Isn't It Grand! X-mas time is here!

[NOW tense]

Our businesses are failing, our economy sucks, and we are getting tested on the biggest credit card dump of every year. What to do. We want to consume, but we can't. What to do........ What to do.......... Businesses will fall, but we are in this together. In order to build a new economy we have to purge all the things that we put on our credit cards. We need to demand higher wages or what ever takes in order for us to be able to live better than nose to the grindstone month to month living, Or we need to consume less and smarter.

[Patchuli]

1. Welcome to DU

How come you don't have a profile anyway?

[NOW tense]

8. Still new to this

:hi:

[glinda]

2. This year in honor of the depression our "Pagan" tree

has only a a string of plain white lights. No ornaments no nothing. I usually put animal ornaments on it but since they are all endangered, we passed this year so I wouldn't get reminded.

[NOW tense]

7. I can't wait to set my feet

on the crunchy snow, and breath in to feel my nostrils freeze.

:hi:

[OwnedByFerrets]

21. I've not heard that said before, but it is extremely appropriate.....

ALL animals are endangered now. Ty

[Double T]

3. HO! HO! HO! NARY CHRISTMAS!!!!

And if YOU have all been good BIG boys and girls, there might be a stimulus rebate check in your Christmas stocking. And for all those that have asked for a bailout for Christmas, forget it! The rethugs have already emptied Santa's treasury for the next 100 years. It is beginning to look NOT like Christmas.

[NOW tense]

5. What to do...... What to do.........

Your post reminds me of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!". and I am not trying to be a smart ass either. Perhaps being good people will be the gift for Christmas this year. Perhaps the green greedy things have passed. Maybe we will see our wrongs.


Some things in life are bad,
They can really make you mad,
Other things just make you swear and curse,
When you're chewing life's gristle,
Don't grumble,
Give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best.
And...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHPOzQzk9Qo

[Double T]

11. The Grinches on wall street, in the WH and Congress have not only.........

stoled Christmas, THEY have stoled our country and its future. Green Greed hasn't passed, it has actually become much worse, specially since the bailout of the financial institutions.

[Fumesucker]

12. The Grinch eventually changed and became a good person.

I don't think we are going to find a real life Cindy Lou Who to reform our greedaholics.

[TripleKatPad]

22. What I do (at least thru this year)

I still have a job here in Michigan. A seemingly secure one here in auto country, although that could change on a dime, as my bosses have hinted.

My year-end bonus showed up in my checking account today. (I feel guilty, humbled, lucky and grateful to receive it.)

What works for me is to use my bonus for good causes. Tonight I made donations to food banks, heating funds, homeless shelters, the ACLU. Oh, and because the TripleKats wouldn't let me live in their house otherwise, I gave to some animal causes, too. (Check out Paws For A Cause if you need a feel-good moment. I saw a Paws dog in training at my supermarket the other day. I gave him a wink and stopped myself short of throwing my arms around him, being that he was in training and all.)

[norepubsin08]

4. FUCK CHRISTMAS!!!!!

[L0oniX]

19. YES ...FUCK CHRISTMAS.

Fuck the fucking fucked up fuckers christmas fuck.

[emilyg]

6. I love Christmas.

Not spending much.

[NOW tense]

9. The dirty Bird

I won't hold it against you. I nearly cried when the Vikes lost. I am not spending much either. We set a limit on all gifts and I will probably use gift cards to buy my Wife's present.

[roody]

10. A holy day should not have to cost money. I do not celebrate Xmas.

I am not a Christian. Every day is a holy day. I always noticed that holidays are a lot of work for women.

[Patchuli]

13. XMas is the commercial holiday

Christmas is the holy day. You will notice that 'X' takes the Christ out of the word.

Although I am Christian, you are right; holidays do make work for women. This year, I'm not doing much and we can't have decorations up inside with a kitten, so I'm taking it a little easier. That saves $ as well.

[Obamanaut]

15. Actually, the "X" in Xmas is not the alpha character "X" at all. You

might want to research that a bit - it is from the Greek and denotes christ and has been used for hundreds of years.

[asteroid2003QQ47]

16. Oh christ! I can't use the "X" anymore? Happy Festivus. n/t

[Obamanaut]

17. Thanks, and to you and yours as well. So few celebrate Festivus

any more.

[Patchuli]

20. Or not

The point is, I only see it used when it denotes the commercial aspect of the holy day.

[Obamanaut]

24. I guess you've not seen "big christmas sale", or "new arrivals, just

in time for christmas" or one I just saw on teevee "walmart makes christmas more affordable." The whole thing is commercial.

Christmas and it's associated celebrations break all of your ten commandments - here's one:

Do Not Covet -- Children learn to covet the gifts of others, to drool over the Christmas catalog, to drag their parents endlessly through toy stores, all in the name of "the Christmas spirit."

As was said in an earlier post "Happy Festivus" or even "Have a nice Winter Solstice"

[Patchuli]

26. Yep, but it's not mandatory you know

to treat this holiest of days to Christians as a gimme, gimme thing unless that's all one cares about. For me, it's stuffing shoeboxes full of goodies for poor children on my church's mission to Mexico, helping the Salvation Army ring bells for donations for the poor and celebrating the birth of my Lord. It's all about where your heart is.

The rest of that is mere noise.

[Obamanaut]

27. Well then, I've misjudged you, and I apologize. Please read my

post 18, which is an email that we sent from my house to everyone we know.

[asteroid2003QQ47]

14. Uh Oh, We're In The Red, Dear

Uh Oh, We're In The Red, Dear

Uh oh we're in the red, dear
On our credit card it shows
Christmas is almost over
But the debit line still grows
Shopping like Santa's zombies
Sent our budget down in flames
But all our Christmas spirit
Helped the giant retail chains

I'm so foggy Christmas Eve
Wondering how we'll pay
Christmas doesn't seem so bright
When our budget is so tight.

So here's a plan for next year
Let's forget the shopping spree
Let's give a gift of love, so
All our Christmas gifts are free!

More tunes>
eridani, Caroling for social justice
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=114x31614

[Obamanaut]

18. That made my face smile. Here is the email that we sent to all

our friends and relatives, most of whom are republican, and many are fundamentalists. I think it goes nicely with the last stanza of your song:

Between now and the New Year there are several holidays - secular and religious. Traditionally many of these holidays involve various sorts of excesses in eating, gift-giving, spending.

For many across the nation and in our own back yards, these times that formerly were times of plenty and festivities will not be so this year. Unemployment is on the increase, the dollar (when we have one) does not stretch as far as it used to, the entire globe is on an economic downturn - in short, things are bad all over.

This might be just the right time to think about our neighbors, and to teach our children the real joy of giving. Instead of spending or over-spending, on gifts that will not see the next spring, or on a feast that can best be described a gluttonous, here are some alternatives:

Find a food bank and donate money of non-perishables;

Find a family (I’m sure your church knows one or two) who needs clothes, and buy them some;

Volunteer your time, money, and labor at a homeless shelter. Take some blankets with you, they are generally needed;

Buy and donate soaps, shampoos, toothpaste and brushes to a shelter for battered women.

Looking around my house, there is nothing missing that cannot be done without, so why have someone spend money on things that are not really needed when there are so many others who do need things. That can probably be said of most of us as well as our children. Do they really need the newest video game available?

We can all work toward changing this annual ‘give me’ fest into a time for helping our fellow man.

Remember, the reason for the season probably has to do with the earth’s orbit and the tilt of the axis.

[Arugula Latte]

23. I like this line:

"Remember, the reason for the season probably has to do with the earth’s orbit and the tilt of the axis." The only thing I'd change is the word "probably" ... I'd use the word "definitely."

I hate that "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" crap. Ummm ... no he's not. Solstice celebrations were there long before the Jesus mythology came to be.

[Obamanaut]

25. You're right. I'll change it for next year. Thanks. nt