Would you rather...

[Owlie]

As far as presents go, I'd take $1000 and be able to buy gifts for other people rather than IOUs. December is always tight because of when registration fees are due. :/

[rebeccaC]

neither I’m going with dr. seuss’s 'cindy-lou who' from 'how the grinch stole christmas'

….and since I don’t need much I'd send the $1000 to some of my favorite charities

[Crankin]

I'm sorry if I sounded flip in my above post. But, this time of year gives me a good dose of feeling like "the other."

[Catrin]

I would take the $1,000 - and I bet I could then find someone to buy gifts for :-)

[OakLeaf]

Crankin, FWIW it raised my eyebrows too. They had mandatory religion classes in one of my high schools, your choice Roman Catholic or Congregationalist, but that was 40 years ago. Same school where girls had to take Home Ec and boys had to take Vo Ag. Even though neither of the shows referenced has any religious content that I can remember, they do refer to Christmas, and it doesn't really seem appropriate.



That said, the money question seems easy, doesn't it? Whether it's friends, family or charity, I wouldn't be giving the money away to anyone I wouldn't have been gifting anyway - just giving larger gifts?

[Crankin]

My issue is that most people in the US say, "Oh, but Frosty and Rudolph aren't religious, they're secular." Yes, Frosty and Rudolph are obviously not in the Bible, but the stories are about Christmas. Then there are the people (and this includes a lot of those I question) who say that trees and wreaths are secular, too. Ah, no. If you actually celebrated the religious aspect of Christmas, maybe you would know this. I know most enjoy celebrating the time of year with family, exchanging gifts, etc. But, that is not the true origin of Christmas. I don't want to take away anyone's fun, but none of this should be in the schools.
My kids went to an elementary school where they were pretty much the only, in their own words, "true Jews." They meant the only ones with 2 Jewish parents, who went to religious school, and celebrated only Jewish holidays. In the beginning, some of the teachers thought it would make them feel better around this time of year, if they slipped in some Chanukah themed pictures when the kids were coloring in the early grades. Personally, I let them handle it all on their own, but there were a few times when each of them chose not to participate in something.
Then there was the art teacher who asked my oldest son if he was allowed to do a Thanksgiving activity . Yes, a person with a master's degree asked a 9 year old this. I tried not to interfere, but I think that some of the educators just did not get it. We solved it by moving to a town with more awareness and more diversity, but they were in middle school by then.

[Eden]

Interesting. I always thought trees and wreaths were from Druidism.

- very much so… the whole holiday was adopted, or should one say co-opted, adapted from Paganism to make Christianity more palatable to people who followed Pagan religions… It's really celebrations of the Solstice and one brings those green living things that can survive the winter into ones home (pine boughs and trees, mistletoe, holly) to ward off the darkness and celebrate the return of the light.

(no, I'm not Pagan, nor am I Christian, or an adherent to any religion for that matter, but I did study this in botany class in college - fascinating. You don't even want to know where the tradition of garland came from… eeewww)