How do you celebrate Christmas?

Anonymous

I think it's pointless

Anonymous

Christmas us a joke family members giving useless gifts and pretending to like each other

Nathan11

I enjoy the atmosphere and festivities regardless of any original purpose. The shopping and spending is handy for the economy and doesn't harm me personally so I have no real problem with it.

Sil sil

Well as a family, we considerate it our responsibility of teaching our children what it's really about. It's about Jesus being born, family being together & sharing. I understand it's hard with all the marketing out there, but I make my kids pack a huge bag of toys they longer need & clothes & we take it to our local Vinnies. Then on Christmas Day they get a few presents & they understand that everyone deserves to feel special & we can share things etc. I don't want them to think Christmas is only about receiving :)

david

needny /not as much believing about christianity and the birth of christ except.catholics and other religions.more about spending.at least the kids are still having a great time and the christians can still celebrate, happy new year to all

PGS

I don't bother with Christmas past sending obligatory cards. As Aust Post has almost doubled the cost of sending cards overseas this time, I only send some to one person to distribute in that area for me.

I generally don't worry about the 'sales', as often the item is marked up an extra 40% to be reduced by 30%. Still more than the usual price. Parking becomes a nightmare also. McDonald's tends to increase their prices towards the end of October - just in time for the Christmas rush. So thoughtful of them.

With the Easter things already appearing 'because the customers want them now', there is little point in considering any religous holiday time as anything more than a marketing/sales opportunity.

I'd be as happy if they were all canceled. Take the New Year's Eve waste of money fireworks with them.

Rhonnie

I think that Christmas is oversold. It is a time for community and sharing and caring. It is also a religious festival and should be allowed to be celebrated as such. This year, there were no Chirstmas themed songs in the shopping centres. Streets and community areas are playing down the true meaning of Christmas. We should stand up for our cultural rights to celebrate that Australia is a Christian-based community that accepts all peoples but that does have a strong cultural heritage.

Kessa1959

Christmas has become very commercialised but it is still what you want to make it. Our family has always had a very simplified version, we get together at other family member's homes year about and all take something to share for lunch with the host supplying the meat / prawns and others bringing either desert, salads or fruit.
Our family has always gone to a Christmas Eve service and having German heritage had Christmas Eve dinner with family.
When the children were younger we shared presents and then for a few years did the Secret Santa thing with presents and now just give to any children under 18 and the rest donate money to a tin to purchase items from Gifts of Grace through Australian Lutheran World Service which might be goats and other livestock or a water well for families overseas.
Our regional council had a Carols in the Square last week which was well attended and I've notices many shops in our area with either Nativity Scenes in their windows.
May I wish everyone a very happy Christmas and many blessings for 2014

Megahand

Christmas is about God and Jesus, pope, who spent lots of money just to please people don't know the true meaning or what it is actually about.

Nefer

I have not celebrated Christmas for the last 30 odd years. If you are christian fair enough - if you do not believe in this than to all intents and purposes you are celebrating shopping, giving gifts and family gatherings nothing else. I really do not understand why anybody other than Christians celebrate this particular date. I did hear the date was taken from some other belief but I am not quite sure who. For the record I do not believe in any religion.

annie

I love christmas spending it with family and friends but feel the day just goes so fast.Usually we wil spend Christmas day at my familys place with relatives on my side and boxing day is spent celebrating with my husbands side.It is a very busy time of year and the 2 days just seem to fly and go so fast

Dora

Hi,

Yes it is sad that the majority of the worls have commercialized Christmas. But I am so glad there there still exists a small minority of us who still focus on the true meaning of Christmas & focus our celebrations more on it than on gifts.
We do still give each other gifts but they are usually small tokens & not large expensive things. More for the little kids than the adults.

dalix

I like that it brings my family together, but I hate that they all hate each other. Getting money from parents helps with bills and food.

Tylerrr23

Christmas is a great thing for everyone, as it let's people relax and be happy for once in a while. I am not sure everyone knows the true definition but does that really matter in the end?

Anonymous

I think a lot depends on your family situation - my parents are separated so in essence I have two christmas celebrations. With my Mum living in Adelaide I cherish any time I have with her and her partner so to me Christmas is more of a "family" celebration.

I think society is being directed away from the true or traditional meaning of Christmas - as we are so careful not to do ANYTHING at kindergartens and Primary schools which is deemed "culturally offensive".

I think a lot of the magic of the celebration has been forcibly removed.

mermaid

Every religion will always have a following, celebrating days in remembrance of one form or another. The reality is Australian history dictates English convicts arriving in countries globally claiming land rights and treating inidgenous people of the land inhumanely. While many sharing their views in this forum will say you can't change the past and moving forward is progression.

In my view DENIAL is alive and well as that of racism in every religion and let us not forget in this country the true Australian is an aborigine hunted enslaved raped children stolen starved or massacred for no valid reason other than to control.

People who lived and flourished from THEIR OWN LAND in harmony are now lost and their endless struggle to right the wrong of their ancestors long forgotten by foreigners who brought their diseases and rapists.

Seriously everyone has a right to celebrate the day in whatever manner they chose or not chose. Pukpuk your lifestyle is a beautiful lesson where need of any religion is neither judgemental cruel or greedy unlike every religion the mighty dollar speaks loudly.
One only look at the private schools, churches, real estate, fleets of cars and pretend non for profit organisations every religion is associated with and a very minute percentage is given back to people in need. A global empire built off the backs of hardworking people and millions of volunteers, that said, take it all away and another religion evolves.

april789

Christmas seems to have lost its orginal meaning, but for me it is still one of the few chances to get to see family . I had a visit from a religious group who regularly drop by - guess what we have it wrong anyway - this date is not even the right birthday day date - ... anyway it is nice that everyone has a break at the same time and hopefully slows down for a few days.

jd2040

I like Christmas its a great time of the year for children and also Adults too

Anonymous

I believe celebrating Christmas comes with heart. However, nowadays, I think people are just taking "Celebrating Christmas" for granted as I can observe many youths around my circle just thinking about what gifts they are going to ask their parents and grannies and how much drinking and partying money they are going to get. I guess its time for them to actually value the celebration as part of a family get together rather than the usual partying behaviour.

Anonymous

Christmas can be seen as over commercialised and a money making scheme. The pressure of Christmas has become one of materialistic factors rather than purely love and celebrating the birth of Jesus. However, when all is said and done the day does involve bringing people together for joy and celebration, what could be wrong with that?

Anonymous

Christmas is what you make of. Being a 28 yr old male with no family in Brisbane I find myself spending it with friends, their kids and their friends. So in my opinion it's what you make of the day. I still love seeing the joy and enthusiasm of the young ones faces. Reminds me of when I was young.
Christmas is about great friends, sharing, food and a few brews shared over a great laugh and reflection of yester years.

Anonymous

I Love Christmas, to me it's a time for family to get together and bond. I think it's important to buy gifts for everyone. In buying gifts I teach my children to give to others. Shopping for Christmas happens right through the year for me.

PukPuk

With multiculturalism taking over due to transport developments in the past decade, there is little wonder that there would be a watering down of the percentage of any population following any particular cultural or religious event. We still celebrate Christian occasions for the underlying reason but that is our choice as it equally for those who choose not to.

Anonymous

We've never celebrated Christmas in our house-it's always just been myself and my mum, all the fuss about pretending there's a Santa Claus and that everyone's happy and jolly with loads and loads of family around them at Christmas lost it's appeal pretty darn quickly as a kid

astragek

Christmas became too commercial nowadays, no-one cares about the true meaning, none-religious people don't think or even care about what Christmas is all about, all they care about is presents and parties. Just because it's a part of life. I don't like it, I used to have a lot more fun with the people who celebrated the true meaning of Christmas, Now I live in Australia and it's all about drinking beer and have BBQ's.

Anonymous

My thoughts as to Christmas these days is that it is totally commercialized and the real meaning of Christmas is forgotten for the majority. It is a good way for people to get into financial dificulties and always living in debt. As a family we do not celebrate Christmas only once a year but every Sunday. We remember the birth of Christ and his rejection in this world. Why is Christianity becoming a thing of the past. I feel it is the power of Satan.

Anonymous

It's sad that this is how we see Christmas now. I was brought up a Catholic and spent many years celebrating Christmas in a very traditional way and that included the Nativity, prayers and saying the Rosary, lighting candles according to the theme of the mass and attending mass, especially midnight mass. I miss those days - I hate how we are not allowed to have a nativity scene at schools or sing Christmas Carols. It's the society gone mad, trying to please everyone. People that move to live in another country should learn to respect how the nation celebrate events and suck it up

Anonymous

i think that allot of people these days have forgotten the real meaning of christmas. i work in retail and the amount of presents that people buy for just one child is rediculous. christmas is about the birth of christ. christmas shouldnt be all about the presents it should be about family. spending time with those that you love.

Jeski

When my eldest child was about two she wanted to know why we celebrate Christmas and in an attempt to get her to understand the original purpose of the celebration I said it was Jesus birthday and she asked why we didn't have a birthday cake then? Ever since we have had a birthday cake on December 25th so despite the fact that she is now very much older and Jesus actual birth date is obvilously unknown.
It really helps to focus the family on the idea that Christmas is a time when we remember God gave us Jesus as a gift and we should in turn give of ourselves for the betterment of the community.

frannymanny

I feel that there are in fact two "christmases", the santa claus fantasy commercial eat and drink to excess etc
Then there is the celebration of the birth of Christ with all that means to those for whom Christianity is relevent and meaningful.
I really feel that there is little if any connection.

Anonymous

Entirely commercialised!
We are encouraged to purchase for the sake of spending.
I think we should spend our time thinking about those less fortunate than ourselves and organisations like Oxfam should be promoted!

marlu

Christmas has become over commercialised. Nowhere in the Bible does iit say that we have to celebrate the birthday of Jesus at all.Christiand remember this fact all the time when they go to churchIf Jesus was alive I think that He would rather that people spent money on the poot and hungry rather than having nunerous feasts and eating more than one should and throwing away good food.If we have to have Christmas Day let it ibe a day where we raise money to end poverty.

lyjaam

You are all so wrong! Christmas is about the birth of Jesus who came to die on the cross to save us all from our sins. Yes it is about family but not about street parades and expensive presents.

Christmas for me is simple. I go to Church then on to a charity lunch for people who have nowhere to go at Christmas.

lyjaam

I so agree with you. We always cook a lot of food in the days leading iup to Christmas then go to midnight mass on Christmas eve, on Christmas morning we go about distributing what we have cooked....

Yes Dora - You are right Christmas is about family as long as you don't forget that
Jesus was born at Christmas and this is the main reason for the celebratioins.

Dora

You are all so wrong! Christmas is about the birth of Jesus who came to die on the cross to save us all from our sins. Yes it is about family but not about street parades and expensive...

I so agree with you. We always cook a lot of food in the days leading iup to Christmas then go to midnight mass on Christmas eve, on Christmas morning we go about distributing what we have cooked.

Its also about family, the days leading up to Christmas when we do all the cooking & decorating, we do it together with Christmas carols playing in the background.
It is a lovely time, but not because of presents. As kids our parents only ever gave up one present each and it was always something small and we always had to share with each other anyway.

Anonymous

I think ppl have forgotten how Christmas began which was with Jesus becoming alive again after dying on the cross.����

starfish

I designed some Christmas decorations at work with a large Christmas card for each dept form Allied Health. A candy cane for Physio, a bell for audioligy and a nativity scene for peadetrics. I got in trouble for putting a religious picture in a Government hospital. My response was that I would not take Christ out of Christmas.

The meaning of Christmas is that jesus was born for us and that he died for us at Easter. The fact that hot cross buns are in the shops by 1st January is taking the shops support a little too far!!!!!

waded

i dont celebratw it as much as i use to iys overated and expensive,its really for the children

Captured

I think Christmas is losing it's true meaning too.
These days it seems to be about spending up big on overpriced gifts and toys.
Over the last few Christmases i have been buying the children less and they don't seem to mind.
Santa usually only buys the kids a combined gift to share amongst the four of them.
I am trying to teach my children that Christmas isn't just about getting presents but spending quality time with family and friends and reflecting on the good things in life.

purpleboo

It is the celebration of Jesus Christ's birthday.Most people choose to forget this is the reason for the big hooha. Christians and Catholics don't. I am not Christian but celebrate it with Jesus in mind. It is traditional to give presents and has been for centuries so what is the problem? I don't see a problem with companies making a profit at Chrissie time. Why not? We r buying a lot more than usual and we love pleasing people with our choices for them. It's fantastic. I have a problem with other cultures trying to stop our celebrations. I want every Christmas to be bigger and better so it never dies. I love the supermarket ads showing the joy and togetherness of families at Chrissie. I don't care if it's too commercialized. I celebrate that Australian culture will always embrace the traditions established a long time ago and nothing will shake our foundations.
Cultures that don't like it, or want to bend us to their way of thinking, should leave here immediately. I will protest vehemently if 'they' rise up against our way of life.

angelic

I believe christmas is what it should represent. That is spending it with family and friends and remembering great times. To feast amongst family and friends. I agree with you when the focus has shifted towards shopping and spending. Most kids today ( if not raised to believe in christianity) don't know the meaning of christmas! And sadly most family's are not spending the holidays of christmas like they used to.

relle

I have a large family so it was expensive last year for us so this year we drew a name out of the hat and we had 75 dollars to spend on that one person, it worked for us and it made christmas more personal

PGS

Much the same as I have done for the past 40 or so years - a waste of time, effort & money. I married a Buddhist - don't have to bother with it.

julie6130

yes i know the meaning of christmas but now it's just a way for kids to get what they want , and no seems to care any more about the reason christmas is a celebtion of the brith of one men for all humanty. things just move to quick to hold on to the old ways as older people are just falling behind the times.

emoxhair

i agree maybe they should name it the greedy store hoildays sounds more like it

I know! I couldn't believe how early the stores set up for Christmas this year. It is their biggest revenue making period of the year!

julie6130

I agree with you Julie.
They need to call it something else, not Christmas!
The big stores are just making excuses with Christmas for people to spend more money unnecessarily. Kids end up...

i agree maybe they should name it the greedy store hoildays sounds more like it

neendy

yes i know the meaning of christmas but now it's just a way for kids to get what they want , and no seems to care any more about the reason christmas is a celebtion of the brith of one men for all...

I agree with you Julie.
They need to call it something else, not Christmas!
The big stores are just making excuses with Christmas for people to spend more money unnecessarily. Kids end up asking for expensive things with all the advertising going around at that time too. Not everyone can afford it.

Sheree

It is about the getting together and enjoying each others company above all else.

neendy

It is about the getting together and enjoying each others company above all else.

I agree with you Sheree. People usually say "We are celebrating Christmas with family". Maybe they need to call it something else, like celebreating end of the year.

Alpaca

I think Christmas is over commercialised and has lost some of it's family spirit. I organise our local Christmas Parade and that gives me a lot of work, but a lot of pleasure to see up to 3000 people enjoy the parade and the street party on the night.

Anonymous

That's lovely Alpaca
Where's the Christmas parade?

yea agrew

Dragi

At Two Wells in SA. Where are you? We have two Bands, about 30 stalls set up in the main street and some activities like bouncing castles, slot cars etc for amusement.

oohhhh, i wanted to come but it is a little too far for me :)

neendy

At Two Wells in SA. Where are you? We have two Bands, about 30 stalls set up in the main street and some activities like bouncing castles, slot cars etc for amusement.

I am Victoria.

Alpaca

That's lovely Alpaca
Where's the Christmas parade?

At Two Wells in SA. Where are you? We have two Bands, about 30 stalls set up in the main street and some activities like bouncing castles, slot cars etc for amusement.

neendy

I think Christmas is over commercialised and has lost some of it's family spirit. I organise our local Christmas Parade and that gives me a lot of work, but a lot of pleasure to see up to 3000...

That's lovely Alpaca
Where's the Christmas parade?