Christmas Day

After discussing Christmas in class I have noticed that we have been following the same pattern every year, we have been told how to celebrate Christmas. From decorating our homes to putting up a Christmas tree with ornaments and such things that are images of Santa. The real meaning of celebrating Christmas is "an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that commemorates the birth of Jesus of Nazareth." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas)
On Christmas Day, it has been a tradition for my family and I to decorate our home with lights,put up the Christmas tree, fill it up with gifts, and cook a family dinner. This year was pretty different than every other Christmas becuase it was only my parents, my brother and I. We decided this Christmas was going to be different because we always did the same thing every year. We always celebrated Christmas as our culture has taught us to celebrate.

Everyone has their own meaning for celebrating the holidays. I think that the main reasons are religion, and respect for the country's culture. We also have why there are people who don't celebrate holidays which is individuality.

Lets take for example, religion. Christians celebrate Christmas very different from other religious groups. They believe Jesus was born on that specific day and to pay respect to him, they celebrate it. From setting up the symbols that represent him such as "baby Jesus" which they place underneath the Christmas tree- to saying prayers. They value this day and feel it is necessary to give up their time to say thanks to God. I can relate to this becuase I am a Catholic who has been taught that I should pray and thank God for everything I have in life.

I have been pretty confused with the reason why I have been trying so hard to be accepted in my society by celebrating and doing things the way our culture tells us to. I know that everyone has different levels of how important and valuable a holiday is to them, but I feel that it should be the individual's choice on how to do and celebrate something. I believe when a child comes to an age of making his or her own choices, they should have a say in which they want to believe in something or not. For example, if someone doesn't want to continue their religion, they should have the right not to believe in it anymore as long as they have morals set for them and respect others beliefs.

One dominant message about Christmas is fitting into the society. Everyone wants to be accepted into the world, but being an individual is what separates you and makes you an independent person. If people were to make their own choices on how to do things in life, I feel like Christmas wouldn't be so commercialized. We wouldn't spend so much money on things that are images of Christmas and other holidays such as Halloween and Easter. We would think about our own beliefs and save our economy. Christmas would be just a day that everyone would have a day off to relax and think more about life such as the difference between a meaningful and meaningless life.

One marginal message about Christmas is hurting the environment.
-Christmas trees have been sold commercially in the United States since about 1850.
-Until fairly recently, all Christmas trees came from the forest.
-In 2002, Oregon, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Washington, New York, and Virginia were the top Christmas tree producing states. Oregon was the leading producer of Christmas trees – 6.5 million in 2002. (http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/trees/facts.cfm)
No one realizes the harm Americans are causing in our country. We have been destroying our own country by feeling the need for spending so much money on things that are supposed to be images of Christmas, that we have been so blind. This is one of the marginal messages that have tried to reach the public, but since our culture prohibits many messages, we can never reach our goal to send the positive messages that can finally be something useful to our society.

In conclusion, I believe that people should have their own beliefs in life. It doesn't really matter what others think.