Christmas is too commercial … used to be better in the old days.
" …
But the most important thing that we have bought about Christmas is the idea that it was better before. The earliest reference I found was 1616, when the playwright Ben Johnson wrote in one of his plays, he has one of the characters saying, “Oh, Christmas today is an awful, horrible thing. It used to be so much better.” We have been saying this for half a millennium.
Christmas has become more about business than the religious holiday. But, much of that was inevitable with the change in our culture. We’ve moved from agrarian to urban in our society. In the rural environment, church played a larger role. Indeed, church was the entertainment place to be in the “good ole days.”
And, churches are to blame for this shift as less emphasis in placed on the days leading up to Xmas. ( Note Xmas isn’t really Ex-mas, but Chi-mas, as the X is really “Chi”, the first Greek letter in Christ(os) A kind of shorthand.) Churches have backed off from celebrating Advent which is going on now, the second week in a four week period before Christmas. In fact, after Christmas comes Epiphany in which the Three Wise Men make their appearance, not just after the shepherds as we do in our Christmas pageants. When the churches get back to doing their job, then maybe Christmas can be more like the ole days.
superposition over 6 years ago
Christmas is too commercial … used to be better in the old days.
" …
But the most important thing that we have bought about Christmas is the idea that it was better before. The earliest reference I found was 1616, when the playwright Ben Johnson wrote in one of his plays, he has one of the characters saying, “Oh, Christmas today is an awful, horrible thing. It used to be so much better.” We have been saying this for half a millennium.
…"
http://ualrpublicradio.org/post/christmas-has-always-been-about-consumption
ArtyD2 Premium Member over 6 years ago
Well done! Excellent word choices.
preacherman over 6 years ago
Christmas has become more about business than the religious holiday. But, much of that was inevitable with the change in our culture. We’ve moved from agrarian to urban in our society. In the rural environment, church played a larger role. Indeed, church was the entertainment place to be in the “good ole days.”
And, churches are to blame for this shift as less emphasis in placed on the days leading up to Xmas. ( Note Xmas isn’t really Ex-mas, but Chi-mas, as the X is really “Chi”, the first Greek letter in Christ(os) A kind of shorthand.) Churches have backed off from celebrating Advent which is going on now, the second week in a four week period before Christmas. In fact, after Christmas comes Epiphany in which the Three Wise Men make their appearance, not just after the shepherds as we do in our Christmas pageants. When the churches get back to doing their job, then maybe Christmas can be more like the ole days.Lou Nattic, né Stan C over 6 years ago
Well, truth is, in many ways the good old days weren’t.
edward thomas Premium Member over 6 years ago
We wish you a Merry Christmas!
We wish you a Merry Christmas!
We wish you a Merry Christmas,
And a Happy New Year!
Please go away, I’m sleeping!
Please go away, I’m sleeping.
Please go away, I’m sleeping.
So get out of here!
We won’t go until you pay us!
We won’t go until you pay us!
We won’t go until you pay us,
That’s why we’re still here!
I’ve got a payment for you!
I’ve got a payment for you
I’ve got a payment for you,My twenty-two here!
We’re leaving, so don’t get mad now.
We’re leaving, so don’t get mad now.
We’re leaving, so don’t get mad now,
We’ll be back next year!