Merry Christmas HN, and especially to Dang. This is a wonderful community, a rare gem on the Internet and I feel fortunate to be part of it.
Merry Christmas, HN
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Re: Merry Christmas, HN
#72Merry Christmas to you all :)
Re: Merry Christmas, HN
#73Can someone please explain to me what’s special about Christmas for those who celebrate ? Is it special symbolically ? To me it feels like you get to see your family and maybe have 2-3 days off, which is something most people do many times a year, usually during the weekends.
for me, it was having kids that made it special, I enjoyed the atmosphere, extra attention at friends houses as a kid - but the anticipation and excitement of my kids transformed a festival I didn't grow up liking.
Sure, you do stuff for and with your kids during the year - but this became a two-way time - that has endured to their adulthood (not just the 'presents').
Re: Merry Christmas, HN
#74Re: Merry Christmas, HN
#75Not a Christian, but appreciate the sentiment. Family is all dead so it's just another weekend for me, no big deal. Hope the rest of you enjoy your festivities, whatever it is you're doing.
I enjoy that the commercialization of American Christmas has, a little bit, freed it from religion. Now it’s just the default Western end-of-year holiday! And we can all enjoy that :)
Re: Merry Christmas, HN
#76[dead]
Re: Merry Christmas, HN
#77Merry Solstice Substitute! HN. I wasn't brought up Christian either, but loved the tradition with friends - and giving gifts under the mid-winter evergreen tree. Wishing everyone good things in 2023.
Happy Soltice to you, too. I cringe that we have to end a tree's life so that we may maintain some tradition. Having said that, our kitten loves hanging out under the tree and smelling its pine needles. Still, I can't get over the fact that we end a tree's life for no reason at all (not that we need it to build shelter or something for our survival)
I don’t know a single person who still used a real tree. The artificial ones look incredible these days and are infinitely more sustainable, less messy, look better longer, and can be chosen to suit the room perfectly. If you’re a nerd like me you can even embed them with WS2812 RGBs and an ESP32 WLED controller, which would be way too much effort for a temporary “real” tree.
Re: Merry Christmas, HN
#78In case you're homeless and living in your car rejected by everyone you love because you can't stop drinking, but temporarily holed up in a roadside motel over Christmas with a case of vodka... that was me. It gets better. I now have 5 years sobriety, but I'll never forget that despair I felt and how my mind was in a loop thinking about killing myself. I've put a temp email in my profile in case you want to reach out…
I experienced a similar episode but not with alcohol.
I surround myself with things that are of these words: good, love, kindness, peace, serenity, tranquility, purity, loveliness, wholesomeness, cleanliness, positivity, light, fruit, right, proper, meant, should, high.
Reject dark, evil, bad, negative, low, death, darkness, sinister.
It's a duality you need to escape. Pick the good side.
If you surround yourself with light, your life gets brighter. I cannot imagine surrounding myself with anything negative.
If you keep walking where you're going, you might get there. If you pick the side of good, then you should end up somewhere more positive than walking toward darkness.
Re: Merry Christmas, HN
#79Can someone please explain to me what’s special about Christmas for those who celebrate ? Is it special symbolically ? To me it feels like you get to see your family and maybe have 2-3 days off, which is something most people do many times a year, usually during the weekends.
Its mostly that, and the fact that you live up to a day where family comes together. Also knowing that everyone around you is kinda doing the same, like a common moment.
Re: Merry Christmas, HN
#80I feel bad we didn't get dang anything.