Fell in love in Minneapolis once or twice but it was too fuckin cold to take my pants off.

An yet, you went back for more!
LOL

…
Actually my family would be Germanic Pagans.

Do you have an irresistible urge to conquer Russia in the dead of winter?

But to say “Christmas is a pagan holiday” is just wrong. It’s a Christian holiday, obviously, as it commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ. The fact that this celebration originally coincided with pagan celebrations is, in my view, neither here nor there.

‘where two or more are gathered in my Name’ or something like that…

However, the legal holidays turn around the Muslim calendar, with 2 or 3 days for Eid el Fitr at the end of Ramadan and so on.

I have no problem saying to Muslim colleagues “Ramadan Mubarrak” in the same way I would say to a Christian “Merry Christmas”. Similarly people say both to me.

This whole debate is just anal, and without any real meaning, whether it is Billo with his war on Christmas or the FDL bloggers with their happy Chanukah (whatever that is?). All societies tend to designate certain days for festivities, and a recurring theme of all them is that they should show some gestures of goodness to others.

In an ideal world we would all communally celebrate everybody’s feast days and be nice to each other.

IMHO

But to say “Christmas is a pagan holiday” is just wrong. It’s a Christian holiday, obviously, as it commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ. The fact that this celebration originally coincided with pagan celebrations is, in my view, neither here nor there.

December 25 is the birthday of Mithra, “the unconquered sun” who was celebrated with lots of lights in people’s windows. It was arbitrarily decided to celebrate Jesus’s birthday on that day in order to co-op the very popular holiday. Everyone knew Jesus had not been born on that day. This is a historical fact.

The holiday got a further boost from Saint Francis, who invented the Christmas creche and pageant as a way to educate the illiterate.

Through St. Francis, the Christmas story became a celebration of the created world — matter — which as God’s creation Christians (unlike certain heresies, supposedly) deem to be good.

It is because Christmas is a pagan holiday that Cromwell banned it — but it came back like a boomerang after the end of his regime. In the end Cromwell went down in ignominy, not Christmas.

I like the fact that Christmas has been a materially oriented celebration for a thousand years. I’m a fan of Saint Francis and am happy, though an agnostic, to take some time to celebrate the world and its creatures. If only the official holiday were really 12 days long!

I hate Comic Sans with the white-hot heat of a thousand suns. Glad I’m not the only one.

Luckily, they found the guy that invented it.

http://achewood.com/index.php?date=07052007

Happy Holidays, all!!

Several people mentioning Snopes without a one of them pointing out that the Santa – Coca-Cola thing is a myth;

http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/santa.asp

C’mon people, look alive!