The 12 days of Christmas

It seems that most folks have those places where they just can't turn off an
annoying irritation.
It might be the wailing infant in the next apartment, or in the seat behind
you on the long flight.
It could be the pounding heavy metal noise coming out of your son's radio as
he cranks it to the max and turns on the shower and drains the tank.
Or it might be the power mower next door, with the owner revving it up over
and over and over, for hours.
It could even be a small little drip from the bathroom sink in the middle of
the night.
Or it could be Christmas.
Annoyances are a part of our everyday world. Most of them we are able to
push to that place in our brain that is sort of a blind spot. But there are
those that just cry out for our attention. Like fingernails on a chalk
board, they force themselves into our lives.
The good news is that Christmas is only thirty or forty days out of
365. Well, not counting those really annoying July commercials.
It could be worse.
Still, those 12 days of Christmas keep ringing in my head.

Carl Jarvis



----- Original Message -----
From: "Roger Loran Bailey" <rogerbailey81@aol.com>
To: "Blind Democracy Discussion List" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 07, 2013 11:02 AM
Subject: Re: Christmas Tree?


I can claim to be an authority on how it is imposed on me. The
celebration has no personal meaning for me. Yet, everywhere I turn I am
having all the symbols pushed on me. I cannot turn on a television or a
radio without it being imposed on me. I cannot walk out the door without
it being imposed on me. I resent that. I fully feel the sentiments that
were expressed in Bah! Humbug! And I did not say that I ignore it. I
said that I try to ignore it. Accomplishing that is made impossible for
me though. I mentioned earlier that I also ignore Thanksgiving and that
even once I had not even thought about it being time for Thanksgiving
until I went out and found all the stores closed and had to figure out
why. There is no chance that I could do that with Christmas. That is why
my annoyance with Christmas is many times greater than my annoyance with
Thanksgiving.
On 12/7/2013 1:44 PM, Alice Dampman Humel wrote:
> I know scads of people who love Christmas, the food, the cookies, the
> parties, the presents, the lights, and wrapping paper, the trees, the
> decorations, and all that who have no ties to religion whatsoever.
> They enjoy all the secular aspects, and if there's some Christian
> source for the festivities, they either don't know about it or don't
> care...now bring us a figgy pudding! haha
> If you ignore Christmas, as you claim, then I'm not sure how much of
> an authority you can be on how people celebrate it, be they religious
> or not...and if you listen to the religious, they often speak out
> against all the above mentioned things, saying they detract from "the
> true meaning of Christmas," so for all, religious and non, there's
> enough Christmas to go around...some choose the religion, some choose
> the secular, and some choose both...or neither!
> On Dec 7, 2013, at 1:24 PM, Roger Loran Bailey <rogerbailey81@aol.com
> <mailto:rogerbailey81@aol.com>> wrote:
>
>> I do my best to ignore Christmas, but it is so imposed on me that it
>> really is hard to ignore. And is there really anything such as a
>> secular aspect to Christmas? Even though some of the impositions are
>> not blatantly religious they are still a part of a celebration of a
>> religious holiday and thereby promote it.
>> On 12/7/2013 9:17 AM, Alice Dampman Humel wrote:
>>> As hard as I try, I can't shoehorn the Christmas tree lighting into
>>> being a religious observance. So all you atheists and agnostics, do
>>> you eschew all observances of Christmas? No trees, no egg nog, no
>>> lights, no Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire, no fruitcake...
>>> I mean, I can kind of see it both ways, that especially people who
>>> are of a different religion feel a little pushed aside by the
>>> overtaking of such a big part of the socio-cultural fabric of
>>> Western life by something that arises from a religion that is
>>> antithetical to theirs, but even many Jews, particularly non- or
>>> minimally observant Jews, incorporate the secular aspects of
>>> Christmas into their winter life, and for those with no religion at
>>> all, I, for one, just can't understand the objection to Jingle
>>> Bells, Rudolf the Rednosed Reindeer, Miracle on 34th Street or It's
>>> a Wonderful Life...
>>> Alice
>>> On Dec 7, 2013, at 6:36 AM, Frank Ventura
>>> <frank.ventura@littlebreezes.com
>>> <mailto:frank.ventura@littlebreezes.com>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> For a party that supposedly hates government funding in general,
>>>> the Tea party seems to court the religious right with state funded
>>>> religious displays.
>>>> Frank
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org
>>>> <mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org>
>>>> [mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org] On Behalf Of Miriam
>>>> Vieni
>>>> Sent: Friday, December 6, 2013 10:38 PM
>>>> To: 'Blind Democracy Discussion List'
>>>> Subject: RE: Christmas Tree?
>>>>
>>>> Agnostics and Atheists, join together and tel the Tea Party, "No
>>>> Government Funding for Christmas Trees"!
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org
>>>> <mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org>
>>>> [mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org] On Behalf Of Frank
>>>> Ventura
>>>> Sent: Friday, December 06, 2013 9:32 PM
>>>> To: Blind Democracy Discussion List
>>>> Subject: RE: Christmas Tree?
>>>>
>>>> Miriam, OK so should this aging agnostic pack it up and move to
>>>> Timbuktu?
>>>> Frank
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org
>>>> <mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org>
>>>> [mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org] On Behalf Of Miriam
>>>> Vieni
>>>> Sent: Friday, December 6, 2013 6:17 PM
>>>> To: 'Blind Democracy Discussion List'
>>>> Subject: Christmas Tree?
>>>>
>>>> Just heard on NPR that the Obama family was involved in the
>>>> National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony this afternoon. This
>>>> national tradition began in 1922. So my father was correct when he
>>>> told me that whatever is said to the contrary, the U.S. is a
>>>> Christian nation. So much for the separation of church and state.
>>>> It's bad enough that the President always says, at the end of a
>>>> speech, "God Bless America". At least that statement doesn't
>>>> indicate whose God. But a Christmas tree? And don't tell me it is
>>>> just a holiday symbol because when the tree was lit, traditional
>>>> Christmas carols were sung.
>>>>
>>>> Miriam
>>>>
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>>>
>>>
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