collapse

* Recent Posts

Re: "Christ Is King" by SunflowerP
[Yesterday at 11:06:51 pm]


Re: "Christ Is King" by SunflowerP
[Yesterday at 10:30:17 pm]


Re: "Christ Is King" by Darkhawk
[Yesterday at 08:31:19 pm]


Re: "Christ Is King" by Darkhawk
[Yesterday at 07:54:40 pm]


Re: "Christ Is King" by Sefiru
[Yesterday at 07:44:49 pm]

Author Topic: It has begun ... (annual Christmas rant thread)  (Read 8172 times)

Sefiru

  • Senior Staff
  • *
  • Join Date: Nov 2013
  • Location: In the walls
  • Posts: 2570
  • Country: ca
  • Total likes: 892
    • View Profile
Re: It has begun ... (annual Christmas rant thread)
« Reply #15 on: November 25, 2019, 07:05:09 pm »
Happy birthday for mid-December!

Thank you kindly  :)

I'm willing to give craft stores a pass on putting out holiday stuff early, because, you know, crafts take time but as for the rest of them ... *why?*

I admit I'm looking forward to the baking, too, but again, only in December.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Me on AO3 & Deviantart

scoutyote

  • Apprentice
  • ***
  • Join Date: Jul 2011
  • Location: Sacramento, CA
  • Posts: 20
  • Country: us
  • Total likes: 5
    • View Profile
    • Dragonblog.biz
  • Religion: Heathen/pagan/witch
  • Preferred Pronouns: they/them or she/her
Re: It has begun ... (annual Christmas rant thread)
« Reply #16 on: November 30, 2019, 01:21:00 am »
Also the music is baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.

Traditional religious carols have gravitas, often vocal harmony, quality actual music.

(Also if you get me drunk and angry in December you have a 50% chance of getting me loudly and vengefully singing Adeste Fideles.  I... can't remember quite what got me on this the first time it happened but I think it was something about laughable historical inaccuracies.)

The Bob Rivers Comedy version: "Oh come all ye Grateful, Dead-Heads to the concert..."

ehbowen

  • Grand Master Member
  • *******
  • Join Date: Jul 2011
  • Location: Houston, Texas
  • Posts: 1396
  • Country: us
  • Total likes: 286
  • A Ways Around the Bend...
    • View Profile
    • Streamliner Schedules
  • Religion: Southern Baptist
Re: It has begun ... (annual Christmas rant thread)
« Reply #17 on: November 30, 2019, 03:49:09 am »
Oddly, I much prefer religious carols over the secular Christmas songs. The latter often seem superficial and part of the commercialized 'Presents Day' part of the holiday that I really dislike.

You know, when I was a teen (mid-1970s) and listening (mostly) to Country & Western music, the stations would begin mixing in some Christmas songs (Gene Autry's Rudolph and the like) in the weeks after Thanksgiving; the last week before Christmas it would be about a 50/50 mix of Christmas and non-Christmas; Christmas Eve and Christmas would be solid Christmas songs. That worked, and worked well.

Now the station which I listen to most is wall-to-wall Christmas music starting early November. It's getting to where I can play "Name That Tune" with the first three notes or at most two bars. It's not like the repertoire changes much over the years...really now, how many original Christmas songs (not new takes on old songs) have come out in the past fifty years? And of those which have come out, how many of them are or at least appear to be in the process of becoming 'standards'? Lennon's "So This Is Christmas" (which I personally place about one step above "Santa Baby" or Spike Jones's "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" in the execrable pile) is about the only one I can think of off the top of my head...and it came out in 1971! "Do They Know It's Christmas" may be another...but I'm not personally fond of musicians richer than I am scolding me for enjoying and giving thanks for my comfortable life during a season and time of thanksgiving and celebration. Other than that...anyone care to educate me?

I still think that Sefiru has the right idea...
I would like Christmas more if there were less of it.
--------Eric H. Bowen
Where's the KABOOM? There was supposed to have been an Earth-shattering KABOOM!
Computers are like air conditioning. They become useless when you open Windows—Linus Torvalds.

SunflowerP

  • Host
  • *
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Location: Calgary AB
  • Posts: 9911
  • Country: ca
  • Total likes: 732
  • Don't teach your grandmother to suck eggs!
    • View Profile
    • If You Ain't Makin' Waves, You Ain't Kickin' Hard Enough
  • Religion: Eclectic religious Witchcraft
  • Preferred Pronouns: sie/hir/hirs/hirself
Re: It has begun ... (annual Christmas rant thread)
« Reply #18 on: November 30, 2019, 09:31:57 pm »
... And of those which have come out, how many of them are or at least appear to be in the process of becoming 'standards'? Lennon's "So This Is Christmas" (which I personally place about one step above "Santa Baby" or Spike Jones's "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" in the execrable pile) is about the only one I can think of off the top of my head...and it came out in 1971! "Do They Know It's Christmas" may be another...but I'm not personally fond of musicians richer than I am scolding me for enjoying and giving thanks for my comfortable life during a season and time of thanksgiving and celebration. Other than that...anyone care to educate me?

That provides me with my idea for this year for kicking off the 'Christmas songs you don't hate' companion thread; thank you! (Not that what I have in mind is really a 'standard', either; it's just what came up when my brain perceived A Challenge.)

To the thread in general:
When I saw that this thread had returned to the subtopic of Christmas music, my first thought was, 'Huh. Apparently Caudronites don't really have any other Christmas rants.' My second thought, though, was of a Cauldron Christmas Rant that is so much of an institution that, long ago, it used to have a thread of its own every year, which gradually morphed into just referring to it every year (by nicknames, yet!), and later still became simply 'if and as needed'.

I refer, of course, to Infamous Post 33, aka Koi's Christmas Post, wherein our onetime Staff Christian Theologian expounds knowledgeably on why Christmas Wasn't Stolen From the Pagans. The instance in which it was the 33rd post in a thread was one of its later iterations,  and even so is no longer directly accessible, though it's been copied on the current forum (itself a copy from the most recent archive board).

More recently (by which I still mean almost seven years ago), inspired by a particularly vigorous instance of wilful ignorance, Jenett took Koi's material, added further research of her own, and expanded it to include other holidays that are also mistakenly identified as 'stolen' (also available, with updates, on her Seeking site).

(While winkling those out of the forum, I also found this post by RecycledBenedict that adds still more detail on this - and other related - topics.)

So that's my rant: Christmas Wasn't Stolen From the Pagans, in the time-honored form of links to the history of the rant ;D.

Sunflower
I'm the AntiFa genderqueer commie eclectic wiccan Mod your alt-right bros warned you about.
I do so have a life; I just live part of it online!
“Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.” - Oscar Wilde
"Nobody's good at anything until they practice." - Brina (Yewberry)
My much-neglected blog "If You Ain't Makin' Waves, You Ain't Kickin' Hard Enough"

SunflowerP

  • Host
  • *
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Location: Calgary AB
  • Posts: 9911
  • Country: ca
  • Total likes: 732
  • Don't teach your grandmother to suck eggs!
    • View Profile
    • If You Ain't Makin' Waves, You Ain't Kickin' Hard Enough
  • Religion: Eclectic religious Witchcraft
  • Preferred Pronouns: sie/hir/hirs/hirself
Re: It has begun ... (annual Christmas rant thread)
« Reply #19 on: November 30, 2019, 11:21:11 pm »
Host note: For those who want to rant or rave more specifically about music, the traditional 'Christmas songs you hate' and its 'antidotes' counterpart will still be posted this year - but I'm not putting them up until December ;)!

Okay, I jumped the gun a smidgen (hey, 1 Dec is arriving in North America, and has already arrived in most of the rest of the world); they are up!

Sunflower
I'm the AntiFa genderqueer commie eclectic wiccan Mod your alt-right bros warned you about.
I do so have a life; I just live part of it online!
“Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.” - Oscar Wilde
"Nobody's good at anything until they practice." - Brina (Yewberry)
My much-neglected blog "If You Ain't Makin' Waves, You Ain't Kickin' Hard Enough"

Anon100

  • Sr. Master Member
  • *******
  • Join Date: Jun 2019
  • Posts: 556
  • Country: gb
  • Total likes: 204
    • View Profile
  • Religion: Pagan
Re: It has begun ... (annual Christmas rant thread)
« Reply #20 on: December 01, 2019, 03:48:52 am »

Now the station which I listen to most is wall-to-wall Christmas music starting early November. It's getting to where I can play "Name That Tune" with the first three notes or at most two bars. It's not like the repertoire changes much over the years...really now, how many original Christmas songs (not new takes on old songs) have come out in the past fifty years? And of those which have come out, how many of them are or at least appear to be in the process of becoming 'standards'? Lennon's "So This Is Christmas" (which I personally place about one step above "Santa Baby" or Spike Jones's "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" in the execrable pile) is about the only one I can think of off the top of my head...and it came out in 1971! "Do They Know It's Christmas" may be another...but I'm not personally fond of musicians richer than I am scolding me for enjoying and giving thanks for my comfortable life during a season and time of thanksgiving and celebration. Other than that...anyone care to educate me?


Stop the Cavalry by Jona Lewie would come under unique and a regular.
The Darkness's Christmas time is also unique but not nearly as well used ( althoug it does at one point suddenly have a host of children singing as per so many Christmas songs, however, how many Christmas song videos end with an alien spaceship taking off? ), then theres Chris De Burgh's A Spaceman came travelling.. for more recent though I'm stuck.

I just hate the thing that happens ( all year ) of taking a great song and revamping it into an awful one

Mayonaka

  • Sr. Newbie
  • **
  • Join Date: Dec 2019
  • Location: My Heart is in Ohio
  • Posts: 14
  • Country: us
  • Total likes: 7
    • View Profile
  • Religion: Christian (Going through a crisis of faith)
  • Preferred Pronouns: No Preferance
Re: It has begun ... (annual Christmas rant thread)
« Reply #21 on: December 07, 2019, 01:57:58 pm »
Anyway here's a thread for the most "wonderful" time of the year. I would like Christmas more if there were less of it.

I like Christmas, but it stresses me out something awful. Like I love the lights and decorations, and gift giving. I like showing people I care by doing my hardest to get them something they will like.

But the stress of not enough time, or money always gets me. Then there's the inevitable extended family gathering...
"You can go anywhere... Even if you're in darkness now... the ticket in your hand is just waiting to be filled in."
-Yasuhiro Nightow, Trigun Maximum.

Mayonaka

  • Sr. Newbie
  • **
  • Join Date: Dec 2019
  • Location: My Heart is in Ohio
  • Posts: 14
  • Country: us
  • Total likes: 7
    • View Profile
  • Religion: Christian (Going through a crisis of faith)
  • Preferred Pronouns: No Preferance
Re: It has begun ... (annual Christmas rant thread)
« Reply #22 on: December 07, 2019, 02:00:03 pm »
Anyway here's a thread for the most "wonderful" time of the year. I would like Christmas more if there were less of it.

I like Christmas, but it stresses me out something awful. Like I love the lights and decorations, and gift giving. I like showing people I care by doing my hardest to get them something they will like.

But the stress of not enough time, or money always gets me. Then there's the inevitable extended family gathering...
"You can go anywhere... Even if you're in darkness now... the ticket in your hand is just waiting to be filled in."
-Yasuhiro Nightow, Trigun Maximum.

Anon100

  • Sr. Master Member
  • *******
  • Join Date: Jun 2019
  • Posts: 556
  • Country: gb
  • Total likes: 204
    • View Profile
  • Religion: Pagan
Re: It has begun ... (annual Christmas rant thread)
« Reply #23 on: December 07, 2019, 03:25:06 pm »
I like Christmas, but it stresses me out something awful. Like I love the lights and decorations, and gift giving. I like showing people I care by doing my hardest to get them something they will like.

But the stress of not enough time, or money always gets me. Then there's the inevitable extended family gathering...

I'm working on getting round some of that by ( yes, like the stores ) starting early - I've got most cards written and just have present wrapping left ( phew ). Presents are kept to a minimum but, like you said, as personal as possible. My family sort themselves out by coming round at different times in the week before..
Anyway, just thought this might help give you options to cut the stress

Sefiru

  • Senior Staff
  • *
  • Join Date: Nov 2013
  • Location: In the walls
  • Posts: 2570
  • Country: ca
  • Total likes: 892
    • View Profile
Re: It has begun ... (annual Christmas rant thread)
« Reply #24 on: December 09, 2019, 06:42:10 pm »
I'm working on getting round some of that by ( yes, like the stores ) starting early

Me too; I try to have my gift shopping done before December 1 (I've also learned the hard way to avoid Black Friday). It's kind of the same principal as make-ahead meals; getting the annoying tasks squared away beforehand, so that when the actual event arrives you can relax and enjoy it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Me on AO3 & Deviantart

Kylara

  • Staff
  • *
  • Join Date: Feb 2012
  • Posts: 1433
  • Country: us
  • Total likes: 319
    • View Profile
    • https://www.patreon.com/kyndryana
  • Religion: Norse Fusion Witchcraft
  • Preferred Pronouns: she/her/hers
Re: It has begun ... (annual Christmas rant thread)
« Reply #25 on: December 10, 2019, 03:51:45 pm »
Me too; I try to have my gift shopping done before December 1 (I've also learned the hard way to avoid Black Friday). It's kind of the same principal as make-ahead meals; getting the annoying tasks squared away beforehand, so that when the actual event arrives you can relax and enjoy it.

I really planned on doing this...I ordered one thing back before October...then I kinda forgot and got busy, and now I'm working on trying to finish everything up and get things ordered!!!
Check out my Patreon for more writing and other goodies!

PerditaPickle

  • Staff
  • *
  • Join Date: Aug 2015
  • Location: UK
  • Posts: 2104
  • Country: england
  • Total likes: 641
  • It's all metta - at least, I believe it should be
    • View Profile
    • Portrait of Perpetual Perplexity
  • Religion: Druid-ish
  • Preferred Pronouns: She/her/hers
Re: It has begun ... (annual Christmas rant thread)
« Reply #26 on: December 10, 2019, 05:53:54 pm »
I really planned on doing this...I ordered one thing back before October...then I kinda forgot and got busy, and now I'm working on trying to finish everything up and get things ordered!!!

Me too - I was so pleased with myself when I started by buying one gift back in late May and then several more at Pagan Pride South (England) in August … but then it stopped, and here we are in almost mid-December and I'm beginning to panic!  Argh.
“Radiate boundless love towards the entire world — above, below, and across — unhindered, without ill will, without enmity.” – The Buddha
(From the Metta Sutta)

My Portrait of Perpetual Perplexity blog

Preyna

  • Apprentice
  • ***
  • Join Date: Jan 2015
  • Location: Alabama
  • Posts: 43
  • Country: us
  • Total likes: 17
    • View Profile
  • Religion: Christian/Animist/Hedgewitch
  • Preferred Pronouns: she/her/her
Re: It has begun ... (annual Christmas rant thread)
« Reply #27 on: December 10, 2019, 09:51:31 pm »
Me too - I was so pleased with myself when I started by buying one gift back in late May and then several more at Pagan Pride South (England) in August … but then it stopped, and here we are in almost mid-December and I'm beginning to panic!  Argh.

Ahhh, Christmas.  A couple years ago, Walmart actually put up the fake Christmas trees display in the lawn and garden center in June.  I kid you not.  Customers and employees alike were going, "Whyyyyy????" Thankfully, it was never that early again!  But I'm totally used to seeing Christmas supplies show up in stores as early as August and I'm just... NO.  Nooooo.....

Technically, I love Christmas, but there's just so much around it that wears at the soul.  So, I just choose not to focus on that!  For the longest time my family couldn't really afford gifts, so we focused less on gifts and more on each other, spending time together, finding silly gifts that we'd still use to make each other laugh.  Even now I'm more inclined to make something or find something significant and less likely to go out of my way looking for something expensive. 

This year, it's candles in mason jar shooters!  Except for my parents.  I found a record album with "their" song as the cover and totally nabbed it! 

Tags:
 

Related Topics

  Subject / Started by Replies Last post
14 Replies
5610 Views
Last post October 16, 2011, 04:03:50 am
by Tana
4 Replies
2219 Views
Last post September 04, 2012, 04:03:35 pm
by tiffalee
2 Replies
1825 Views
Last post May 14, 2013, 10:52:29 am
by Laveth
0 Replies
1462 Views
Last post March 14, 2014, 12:15:23 am
by mlr52
0 Replies
2471 Views
Last post October 30, 2015, 06:36:22 pm
by Newsposter

* Who's Online

  • Dot Guests: 254
  • Dot Hidden: 0
  • Dot Users: 0

There aren't any users online.

* Please Donate!

The Cauldron's server is expensive and requires monthly payments. Please become a Bronze, Silver or Gold Donor if you can. Donations are needed every month. Without member support, we can't afford the server.

* Shop & Support TC

The links below are affiliate links. When you click on one of these links you will go to the listed shopping site with The Cauldron's affiliate code. Any purchases you make during your visit will earn TC a tiny percentage of your purchase price at no extra cost to you.

* In Memoriam

Chavi (2006)
Elspeth (2010)
Marilyn (2013)

* Cauldron Staff

Host:
Sunflower

Message Board Staff
Board Coordinator:
Darkhawk

Assistant Board Coordinator:
Aster Breo

Senior Staff:
Aisling, Allaya, Jenett, Sefiru

Staff:
Ashmire, EclecticWheel, HarpingHawke, Kylara, PerditaPickle, rocquelaire

Discord Chat Staff
Chat Coordinator:
Morag

'Up All Night' Coordinator:
Altair

Cauldron Council:
Bob, Catja, Chatelaine, Emma-Eldritch, Fausta, Jubes, Kelly, LyricFox, Phouka, Sperran, Star, Steve, Tana

Site Administrator:
Randall

SimplePortal 2.3.6 © 2008-2014, SimplePortal