I was pleasantly surprised to see a commercial the other day,, from Dish Network, wishing people Merry Christmas. I thought the mainstream had become scared to death of expressing the sentiment.

Of course they do, they want your money and for you to be a DN customer. Ah the holidays, when innocent hard working Americans fall prey to rampant commercialism.

I would be surprised too...these days it is all "Happy Holidays".

I having been trying get someone in the holiday spirit, by singing carols and reminding her of the "reason for the season"; she has responded with venom because she knows that I am not a Xian; I did point out that most gods who die for our sins (Tammuz, Attis, Adonis, Dionysus, etc.) are all generally born around this time, so what does it matter. Apparently, it matters- all she wants for Xmas is to punch me in the head with a fireplace poker.

This was a pleasant surprise. My office thought they were going to go Polictally corrert this year also. Till a couple co-workers and I worked through our lunch hour putting up a Christmas tree.

I know..
while in Europe they began to ban crosses to be displayed and pi$$ing off a lot of people, since most eastern european countries are like 86% catholic.

the problem is the 14% are louder and squeak more if the 86% squeaked half as loud....well you know

They try to enforce the same old diversity stuff, that might work for USA..since it's diverse. But Eastern /Central Europe is dirt poor and very far from being diverse. Even the minorities are mostly christian, there are no muslims or buddhists. What it is, that the EU dictates a blanket policy and that's where things go bad, because many of the stuff they come up with is absolutely not compatible for many countries..so many feels like it's a dictatorship and it's not far from it.

lol, from my house to yours,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P37xPiRz1sg

I do truly wish you all a very merry Christmas, and just to appease those who do not accept Christ, then i wish you happy Holidays.

OH we also have many Pagans in my old country (Hungary) They celebrate the Winter Soltice with songs and various traditional rituals

picture
http://www.mariaorszaga.hu/images/hirek/37102.jpg

Here is a song for you..I can guarantee that you will like, whoever you are:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZJqS3862IA

It will make you relax.

The was pretty cool..kind of Enya, Celtic Women, Lord Of The Dance mix.
Right on!

I listened to it and it was very beautiful. No respect but it didn't exactly relax me. I don't know Hungarian but the repetition of the f sounding word seem to have the opposite effect on me. I plan on listening to more of the songs that were listed on the page.

As long as they have a commercial for all the other holidays celebrated in the month of December too, they will get no complaints from me.

But if they only say Merry Christmas and do not cover all the other holidays that people celebrate, then they will have a problem from me.

So far I haven't had to complain this year. Everyone seems to understand that Happy Holidays is more respectful to all around here which is a good thing.

I honestly don't see why they HAVE to be so "encompassing" and make it to where everything is "Happy Holidays." So it leaves people out... why are we complaining again? When you were the kid that didn't get picked to play some game as a kid, touch football or basketball, that's just how it went. You're gonna get left out sometimes, and sometimes, life just isn't any damn fair. So, why does this have to be any different? Christmas has been quite a old tradition held in this country, which was predominantly Christian when it started. Just to make sure no one gets their poor little feelings hurt, we decide that we're going to be politically correct and just group it all into "holidays." Since when was the idea of Christmas and the spirit of it offensive?

one of my favorite Christmas commercials


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZZ3Hv93q1Y

I'd forgotten what a hair raising experience it was!

I dont know,, I suppose I wouldnt go to a predominantly muslim country and be offended if they had ads acknowledging Ramadan but not Christmas,, I would not be offended. It is so obviously not meant as an insult,, why should it be offensive...

If someone else is enjoying their day, for whatever reason, and includes me in that enjoyment,,,why should I be offended whether I understand their reason or not?

Perhaps I am thinking outside of the box though,, maybe I should be more easily offended,,,,shrugs

I like to hear Merry Christmas my self, that being said......

I have a Menorah and we try to remember to light the candles every night, we do eat the latkes too. We'll read a little something about why Hanukkah is celebrated. I do not have a Kinnara, but we will discuss what Kwanza is about. I do have an awesome tie-dyed t-shirt with the seven principles of Kwanza. For some reason we've never talked much about Passover???? We will this yr.

I worked with a woman who was Chinese/Vietnamese and married a Muslim from Pakistan. She celebrated Christmas, Chinese New Year, Standard New Years, and the big party when Ramadan ends.

Oh yeah, and on the Solstice, we talk about the struggle between Light and Dark, and how this night breaks the back of Winter, and now the days start to get longer.