To think people are ridiculous for moaning at the little things on Christmas, forgetting the true meaning?

[questionqueeen2022]

This season is about Jesus. Celebrating his birth and the amazing things he did for us. Not getting the latest gadgets and drinking games. Although all of that can be fun, did you take your children to church this year?? Teach your children about God

What about the musical, he was good in that too.

My children (with me) went to church on 3/4 of the Sundays during advent, also my eldest was in his school nativity, and we went to church again on Christmas morning. Obviously we still had a massive and yes, boozy Christmas lunch and the kids went crazy with excitement over Father Christmas and their presents!

How other people celebrate Christmas (or Yule, Hanukkah or whatever else they are celebrating) is up to them. You don't win people over to Christianity by yelling at them about Jesus. As Christians we can just pray that everyone has a happy, restful and hopeful few days.

December 25th was chosen by church leaders in the 4th century to appeal to non Christian's who already celebrated winter solstice and birth of the Roman god Mithras, there are no actual dates in the bible IIRC.

So the 'real' meaning is what, how clever marketing started centuries of violence and oppression?

Or perhaps just put the judgement aside and let everyone celebrate how they want to.

No we didn't go to church. We're not Christians. We did have presents, food, twinkly lights and a tree because a festival in midwinter is a great tradition to observe.
How clever of the Christians to invent one. 😉

I can't believe you're using tech to post on Mumsnet on Jesus' birthday OP. God will be fuming with you.

I thought Christmas was invented by the Bauble Manufacturer's Association to create a larger market for their products, as the Chocolate Novelty Affilation had aleady got Easter sewn up.

In this house, Jesus/God are stories that feature in RE lessons (alongside any other form of organised religion).

We celebrate consumerism 😂

Well I don’t believe in God so no we didn’t go to church, and your true meaning of Christmas is not the same as mine. For me it’s cultural, an excuse to chill with family, and if anything it’s about winter and the solstice but the country (eg annual leave/offices closing) fits in better with Christmas hence we stick to the 25th as the main day.

Teach my children about God ... we're atheists . So for us , that's not what the holiday is about

I always thought it was the Wine Merchants Association to ensure we kept our alcohol consumption high🍷

We celebrate the mid winter festival by eating, drinking, lighting candles and music, a feast to take us into the light of the oncoming year.

Who's moaning, OP? I don't celebrate Jesus per se but celebrate being together with good food & drink. No latest gadgets here either

Dont preach to me about what to teach my family. It’s none of your business if we preach that Jeff Bazos is the almighty saviour and we celebrate him with day of Amazon gifts.

go away and bother people.

The Church of England is just a variety of Christianity. All religions have been hijacked by man to suit themselves rather than the doctrine itself.

As someone who was brought up as a Catholic and was forced to attend Church every Sunday and went to a Catholic school but who hasn't been to church now for 30 years (except for funerals), I'm afraid that religion is not the focus of our Christmas.
DS went to a CofE Primary School and by the age of 11 (without any influence from me) he decided that he was a non believer.
We are not hugely into consumerism in this family, so our Christmas is about being together and enjoying finer food and drink than we would eat normally. So I'm not in agreement with your beliefs.

I taught my DC about gods, and also history, other cultures and science. Here's a link with a bit about the latter two - midwinter festivals are ubiquitous in the northern hemisphere. The alignment of ancient monuments such as Newgrange in Ireland and Stonehenge attests to humankind's long marking of the seasons.

www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/when-winter-solstice-shortest-day

www.ireland.ie/en/visit/irish-winter-solstice-watch-the-chamber-illumination-of-newgrange-live/

The Church of England is just a variety of Christianity. All religions have been hijacked by man to suit themselves rather than the doctrine itself.

All religions are man-made. So many, with number of deities from zero upwards.

Nothing boring about a Christingle or a lively carol service.

But all religions are man made in the first instance. Men (and it’s always men, regardless of religion) built an entire religion around this one man, formulated by his followers after his death over subsequent centuries.

It's not a religious holiday in our house. It's Santa Claus and elves which is much more plausible

That's like saying I wouldn't get involved in the acting profession or music because of Harvey Weinstein or Gary Glitter. Extreme yes. Not every priest vicar and bishop is a pervert.

I'm with everyone else. This is midwinter celebrations, Yuletide, etc

Father Christmas wasn't inspired by Christianity, he was the spirit of the midwinter festivity season which in England was always drinking, dancing, giving presents, partying and saving all the best food up to have a big feast before real winter comes

Sorry but it ain't about Jesus. His time to shine is Easter

But the church holds itself up as being righteous and holy but really is corrupted.

Easter is about the Easter eggs🤣