I made a generic holiday card on the computer and printed it out for everyone last year.

I read this topic and all that ran through my mind was, "Oh shit. I have to think of what to get everyone for Christmas."

A video game, a necklace, a pair of fingerless gloves, a bag of macadamia nuts, a Stephen King book, corn nuts, a new mouse, a magazine with animal pictures, a pocket watch, a superhero hat, a handheld Tetris game, a cane, a beanie, and a bag of beef jerky. Fuck yeah, another Christmas solved.

Haha Roy. You've hit it on the head.

There are two kinds of people. The kind who run around like headless chickens being all like 'omg omg omg what do i get, who wants this, who needs this shiiiit its 20th november aghh brainspasm'... And there's people like Payne.

People like myself and Roy do not fit into either of these categories because we are better than 'people'.

Just out of curiosity, did you order all those things online? Because if you did I don't know whether to feel a bit shocked at the lack of commitment, or to respect your efficiency. Anyways, I already know what I'm getting most people for Christmas. I just decided one morning to think about it. Took 8 minutes.

Someone has observed that there are three types of people: those who make things happen; those who watch things happen; and the overwhelming majority who have no idea what is happening.

At Christmastime most of us, it seems, are in all three groups. Each year we make Christmas happen; we plan and prepare for Christmas with our pre-holiday activities. We also watch Christmas happen as we listen to the Bible story and the sermons, and as we sing the hymns and carols that communicate the message of Christ's birth. In the final analysis we do not really understand what is happening. We can't celebrate Christmas effectively because we can't really comprehend it.

The late W. E. Sangster underscores this problem by relating a personal experience concerning an invitation to a party held to celebrate a wedding. He arrived late, and he really didn't know anyone except the friend who had invited him. Seemingly everyone was in high spirits. They danced and shouted; they sang and laughed; they played games and indulged in all sorts of entertainment. Streamers were strung all across the hall. The people pranced about the scene in paper caps. Apparently everyone was having a good time.

As the evening progressed, however, Sangster noticed a young lady sitting alone in a corner. She appeared to be cheerful and happy. She smiled very pleasantly when he caught her eye but seemed a bit neglected. No one was paying her any attention. Sangster whispered to his friend, "Who's the young lady in the corner?" His friend replied, somewhat startled, "Don't you know? I must introduce you to her. She is the bride."

Can you imagine being left alone and unnoticed at your own wedding party? That is how Jesus must feel at Christmas. Most of the celebration of His birth has little to do with Him. How sad it is, not just for Him but for us as well. We cannot genuinely celebrate Christmas until we recognize what Jesus Christ has done for us and what we are to do for Him.

You just said a whole lot and it all means nothing.

I don't care about Christ. I don't care about the religious context. I don't care what you think about my celebration of Christmas not being genuine.

I hate posts like yours, Apos. You tried to make it as compex as you can, but it's all bullshit. How the hell can one not tell who the bride is? She wears a fairly distinctive dress.

She is also the only one who would wear said type of dress at said party.

asdfsadfdsafdsaffdsafdsa

i HAVE LITTLE ELSE TO SAY

sorry caps

Not really, you just missed the point he was making. A point which is pretty damn true. But in all honesty, what the hell can we do about it? It's not our fault that the late Ancient Roman Empire decided to abolish Paganism and replace it with Christianity in order to unify the fragmenting and separating regions of Rome. This is what created the Holy Roman Empire (led most notably by Charlemagne) and the Pope and what is now today the Christian religion (albeit with a few more denominations thrown in).

Christmas is stolen from Paganism. The old Pagans, not being able to go outside and do farming in the harsh winter - would find a branch of an evergreen tree and place it in their homes, as a way of reminding them that soon it will be spring and life will be good again. Easter is stolen from Paganism, seriously, bunnies, fertility, eggs? Oh yeah, and the resurrection of Christ. Good one. It was originally a harvest festival.

What we are left with today, is a Christmas which roots have been all but forgotten. Added to this, Capitalism, free-market economies and the general mass of wealth (which the entire Western part of the world has) has made Christmas into an abomination. An abomination which marketing analysts, sales staff and manufacturers eyes' glisten with greed at their December Sales Targets.

To be honest, it's really just thinking about what people need or really want, and if I can't think of anything significant, I think of one of their favorite consumables. And yeah, I'll probably order these things online, but I figure I have time to select each one individually at my leisure.

I actually already bought a necklace for my girlfriend, but since I'm away at college, I don't get to see her until this coming Winter Break. Since I want to give it to her in person, the logical thing to do would be to wrap it up for Christmas.

(I may have paraphrased)
He should just be happy that he managed to steal this holiday from the Pagans.

Sales taxes also provide during Christmas sales also happen to be reintegrated into society through the government by means of various programs and initiatives.

I do not put faith into my government. There's no way I can even think about trusting it when all it does is reducing the "imposition steps" (not quite sure for this translation... basically it means he keeps going for a more and more regressive form of imposition).

Isn't that because that is what people want, less government control and more freedom to do what they want with their property that they worked hard to earn?

For example, my Accounting teacher has, on multiple occasions, expressed dislike for the Canadian Revenue because it takes away her monetary earnings through the income tax.

I'm not a student in business and politics, BTW. just puttin it out there

What I want from our government is a more progressive imposition form.
On small scale, I wouldn't want any government, but for a country, god, government control is probably required.
I'm not complaining about the government taking away our money, I'm complaining about him not doing so logically: take more from rich people... it's not normal that someone that earns 70,000$ pays the same amount as one that earns 40G$.

http://www.staredit.net/topic/12893/

If you dislike the stimulating effect of buying gifts for Christmas, why not buy presents in May?

20% of 70,000 != 20% of 40,000

According to something that I read on the internet last year, Christmas helps teach children morals through the Santa story (although it teachers children morals for the wrong reasons). It's easy to argue how Christmas has become "corrupted," but it's even easier to receive presents and move on with your life.

I don't see what's so wrong about a portion of the population spending time with their loved ones and buying/makings them gifts. In your eyes, Christmas wouldn't be so bad if everyone gave each other homemade gifts, am I correct? Or is that just another manifestation of the capitalist system in some warped fashion?

I recognize that.

For your ideology, government control is mandatory, considering the inherent drive for competition and egoism found in life.

I was under the knowledge that the government takes money based on a certain proportion of how much one earns, and the proportion also increases with the earnings, capping out somewhere around 30-70%. Maybe that's just in Ontario, although I'm sure it's federal (maybe not).

http://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=BZX0ZX0Y0-N52&cat=168

Lmfao, this thing deserves a thread!
Where would you guys storage this? Rofl, it looks like it wouldn't belong anywhere in a normal house.

You obviously mail it to a loved one.

Quote from payne

Quote from poison_us

http://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=BZX0ZX0Y0-N52&cat=168

Lmfao, this thing deserves a thread!
Where would you guys storage this? Rofl, it looks like it wouldn't belong anywhere in a normal house.

Right next to my brand-new computer.

Naw, according to its statistics, it has a pull force of 1,226.5 pounds case 1 and 2, which means that if I put a steel plate in the bottom of my shoe and try to walk on this 32-cubic INCH block, I'm going to have to untie my shoe if I want to move that foot again. Or heat it over 80ºC.

Valentine's Day will always be the bigger commercial holiday in my mind, you should be complaining about that holiday instead of Christmas. And Payne needs to stop hating on capitalism and stop wishing his purely theoretical economic system was superior.