Thanksgiving and Christmas

Ironman294Ironman294
edited November 2024 in General

The whole season starts first with “It’s the great pumpkin Charlie Brown” childhood memories of jazz and my favorites the whole gang from Peanuts especially Charlie Brown, Linus and Snoopy. Then Thanksgiving with “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” and finally “A. Charlie Brown Christmas” There’s the Macys Thanksgivjng Day Parade with the balloons! NYC decorated with window displays and the Christmas at Rockefeller Center. The whole season is magical!
Mr. Magoos Christmas Carol, Elf, A Christmas Story, Anna and the Apocalypse! Christmas music. The Salvation Army Jettles. People wishing each other Merry Christmas and I wishing my Jewish friends a Happy Hanukkah.
I used to love singing Christmas songs in primary school and Hanukkah songs. I was brought up Buddhist but singing Christmas and Hanukkah didn’t offend me because it was fun and I wasn’t taught be offended very 5 seconds. Everyone enjoyed the season even if very few people were Christian. I grew up in Chinatown so most were in the same boat.
My music teacher who taught Christmas and Hanukkah songs was a German Jew. And he didn’t care that he taught us Christmas songs. It wasn’t any of our religions but that was fine.
Everyone exchanged Christmas cards and looked forward to snowball fights and the magical Christmas break. Heck our principal Mr Cooper even wore a Santa Hat despite being Jewish. No one was offended people were happy!
I loved having a Thanksgiving dinner with my extended family! It was the traditional turkey meal with Chinese and Italian. Those were the days and on Christmas Day we opened presents and played all day laughing and celebrating Christmas!
Well now that I am Christian it means a lot more.
I’m sorry if people might have had bad memories in the past. Make good ones with new loved ones. Try not to be a Scrooge rather have peace and goodwill towards all.
And the same with how some say not to yuck on their yum.
Maybe write good memories you have from the holidays or else some plans to make new memories.
Peace out and God Bless

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Comments

  • IronicMaidenIronicMaiden

    @Ironman294

    I’m sorry if people might have had bad memories in the past. Make good ones with new loved ones. Try not to be a Scrooge rather have peace and goodwill towards all.

    I find this insulting in that it's very dismissive of people who have issues around this holiday. Great that you had nothing but positive experiences with this holiday. Enjoy it all you want, but leave me out of it.

    And it's also very insulting as it equates people who don't enjoy the holiday with greedy old men who care nothing about other people.

  • [Deleted User]jimmylee (deleted user)

    @Ironman294 Thanks for the encouragement not to be defined by our low points (and I imagine we've all had fine, it in the midst of some), but to look to overcome them with the positive. Not always so easy, but a change in mindset can often be the catalyst we need to take that first of many steps.

  • Ironman294Ironman294

    @IronLemon i find it odd that you tell people not to yuck your yum on your threads and here you go doing the thing you don’t want others to do. You want people to do as you say but not as you do. Why not take your own advice?
    Just because I didn’t include my bad experiences doesn’t mean I didn’t have any, I had more than you can imagine but I chose to highlight the good and encourage others to make good memories instead of allowing themselves to let the bad ones rule over them.

  • Ironman294Ironman294

    @jimmylee change can be hard and life has its challenges. Life is never easy not even for someone like Brad Pitt. Blessed with great looks and acting talent, his personal life is a mess, two failed marriages and his kids want nothing to do with him. That must suck and now he’s 60 and the looks will go so he still has money and fame but man how much does it hurt his kids and him don’t really have any relationship.
    But I’m sure he’s making the best of it.
    So can we. Bad family, there’s Friendsgiving :-)
    Bad Christmas memories. Go serve others and volunteer at a soup kitchen in the Salvation Army or an orphanage or at a senior center and not just at Christmas but all year round or if you hate people go to a local shelter and do weekly walking dogs or petting plans combining cats. Serve others! You will feel great helping people!

  • pmvinespmvines

    I like thanksgiving. We all know the actual history of it by this point and how it's been misrepresented and mistaught in the schools, but for me and many others it's become so far removed from its origins and has come to be defined as time with family and loved ones and, and showing appreciation and love for your fellow humans. I feel it's ok to recognize it's origins while allowing it to mean something else for you. I know that some folks may see it differently and refuse to acknowledge it and that's totally fine with me. To each their own and whatever they find meaning in.

  • IronicMaidenIronicMaiden

    @Ironman294 You think spreading hatred and intolerance is just "yucking on someone's yum"? Interesting. I don't think pointing out that you're being insensitive even comes close.

    I wouldn't have bothered replying if you hadn't said the bit that I quoted. Especially the "scrooge" part.

    You can choose to learn something from what I've said or not, up to you.

  • Carrie_AnneCarrie_Anne

    It’s Sunday for me now and today I am celebrating an American Thanksgiving in
    S Korea with all the traditional dishes and roast turkey. All of this is very difficult to find here but it will be a feast. We’re going to a friends place and guests will be from US, Korea and not sure where else.
    It’s a different kind of celebration for me. Usually I feel a bit stressed over all the cooking so this will be a lot of fun with great food. I don’t speak much Korean so I will enjoy just sitting back.

  • Ironman294Ironman294

    @g_w_t_w i know cooking Thanksgiving can be stressful, but after it’s done it’s worth the effort. Ordering from a restaurant can definitely be stress free and then allow the family to just spend time catching up, but I’ve found cooking together can be a bonding experience especially when moaning about how I made the mashed potato’s a bit too lumpy or the turkey not being juicy!. :-)

  • [Deleted User]WriterGF (deleted user)

    My daughter is not a Thanksgiving fan but likes Christmas. We both agree that once Christmas is over, winter is pointless. Thanksgiving was more fun in the past when I had family to spend it with, but it is still a nice day when my girl is here. (If she's not, it's just another Thursday.) Some of our Christmas traditions, like Santa train, we don't do anymore because she has aged out of them, but we try to keep most of them going.

  • Carrie_AnneCarrie_Anne

    @Ironman294
    So true! I wanted to bake my traditional French apple pie but getting everything for it was too complicated. We baked bread and ordered the pie from a bakery instead. It’s all good! We will all be preparing together and maybe a mix of English and Korean will be spoken.

  • lovingspoonfulllovingspoonfull
    edited November 2024

    Not picking a fight here, just curious, but not sure what you mean by how thanksgiving is not what we were taught in school. I just did a google search and three different historical websites do cover the events I was taught.

    What is the perceived deviation?

  • [Deleted User]jimmylee (deleted user)

    @g_w_t_w Sounds wonderful. Have a blessed and memorable time.

  • pmvinespmvines

    @g_w_t_w
    Wow that really does sound like so much fun ! Will there be non American dishes too ?

  • Gwynne42Gwynne42

    @IronLemon Exactly what was said to spread hatred? I see nothing wrong with showing sympathy toward people who have bad memories and encouraging them to make new memories. If you felt dismissed, that is on you.

    As to the Scrooge comment, Charles Dickens was not equating monetary wealth and greed with those who don't like Christmas. Scrooge had many happy memories of Christmas and allowed bitterness to keep him focused on the negative and SELF. When he was focused on self, he did not allow Bob Cratchet off to celebrate and tried to heep guilt on him for taking the day off...much as you are trying to heep guilt on the rest of us who enjoy the holiday. When Scrooge got his mind off himself and thought of others, HE FELT LIGHT AS A FEATHER!

    Lest you think I only have happy memories and that I am also dismissing your feelings, I had no large happy family. My mother had a nervous breakdown. My dad had severe medical issues and went blind near Thanksgiving one year. I grew up in hoarding and filth with rats and roaches and parents too ashamed to accept charity.

    My little sister and I expected nothing for Christmas...not that we had anything other than used clothes and broken toys from Goodwill during my entire childhood. That year, we went to the VFW for Christmas dinner because we could not afford food. Santa gave me a wrapped shoebox with hard candy and a Dollar Tree level baby doll. IT IS MY MOST CHERISHED CHRISTMAS MEMORY. You see...you cannot change what happens to you, but every one of us is responsible for how we REACT to it. My sister suffers PTSD and has panic attacks that send her into a fetal position. I do not dismiss her feelings, and I do not dismiss yours.

    After I became an adult, I began filling and giving shoeboxes to Operation Christmas Child. I also at times drop money where I know an anxious parent can find it or sneak a $20 bill in their shopping cart unnoticed. Why? Because I love seeing the look of relief on their faces that they will be able to afford that one cheap toy or socks or something for their kids. I remember vividly that same pained look on my parent's faces over 50 years ago. It helps me heal the bad memories of that Christmas and celebrate the surprise and wonder I had as a child at seeing Santa.

    I still do not have a big happy family or group of friends, and I still get lonely during the holidays. I have suffered major depressive disorder my entire adult life. Combine that with seasonal affective disorder, and the winter is a crappy time if I allow it to be.

    Between my blue light and my Prozac, I am level. Add my thankfulness for what is truly important in life, my love of people and my conscious choice every morning to focus on others who have far less, and I avoid being a self focused Scrooge wanting to attack others or accuse them of hatred where none exists...and I am thankful for what I do have....and quoting Scrooge... I feel light as a feather.

    I am here, and I understand. If you are down and ever need to talk, message me. I will always have an empathetic ear and a virtual hug.

  • Carrie_AnneCarrie_Anne

    @pmvines
    yes I think possibly but also when I first got here, we went to the same friends to celebrate Chuseok which is the Korean Thanksgiving and all the different Korean dishes were so amazing. I didn’t know the names of anything I was eating but I’m brave, tried everything and it was all delicious!
    I will be home for Christmas!🎄 getting homesick but enjoying all the holiday festivities and cold weather here!

  • TxTomTxTom

    @Ironman294
    I greatly appreciate and enjoyed reading your comments on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

    It's too bad that the usual suspects who predictably take issue with such topics can't just ignore it, move on, and refrain from commenting... as they demand of others on threads they start.

  • pmvinespmvines

    @lovingspoonfull
    Not sure what your age is, but what really happened isn't what was taught in my school

  • [Deleted User]MaverickLegend (deleted user)

    I feel like I should be wearing a red cap

  • pmvinespmvines

    @g_w_t_w
    We Americans miss you so glad you'll be home

  • [Deleted User]jimmylee (deleted user)
    edited November 2024

    @Gwynne42 Thank you for sharing some very personal moments. Love your heart and attitude.

    @g_w_t_w Please post some post-pictures and brighten all of our days. (Edit - MOST of our days. I do not presume to speak for everyone here on CC 😉)

  • GuyverGordonGuyverGordon

    @g_w_t_w Chuseok was always a good time when I was up in Korea. I was always amazed at how cold it got up there.

  • Janelle19Janelle19

    I enjoy creating the Holiday magic for my son . It's beautiful and fulfilling, yes it's a lot of hard work but makes me appreciate my parents and everything they did to make things wonderful for us.

  • [Deleted User]jimmylee (deleted user)

    @Janelle19 Lovely. I have four children. All grown now. I cherish the memories of those treasured years (before my wife became mentally disabled). Now, I have grandchildren who I can experience the magic of Christmas through their eyes.

  • Carrie_AnneCarrie_Anne
    edited November 2024

    @GuyverGordon
    Chuseok is their biggest holiday I think?
    I would love to hear about your experiences here and yes the cold is different and very intense but I love winter & it’s perfect right now.

  • lovingspoonfulllovingspoonfull

    I’m 49. Just scanned Smithsonian, Brittanica, history.com.

    Matches what I was taught.

  • IronicMaidenIronicMaiden
    edited November 2024

    @Gwynne42 He was referring to other threads where I wanted people not to post transphobic comments, not this one.

    Also, that's not the context I've ever heard Scrooge used.

  • Ironman294Ironman294

    @Gwynne42 i like the cut of your jib! You’re right. I grew up in a super power household. Didn’t get Christmas gift ls from my parents because they didn’t celebrate and couldn’t afford gifts but received from aunts and uncles. :-)
    I have a Christmas playlist I play year round but more fun during Christmas time. And I do enjoy volunteering and making great memories.
    @TxTom thanks I enjoyed writing about my past Christmas memories and will make more this year and the future! Gonna be away for the holidays celebrating with food and sun but return just in time to be with family.

  • Gwynne42Gwynne42

    @IronLemon Apologies if I misunderstood.

    With Scrooge, my husband insists we watch the 1938 and 1951 movie versions every year. One is closer to the book and one has a better actor playing Scrooge. We also watch the modern Bill Murray version.

  • Ironman294Ironman294

    @g_w_t_w i was in Seoul last year for a few days it rained for two days and then was hot and sticky the next day. But they love kimchee so much they even put it in dumplings, lol. And kpop is my new obsession since returning from there. My favorite Korean meal is Bibimbop

  • Carrie_AnneCarrie_Anne

    @jimmylee i would love to but not sure if everyone will want me snapping pics but I will try. I like to stay in the background here!

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