Every year it’s the same old, same old. You get pushed, shoved, traffic, no seats on the bus, seeing people who can’t afford the materialistic side of the holiday and those who simply can’t pay their bills. Crapmas has become a big money making scheme. I had a friend the other year who had to tell her kids there was no Santa because she didn’t have the money! Family and love is what the holiday is supposed to be about, not who is trying to out-do who under the christmas tree! While someone is getting an Xbox someone else is sleeping in the shelter and hoping for Christmas dinner. Not fair at all. Fuck materialism. —Fuck materialism bring back values.
This article appears in Nov 25 – Dec 1, 2010.
Meanwhile some people have computers (or whatever the OP used to type their bitch), and others have cardboard boxes.
i make cookies and me ma knits socks and mittens. i hear what your saying op but there is always hope
I hate the materialism that this season brings too, OP, but I’m unsure what you mean by “values” because that term is generally used by asshats like Bill O’Reilly and Glen Beck claiming how America needs more religion or w/e.
http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_imag…
I like materialism and don’t really care what anyone thinks about that. *Shrugs*
I agree with you, OP. For me, Christmas is about spending time with my family and seeing my younger family members excited for Christmas. I can’t really afford the materialistic aspect of Christmas, just a few gifts. There are a couple of people in my family that are so focused on presents. It’s sad, really. Makes me not want to celebrate it next year.
it’s all about how much you spend, to make yourself look good. true meaning has been lost for over 100 years now. put your mind to rest o.p., it will never stop. too much moohla to be made for the holidays, all of them. and most of us are suckers for helping it along. woe is us, that we should just say fuck it this year.
I ♥ War Toys!
sorry only cookies for you but if i could i’d get ya this
http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/blas…
DEE-EE-ECENT! Dats otay Painey – Me Old Dad takes care of the seasonal Weapons of Minimal Destruction. Rawk!
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=2de_1290808…
Yeah…videos like this make me wanna drop out and build a little cabin somewhere. If I have kids, we’re not doing the whole Santa thing.
Just another Saturday night at the Sportsplex Terminal…
She actually told her kids there was no Santa?????? That’s harsh.
To get you in the spirit look up Eric Idles You Tube “fuck Christmas” I’d add it, but I’m a moron and can’t figure out how to do it.
While I appreciate what OP’s saying…I really do…but why should others live their lives in a certain way because someone else can’t afford to buy things at christmas? For instance: if I want to buy my kids an x box, why should I not just because there are homeless people in the world? I do what I can for those less fortunate, but one can’t give all of themselves to others. I don’t see anything wrong with thinking of one’s self and doing something (like, buying an x box) their family and loved ones may enjoy.
You’ll be using that e-reader as a doorstop Baz, And I, by God, admire you for that. >; )
Yeah life’s too short to be constantly worrying about other people.
I’m with you on this paingirl , just throw the commercial side right out into the compost heap where it belongs.
Homemade goddies, friends & family, good times , good food is what’s truely important. All the rest is just superficial BS.
Spending yourself into more debt is just another form of insanity…but what can we expect from a species like ours that if you look at the world in broad strokes, is obviously INSANE !
Polluting our water !
polluting the land!
Polluting the air!
WAR going on somewhere, usually multiple places every day !
people starving to death, while others throw dumpsters full of food out every day !
people killing other people because the all powerful invisible god they worship is better than the invisible all powerful god those other people worship ! ! !
As an alien looking at this planet, there is no other explaination than ,the Human race is insane.
here ya go baz. i apologise for offending anyone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqfZUX5svCg
I’m with PK on this one. If I want to spend my money during the holiday season to buy stuff, that’s my choice.
This is a stupid fuckin bitch, you can take the opposite of anything and make it look profound.
OP is literate and can write a stupid bitch, well some people can’t write. You sound like one of those “kids in Africa” morons.
So don’t feed me this materialistic bullshit, parents buy their kid’s gifts because they love them, not because santa fuckin told them to.
And are you actually blaming Christmas (A holiday) for your friend not being able to afford presents? That’s her fault, not to say she’s lazy, but who’s fault is it?
Let me remind you CHRISTmas is a Christian holiday, and the Christians aren’t known for not caring about money.
Hey OP…maybe your friend should have done something nice for her kids and told them Santa did it or maybe she could have picked up a couple of things at the Dollar store from Santa.
Telling the kids there’s no Santa because your friend couldn’t scrape together $5.00 or a little time for her kids just makes her a selfish fucking moron.
Or maybe she just felt like ruining Christmas for her kids.
You decide what Christmas is to you and plan accordingly. Leave the materialism for someone else if that’s not what you want.
This year Christmas is about me, my boyfriend, a nice meal and a villa on the beach and I couldn’t be happier.
a villa? sounds blissful. we moved so much that christmas became a homecoming no matter where we were…my house smells loverly
Well, it’s called a villa…who knows, maybe we’ll get there and the Caribbean version of a villa will be the N.S. version of an outhouse 🙂
as long as you have each other it won’t matter a bit
Materialism is part of the reason why we live in a country where the majority of people don’t live in cardboard boxes. Rag on capitalism and corporations all you want, but until you can come up with a better non-materialistic way to keep the economy rolling I’m going to enjoy all the material joys and luxuries they provide, while still appreciating non-materialistic things. The family side of Christmas and the spending side of Christmas are not polar opposites, I enjoy and appreciate both every year.
I’m all for family things at Christmas, it’s my favorite part about the season. BUT, there are places your friend could have gone to get donations for her children for small Christmas gifts. I understand that people can’t always afford to put food on the table, let alone buy gifts, but ruining the magic of Santa is probably not the best approach to the situation. Regardless of what money issues your friend is having, that burden should never be put on the kids (and by telling them you don’t have money and can’t afford anything, you ARE placing the burden on them). Every Christmas for the past few years I’ve been getting donations and buying gifts for a family I used to volunteer with from Colombia. The mother doesn’t have any money, but her children still get to enjoy the holiday because she isn’t too proud to take advantage of different charities available.
Ivan – e-readrer – novelty has already worn off.
PG thanks for posting the link.
Christmas can be the best or worst time in your life, let’s hope it’s the former.
Amen to that Baz. Mornin’ Painey.
my pleasure baz, mornin admiral…i love your attitude pf^^
My mom let it slip one year (I already knew there was no santa — my mean older cousin ruined THAT for me when I was 5) that she bought one of the gifts “santa” had brought…she backpeddled by stating that parents have to buy the presents from santa. LOL
Anyway, I give my family things for xmas because I like the idea of thinking about them and finding something they’ll enjoy and get excited about. I finished my xmas shopping on Sunday and I’m DYING here, waiting for xmas day because I want to give everyone their stuff NOWWWWW. It’s totally not about what people give me, it’s about how I make the people I care about happy and excited about something. Sounds corny, but it’s true.
She does have a great outlook. I gotta admit, I love searching for and buying cool stuff for the folks I love. My parents are in their 70’s now and really don’t need more things , so I donate money in their names to various charities. Last year it was the Fredericton Legion – to help repair the vandalized Cenotaph.
But I do like giving the Old Man books, (as he says – “you’ll inherit them when I die , you cold-blooded little prick”) SOBova gets useful gifts – an NSLC gift card in a rather large denomination being a perrenial fave. A couple of Xmases ago I decided that my boss at the bookstore deserved his own action figure, so I bought a Raiders of the Lost Ark figure of Indy’s dad – the resemblance was uncanny. I raided my spare parts box and built a mini diorama that captured the genteel chaos of the establishment and placed him in the centre of it, wielding a Luger in one hand and vintage volume in the other. Mr. D. was thrilled.
So make of the season what you will and God Bless us – every one.
Bahaha that#s great, Ivan. And PF is indeed a very sweet girl. 😉
I’m with devil_girl!
Had your friend done a little research OP she could have had the opportunity to access a number of programs here in HRM offered during this Christmas season, including a turkey dinner from Feed NS and the Salvation Army has a program that low income parents can go to get gifts for their children.
your avatar brings back heavy metal memories…thanks 195^^
You’re welcome, PG. 🙂
We wouldn’t even have to worry about all this crap in the first place if people hadn’t have made up stories about some regular, everyday carpenter being the son of a non-existing god. Instead, we would simply be celebrating the World Junior Hockey Championships and preparing for New Years. But hey……… only in a perfect world I guess.
hey jonno, where’s the zZz?
Thanks PG and Brendon 🙂
Jonno… not going to lie, I do love the World Juniors. That’s definitely a family tradition in my house. I’ve been a hardcore fan since Luongo started as their goalie. Love him!!
love him too pf, he looks like a vampire/werewolf hybrid…yum
The Salvation Army programs can work really great for the under 3 year olds. Older kids wishing that Santa will bring them an x-box, rockband or somesuch will be wondering why Santa brought their friends what they wanted, but not them. Parents struggling to bring Christmas to their children know the heartbreak of seeing the disappointment on your child’s face when they finish opening their few gifts and realize they aren’t getting the gift they wanted Santa or their parents to place under the tree. Christmas is for the rich kids. For other’s it’s an annual reminder of the ‘joys’ of poverty. Cue The Kinks: “Father Christmas, give us some money…”
that one is on my christmas playlist oceansis. i agree about the older children, once you’re past the teddies and lego (though that stuff can be pricey) there isn’t much available
A vampire/werewolf hybrid, eh? http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm…
look at that nose^^
http://www.fanatique.ca/images/_profils/bg…
It’s #1 on my playlist soeur-de-musique-noel. Also topping the list is the ever popular “Walking ‘Round In Women’s Underwear”. Christmas comedy rocks!
Have you seen the flashmob viral video? Pretty cool yule stuff of the non-comedic variety…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?V=SXh7JR9oKVE&featur…
Sorry, that link didn’t work.
Try searching youtube: flashmob hallelujah
It’s the video shot in Seaway Mall.
Looove Luongo &hearts
I really enjoy shopping for cool little things for those I love too. I have a small-ish family, and don’t get into extended family stuff, or friends really, just a couple of their kids. Keep it simple, stupid!
Miss P fire….You’re so cute…I need to send you some Christmas cookies!
Oceanchick….you made me feel bad.
I really go all out because I love making everyone around me happy…and this year my little guy wants so much! and I’ve probably gone little overboard, and I would feel terrible if he went to kids and bragged about getting so much more than they did. But this is my last Christmas with him as an only child and I have a little extra this year to give him more than last year. I don’t want to raise a brat who thinks he gets everything he wants…and I’d love to teach him the true meaning of Christmas, we’ll do baking and hopefully if we get snow we’ll go sledding and build a snow man. But the truth is I’m the one who’s going to have the best Christmas because his eyes are going to light up, and so are my boyfriends when they see all their surprises…..and that’s what makes my Christmas.
My favourite is baking my special gingerbread cookies and decorating them. Then I package them up in 2s or 4s with a bow and hand them out to my cousins at Christmas dinner. They look forward to it every year. Yummier than a card!
On the other hand, there are a lot of people who are buying their kids xboxes and whatnot who are spending themselves into deeper and deeper debt (not that I’m insinuating that that’s what you’re doing, RC. Just making a general statement.).
Real Chick: please don’t feel bad. It is just the sad reality for thousands of children on Christmas morning. I don’t know what the solution is.
i’m still debating whether to buy lego for the boyman or not
http://www.chemistryland.com/ElementarySch…
The scene from the 1951 version of A Christmas Carol (with the incomparable Alastair Sim) where Tiny Tim is looking in the toy store window always gets me.
For most of the last 2 decades I’ve tried to be able to buy a toy for the Sally Ann or similar organization to give to a child who might not get anything for Christmas, otherwise. I know, poverty is 365 days a year, and kids feel it the worst and are often deprived of basics and you can’t help everyone. But hopefully, for as many children as possible, there can be a little fun on Christmas morning.
I’m going to try gingerbread this year – and let the little man decorate them – usually I just buy the plain ones from the store and cheat. Thanks OC…I know you weren’t trying…but being a parent is tough…you want to make them happy…but you don’t want to spoil them…you want them to be grateful, you want them to be independent (but also want to run every time they whimper), and you want the whole world to be happy that one day of the year….but it can’t happen in every household. I’ve donated presents and food, but it just doesn’t feel like enough.
And Jonno…I was that parent last year maxing everything out…but I worked very hard to pay things off this year and I’m in a great spot.
PG – yay for Lego!!!! Little man is getting lots, all the figurine ones…that’ll probably take up my whole 10 days vacation for me to put together…lol.
have you noticed that scene in the movie where you can see the cameraman in the mirror? it’s really creepy and cool
NEVER! But this year I’m looking. Screeee!
Thanks Real Chick 🙂 mmm cookies!
Ooh PG, I’ve never noticed that scene, but I’ll have to have a look. My father has us watch that movie every Christmas.
I stand by my previous statement re: Die Hard.
Mine Too PF. One Christmas Eve ,in Kingston, Me Dad and I watched different versions of it from noon til 1:00 A.M. The 30’s version, an animated one from the early 70,s An American Chistmas Carol with “The Fonz”, a T.V. movie from the early 80s with George C. Scott and finally – the only version worth seeing. – “Label, Label Label” >: )
PG – that was the first ever “out of place” thing I ever saw in a movie – the cameraman in the mirror – the second was Charlie Sheen in Wall Street at the end when he confronts Michael Douglas in Central Park, one scene the raincoat is wet and the next it’s dry.
Christmas brunch at 44 north again this year yippppeeeeee.
Here’s hoping that our generation will put the real meaning back into Christmas and put aside the commercial trappings of it. If you are a believer, then it’s about the birth of Christ. If not, then it’s about family. My brother died 15 days ago and there is no gift in the world that would mean more than having him with us. It certainly put things in perspective. My family has decided not to exchange gifts and simply come together as a family and really enjoy each others’ company.
So sorry for your loss Javagirl. Best thoughts for you and your family.
Hugs, javagirl. Sorry for your loss ~ being together is the most wonderful thing that you family can do for each other at this time.
that is sad javagirl, nothing can replace loved ones xox
Even though I don’t know you in real life javagirl, please accept my sincerest condolences for the loss of your beloved brother.
Sorry about your brother, javagirl. I hope the love of the season helps you to heal soon.