Well, it’s the 25th of December. If you’re a Christian or living in a largely Christian country, you’ll probably be celebrating Christmas in some way. Even for those of us who aren’t religious, this can be a very special time of year.
What probably started out as a simple celebration that we’d made it through the darkest days of the winter and were now heading towards the rebirth of spring has been adopted by every major western belief system and worked into their mythology since long before the birth of that influential carpenter in Bethlehem.
From the Pagans through the Ancient Romans to the Christians and now, arguably, those that worship at the altar of consumerism. We’ve allowed this time of year to be moulded into whatever philosophies we, as a culture, are exploring at that point in history.
We assign importance to those transient philosophies but we make them conform to a few simple aspects of the core celebration we’ve always enjoyed. These are the things that I think are truly important at this time of year. The timeless things that we can all see the value of, even those that don’t believe in virgin births.
Family, compassion, love, warmth, celebration and friendship. Those are the things that have always been the point to this midwinter celebration. We celebrate the embrace of family and friends in the face of the bitter cold that the world throws at us at this time (at least in the northern hemisphere, where these traditions were born). We find warmth in each other, even through the darkest days of winter. Whether it’s the Pagan Yule, Roman Saturnalia, Christian Christmas or any of the many other celebrations we’ve assigned.
So it doesn’t matter if you’re celebrating the birth of your Messiah, the cycle of nature, the God of agriculture or anything else. We wish you a very enjoyable December 25th and hope that you get to spend it with family and friends, doing what is perhaps the most important thing a human can do: feeling compassion and love for your fellow humans.
Happy Holidays.
gideon1451
Nice take on Christmas, that it’s for everyone :)
& happy Christmas TSA & fellow TSAers :D
Stitch
Peter certainly isn’t the biggest fan of Christmas, nevertheless it’s a lovely christmas message he’s written.
tonycawley
Merry christmas everyone. I was worried this article was trying to be politically correct and non-offensive with it’s title, but it was really well written and well justified. It’s sad that these days people are scared to say merry christmas in the uk for dear of offending someone, but i’m not afraid :-) merry christmas everyone, whether you celebrate it or not :-)
haz360
Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you all have a great day :)
Michael
I’m not scared of saying Happy Christmas!
Happy Christmas!
djsunna
Merry Crimbo everyone!!!
nofi
Turkey is in the oven. Wish me luck.
bunimomike
Finally worked out what to do with the country the people were cloning your site were from. Evil bugger. :-)
aerobes
You never fail to make interesting reading and it’s part of the reason i come here every day. Absolute best wishes to yourself, the staff, site, mods, members and everyone involved. Hope you get what you wished for. ^^
ARUMIR
Oh mighty gaming god I praise thee!
Kovacs
I’m very, very, very drunk at this time.
Merry Christmas/Hanukkah/Voodoo Magic everyone.
Spence1115
Happy birthday Santa!