Enjoy these days with your family and friends!
Enjoy the British tradition of how we celebrate Christmas, from the food we prepare and eat to the Queen’s speech, from the sherries enjoyed and the Christmas walks before and after ‘the bird’ with all trimmings, from the candles lit and the sweets eaten to the joy and the jokes, the presents, the Christmas cards, the carols, the Midnight Mass and today’s church services.
Yes, Christmas has become commercialised, yes, the Christian message has become diluted – but when I look at what we had and what we still have I have lately been wondering if celebrating Christmas has, unrecognised, started to become an act of defiance.
Over the last few years, it seems to me that celebrating Christmas has become more private: a space where the intrusive world of PC, of commerce, ‘diversity’ and organised jollity has been and is becoming excluded. Families and neighbours, silently and perhaps unknowingly, have been and are creating something which is contrary to the “Message” the MSM and the Big Stores, the Supermarkets, have shown us in their adverts.
Families, friends, neighbours – all of us ordinary people have been silently and perhaps even unnoticed by ourselves, created a space where ‘they’ have no place. And that, in our present time, is an act of defiance.
On that note I wish all of you a Merry Christmas, with all the trimmings, and leave you with this Christmas music by Handel:
~~~ OOO ~~~
Leading up to Christmas, I listened to a recording of the first part of Handel’s Messiah, and also The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols broadcast from King’s College, Cambridge. I also went to Church on Christmas Day – all part of the true meaning of the Birth of Christ’s Mass!
It is so sad that Christmas has for so many years now become just a Commercial Fest ! So much of what was good in past years has disappeared under the hunt for turnover and profit by business competition.
This unholy focus, when added to our National error of permitting an alien, erroneous ‘religion’ to take root in our land has only one outworking from Almighty God. Rather than flood and tempest, a sadness is noted by our Christian gatherings, as God turns his back upon this Nation, which is always serious, but even more today with the change in trade for UK/GB.
Those without faith, will only add to the problem ! Those with Christian faith are witnessing God being denied in this land, whilst birth of our Redeemer, is used as a tool for seasonal commerce. Are those with eyes to see, able to see at all ?
I returned earlier today from a lovely Christmas spent with my family; mum, dad, sister and her boyfriend. Merry Christmas to all!
While there, I was ‘exposed’ to the horror that is ‘TV’, and agree with what you say about commercialism. Prior to Christmas Day, all the adverts were very ‘Christmassy’, with adverts showing ‘perfect’ families having the ‘perfect Christmas’, all thanks to Sainsburys, Tescos, John Lewis et al.
From Christmas Day onwards though, it seems advertisers want everyone to forget about Christmas – Christmas hardly gets mentioned, its all now about “massive discounts” in Boxing Day sales. Now, I’m not religious, but I understand enough to know that Christmas BEGINS on Christmas Day, not ENDS!
Its funny how its always the same: furniture and carpet stores urging people to buy new sofas or beds, holiday companies urging people to splash out on a holiday, slimming companies urging people to sign up to slimming clubs and gyms. Etc etc.
Even the ‘news’ leads on Boxing Day with the ‘news’ that shoppers are heading out to grab ‘bargains’. I did chuckle though when it was revealed that retail sales prior to Christmas had been ‘slow’ and that big stores would be offering ‘bigger discounts’ on Boxing Day. Perhaps people are wising up to their tricks, first with Black Friday, then ‘pre-Christmas’, shoppers have been holding off from splashing the cash because they know prices will be further reduced after Boxing Day.
Christmas should be a time for families to get together and spend quality time with each other. It is not a time for spending huge sums of money uneccessarily.
Perhaps next year, I’ll have a nice quiet Christmas at home by myself. Or if I go to mum and dads again, I’ll insist the TV stays switched off. 😉
Merry Christmas to all, hope you all had a great time! 🙂
Pleased to hear that your Christmas was so enjoyable. I too had a total family affair, with time to enjoy the children. This is my Christmas, with family only. – Friends will come into things at New Year. None of us had arrangements to go shopping after the big day. – Money spent on the children, well before Christmas Day, which is the Birthday Party for the only V.I.P. worth note !
Viv, as they say on the Infowars site, in times like this telling the truth becomes an act of defiance. Millions are telling that truth with their actions, but are not bold enough yet to use words to express it openly
Perhaps as we prepare for Brexit, it’s time to remember old friends.
“Eric Bogle – The Band Played Waltzing Matilda”
https://youtu.be/cnFzCmAyOp8