by brutusmaximus 21 Replies latest jw friends
Did you have the above instead of Xmas?
We did as a family with about 16 going to it and giving gifts normally Feb time. Now though we have been banned from going as we had Xmas this year and you can't have both it would seem. I couldn't care less but the kids were upset and don't understand the problem.
BM
Oh, Yes.... Family Day... Twice a year for quite a while. It was Christmas without the tree. Our grandparnets would come down, even spend the night sometime. Mom would make a big dinner and we would all have the gifts that were due on birthdays and Christmas. None of our free "worldly" friends understood why we got gifts on a random Saturday .
Now, being grown and a "true" christian (non-Dub), I enjoyed our first Chrsitmas with our baby(8 months now), but my parents (still Dubs) were noticably absent. Eventually this will have an effect on her. I wonder if I will reinstate Family Day, for the sake of my parents who surely would like to enjoy seeing the baby open gifts as she had on Christmas, and will in a few months on her birthday. Anyone have an opinion? Do I cater to their religious needs or do I force them to conform to our lifesyle, ie: get stuck giving gifts on other times than B-days and X-mas.
Thoughts please?
Yeah I remember non Christmas Day. We use to have ours in between the actual date and new years. We would go to my nans, have a high tea and then be given our non Christmas gifts, we were always told that it was because it was the best tiem of the year to get present?s. After that we would have it on my parents wedding anniversary but that was given up because it felt like trying to jam xmas into something it didn?t fit in. Now we have it when I take the family down to Kent for Burns night.
What was interesting about not doing the holidays is that on Thanksgiving, we would stay home, but we were allowed to watch the parades on TV. They were (and are) Thanksgiving Day parades, not "Autumn Fest" parades or the similar. But we couldn't go to the town parade on Memorial Day (I mean the real Memorial Day - a veterans holiday for those of you outside the US).
On Independance Day, we were allowed to watch the fireworks on TV, and go watch the neighbors shoot them off (I even brought the police scanner to warn if they were coming to bust the party), and my JW mother even joined me a few years ago at a July 4th picnic/fireworks. But, again, no going to parades in town, or anything like that.
At Chirstmas, we would drive around (especially in the rich neighborhoods) and gawk at the Christmas decorations. But, of course, we couldn't have any of our own.
Do you see a trend here? And, look at my screen-name. We were not an "un-spiritual" family. Makes you think.
It makes me think they want to do these things but can't/not allowed.
We would have fireworks after the 5th of Nov as we were not supposed to have Guy Fawkes day.
Makes me laugh!
BM
We would have fireworks after the 5th of Nov as we were not supposed to have Guy Fawkes day.
Guy Fawkes night IS 5th November ....and I have ALWAYS done it - English Tradition, and nobody got beheaded in the New Testament on Guy Fawkes night - so THERE YOU GO!!!!!!!!!!!
As a young JW, I wanted to have a birthday party more then anything. After a long time of asking and bugging, my family decided to have a "Happy Day" party. Gifts were given, we played games, had a cake with sparkles and sang, "Happy Happy Day to you! Happy Happy Day to you!" to the tune of Happy Birthday. Looking back at it, it seems kinda off!
Kwin
Edge, I am aware of the non-beheading thing but some would say don't celebrate a guy that tried to blow up parliment. Not that I care now of course.
I still can't see anything wrong with birthdays either but who am I to say so.
BM
Nope. Never had anything like this.
Jean
Nope, didn't get any of those things. And the Jw saying, "but we give gifts all year round." Total bullshit in my family. Never got anything giftwrapped or considered a gift unless it was from a nonJW family member (rare occasions). As a matter of fact anything that was in the house that my parents payed for was my parents (my toys ect. ect.). Luckily I started working when I was 15 so by the time I moved out at 18 I had something to take with me other that the clothes on my back.
