Happy Christmas from me and my dog

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 3:33 am

Sadly, his name is Chudleigh rather than Rudy, but otherwise this is spot on.

http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.a ... 0263787433

John · Post by **John** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 7:12 am

Thanks for that, Otis. My two girls enjoyed that so much I was kicked off the computer while they ran all the e-cards from that website.

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 7:19 am

I admire you for having the courage of your convictions. But, as an atheist, I am mortally offended by your use of the word "Christmas" (I, of course, would never dream of wishing anyone a "Merry" or "Happy" "Christmas"), and I feel obliged to take my cyber-friendship elsewhere. Hope it was worth it.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 7:59 am

Otis Westinghouse wrote:Sadly, his name is Chudleigh

Indeed. Poor bastard.

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 8:05 am

These things make me puke.

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 8:42 am

so lacklustre wrote:These things make me puke.

And that is why we love you.

The boy and I are doing the whole Christmas thing today-- tree, decorations, music, and, if we have time, making candy to give to some of his friends.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 9:46 am

selfmademug wrote:The boy and I are doing the whole Christmas thing today-- tree, decorations, music, and, if we have time, making candy to give to some of his friends.

Getting the tree and putting it up is my favorite part of Christmas. The only problem is that my mother-in-law gave us these beautiful ornaments a few years ago that weigh a ton. The only tree that has branches strong enough to support them - a Frasier fur - is also the most expensive tree on the lot (luckily, it's also the most fragrant). Between the tree and a wreath for the front door, I dropped $80.

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 9:49 am

I have a handful of ornaments that are too heavy for the tree-- I usually hang them in the windows. My problem is I have too many ornaments for a tree that goes in 5th floor apartment! My mom always bought us each a new ornament every year, and I've continued that tradition with my son. He gets to unwrap it and put that on on the tree first. And I still have ones I made as a kid, and of course ones the boy has made, and goofy ones that remind me of my childhood, and German glass ones that belonged to my Great Grandmother... it all builds up to quite a lot!

And I always listen to the Nutcracker when decorating the tree.

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 11:31 am

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 12:30 pm

Has anyone else on the board heard about those upside down Christmas trees? Them shits are going for like $400 bucks at Target, man!

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 8:09 pm

Should I rename this thread 'Happy holidays...'?

Extreme Honey · Post by **Extreme Honey** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 8:50 pm

Otis Westinghouse wrote:Should I rename this thread 'Happy holidays...'?

I think that the whole debate on "Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays" is a clever propaganda-fueled war to cover up all the REAL shit done by Christians the last millenia.

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 9:32 pm

miss buenos aires wrote:I admire you for having the courage of your convictions. But, as an atheist, I am mortally offended by your use of the word "Christmas" (I, of course, would never dream of wishing anyone a "Merry" or "Happy" "Christmas"), and I feel obliged to take my cyber-friendship elsewhere. Hope it was worth it.

Welcome to the war against Xmas, Ms. BA, as we spread our evil anti-yuletide plan with our inverted Christmas trees (which are basically just Yuletide version of Satanic inverted crosses, btw). It's all part of my plan for worldwide Jewish domination. I mean, controlling the media and spreading the evil religion of secular humanism (or, as we actually call it "Secular Satanism"...oxymoron, oxyshoron!") is nice and all, but we want it all baby. Say goodbye to your buckwheat pancakes goyim...soon, you'll all be eating blueberry blintzes!

They called me insane at the Wilshire Blvd. Temple, but I'll show them. I'll show them all!

P.S. My cat, whose hair is red, name is "Bonnie," and who eats pork by-products on a regular basis who I therefore assume to be a Scottish member of the C of E, wishes you all a very happy yuletide. Having goyim for pets can be a real bitch.

laughingcrow · Post by **laughingcrow** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 3:25 pm

HO HO HO, MERRY DAY OFF WORK!

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 8:56 pm

Extreme Honey wrote:
Otis Westinghouse wrote:Should I rename this thread 'Happy holidays...'?
I think that the whole debate on "Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays" is a clever propaganda-fueled war to cover up all the REAL shit done by Christians the last millenia.

And I see some of use are fighting the war on common sense.

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 9:32 pm

bobster, have you read Heeb's Big Book of Jewish Conspiracies? It's a spoof of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion that explains how everything from the Renaissance to Wal-Mart is the result of...a Jewish conspiracy. It makes for excellent bathroom reading, if you are the sort of person who does that sort of thing. (I read books in my extremely feminine bubble bath.)

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 11:36 am

I was reminded this morning about a weekly ocurrance for me growing up. As I've doubtless mentioned before, I grew up in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Baltimore. My family were the only gentiles for blocks. Every Friday night, when the sun went down and the Sabbath began for all of our neighbors, you'd see a stream of people heading to the local synagogue. As they passed one another, they'd offer "Good Shabbos" as a greeting. If it was Yom Kippur, it would be "Good Yontiff" (which I always found odd, since the purpose of Yom Kippur is to atone for the year's sins. I mean, how do you have a good day doing that? But I digress). If I found myself on the sidewalk at dusk on a Friday, or during the day on a Saturday, I always felt that it was just a matter of manners to chime in with "Good Shabbos." I must have said that a couple thousand times over the course of 18 years, and my greeting was always appreciated and reciprocated. At Christmas, when my house was the only one literally for miles with Christmas lights, the neighbors always made a point of saying how nice they looked. I never tried to convert any of my neighbors, and they never tried to tell me Jesus was no big shakes. We managed to coexist quite pleasantly for decades.

I don't know which people who are all in a tangle over the current Merry Christmas v. Happy Holidays are more annoying frankly. One one hand, there's the ones who are militant about saying Merry Christmas, using the greeting as if it were a weapon. "You will have a happy birthday party for Jesus!" On the other hand, the vast majority of people in the US celebrate Christmas. It seems as ludicrous for someone to feel threatened by people saying 'Merry Christmas' as it would have for me to have gotten in a twist about my neighbors openly celebrating Purim or Passover. Some people need to learn how to express a holiday greeting without barely vailed malice. And others need to learn to look past the specific greeting of whatever holiday to the spirit of the inteded message, which is always essentially "Have a good day." If a sincerely expressed "Have a good day" in any form pisses you off, you have issues. If you use "Have a good day" as a hammer, you're a jerk.

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 11:49 am

That's an interesting story and I agree with your comments for the most part. I don't, personally, know any non-Christians who gets their undies in a bundle when wished a Merry Christmas (well, one, person maybe). But what was wrong with the trend of saying Happy Holidays? Nothing.

Let me just quote Nicholas Kristoff's piece in the NYT yesterday and then I'll shut up on the matter:

Let us all pray for Bill O'Reilly.

Let us pray that Mr. O'Reilly will understand that the Christmas spirit isn't about hectoring people to say "Merry Christmas," rather than "Happy Holidays," but about helping the needy.

Let us pray that Mr. O'Reilly will use his huge audience and considerable media savvy to save lives and fight genocide, instead of to vilify those he disagrees with. Let him find inspiration in Jesus, rather than in the Assyrians.

Finally, let's pray that Mr. O'Reilly and other money-changers in the temple will donate the funds they raise exploiting Christmas - covering the nonexistent "War on Christmas" rakes in viewers and advertising - to feed the hungry and house the homeless.

Amen.

Alas, not all prayers can be answered. Fox News Channel's crusade against infidels who prefer generic expressions like "Happy Holidays" included 58 separate segments in just a five-day period.

After I suggested in last Sunday's column that a better way to honor the season might be to stand up to genocide in Darfur (a calamity that Mr. O'Reilly has ignored), Mr. O'Reilly denounced me on his show as a "left-wing ideologue." Bless you, Mr. O'Reilly, and Merry Christmas to you, too!

Later in the show, Mr. O'Reilly described us print journalists in general as "a bunch of vicious S.O.B.'s." Bless you again, Mr. O'Reilly; I'll pray harder for the Christmas spirit to soften your pugnacious soul.

Look, I put up a "Christmas tree," rather than a "holiday tree," and I'm sure Mr. O'Reilly is right that political correctness leads to absurd contortions this time of year. But when you've seen what real war does, you don't lightly use the word to describe disagreements about Christmas greetings. And does it really make sense to offer 58 segments on political correctness and zero on genocide?

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 1:10 pm

merry christmas, ailurophiles!*

(that Word-A-Day thingy is great!)

*I can't wait to try this at home. Speck in a Santa hat! Socks with a bow! Bandaids all over me!

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 2:53 pm

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051218/od ... 1218151751

This is the kind of thing that Ivan Reitman used to make broad, mildly funny comedies about.

ReadyToHearTheWorst · Post by **ReadyToHearTheWorst** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 3:48 pm

santarchy anyone ?

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 8:29 pm

mug,

I hope no one would ever mistake my above comments as being in an way supportive of Bill O'Reilly. He's the king of the jerks.

And for the record, there's nothing wrong with Happy Holidays. I have no problem with any such greeting. I'm a bit surprised that the non-religious would dig Happy Holidays, if only because it technically means "Happy Holy Days." But I guess that's like "Good Yontif"--whatever floats your boat.

Something did occur to me earlier today that I hadn't thought of before. "Merry Christmas" is clearly a Christ-oriented statement. It literally means "Have a happy time at the special prayer mass for Christ." So I can see why some might not want to say that. But what struck me earlier was that it's actually quite odd for Christians to insist on non-believers or the neutral to use the greeting at this time of year. In effect, O'Reilly and his ilk are demanding that non-believers break one of the 10 commandments (the third, to be precise). That's the one where it says not to use the name of God in vain. If I insist that someone say "Merry Christmas" who doesnt' actually believe that Christ was God, I'm inviting them to use the name of Christ without reverence. And meaningless utterance of the name of god is strictly forbidden. O'Reilly is apostate; that's all there is to it.

I don't believe that it's really a violation of the 3rd Commandment, by the way. But it's just as good an argument as the militants are using. Stronger even. Shame on them.

wardo68 · Post by **wardo68** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 8:56 pm

I came to this thread late I see. Anyway, I enjoyed the link, Otis. Thanks for putting it up.

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 2:02 am

So I went tot he mall for the very last time today before Christmas, and I heard something hi-diddly-larious. As I walked into Dillard's (for those unfamiliar, it's a department store along the lines of Macy's or Bloomingdales, if just a bit more affordable), I noticed signs saying "Happy Holidays" in prominant places. I actually heard another shopper scoff and say, "See? They're refusing to say 'Merry Christmas,' too. Let's go to Foley's."

My wife worked for Dillard's almost ten years ago, and see, the thing is, the Dillard family is Jewish. So the above made me laugh very hard. Granted I was laughing at the shopper and not with her. But it was fun for me, anyway. I just wanted to share.

alexv · Post by **alexv** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 1:59 pm

Here's AlexV's ruling: I decree that people should be free to say mery christmas, or happy holidays or happy kwanza or feliz navidad or whatever, with no compunction.

If the person to whom the greeting is offered celebrates a different "holiday" he or she has the option to: (1) answer with reference to his or her "holiday", with a smile or frown depending on how they interpret the initiator's greeting (no violence though, that's cruel); (2) answer by saying that they observe a different holiday, thereby possibly getting a nice conversation started; (3) answer by telling the person to fuck off (an extreme response not worthy of civilized people, unless the person to whom the response is uttered is an asshole). The only other possible response is silence.

Government and business should of course follow a different course, and adopt the neutral "happy holidays" usage. These institutions must remain blandly neutral since they deal with groups of people and not with specific individuals.

Only those people to whom a "holiday" greeting is offered should be permitted to waste other people's time by going on and on abut the issue. These people, the ones who go on and on, are really after bigger fish in our culture wars, and should only be permitted to talk about these things with their fellow combatants.

So ordered.

Elvis Costello Fan Forum

Happy Christmas from me and my dog

Happy Christmas from me and my dog

Re: Happy Christmas from me and my dog

Pawli says Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Season's G, etc.