Topic : 12/13 Holiday Horror Stories

Christmas is first and foremost about the birth of Christ. And what would CHRIST do (WWJD) to celebrate his birth? He would most likely celebrate by giving back to others, something he did repeatedly during his lifetime. He would most likely also celebrate by spreading the Word of God.

 

Our Christmas involves adopting two families (this year it was two migrant families w/ young children), taking a laundry basket filled w/ food to Catholic Charities (their food pantry), our 12-yr-old giving two days of her Christmas break to work in the food pantry, our 6-yr-old son NEVER passing a red Salvation Army kettle w/o putting a $1 in it, and our children bringing gifts for the families adopted by their Catholic elementary school and their Catholic youth group.

 

Yes, it's WONDERFUL to partake in gift-giving to relatives, Santa Claus, cookie-making, office parties and the like, but WHEN/IF CHRISTMAS becomes a BURDEN to you, than you OBVIOUSLY HAVE LOST SIGHT OF THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS.

 

Give yourselves to God, especially at this beautiful time of year. You will be amazed at the happiness that comes back to you when you put others first! God bless everyone and Merry Christmas!

Talk about GENERALIZATIONS; shame on you! Apparently you don't know all the people who DO celebrate the holiday for its true meaning. Come over to our FL home and sit with us and our Advent wreath. Come to us w/ mass every Sunday. Help us feed the poor and give to our adopted migrant families. Yep, you're welcome to see how Christmas is celebrated in THIS household (and many others...you apparently don't know the people WE hang with:).

 

If you don't want to celebrate the birth of Christ (or use the holiday to give back to others), that's your CHOICE. Nobody has to "respect" it.; but you should be left alone to do as you please, just as you should leave alone those who LOVE the holiday (don't spoil their fun w/ your negative attitude:).

 

Everyone has choices to make. I bet if you respect theirs, they'll respect yours. Or are you just the ba-hum-bug type??? I surely hope not, since December can be such a beautiful month. God bless.

LOVE your attitude! You go, Girl!!!

 

Christmas should be about Christ and giving back. The rest of the "stuff" is just icing on the cake.

 

My in-laws are millionaires twice over, yet I (the daughter-in-law of 17 years...the ONLY daughter-in-law) is the one to get gifts from the Dollar Tree store! It was sad at first, but now I just smile (and laugh). I guess my mother-in-law has been sending me messages thru those gifts for 17 years...but I'm still here to graciously accept them....and then "regift" them:)

 

We ALL have those horrible holiday stories to share, but THEY are not what the holiday is all about....those who know and appreciate the TRUE MEANING of CHRISTMAS are able to handle holiday adversity so much better than others....Thank the Lord for that:)

Christmas is suppose to be a time for family and there is know reason to be un happy at christmas time. I can understand like the lady who lost her  baby, but just because her husband bought her a bad shirt if stupid. Lady get a life. Life is to short. Enjoy what you have.

Exactly, this is part of my culture, very well put.

And many of the traditions during Christmas are also from the Pagan religion, my favorite parts started out as Pagan tradition, Pagans still to this day do the same things too.

The Tree, the Wreath...all of those things are Pagan.

So really, it's just a time of year where people celebrate and enjoy life. I don't know why anyone would want to not do that too. It's like going to a birthday party and sitting in the corner not talking to people or something.

how true how true, my mother has been getting things she didn't need for many years now and even tho she gets things she cant use she still excepts each gift with a big smile on her face and a big warm hug to each of us children, and gives us all a big thank you, we know what we got her wasn't what she really needed at the time but it wouldn't have meant the same to her if we had asked her what she wanted! i mean if you have to ask then why even wrap it ! she already knows what you got her  lol, we just save the receipt and go exchange the gifts for her after Christmas for something she really needed, and we didn't spoil the excitement for her to open a gift to see just what we came up with this time  lol, but no matter what i get I'm so happy to just know some one thought enough of me to get me anything, just coming to see each other and spending a day together would have been enough for me, i look at getting a gift as a big bonus.

Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it in the 16th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if wood was scarce. It is a widely held belief that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree. Walking toward his home one winter evening, composing a sermon, he was awed by the brilliance of stars twinkling amidst evergreens. To recapture the scene for his family, he erected a tree in the main room and wired its branches with lighted candles.

Most 19th-century Americans found Christmas trees an oddity. The first record of one being on display was in the 1830s by the German settlers of Pennsylvania, although trees had been a tradition in many German homes much earlier. The Pennsylvania German settlements had community trees as early as 1747. But, as late as the 1840s Christmas trees were seen as pagan symbols and not accepted by most Americans.

It is not surprising that, like many other festive Christmas customs, the tree was adopted so late in America. To the New England Puritans, Christmas was sacred. The pilgrims's second governor, William Bradford, wrote that he tried hard to stamp out "pagan mockery" of the observance, penalizing any frivolity. The influential Oliver Cromwell preached against "the heathen traditions" of Christmas carols, decorated trees, and any joyful expression that desecrated "that sacred event." In 1659, the General Court of Massachusetts enacted a law making any observance of December 25 (other than a church service) a penal offense; people were fined for hanging decorations. That stern solemnity continued until the 19th century, when the influx of German and Irish immigrants undermined the Puritan legacy.

In 1846, the popular royals, Queen Victoria and her German Prince, Albert, were sketched in the Illustrated London News standing with their children around a Christmas tree. Unlike the previous royal family, Victoria was very popular with her subjects, and what was done at court immediately became fashionable—not only in Britain, but with fashion-conscious East Coast American Society. The Christmas tree had arrived.

By the 1890s Christmas ornaments were arriving from Germany and Christmas tree popularity was on the rise around the U.S. It was noted that Europeans used small trees about four feet in height, while Americans liked their Christmas trees to reach from floor to ceiling.

The early 20th century saw Americans decorating their trees mainly with homemade ornaments, while the German-American sect continued to use apples, nuts, and marzipan cookies. Popcorn joined in after being dyed bright colors and interlaced with berries and nuts. Electricity brought about Christmas lights, making it possible for Christmas trees to glow for days on end. With this, Christmas trees began to appear in town squares across the country and having a Christmas tree in the home became an American tradition.

tiss the heart that is pagen! not of the tree which god created

My older brother passed away last Christmas. My father actually discovered him, in his halfway house apartment, on Dec. 26th, 2005. He was 27 years old, dead on his bed. He dies from an Overdose of Methodone (used to get him off of crack/cocain/heroin). He did not take cause the overdose, interestingly. We found out 3 months after his death (it takes that long to do the biobsy, etc...) that the clinic that he went to daily in order to recieve his methodone was OD'ing him. He was also on schizophrenia medication, which he took on his own. The clinic kenw of this, as it was in his records, yet overlooked it. The medication for his Schizophrenia was causing the methodone medication to build up in his system (couldnt be metabolized due to the medications effect on oneanother) and slowly (over a week) killed him.

 

I know this Christmas (first christmas since it happened, and the day before the anniversary of his death) will be especially tough for my mom. I am worried, I just want her to be completely happy, and without guilt. Brian, my older brother, was very troubled, since he was a toddler...he is finally happy now, at peace and freed of his deamons...I just pray that the burdeon isnt now on my wonderful mother.

We are all welcomed to believe what we want.