Just realized, i only have one. Eating with a stranger at xmas eve in the netherlands. We were both avoiding our families because we both hate to be around fam around xmas.
Merry Christmas Everyone
181–190 of 407 posts
Re: Merry Christmas Everyone
#182So many beautiful stories. Merry Christmas Everyone!
Re: Merry Christmas Everyone
#183Spending my Christmas in a caravan somewhere way south of Spain, in a quiet remote corner with only my favourite 2 people (including my dog). No presents, no family dinners. Definitely the best Christmas for a long while.
Re: Merry Christmas Everyone
#184I'm Jewish, so all my Christmas's growing up were kinda the same. Sleep in, have brunch, wander over to my neighbor's house around noon to see what kind of loot they got and help them play with their new toys. Sometimes we'd go out for Chinese food and a movie. But my favorite was Christmas 1999. My girlfriend was out of town with her family and there was no reason to go home to mine, so I was alone (my roommates wer…
I'm Muslim, so all my Christmas's school and college days were kinda the same, 1980s. I would have a real small tree xmass decorated at home and no one would blink about it, then wander over to my christian friends' neighborhood around noon to see what kind of cherry and wine they were serving.
This is that neighborhood now
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1031546789002116&set=pcb...
Re: Merry Christmas Everyone
#185Christmas of 1981 in Athens, Greece. I was 15. Father had died 3 years ago from heart attack at 42. His last words to my mother: "Educate the kids". She did her best, given that my grandfather was old fashioned and had stopped her from going to school after she became twelve, although she was among the smartest in her class. That Christmas she had bought me the brand new then Sinclair ZX81 personal computer. We were…
What a great story, the perfect kind of HN post. Did Sinclair advertise in Greek... Or did your Grandma speak enough English to figure out what to buy?
I had seen advertisments in greek from the Greek importers of the brand. I had asked my mother for it and she delivered.
Since you asked for the greek market I can share one more memory. About a year later, 1982, I wanted to upgrade to Texas Instruments TI-99/4A so I tried to see a machine up close going to the local representative. I ended up at the "company's HQ" which was a small residence appartment in the fifth floor of a building.
I found the door open so I entered a room full with boxes thrown around randomely. After waiting alone for an awkward period of 5-10 minutes, the owner of the company himself emerges from the bathroom with a wet face and kind of surprised to see me. He listened to what I wanted. "It's somewhere there, go and have a look" it's all what he said. He couldn't care less.
13 years later I had my own small company and reselling PC and equimpent was part of the job. The man with the wet face was one of the biggest suppliers in Greece, since besides Texas Instruments he moved on to be the representative of Intel and Microsoft and reseller of many others and the company became on of the biggest in Greece.
Maybe his mentality ("there it is, go and have a look") never changed much though, because a couple decades later the company went bankrupt.
Re: Merry Christmas Everyone
#186Merry Christmas everyone. Every year it reminds me how I eventually became an IT professional. My parents took us children to the village restaurant before Christmas. Must have been 1983. Then we were asked what we wish for Christmas and I had not really thought about that, yet. Some of my friends have been talking about a computer. I had no idea what exactly that meant or what to use it for but it sounded cool. Comp…
Was going to share a very similar story, I got my first computers for Christmas. We got first a C64 which got me into "programming", but I think it was the Amiga which made me the happiest. It was such an upgrade compared to the C64.
Whenever I feel stress, overworked, or frustrated with colleagues as an IT professional, I remember what got me into programming and all the fun I had with these computers.
Re: Merry Christmas Everyone
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
There’s still a lot more Christian than Muslim or Jewish people in the USA/YC-prone countries, as well as people that celebrate it in some way for cultural reasons. So, demographics and it isn’t actually about religion at all for a lot of people.
Yep, exactly. Very few of my friends are religious at all, but we all celebrate Christmas. Not as a religious holiday, but as a time that by tradition we spend time and share gifts and love with friends and family.
This is the beautiful thing about Christmas. It’s a buildup of hundreds of years of traditions if you trace it back to Saturnalia. It’s a mix of ancient and modern customs, folklore from many cultures, and infinite family or personal traditions. The Christian angle is certainly there, but you can leave it out entirely and still have a full experience.
Re: Merry Christmas Everyone
#188When I was in Oxford, almost all the students went home for Christmas -- for the domestic students it was easy to travel, and most of the international students were wealthy enough that the cost didn't matter to them. I came from a middle class background and flying back to Canada would have been a significant cost (especially since my scholarship came with a living allowance which was only paid while I was in the UK…
I have seen movies starting like this.
Re: Merry Christmas Everyone
#189I'm Jewish, so all my Christmas's growing up were kinda the same. Sleep in, have brunch, wander over to my neighbor's house around noon to see what kind of loot they got and help them play with their new toys. Sometimes we'd go out for Chinese food and a movie. But my favorite was Christmas 1999. My girlfriend was out of town with her family and there was no reason to go home to mine, so I was alone (my roommates wer…
I'm largely of the "hell is other people" mindset around Christmas, from the overtly fascist elderly relatives to the incomprehensible demands of immediate family. I would love just one Christmas like that!
Re: Merry Christmas Everyone
#190I'm Jewish, so all my Christmas's growing up were kinda the same. Sleep in, have brunch, wander over to my neighbor's house around noon to see what kind of loot they got and help them play with their new toys. Sometimes we'd go out for Chinese food and a movie. But my favorite was Christmas 1999. My girlfriend was out of town with her family and there was no reason to go home to mine, so I was alone (my roommates wer…
> But my favorite was Christmas 1999. My girlfriend was out of town
Classic.