Merry Christmas everyone! Frohe Weihnatchen! Boun Natale! Joyeux Noël ! It's Boxing Day here, but I think it's still Christmas in the USA. My big Chrissie present this year is having my mum come over to visit. She has been to Australia before, but never at Christmas time, and is enjoying the weirdness of Christmas in the heat of summer. LOL, Aussies still do the roast turkey and plum pudding in 40C weather!
40 C sounds more like hell than just weather. But what do I know? I prefer it when its -30 C outside.
LOL, I was using hyperbole, but it is usually around 30C around Christmas, and there were a couple of days when it was 40C this year. We spent Christmas at my aunt's place up in the Blue Mountains, and it was like 15C, foggy and raining. Don't you have Boxing Day in the USA? It is the 26th of December and is a Public Holiday. Its origins are uncertain (it is so old) but in Britain, it was a custom for tradesmen to collect "Christmas boxes" of money or presents on the first weekday after Christmas as thanks for good service throughout the year.This is mentioned in Samuel Pepys' diary entry for 19 December 1663.This custom is linked to an older English tradition: since they would have to wait on their masters on Christmas Day, the servants of the wealthy were allowed the next day to visit their families. The employers would give each servant a box to take home containing gifts and bonuses, and sometimes leftover food. (Ref: Wikipedia)
Yeh it was unusually cool and wet in Sydney. 30c is pretty common on Christmas Day I have only heard one person, a radio commentator, mention boxing day here in the States, and that was this year
we do that too, we just don't call it anything. i don't think retailers have ever missed a chance for a sale...i'm waiting for a Y-knot sale. - - - Updated - - - we go return & exchange stuff at the mall. it's not a real holiday or even event unless you're a retailer. - - - Updated - - - i thought jokes were funny?
If the ACLU atheists and other ultra-liberals have their way, it will be illegal to say "Merry Christmas", except in your own home or in church. They say all their hysterical opposition to Nativity scenes in public parks or Christmas carols being sung in public schools is justified, because the government might establish a religion, something prohibited by the Constitution, the 1st Amendment. If you're in the Army, at some bases, in some states, you can't say Merry Christmas. http://www.ibtimes.com/merry-christmas-or-happy-holidays-army-told-not-say-christmas-report-1519576 However, the argument about establishing a religion would be valid only if all the soldiers in the military would be required to say "Merry Christmas" or if it was mandatory for all the students in a school to attend the Christmas show with their parents. But saying "Merry Christmas" in a public institution or singing Christmas carols at a Christmas school show, is not establishing a religion. The atheists and ultra-liberals know this, but they attack Christmas anyway. They also attack the other part of the 1st Amendment when they want to prohibit people from celebrating Christmas in public, because they are interfering with the free exercise of religion. The reason they attack Christmas is because they hate the One who is at the center of Christmas. Jesus Christ, the Man from Nazareth. And who happens to be God. They hate him, they hate his claims, his authority, and everything he stands for. It's not about the establishment of a religion. It's about their dislike of Christ. They don't attack any other religious holidays or public displays of Muslim or Hindu symbols. It reminds me of a line from the movie "Last Ounce of Courage". The Mayor of a small town said it to some arrogant idiots who were attacking him for putting up a Christmas tree on the steps of city hall. "If you're a Muslim, by all means go to the town square and pray to your god, it's your right. If you're Jewish, light up your menorah and celebrate Hanukah in public. But don't tell me, a Christian American and the majority of us who believe in Jesus Christ, that we can't celebrate his birth in public!" It's incredible how bitter atheists can't relax and enjoy Christmas, even if they don't believe in the spiritual aspects of it.
I celebrate Christmas for several reasons - one of which being that it commemorates the birth of Jesus of Nazareth who, whatever else he is claimed to be, was a good and sincere man who taught both compassion and good sense (and was probably one of the first socialists). Christmas is also a derivation of the winter solstice festivals celebrated for millennia in forms such as the Yuletide. It is a time in the northern hemisphere when the harvest is in, planting and growing have ceased, and people are inclined to a period of relaxation after the efforts of the year. It is also a season of good will and concern for one's fellow man, which is probably the best reason to celebrate it.
Funny the ACLU has fought for Christians rights to say Merry Christmas on a few occassions. Yes, you understand that they are upholding the part of the 1st amendment that is important to keep religion safe. I From your link: Again perhaps the hysteria you were talking about is from the people making stuff up. Except that is not true. EVidence? If there is a public display done by the government please show me....I will get the ACLU to respond. Actually if a not government person were to do that it would be fine, the minute the government chooses to celebrate a religion at the exclusion of others there is a violation of the 1st. That is the point. What would you say if a Muslim governor didn't put up a Christmas tree but celebrated Eid at the Governor's mansion. Most atheists ignore Christmas or celebrate it in a secular nature. What people oppose, many not atheists just not Christians, is the celebration of Christianity at the exclusion of other faiths.
That was good, nice job. - - - Updated - - - Even Canada celebrates it? - - - Updated - - - She's in the hospital if you're that curious.
