{"id":2281,"date":"2013-12-18T17:55:50","date_gmt":"2013-12-18T23:55:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/?p=2281"},"modified":"2013-12-18T15:59:38","modified_gmt":"2013-12-18T21:59:38","slug":"six-reasons-i-love-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/2013\/12\/18\/six-reasons-i-love-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Six Reasons I Love Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fairly recently, my fellow SINner Staks posted\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/dangeroustalk\/2013\/12\/06\/how-can-you-not-love-christmas\/\">some reasons not to love Christmas<\/a>. While I wholeheartedly agree\u00a0with much of what he wrote, especially the bit about hearing the <em>same damned music<\/em> every year, I&#8217;m going to try to play the Santa to his Grinch, and provide a few counterpoints in favor of the holiday season. I don&#8217;t necessarily expect to persuade anyone here, these are just some of the things I personally happen to enjoy about the holiday season.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Seasonal cartoon parodies &#8211; <\/strong>What better way to\u00a0desacralize the season that with a full-frontal assault of animated satire? Here are a few suggestions to help you start a new Yuletide tradition at home:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>South Park:\u00a0<\/strong><a title=\"Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mr._Hankey,_the_Christmas_Poo\">Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo<\/a>,\u00a0<a title=\"Merry Christmas, Charlie Manson!\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Merry_Christmas,_Charlie_Manson!\">Merry Christmas, Charlie Manson!<\/a>, <a title=\"Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mr._Hankey%27s_Christmas_Classics\">Mr. Hankey&#8217;s Christmas Classics<\/a>,<a title=\"A Very Crappy Christmas\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/A_Very_Crappy_Christmas\">A Very Crappy Christmas<\/a>, <a title=\"Red Sleigh Down\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Red_Sleigh_Down\">Red Sleigh Down<\/a>, <a title=\"It's Christmas in Canada\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/It%27s_Christmas_in_Canada\">It&#8217;s Christmas in Canada<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Woodland_Critter_Christmas\">Woodland Critter Christmas<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong><strong>Futurama:\u00a0<\/strong><\/strong><a title=\"Xmas Story\" href=\"http:\/\/christmas-specials.wikia.com\/wiki\/Xmas_Story\">Xmas Story<\/a>,\u00a0<a title=\"A Tale of Two Santas\" href=\"http:\/\/christmas-specials.wikia.com\/wiki\/A_Tale_of_Two_Santas\">A Tale of Two Santas<\/a>,\u00a0<a title=\"The Futurama Holiday Spectacular\" href=\"http:\/\/christmas-specials.wikia.com\/wiki\/The_Futurama_Holiday_Spectacular\">The Futurama Holiday Spectacular<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Family Guy:\u00a0<\/strong><a title=\"A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas\" href=\"http:\/\/christmas-specials.wikia.com\/wiki\/A_Very_Special_Family_Guy_Freakin%27_Christmas\">A Very Special Family Guy Freakin&#8217; Christmas<\/a>,\u00a0<a title=\"Road to the North Pole\" href=\"http:\/\/christmas-specials.wikia.com\/wiki\/Road_to_the_North_Pole\">Road to the North Pole<\/a>,\u00a0<a title=\"Jesus, Mary and Joseph!\" href=\"http:\/\/christmas-specials.wikia.com\/wiki\/Jesus,_Mary_and_Joseph!\">Jesus, Mary and Joseph!<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Of course, if your partner or spouse is remotely squeamish, you may not be able to get away with showing these to the children, especially the one with the woodland critters performing a ritual Satanic Blood Orgy. Better stick to the <a href=\"http:\/\/simpsons.wikia.com\/wiki\/Category:Christmas_Themed_Episodes\" target=\"_blank\">Simpsons<\/a> instead.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_2282\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2282\" style=\"width: 1066px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/files\/2013\/12\/futurama_xmas_trilogy_by_javoec.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2282\" alt=\"Kwanzaa-Bot, Evil Santa, Hanukkah Zombie\" src=\"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/files\/2013\/12\/futurama_xmas_trilogy_by_javoec.jpg\" width=\"1066\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/files\/2013\/12\/futurama_xmas_trilogy_by_javoec.jpg 1066w, https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/files\/2013\/12\/futurama_xmas_trilogy_by_javoec-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/files\/2013\/12\/futurama_xmas_trilogy_by_javoec-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1066px) 100vw, 1066px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2282\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kwanzaa-Bot, Evil Santa, Hanukkah Zombie (<a href=\"http:\/\/thebrotherhoodofevilgeeks.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/11\/futurama_xmas_trilogy_by_javoec.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">original image<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>\n<li><strong>Family gatherings &#8211;<\/strong> People on atheist forums are always complaining about these, for some reason, but I really enjoy them. Possibly, this is because after all this time we&#8217;ve pretty much figured out which topics to avoid, for the sake of familial unity and general well-being. Now that I&#8217;ve said that, who knows what will happen this year? Thanksgiving went unusually smoothly, for whatever that is worth.<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ffffff\">|<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>Seasonal greetings &#8211; <\/strong>I love saying &#8220;Happy Solstice!&#8221; to strangers. As often as not, it opens a can of worms, but the odds are good that I am more willing and well-prepared to discuss the historicity of the Nativity than they are. Seriously, this is a great way to get total strangers talking about their faith, and it only comes once a year.Whatever your preferred seasonal greeting might be, though, I&#8217;m going to do my best to be friendly about it. Here is a graphical guide:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/files\/2013\/12\/How-to-respond-to-holiday-greetings-as-a-flow-chart.-Imgur.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2283\" alt=\"How to respond to holiday greetings, as a flow chart. - Imgur\" src=\"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/files\/2013\/12\/How-to-respond-to-holiday-greetings-as-a-flow-chart.-Imgur.jpg\" width=\"1650\" height=\"881\" srcset=\"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/files\/2013\/12\/How-to-respond-to-holiday-greetings-as-a-flow-chart.-Imgur.jpg 1650w, https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/files\/2013\/12\/How-to-respond-to-holiday-greetings-as-a-flow-chart.-Imgur-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/files\/2013\/12\/How-to-respond-to-holiday-greetings-as-a-flow-chart.-Imgur-1024x546.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1650px) 100vw, 1650px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>War on Christmas<\/strong> &#8211; The annual freakouts over at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/news\/fox-news-war-on-christmas\" target=\"_blank\">Fox News<\/a> are just priceless, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailyshow.com\/videos\/tag\/war%20on%20Christmas\" target=\"_blank\">comedic takedowns<\/a> even more so. It&#8217;s become a meta-tradition for some Christians to whine about how being barred from using public property to support their faith is somehow a form of reverse religious oppression, but this too can be seen as an opportunity to educate. My friend Paul Loebe has a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rockbeyondbelief\/2013\/12\/17\/were-destroying-christmas-you-say\/\">short post<\/a> up explaining more-or-less exactly what I try to tell these Christians, when explaining that this isn&#8217;t about anyone&#8217;s religious freedom or their feelings, it is about upholding the historical constitutional principle of disestablishment.\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_2309\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2309\" style=\"width: 513px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/files\/2013\/12\/WarOnChristmas-segment.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2309\" alt=\"Original image from The Daily Show (of course)\" src=\"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/files\/2013\/12\/WarOnChristmas-segment.jpg\" width=\"513\" height=\"357\" srcset=\"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/files\/2013\/12\/WarOnChristmas-segment.jpg 513w, https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/files\/2013\/12\/WarOnChristmas-segment-300x208.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 513px) 100vw, 513px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2309\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Original image from The Daily Show (of course)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>\n<li><strong>Gift giving<\/strong> &#8211; Ok, yes, it is an <a href=\"http:\/\/press.princeton.edu\/titles\/8972.html\" target=\"_blank\">economically inefficient<\/a> process to buy gifts for people, but I don&#8217;t care. So long as the kids are bright-eyed and adorable on Christmas morning, they are going to be happily surprised. Once they turn into surly teenagers, the wife and I may have to take Waldfogel&#8217;s scroogenomical arguments more seriously. Of course, this inevitably raises the awkward question of what to do about Santa. For my part, I don&#8217;t lie to my own children about it, but I also don&#8217;t tell them the truth straightaway. When the firstborn figured it out on his own, we had a productive talk about why many cultures train children to believe in mythical figures who can see everything and mete out rewards or punishments accordingly, and he made a number of interesting connections on his own. <\/li>\n<li><strong>Snow days<\/strong> &#8211; We all know that axial tilt is the real reason for the season, and with that comes the joys of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OS-p7wW_zX8\" target=\"_blank\">cavorting about in the snow<\/a>, if you are so fortunate as to live far enough north of the equator.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>What my takeaway from all this? Enjoy the season, in whatever way you can. As the days grow shorter, strive to bring a little more human light into the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fairly recently, my fellow SINner Staks posted\u00a0some reasons not to love Christmas. While I wholeheartedly agree\u00a0with much of what he&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,45,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-atheism","category-featured","category-war-on-christmas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2281\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/backgroundprobability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}