I put up my outside Christmas decorations today...

[MineralMan]

As an atheist, I still put up decorations for the holiday. There's no Jesus there, but the holiday is as much a secular one as a religious one. And I don't stint on the decor. There's an 8' Santa inflatable out there, along with another inflatable Santa in a sleigh pulled by two pink flamingos. It's all as tacky as can be.

This year, I've gone retro on the house lights. I put a string of big old-fashioned 7.5 watt light neatly across the roof line. 50 lights. Let's see, that's 375 watts of power. I'll run them about four hours a night and pay the electric bill.

The tree goes up on Friday, complete with 700 flashing lights and decorations accumulated in 18 years of marriage to my wife, along with a few here and there from before that for both of us. Right smack dab in the center of the living room picture window on our old 50's rambler.

It's Christmas, or whatever Winter holiday I feel like celebraing. It's presents and good food and gatherings of friends and family and damn anyone who objects to my display. Usually, there's only a couple of houses on our block with tacky, garish outside displays. More's the pity. The kids on the block love our house.

So, Merry Christmas to all DUers. Celebrate as you will. Or Happy Hannukah or Kwanza or Festivus, or Solstice. Whatever. It's all the same Winter holiday, after all. Enjoy!

[vi5]

1. Same here....

Atheist through and through, as is my wife. But I grew up having fond memories of celebrating Christmas (devoutly catholic family) and it's one of the traditions I have chosen to keep as I got older and have kids myself and we decorate fairly heavily, although in our case more inside than outside.

Happy Holidays!

[donco6]

2. We put up lights, too.

We do it for the neighborhood kids who get a kick out of it. We live on a courtyard and the yard really gets competitive! Ha! It's like that movie with Tim Allen.

[onehandle]

3. Christmas decorations are pretty much about Paganism.

My wife likes crèches, so we have a few of those inside the house.

It's all good.

[MineralMan]

5. Well, what I'd really like to find is an inflatable of

Buddy Christ. I'd pay whatever it cost to put that up in the yard.

[onehandle]

25. That would be hilarious. One of my favorite movies. nt

[Obamanaut]

4. I really like this line of your post - "It's Christmas, or whatever Winter

holiday I feel like celebraing. It's presents and good food and gatherings of friends and family... '

If you and your family are feasting, watching football, and generally gathering on Thursday for T'giving - have a pleasant day.

[MineralMan]

7. Oh yes. I'm cooking the Thanksgiving feast for

my wife's family. The big bird and all the usual trimmings, plus German sweet and sour red cabbage, just to challenge all those Norskies a little. Bet they like it, too!

[FLyellowdog]

6. Have a Christy Merrmas, everyone!

:hi:

[lightningandsnow]

8. I'm thinking of getting a small tree for my university dorm...

and hanging Hanukkah-themed ornaments on it.

I was raised Jewish, but I love all the winter holidays! Maybe it has something to do with my birthday being Christmas Eve.

Happy holidays to all!

[JuniperLea]

18. Oh! Then you'd probably like one of my favorite Christmas albums!

By Neil Diamond!



I always think of him as The Jazz Singer... a Cantor singing Christmas songs...



I was raised by a Jewish Godmother and an Irish Catholic Grandmother... oy vey... and saints preserve us!

[MineralMan]

21. And singing the Dredel song, too.

Wonderful!

[tblue]

9. Happy Christma-hana-kwanza-kah to you, too!

[MineralMan]

20. Nice graphic. I have stolen it

for my own nefarious uses.

[TicketyBoo]

55. Me, too.

Merry Whatever.

[JuniperLea]

10. Happy Pagan Holidays to you too, MineralMan!

I'll have my decorated Tree of Life up soon too. We'll watch A Christmas Story, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and It's a Wonderful Life, among other winter holiday favorites. I love Bing Crosby... and Rosemary Clooney too, so that lends itself to several holiday albums and movies. I'll bring out all the ornaments my grandmother gave me when I first had my own tree... and all the memories from my childhood they embody... I'll recall Grandpa's baritone "Ho Ho Ho" and his yearly stuffing advice... "Olive! Y'ain't got enough sage in there! Y'gotta put more sage in there!" I'll make Grandma's favorite goodies, using her recipes, and I'll always put an extra dash or two of sage in the stuffing for Grandpa. I'll remember my first guitar, a Christmas gift from the same grandparents, and the endless supply of radios and turntables from the other set. My grandparents kept me surrounded with music. There are a lot of good memories, none of which have anything to do with a deity... just really nice family I was fortunate enough to know and learn from for a long time.

"Won't you help me Mr. Jesus! Won't you help me if you can. When you see this world we live in, do you still believe in Man?" ~ Black Sabbath

[MineralMan]

12. Thank you kindly, JuniperLea...

Sage. Love it. It's what turkey and stuffing smells like, that and rosemary and some thyme.

Despite all the troubles out there, I'm taking a break and renewing my spirit during the next month. We just sent our annual check to the Union Rescue Mission here in the Twin Cities, and I hope it will help bring a little bit of the holidays to some folks who have next to nothing to celebrate.

[trotsky]

11. Me too!

Nice warm (for November at least) day here in Minnesota, made setting up the lights an easy chore. Love everything about the Solstice - just strip off all the junk the Christians bolted on, and you've got one hell of a holiday. It's a celebration of science, of observation, of reason. Our distant ancestors realized this was the time of the year with the shortest day - and it would soon be followed by increasing daylight, increasing warmth, and a return of life. A celebration of humanity & its awareness of its environment.

[MineralMan]

14. A big Hurrah! for you, too!

New Year, New Start!

[VOX]

33. Wow -- nice, compact analysis, trotsky -- who couldn't get behind that?

Cheers! -- :toast:

[the fool]

61. Before Thanksgiving? Really?

Can we have T-Day before C-Day? :eyes:

[Robb]

13. What, no one slamming you for your carbon footprint!?!?111

Sounds nice, kudos for getting on it. I'm procrastinating with vigor. :D

[MineralMan]

17. Well, here in Minnesota, you don't dare procrastinate.

If you get a nice day somewhere near the end of November, you've gotta get out there and get those tacky decorations up. If you wait, you freeze your tender bits doing it.

As for the carbon footprint, oh, well. In the winter here, you just can't stint on carbon usage or your pipes freeze and flood the basement. Uff da!

[KittyWampus]

15. pink flamingos... why didn't I think of that?

:D

[MineralMan]

19. Here's the inflatable. It's 8' long, but not tall...

I did this last year:

[bumblebee1]

30. I love it.

I knew Santa was quite the sportsman when he's done with his Christmas errands.

[MineralMan]

37. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

However, I discovered after New Year's day, when I take down my decorations, that the inflatable Santa was frozen to ice in the bottom of the boat. The boat, itself, was frozen solidly to the ground. Both had to stay on my front lawn until mid-April. Something of an embarrassment for me...live and learn.

Still, in the spirit of things, I kept the Santa in the boat inflated until April. In for a penny; in for a pound, I guess. I had to take a lot of ribbing from my neighbors.

[Tesha]

60. Next time, use an electric roof heating cable to thaw him loose. (NT)

[pipi_k]

16. As an Agnostic/Atheist, it's not a "holy" day for me, but

I do enjoy the light displays. Probably the best part about it...

I like that it's called "The Season of Light"

:)

[MineralMan]

22. And, for those of you who are unreccing this thread, I can only say:

Bah! Humbug!

But happy holiday, anyhow. Hope you cheer up.

[stevedeshazer]

23. I'm the same as you.

Happy Holidays!

The Bill O'Reilly War On Christmas Fighting Keyboarders are unrecommending your thread.

Happy Holidays to those folks, too.

[Hoopla Phil]

24. K and R

[nini]

26. did you know they have LED lights that look like those big old fashioned ones?

they've gotten pretty slick with those lights.




Enjoy your holiday and I'm impressed with you getting this done early!

[MineralMan]

36. I've seen those. A little pricey for me, even with the energy

savings. Besides, I already had the big lights on hand. Maybe next year. Thanks!

[katkat]

40. nini

Do they have old fashioned light or is it odd?

[MineralMan]

59. It's odd. I have some LED christmas lights. I don't like them much.

They have an odd feel to their light. The old incandescents will do for now...until they're no longer available, anyhow.

[nini]

70. the ones I've seen are brighter

I'm not sure if there are any with a softer light - I would assume that is something that will happen though.

It's strange to touch the bulb and have them not burn my fingers like the ones when I was a kid. ;-)

[cherokeeprogressive]

27. Happy Holidays, Mineral Man. Wonderful sentiments. Thanks.

Here's to you and yours, having a wonderful time and enjoying each other's company.

Peace.

[AsahinaKimi]

28. meri kurisumasu

While 98% of Japanese are Shinto Buddhist, "kurisumasu" in Japan is celebrated like a romantic holiday.

Christmas in Japan is quite different from the Chrismas celebrated in most countries in which the population has a large percentage of Christians or a Christian heritage. Only 1/2 of 1% of the Japanese population is estimated to be Christian, with the majority of Japanese being tolerant of all faiths: Buddhism, Christianity, Shinto, etc. In spite of this, the Japanese are great lovers of festivals and celebrations, including Christmas.



December 25th is not a national holiday in Japan, although December 23rd, which is the birthdate of the present emperor, is. Although it is not an official holiday the Japanese tend to celebrate Christmas, especially in a commercial way. The Japanese celebrate Christmas Eve by eating a 'Christmas Cake' which the father of the family purchases on his way home from work (or his wife does in the case where he has to work on Christmas Eve). Stores all over carry versions of this Christmas cake and drop the price of it drastically on December 25th in order to sell everything out by the 26th. This has resulted in a rather interesting expression in which young girls are referred to as a 'Christmas cakes': marriageable until their 25th birthday and requiring heavy discounts to get married after their 25th birthdays.

In recent years, thanks to the marketing prowess of the folks at Kentucky Fried Chicken, the Christmas Chicken Dinner has become quite popular. Many Japanese even make reservations for their "Christmas Chicken" ahead of time. People line up at their outlets to pick up their orders. As a result of KFC's brilliant advertising campaign, most Japanese now believe that Westerners celebrate Christmas with a chicken dinner instead of the more common ham or turkey.

Christmas Eve has been hyped by the T.V. media as being a time for romantic miracles. It is seen as a time to be spent with one's boyfriend or girlfriend in a romantic setting, so fancy restaurants and hotels are often booked solid at this time. It is often also a time when girls get to reveal their affections to boys and vice versa. Because of this, extending a girl an invitation to be together on Christmas Eve has very deep, romantic implications.

Christmas presents are exchanged between people with romantic commitments as well as close friends. The presents tend to be 'cute' presents and often include Teddy Bears, flowers, scarves, rings and other jewelry. Christmas cards are also given to close friends.



Christmas presents tend to be things which are cute and sometimes slightly expensive because of the relationship to the person to which they are given to. More obligatory year-end presents are given during this season as well to people who have done you a favor during the year, however, in contrast to Christmas presents, they are given between companies, to bosses, to teachers, and family friends. These presents are known as 'Oseibo' and are generally things which are perishable or which wear out quickly for which the price can readily be checked because of the system of 'on' and 'giri' (loosely translated obligation and reciprocity). These presents are usually purchased at department stores so that the recipient can check the price and return something which relates to the scale of reciprocity.

For the more elderly couples, many hotels host dinner shows featuring major singers, actors, and actresses. Tickets to these shows, due to the season, are very pricy.

The Christmas season comes during the month of the year-end parties. Company groups, hobby groups, sports groups, etc. often book a section of a restaurant to have drinking parties, known as 'bonenkai' . This phenomena leads to streets, subways, and trains full of people in varied states of intoxication during this season.



Christmas lighting and displays are often up at the end of October and this year many stores have displays featuring Teddy Bears. There is also a trend developing for make-it-yourself presents.

The New Year's holidays, which constitute the main holiday season for the Japanese, come closer to the American-European idea of assembling family and friends. Christmas seems to be closer to the Western concept of St.Valentine's Day.

http://www.tanutech.com/japan/jxmas.html

[katkat]

41. wow, a Christmas cake, is that cool or what?n/t

[tandot]

29. Merry Christmas! It will be the first with our son and we have put the tree

up today. He was totally fascinated by all of those lights :)

[Kievan Rus]

31. Holiday Season = way overrated

[dysfunctional press]

32. you must have a HUGH living room...

btw- what year is your rambler...and WHY would you put a christmas tree on top of it...?

[VOX]

34. That's the way to do it, MineralMan -- keep the fun and fire stoked to a good blaze!

If more folks took a page from your playbook, there probably wouldn't be so much bitching about the holidays. The season is supposed to be FUN, damn it!

Cheers -- :toast:

[Lorien]

35. I never put up anything related to Christmas until Thanksgiving is over

Thanksgiving get so little respect anymore!

[mullard12ax7]

38. Happy happy joy joy

It's all just so wonderful

[katkat]

39. Inflatable stuff, yuck. n/t

[MineralMan]

50. Thanks for your opinion. I take it, then, that you won't be

displaying any inflatables this year? That's OK, as long as you don't try to make me take mine down.

Happy Christmas to you!

[Ignis]

42. "Santa in a sleigh pulled by two pink flamingos"

Beautiful image. :thumbsup: Please post pics.

[MineralMan]

48. Posted above, but what the heck. Here it is again:

[Ignis]

51. Thanks, I posted before I looked.

So :spank: for me and :hug: for you.

[Name removed]

62. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[TwilightGardener]

43. Too early for Christmas stuff, for me. Tree won't go up, lights/etc. until

at least a week or two into December, because I get tired of Christmas pretty quick, and hate losing the floor space in my living room. Plus, my cats won't freaking leave the tree and ornaments alone--wouldn't want to do battle with that for 5 or 6 weeks.

[TicketyBoo]

64. Does anybody do a live tree?

We've never had anything except a live tree, so it doesn't go up until around December 10 or later.



The lighted artificial garland will get draped on the front fence later today (hopefully).

[elizfeelinggreat]

66. We do a live tree!

I must admit I'm pretty jealous of all those houses with the trees already up in the windows ..... I'm always tempted to buy an artificial right about now(blasphemous thoughts in my home).

[TwilightGardener]

72. Cute doggies! Some years we do a live tree, some years we put up our fake--

depends on cash flow and where we're going to be for Christmas (at home or away visiting). There's no substitute for real, but the downside is that the kittehs seem more fascinated with real trees.

[wildflower]

44. I love this thread

From JuniperLea's holiday memories to AsahinaKimi's contribution on Christmas in Japan, to trotsky's observations about the Solstice. I love seeing everyone's pictures of decorations and discussions of music and food. And your openness to all traditions celebrated this time of year, no matter what your faith.

I'm going to save this thread to look at again during the season. Christmas is always a combination of great joy and great sadness for me, but it feels so warm here, in this thread, I don't want to leave!

Happy holidays to all of you.

[EFerrari]

45. When we lived in the Glen Park district in SF,

one of our great neighbors had everyone in his nativity scene -- Snow White and the Seven, ET, Bambi, Fonzi.

It was awesome.

:)

[old mark]

46. Thanks, MM Same to you! I'm not an athiest - too formal - I just don't believe in

much of anything and don't care to speculate further on it all.
I love holidays, believe there is no bad reason for a party, and will be putting my wreaths and small tree up probably Thanksgiving evening.

I will celebrate any religion's holiday, provided the food is good.


mark

[ieoeja]

47. This Atheist worships Santa too.

Okay, I also love the whole Jesus-freak, peace-on-earth crapola.

[MineralMan]

49. Happy Christmas to ya!

[Ignis]

65. Another Santanist, eh?

Very suspicious! :freak:

[Name removed]

52. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MineralMan]

53. You're welcome to wait. Me? My display is already up.

Isn't America great? We can do as we please, each in our own way.

Happy Christmas to ya!

[archiemo]

54. Cheers to you and yours!!!

[MineralMan]

56. Many thanks, and greetings of the season to you!

[JI7]

57. i'm an atheist who likes Christmas also

[MineralMan]

58. Cool! We should start a tradition...the secular Christmas

celebration. Oh...wait...that's what it already is. Never mind.

[Shagbark Hickory]

63. Depressionproof activity. I'd send your ass a letter anyway. No lights before t-giving.

[MineralMan]

67. Cool. I love getting mail.

[Shagbark Hickory]

75. Then you'd love our subdivision.

[2Design]

68. I love the lights too and dislike organized religion because it has hurt so many people n/t

[ourbluenation]

69. 50 demerits for putting them up BEFORE THANKSGIVING.

I hate when people do that. Christmas is slowly stealing all of turkey day's thunder. curses.

[Raine]

71. I always decorate

and enjoy Christmas. :-)

[L0oniX]

73. Thank god for coal fired power plants.

[winyanstaz]

74. And a blessed Yule Christmas Kwanza Festivus Hannukah Solstice to all of you too :)

My Yule decorations are all up and running fine :P Looks lovely and I am free to relax and focus on gifts and baking tons of cookies :P

[liberal_at_heart]

76. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

I'm not Christian but I do like Christmas. It's a time of the year when we adults get to act like kids again. We spend all year worrying about bills, politics, religion, work, family disputes and all other stresses our lives bring. At Christmas time we get to believe in Santa. I like giving to charities too. Giving kind of makes me feel like Santa. We decorate our houses like the North Pole. We get to bake cookies and pies, watch our favorite Christmas movies, listen to our favorite Christmas music, visit with family and friends and just have fun.

[galledgoblin]

77. took out my decorations last night.

probably going to start wearing the Santa hat pretty regularly soon...