, and I don't want to pass that sad legacy to my children. My husband isn't in or out, but he isn't ready to celebrate holidays yet. So I'll be trying to celebrate the season of winter instead and decorate with snowflakes and nature items. And have a nice big dinner and try to win him over with food.
I'm excited to bake shortbread cookies and other "festive" treats!
I bought two 3' pre lit trees and flanked my fireplace with them. Ornaments to follow. I will get a big tree another year, but this year, two little ones will be fine. My ex-JW fam celebrates so we do stuff at their houses. But, yes, we are full fledged into it.
The origins have no meaning to most of us, the religious connotation has no meaning to most of us either. It is just a fun family time. GO FOR IT!
There are 3 groups here
1) ex-jws that never celebrated
2) ex-jws that celebrated as children
3) ex-jws that celebrated as adults
While there are exceptions, I find that group 1 and 3 have less interest, while group 2 miss the good they remember.
I say give it a try and see if it meets your expectations and if not then limit what you do.
I am not interested in the religious parts or Santa. But I enjoy the loving traditions, the good food, and caring acts to those who suffer.
We started our fade last October 2009. We made the decision to celebrate Xmas quite late, so whilst we rapidly bought Xmas presents for the children, they didnt have much chance to experience the proper build up of excitement for Xmas. We got a small tree & only dressed the inside of the house modestly (because we needed to remove them rapidly & run them upstairs when we had JW family visitors!)
This year we are trying to build up the childrens expectations. It worries me that we can't spend much money on them this year, but hopefully they will be greatful for all things received! (Last year we spent way too much on Laptops, Xbox 360 live, mobiles, electric guitar, Ipod nano etc as a sort of apology for putting our 4 kids through years of rubbish ..... ) :0
This year we will also decorate the outside of the house (this naturally will have repercussions & we will be disfellowshipped (bring it on) - Family are shunning us anyhow so its not going to make any difference :) We're going to have a proper Christmas Turkey dinner too & with any luck we might be able to reunited other family members who have long been disfellowshipped :)
To get us into the mood we are going to an early Christmas Party down in Brighton with members from a different Forum - Im getting excited already :)
lights! inside and out.... a lovely way to bring cheer to
the deep dark cold and long winters by the great lakes
we got your white, we got your colours, we got your flashing and static!
tastefully done, nothing over the top, just nice accents in dark corners to cheer the joint up!
i dont buy into the whole massive gifting events
but i do give $25 kiva. org certificates to several
people including my 4 kids.... they have to lend
that sum at least one time to a third world
entrepreneur/enterprise and can then relend it
or withdraw the funds to spend
i say merry christmas back to that greeting
and happy holidays back to that one....
if someone said happy kwanza i would go with that too....
i dont pass up a bell ringer without tossing in a few $$
nothing about any of it is worth a tizzy and what do i care?!?!
i understand there will be cookies so i say let the games begin!
I am in Blonie's catagory 1.-
so I am not really excitied about x-mas, and have a hard time getting into it, my BF has never been a JW so I want to participate in some traditions for him and not make him feel like he has to act JW even though we are not
I made Coffee Shop Guy agree to no presents this year, but thoughtful "gifts" instead...I am going to shop for some nice cards to send to friends, & maybe try some home made gift like cookies- something simple to let people know I care without going nuts buying crap for people that they may/may not give a rat's ass about.
The greed and panick that I observed others displaying as a JW made me grateful that I didn't have to go into debt, brave the crowds to buy material things that just get forgotten in days anyway- so I do not want to start on that downward spiral
CSG and I are going to a movie on Christmas day and going out for Chinese food afterward, sounds like heaven to me :)
CHG
Misery, why ya gotta be such a Scrooge? J/k, I know what you mean, dude. Crowds at WM drive me nuts when I'm the slightest bit frustrated about anything else. I also think introvert/extrovert personality plays a large role. I typically enjoy crowds of friends, parties, big get-togethers, fire pits, etc.... To me that's a big part of life but it isn't for everyone.
Funny, I remember my JW g'ma always saying, "I'll sure be glad when Christmas is over and they quite playing all that Christmas music, commercials, and TV shows." Of course, she always made cookies, cakes, candies, and turkey dinner around the fall/winter holidays... she loved to talk about the possibility of snow (rare in our area). These times of year were always exciting to me because, even though we didn't do holidays, we had lots of company and good times. So when I hear Christmas music and commercials, I associate it with good memories even from my JW childhood. I even have a couple of great memories going to Best Buy at 2AM on Black Friday with friends to score some electronics. Good times. (Best part was hanging out in the cold with buddies and listening to soccer moms ahead of us cuss total strangers.)
We're also in Blondie's Group 1 but we're pumped for xmas. Last weekend, I had 5 different versions of Carol of the Bells blasting in the house after a cold front passed through our area. This weekend we'll put up the tree and may watch Elf or Christmas Vacation. Sure, we might be sick of all things Christmas before Dec 25th hits... but, hell, I figure we've got some catching up to do and then we won't think about it again for another 10 months or so.
I had my last real Christmas and other holidays when I was I think seven. I've never really had any friends or extended family, so even when we had a real Christmas when I was little that just consisted of decorating the house, and having a nice dinner with my mom and dad. And of course presents. Even if I had never been a JW I probably wouldn't put up any decorations now because I'd be the only one to see them, and I don't like doing, ya know, things. I'd rather just not bother. I eat dinner with my mom and dad all the time anyway, so that's no big deal either. Seriously, it's nothing for us to get together and have a turkey just whenever we feel like it. We had one last week in fact. Also we live very simple lives and we've all already got everything we want. My dad was never in. I've been out for several years and my mom is pretty out now too, so for a couple years now we've been having just a little thing. Presents are usually just something very simple that we can actually use. Last year I got my mom a new turkey roaster, because she needed one. She got me new car mats. And that's fine. I kind of wish I had the traditions and memories and stuff that other families have, but it just doesn't mean anything to me. If I did any more it would be phony. On the other hand it's less stressful like this. If I ever got married maybe it would mean more to me because it would mean something to her, and we'd have our own traditions and stuff, but right now "Christmas spirit" just isn't something I have any of. Yet another thing the fine folks in NY took from me, I guess.
Cool!!! I love holidays!!! At least, I used to love Christmas, until I ended up doing ALL the work, including putting up the lights on the roof and putting up the tree and doing the shopping for HIS relatives and ....
Anyhoooo....
I just made an "autumn" floral arrangement, hung it outside my door, after having sprayed it thoroughly with clear plastic preservative. After I hung it up, I realized that a JW "could" - maybe - get away with making "seasonal" wreaths, boquets, and so on...
They'd have to be a bit thick-skinned, though, as you can bet your JW bookbag that there would be some in the congregation who would cluck their tongues and sniff at such activities - they would be considered as coming just a bit TOO close to "heathen" celebrations of the seasons...
Zid
Oh, Lev - and others???
About X-mas trees...
A few years ago, I decided to do the "ecologically responsible" thing, and buy the best type of tree for the environment.
I assumed that meant an artificial tree, and I was having a LOVELY time, shopping for a good-quality artificial tree.
Then I read up on the subject, and BOY!!!! Was I surprised!!! It turns out that the BEST tree, environmentally-speaking, is a REAL tree - grown on farms.
Christmas-tree farms are places that tend to provide environments for wildlife, such as birds, deer, raccoons, and so on... Much more "evironmentally-friendly" than plastics factories, which produce the artificial trees - and such factories are usually located in China, which means that your money goes to China if you purchase an artificial tree, as opposed to staying within your own nation and often within your own region when you buy a farm-grown tree...
After the season is over, the REAL trees are recycled into compost locally and used in our city's landscaping. Check with your area to see if they have an after-Christmas pick-up for the trees...
Hope this information is useful...
Zid
