The urban guide to becoming self sufficient'ish
https://selfsufficientish.com/forum/
Fair enough for anyone to talk to children about rampant comsumerism and greed, but that's not what he was getting at. In his words he was objecting to children believing in fables, rather than, say, virgin birth. KWIM?contadina wrote:...but I think it's right that a priest should get children to think about the birth of Christ rather than what toys they are gong to receive.
.
I certainly agree strongly with the sentiments expressed above (except the crying, big butch blokes like me don't do that! No crying around here! *looks over shoulder*).Helsbells wrote:I actually really believe in the "fable" of Jesus, and I, along with my family celebrate the birth of Christ every year, and remember that he came to give the ultimate sacrifice to everyone, that was his gift to us.
Even though I have strong Christian beliefs, I always show respect for the beliefs of others and would never belittle their beliefs by saying that they were not true, that they were wrong, or make them feel stupid for what they believe in.
As a child I believed in Santa, and although I somtimes wish that there wasnt all the stress surrounding Christmas, I think I would want my children to believe in Santa, because it was so exciting and lovely for us, and my mum and dad loved seeing our faces on Christmas morning. But not at the expence of forgetting the real meaning (for Christians).
I find the commercialism of Christmas very upsetting, and actually cried when I was in town the other day because it was so awful just thinking I had to buy something, anything, just so I had something to give on Christmas day. In the end I left town with nothing, and decided that what would be the worst that would happen if my sister got a present a few days after Chrsitmas rather than on Christmas day? Answer...nothing! Actually it might be nice for her to get a present after Christmas to keep the fun and excitement going a little bit longer.
So I went home and very relaxingly bought some presents off the internet!
Under £100!!! Well done you. And what wonderful kids you have.lsm1066 wrote:This year, we had that great Paul Whitehouse character living in our house - Bugger-All Money! I did the whole of Christmas (including big dinner for us and my parents and all the presents) for 100 quid and my kids loved everything about it. They even said (and bear in mind they're 9 and 12 so growing or grown out of "Santa Claus") that Santa must exist because they got such fantastic presents when mum and dad had no money to get them anything. Oh my sweet boys! They'll be teenagers only too soon.
But if you want to really understand the commercialisation of Christmas, look no further than Santa himself. After all, he used to be dressed in green and was all sorts of shapes and sizes until a Coca Cola ad in 1931 made him a jolly fat man in a red suit. Perhaps that's also where we get the idea of being fat and happy?
Lynne
Father Christmas used to come and fill their stockings with little (rubbishy!) toys, crayons, oranges, sugar mice etc. They opened that before breakfast, of course...Presents from friends and relatives went under the tree and were opened after the Queen's Speech, and thank you letters were written a few days later. The children always knew who gave them what, and that the most-advertised toys were invariably too expensive, but that if they really, really wanted the gimmick of the year they could always save up and buy it for themselves...