Well, I wanted to save at least 20 bucks this month, but something told me I better get my butt that 60 miles and buy that tree...which was good, 'cause Walmart only had the floor display one left. I now have my Decepticon purple tree!  

--Moony

 

Rodster, have you heard of the 1970 movie musical "Scrooge" with Albert Finney and 1951 "A Christmas Carol" with Alastair Sim? Both of those are my favorites.

I have always like Christmas in 19th Century England.

 

It's probably already been said in this thread, and it's going to sound cliché too but the true spirit of Christmas is about the giving not the getting.

Also, Christmas is what you make of it, not what you expect to happen.

You want to have a more fulfilling Christmas?

- Volunteer at a homeless shelter or a soup kitchen over the holidays.
- Start a canned food, coats, or toys drive in your neighborhood and donate them to a local church, charity, or organization that helps needy families.
- Host a fundraiser (like a talent show or concert) and collect money for military families where the spouse has been killed or injured in the line of duty.
- Instead of buying presents to exchange at the office/work Christmas party, have everyone donate the money they were going to spend on those gifts and collect it for a local charity instead.
- Get a group of friends up and go sing carols at retirement homes.

Seriously. Christmas isn't about you at all. It's about what you can do for others. As the saying goes, "It's more blessed to give than to receive."

 

i spent christmas alone until last year. but before then. my mom and 2 sisters would go to my grandmothers house. my dad wouldn't go because honestly, people on my mom's family don't fully respect him. except my grandma. and i would stay home with my dad until he goes to a friends house without telling me and without me noticing. and then im left all alone. from xmas 2000 to 2006 this would happen.

until last year when many of my relatives on my mom side were in trouble in one way or another, guess who they ask... no begged for help from? MY DAD. and he help. and they finally realized how much of a D*** they all where behaving and my dad was happy and humble about it. and my grandma too. but not my mom. they been divorced for 18 years and its amazing the dislike she carries after all these years.

my dad doesnt spend xmas alone anymore since finally he got his family who lived in another country moved near us last year. he cried so much because he was happy. as for me. it was july last year and i was already thinking of spending xmas alone. until someone i knew as a friend told me how she really felt about me.

xmas 2007: best xmas ever. and how everything has been turning out lately, this year's xmas will be great too.

i think as you get older, a different kind of christmas magic starts to form.

 

I agree. I normally donate money, for "Toys for Tots" and Salvation Army around Christmastime. It just makes me feel better knowing that I did something charitable for those who are less fortunate than I am.

Nicely put.

 

Well said.

 

Christmas definitely changed as you get older. I still like the season but naturally the things that made it exciting as a child go away.

Now if only people would stop decorating for Christmas in September like absolute fucking ******s I'd enjoy it even more.

 

There's a radio station in Detroit that starts playing Christmas music early... how early? I think last year they started right around Halloween. Crazy, isn't it? I just wish they could wait 'til at least after Thanksgiving, like the other local stations.

I don't mind the stores putting Christmas stuff out before Thanksgiving, but not as early as September or October.

Mom's started playing Christmas music well over a week ago (mostly the Mannheim Steamroller CDs), after we listened to a promo CD from one of her magazines. I resisted it at first, but finally I broke down and started playing Celtic-style, instrumental Christmas music while I'm working on my laptop.

Decorations come out straight after Thanksgiving in my house.

 

Christmas is greatest holiday of the year......Thank God for Jesus.

 

I quite agree!

 

I like Christmas music. I enjoy it on the radio, it makes my whole commute happy. I like that they start it right after Halloween. Obviously there is a market for it if they do it. Radio stations are businesses and are not out to force Christ down the airwaves throats. If they are doing it, it is because people want it. What else is a 'soft rock' or 'oldies' station going to play as their music selection has been set in stone for 20 years...

 

Couldn't have said it better myself.  

 

As long as the family's there , and maybe a shitload of food, Christmas is awesome

It's not opening up those G1's that I remember the most as a kid, it was hanging out with grandma & granpa with their kids, and watching the news & football games.
Even Mossman was kinda cool then

 

There is a local radio station where I live and will start playing Christmas music sometime nextweek. I remember they started playing early three years ago and some people were shocked about it. The Music Choice cable channels started playing Christmas music on Nov 1st.

There is a craft store called "Hobby Lobby" and they always started putting out Christmas decorations around the 1st of July. Anyway, I asked an employee why do they put out Christmas decorations in the middle of summer
and she said that people like to buy the decorations very early.

 

I hate it when people do that. I mean, what the hell?! And they do it during October as well.

 

I havent seen one Thanksgiving commercial at all yet. Wtf?

 

Really? Before I moved here to NM I lived in michigan actually not to far from you, I lived in romulus next to the Detroit Metro Airport,and I loved that christmas station, especially when Trans-siberian came to town and played.....they aren't coming to NM  

 

It makes my commute happy, too... but I prefer waiting until at least half-way through November before putting Christmas music on. Besides, it kinda gets on my brother's nerves if Christmas music gets played too early.

Like, wow... some radio stations just really get into the Christmas spirit early... unbelievable...

Really? You used to live in Romulus?

 

My Christmas dont have much going on either. I meet family, eat food, get maybe one or two gifts and go home. One time I just sat at home playing games on the computer all day, which to me is a perfect day.

I would like to do more things with my dad though, some times we go to the movie theater and see some movie but I feel he's become disenchanted (that the right word?) with movies, fuck, I dont know what else I could do with him.