Do you celebrate Christmas?

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  • #192160
    TheShadow
    @theshadow
      • Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
      • Total Posts: 400

      @freed_and_redeemed

      No judgement. I respect your decision and your standpoint (same to you @grcr). Thanks for the resources. I have some reasons why I don’t agree entirely though, but I don’t want to come off as rude or accidentally get into an argument lol. I’ll just say that I don’t think the Church chose the 25th solely for competition with pagans or even that all of the traditions are pagan. There are other reasons, but I’ll keep it at that for now.

      "No! Monkeys should have pets, all monkeys should have pets!"

      #192162
      freedom
      @freed_and_redeemed
        • Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
        • Total Posts: 760

        @theshadow And I have no judgement towards you for disagreeing 😊 💜 We’re free to have our own opinions on this matter :3

        #192167
        whaley
        @whalekeeper
          • Rank: Chosen One
          • Total Posts: 3610

          *Actively avoiding discussion on this matter even though my perspective is very relevant to the topic because my family avoided Christmas for eight years* Who wants a hopscotch recipe??

          #ProtectAdolinKholin

          #192170
          whaley
          @whalekeeper
            • Rank: Chosen One
            • Total Posts: 3610

            Snack recipe for everyone. :]

            Ingredients

            1 cup butterscotch chips (the small kind for melting)

            1/2 cup peanut butter

            2 cups miniature marshmallows

            1 can (3 ounce) chow mein noodles

            Instructions

            1. Put the peanut butter and butterscotch into a saucepan over a rustic medieval fire (this is a must); stir until melted.

            2. Mix up the marshmallows and noodles in a bowl (this is not melted or cooked).

            3. Fold the melted mixture into the dry mixture, so all the ingredients are together.

            4. Make little scoops of the stuff and put them on wax paper to dry.

            5. Refrigerate if desired.

            Our family likes to make larger scoops, but they can be of any size. I also recommend deciding how much of it you want to make, because we always have to multiply the recipe a few times.

            • This reply was modified 5 days, 6 hours ago by whaley.
            • This reply was modified 5 days, 6 hours ago by whaley. Reason: I had to edit this twice, oh no... I numbered everything wrong and it must be perfectly understandable aauugh

            #ProtectAdolinKholin

            #192179
            Koshka
            @koshka
              • Rank: Eccentric Mentor
              • Total Posts: 1741

              @whalekeeper

              Ooooooo, looks sticky and sweet. Should be perfect to feed to the little cousins come Christmas day.

              *Grins*

              • This reply was modified 5 days, 6 hours ago by Koshka. Reason: Ato-correct needs to be pummeled

              First Grand Historian of Arreth and the Lesser Realms (aka Kitty)
              Fork the Gork

              #192184
              TheShadow
              @theshadow
                • Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
                • Total Posts: 400

                @freed_and_redeemed

                Yep 🙂


                @whalekeeper

                Ooh, a recipe. Will have to try this.


                @ellette-giselle

                I watched the video, it was good. Definitely adds some clarity to the whole thought process.

                "No! Monkeys should have pets, all monkeys should have pets!"

                #192190
                -GRCR-
                @grcr
                  • Rank: Eccentric Mentor
                  • Total Posts: 1290

                  @freed_and_redeemed

                  It really does get lonely. I agree 💛

                   

                  • This reply was modified 5 days, 2 hours ago by -GRCR-.

                  INTP.

                  #192195
                  Ellette Giselle
                  @ellette-giselle
                    • Rank: Chosen One
                    • Total Posts: 2247

                    @theshadow

                    I’m so glad you liked it!

                    Man is born for the fight, to be forged and molded into a sharper, finer, stronger image of God

                    #192202
                    Liberty
                    @liberty
                      • Rank: Loyal Sidekick
                      • Total Posts: 256

                      @theshadow

                      So, what are you concluding now?

                      It’s great that you’re researching both sides of the argument…seeing what they are each saying.

                      What traditions are you not sure about?

                      My family has actually talked about this before because we didn’t really celebrate Christmas for years, and we have some friends who don’t celebrate it at all. My family loves reading about the history of Christmas, and it’s true. It was a pagan holiday before. But that doesn’t mean it is now. And even if it is, that doesn’t mean we have to celebrate it like that.

                      We know many earlier Christians here in America, the Pilgrims, and even some Colonial people didn’t celebrate Christmas. All they knew was that it was an evil, heathen holiday.

                      But we also learned that some Germans didn’t think of Christmas that way. Martin Luther celebrated Christmas as an event to celebrate and proclaim the birth of the Savior. The tradition of decorating Christmas trees with candles is also associated with him.

                      "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."~ Jim Elliot

                      #192273
                      The Ducktator
                      @theducktator
                        • Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
                        • Total Posts: 926

                        @theshadow

                        My dad wrote a paper about the origin of Christmas trees and how they aren’t actually pagan. December 24th is the feast of Adam and Eve, and this used to be celebrated with Paradise plays, or reenactments of the fall. The tree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, hence the tradition of hanging balls on it, representing fruit. We eventually lost the plays, I don’t remember why for certain because the I haven’t read the paper since last year, but I think it was because the Reformation got rid of a lot of Catholic feast days, but kept the trees, and they became Christmas trees. Traditionally, Christmas trees would be cut and decorated Christmas Eve, though that has changed for most people. We would still do it, if there were any decent trees left at that point.😂 We got it Sunday.🎄

                        Tempus adest gratiae
                        Hoc quod optabamus,
                        Carmina laetitiae
                        Devote reddamus!

                        #192274
                        The Ducktator
                        @theducktator
                          • Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
                          • Total Posts: 926

                          Please don’t burn me at the stake, but fruitcake is AMAZING  and an essential part of Christmas.

                          Tempus adest gratiae
                          Hoc quod optabamus,
                          Carmina laetitiae
                          Devote reddamus!

                          #192294
                          Linus Smallprint
                          @linus-smallprint
                            • Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
                            • Total Posts: 626

                            @theshadow

                            Yes, I do celebrate Christmas. My dad loves the season and has a playlist with over 1000 tracks on an old iPod that is played throughout December every year. We build jigsaw puzzles (many of them). Christmas Eve is when we open gifts as a family, and on Christmas day we head out to my grandparent’s church.

                            Our church throws a Christmas concert at this time with a play for the advent of Christ as well. (I go to a non-denominational, although we are kind of becoming our own denomination. Our pastor was trained at The Master’s Seminary and we have a habit of sticking ‘grace’ in the titles of everything. I think we’ve become either ‘Gracists’ or ‘MacArthurites’). We don’t do any special Christmas messages as far as I can remember, though. Our pastor usually carries on with whatever he was preaching through before. And we sing some regular hymns with the Christmas ones on these Sundays as well.

                            However, there are several families at our church who don’t celebrate Christmas. In case you want more thoughts from the other side, I will share why they don’t. For some families, it is the reasons @freed_and_redeemed mentioned. Talking to the mother of one of these families, she told me that it would be fine if the trees and gift-giving were all separate from a celebration of Jesus’ birth. Another family recently stopped because they found presents were becoming an unhealthy focus instead of Christ. So I think they now spend Christmas without trees, gifts, Santa, etc. and just remember Christ’s birth.

                            #192295
                            Linus Smallprint
                            @linus-smallprint
                              • Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
                              • Total Posts: 626

                              @theducktator

                              Please don’t burn me at the stake, but fruitcake is AMAZING  and an essential part of Christmas.

                              When someone comes into the bulk food store and buys the glased fruit to make a fruit cake after I just cleaned the scoops.

                              Me:

                              I can’t wait for this part of Christmas to be over…

                              #192419
                              TheShadow
                              @theshadow
                                • Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
                                • Total Posts: 400

                                @liberty

                                So, what are you concluding now?

                                Good question lol. As of late. I’ve become very overly obsessive over whether something is right or wrong, and this isn’t the only subject I’ve been mulling over lately. I’m still not sure, because I don’t want to end up doing what’s wrong, but I also can’t confirm that Christmas is 100% bad either.

                                What traditions are you not sure about?

                                Christmas trees mainly. I feel like there’s too many conflicting things with it.

                                My family has actually talked about this before because we didn’t really celebrate Christmas for years, and we have some friends who don’t celebrate it at all.

                                Really? What made your family celebrate it again?

                                We know many earlier Christians here in America, the Pilgrims, and even some Colonial people didn’t celebrate Christmas. All they knew was that it was an evil, heathen holiday.

                                That’s what I’ve heard, but I think they believed 90% of what Catholics did was pagan.

                                But we also learned that some Germans didn’t think of Christmas that way. Martin Luther celebrated Christmas as an event to celebrate and proclaim the birth of the Savior. The tradition of decorating Christmas trees with candles is also associated with him.

                                Interesting.


                                @theducktator

                                December 24th is the feast of Adam and Eve, and this used to be celebrated with Paradise plays, or reenactments of the fall. The tree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, hence the tradition of hanging balls on it, representing fruit.

                                That’s really fascinating, thanks.

                                Please don’t burn me at the stake, but fruitcake is AMAZING  and an essential part of Christmas.

                                Never had it lol.


                                @linus-smallprint

                                We build jigsaw puzzles (many of them).

                                Jigsaw puzzles? That’s cool.

                                Our church throws a Christmas concert at this time with a play for the advent of Christ as well. (I go to a non-denominational, although we are kind of becoming our own denomination. Our pastor was trained at The Master’s Seminary and we have a habit of sticking ‘grace’ in the titles of everything. I think we’ve become either ‘Gracists’ or ‘MacArthurites’). We don’t do any special Christmas messages as far as I can remember, though. Our pastor usually carries on with whatever he was preaching through before. And we sing some regular hymns with the Christmas ones on these Sundays as well.

                                Nice, my uncle works at a non-denominational church.

                                In case you want more thoughts from the other side, I will share why they don’t.

                                Sure.

                                Talking to the mother of one of these families, she told me that it would be fine if the trees and gift-giving were all separate from a celebration of Jesus’ birth. Another family recently stopped because they found presents were becoming an unhealthy focus instead of Christ. So I think they now spend Christmas without trees, gifts, Santa, etc. and just remember Christ’s birth.

                                Those are fair reasons. Over the years, Christmas has become way too commercialized. It’s scary how accurate the Charlie Brown Christmas special is when you compare it to modern times.

                                I can’t wait for this part of Christmas to be over…

                                Lol.

                                "No! Monkeys should have pets, all monkeys should have pets!"

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