Now, that being said, I don’t much care for Grinches or unrepentant Scrooges. I truly wish a wonderful holiday for those who keep it. However, ya gotta admit it… these two demots are DROP-DEAD FUNNY. This is the only day of the year that I can use ’em…
Have a laugh and pass the pivo… life is too short for us to be too serious about it…
BMD
Halloween is almost upon us, which means that commercial Xmas is about ready to begin. It begins right after Halloween, but it really doesn’t pick up steam until Black Friday, the day after American Thanksgiving. I call this day “the Black Mass of American Consumerism”. Everything that’s bad about America and Americans gets put on very public display. Every year, one hears about someone trampled to death or mauled by other crazy shoppers. As for me, I avoid malls until after 25 December… I don’t like the hype, the tension, and the angst on display. It’s not the crowds… it’s not the crass commercialisation of a sacred holiday… it’s the joyless and haunted look on the faces of the people. No one really likes Xmas and its ritualised greed, but it seems that most give in to it. Truly… the canned vapid carols and the goofy decorations don’t bother me. It’s the people… their lemming-like acquiescence in something that they don’t truly want to do. Christmas and Xmas are two different things. Welcome the Christ Child into your home… have a family celebration… yes, give a gift or two (or three). Have a JOYOUS day. You don’t have to give in to Xmas. By the way, Santa’s OK (share a cone with Santa, as Kevin Bloody Wilson sang)… he’s no ogre unless you make him one. We’ll all survive the coming holiday blitz. Have a drink and smile.
BMD
The Mid-Winter Holiday is what it is… what it is, simply put, is a secular holiday. That being so, let it be! There are idiots who attack everything that isn’t “religious”… that’s crackbrained. Enjoy it… there’s precious little enough smiling in life, particularly, in these times of “austerity” and Affluent Effluent attacks on working people. Santa isn’t St Nick… they’re not mutually exclusive. Lighten up… “Happy Holidays”… by the way…
BMD
Volunteers clad in Santa Claus costumes throw their hats in the air as they gather to deliver gifts to the poor in downtown Seoul (Seoul National Capital Area) ROK.
Christmas at St Adalbert of Prague Roman Catholic parish in Kaliningrad (Kaliningrad Oblast. Northwestern Federal District) RF.
British travellers Liam Wadeson (left), Jemma Wild and Ashley Colotta, (right), frolic in the waves as they celebrate Christmas Day at Bondi Beach in Sydney (Sydney Region. New South Wales) AUSTRALIA.
The choir at Shrine of Mary Help of Christian Church sings during Christmas Mass in Nairobi (Nairobi County. Nairobi Metro Area) KENYA.
A Chinese man prays during Christmas Eve mass of at the South Cathedral official Catholic church in Beijing (Beijing Municipality) PRC.
Members of a local parachute club wearing Santa Claus costumes fly past residential buildings dropping presents to pedestrians during a promotional event celebrating Christmas in Guiyang (Guizhou Province) PRC.
A Pakistani Christian family gathers around a fire to warm themselves from the evening cold in an alley of a Christian neighbourhood decorated with festive lights for Christmas in Islamabad (Islamabad Capital Area) PAKISTAN.
Men look at a Christmas tree, with pictures of the 43 missing trainee teachers, in the Ayotzinapa Teacher Training Raul Isidro Burgos College in Ayotzinapa, on the outskirts of Chilpancingo de los Bravo (Guerrero) MEXICO.
On Christmas Eve, a Palestinian dressed as Santa Claus holds balloons at Manger Square, outside the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed by Christians to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem (Bethlehem Governorate) PALESTINE.
A man exits an illuminated Church on Christmas Eve in Ahmedabad (Ahmedabad District. Gujarat State) INDIA.
Archbishop Paolo Pezzi (centre) during Midnight Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Moscow (Federal City of Moscow. Central Federal District) RF.
Indian girls pose for photos near decorative statues of Santa Claus outside a church on Christmas in Mumbai (Mumbai City District. Maharashtra State) INDIA.
A US Army soldier from the 3 Cavalry Regiment dressed as Santa Claus greets fellow soldiers eating Christmas lunch at Forward Operating Base Gamberi in Laghman Province of Afghanistan.
Pope Francisco Bergoglio kissed the statue of baby Jesus as he arrived to lead Christmas Midnight Mass at St Peter Basilica in Vatican City. He prayed for peace in the Ukraine and decried the “brutal persecution” of Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq and Syria in his traditional Christmas address, known as the Urbi et Orbi (to the city and the world).
Christmas is one of the main Christian holidays. It’s an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus, observed as a religious and cultural tradition among billions of people across the world. Christmas Day is a public holiday in many of the world’s nations, and a great number of non-Christian people celebrate it. According to the Gregorian calendar, the Roman Catholic Church and most Protestant churches celebrate Christmas on 25 December. Roman Emperor Theodosius II made the decision to celebrate Christmas on 25 December at the Third Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in 431.
Advent precedes Christmas, which starts four weeks before Christmas. This period is supposed to prepare the faithful the birth of Jesus. The festive customs associated in various countries with Christmas mix pre-Christian, Christian, and secular themes and origins. Popular customs of the holiday include gift giving, completing an Advent calendar, Christmas music and carolling, a special meal, and the display of various Christmas decorations, such as Christmas trees, Christmas lights, and garlands.
Christmas is associated with Santa Claus, also known as also known as St Nicholas and Father Christmas, a cultural figure with legendary, folkloric, and historic origins. In many Western cultures, folklore has it that Santa Claus brings presents to the homes of good children the night before Christmas. According to early Roman Christian traditions, three special liturgies are served on Christmas… a midnight Mass, a Mass at dawn, and a Mass during the day. In the Roman Catholic Church, Christmas celebrations last for eight days, from 25 December to 1 January, a period known as the Octave.
The North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) tracks Santa Claus when he leaves his official residence in the North Pole and flies around the world in his sleigh. NORAD has tracked Santa’s journey for more than 50 years. As gift-giving and many other Christmas customs involve heightened economic activity, the holiday became a key sales period for retailers and businesses all around the world. Groups and schools often perform Nativity plays and Christmas pageants during the holiday period. They depict the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. The tradition dates from the 10th-century Roman Empire.
25 December 2014
Sputnik International
Voices from Russia 
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