Seasons greetings from Peter and the Woof…

When I first started writing here on Open Diary, which was nine years ago… one of my favorite diaries to read was Zombywoof. He and I had our epic debates and I’m not ashamed to say I lost more than I won but a few went my way… not many but a few. He was a great writer, in my opinion one of the best to grace this website so I was sad to see him disappear from my bookmarks. Thanks to a common site, I was able to hook back up with Woof, and trade thoughts, feelings and writings about a whole mess of stuff. I had truly missed hearing from him, and he’s the one dude from OD that I did and still do want to be friends with in the real world. Anyway, Woof posted a very enlightening piece about the upcoming holiday season and with his permission, I am proud to post a new writing from the Zombywoof himself on Open Diary. Take a gander and enjoy!

Peter

Keep Christ Out Of Christmas!

Written by Zombywoof

Everyone loves Christmas.

Granted, Christmas in South Florida is not your classic Norman Rockwell event. There is no snow. If we’re lucky we get a cold snap around 50 degrees, though more often than not our air conditioners are running on Christmas Day. Nobody owns a fireplace, or if they do they don’t have the faintest clue how it works. And there’s really no sense of community, no churches or caroling or anything like that. Most of the people in my hometown are Jewish. And they love Christmas too.

I guess it’s just a sense of closure. You get a break from the drudgery of work or school. You eat a lot. You spend lots of money. That’s really all Christmas is. A month to splurge.

Now this year I’m seeing a lot more of those stickers on cars, the ones that say KEEP CHRIST IN CHRISTMAS. Those make me laugh.

Christmas is not, and never has been, a Christian holiday.

Christmas is actually the winter solstice. The longest night of the year. Every culture on the planet celebrates this day, because it marks the worst part of the winter (unless you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, in which case it’s the longest day of summer and also a good day to party). If you’ve made it that far, you’ll probably be okay. The Romans took over the holiday in the 5th century to make it easier for the pagans to digest Christianity.

Jesus Christ was not born on December 25th. In fact, aside from the Bible, there’s no historical evidence that Jesus was born at all. But if he was born, it certainly wasn’t on that day. Biblical scholars (which is a funny term) can’t agree when the man’s birthday was. There is not a single month that isn’t endorsed by a major theologian as the official birth month of Jesus. I’m glad they’re so certain about things.

But whatever. Who cares where it came from. We put up lights, we put up a tree, we drink, we become merry.

And now, thanks to the all-seeing eye of Fox News, there is a perceived “War on Christmas”, by which the evil secularists are trying to steal back Christmas and turn it into some kind of holiday where people have fun and stuff. And the Nazi element of Christianity comes out and puts tags on their cars, as if it is some kind of political movement, to prevent people from having a good time on a holiday.

What assholes.

I urge you to urinate on the next car you see with that sticker.

K.Frances

O please don’t get me started on those people. I’m happy they’re pleased with their faith, but they can kiss my menorah, jump my solstice fire, and skewer themselves on my Christmas tree. EVERYBODY is in on that last solstice of the year. Can’t we all just say “Happy Holidays” and mean it? How ’bout you people keep your expectations out of my holiday, how ’bout that? Nice entry, Peter.

Mrs. Tiny Duckie

December 23, 2009

I agree with K.Frances. Let me celebrate the holiday how I want to celebrate it and you celebrate it how you want to celebrate it. There is no difference between shoving Christ into Christmas for people who don’t believe and ripping Christ out of Christmas for people who do believe. I celebrate Christmas in my own home with my own family. It doesn’t affect anyone else, so they can stow it.

Erm..sort of agree, anyway. “How ’bout you people keep your expectations out of my holiday, how ’bout that?” I agree with that part. 😉 I wonder why it is that the sentence seems to only apply when directed to religious people, though.

http://www.opendiary.com/entryview.asp?authorcode=A139555&entry=21709 Thought you might like a portion of this Hoops entry, Peter. It’s not necessarily directed strictly at a particular group. If you like the way you celebrate the holidays, religious or not, I don’t think anyone should look down on you for it.

amerwitch

have you read http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20091215/us_time/08599194759000?

Rodge

Umm, the solstice is on the 21st of December. However, woof isn’t the only person who gets the date wrong – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6865257/Pagans-celebrate-winter-solstice-on-the-wrong-day.html

December 24, 2009

Rodge, I’d rather celebrate something on the wrong day than achknowledge the birth of someone that never existed. One is just a celebration in winter, the other is a scam that has fleeced the masses for centuries. Later,

Oh you will hear no argument from me on that score. I know very few people who rant and rave about God and Jesus this time of year anyway. Since I stopped being a Christian 5 years ago (thanks to both the hypocrisy of religion and the arguments of Richard Dawkins), I have enjoyed Christmas much more.

So true, I did my own entry a couple of days ago on the “War on Christmas.” And to answer one of your other noters, the reason the request to keep one’s expectations out of other people’s holidays is only directed at religious people is because it is the religious people (and the far right talking heads who started this “war” in their name) who seem to be all upset about it. If someone says “MerryChristmas” to me, that’s what I say back. Same with “Happy Holidays.” There’s a Focus on the Family website called Stand for Christmas which rates retailers on how “Christmas friendly” they are, as if retailers are a church whose purpose is to promote Christianity, and some of the comments directed at other faiths there are really nasty. Live and let live, I always say. Of course Christians should celebrate the holidays the way they want and not be hassled about it, but the same goes for everyone and if a retailer wants to include all people of all or (no) faiths in their retailing messages, that’s the basis of capitalism, isn’t it? Appealing to everyone to sell your stuff and make money? Oh, and zomby woof is one of my favorite Frank Zappa songs. Tell him thanks.

Avalon

December 28, 2009

I said basically this in a note on a favorite’s entry. Let’s face it – without a holiday to look forward to during the darkest part of the winter, people would kill themselves and/or each other. Doesn’t much matter what you call it. OMG, Zombywoof! I was a total lurker on his diary. Tell him to come back, that I might lurk again! ::laughs::