Hello everyone :)
As you probably know, there is now just over one month until Christmas! Now I don't know why, but this year I am actually looking forward to it, when usually I don't really care much.
Christmas for me has never been about Jesus Christ. Never- not even when I still thought maybe God and his son existed. For me Christmas was always, always, always about family and santa.
Before I continue down that path though, let me just say that I hate the commercialisation of the holiday. I get that we all love buying stuff for each other and seeing all the decorations down the street, but does there really need to be sooo much stuff on sale?
I mentioned in a previous post that they (by "they" i mean advertisers and store owners) are trying to make Halloween a "thing" here. We don't celebrate it or whatever, and yet they continue to push it on us. But once they have finished doing that -ie on about November 3rd- they start selling Christmas shit -_-
So for such a looong time already, it feels, i have been seeing Christmas stuff everywhere. I was wondering when they begin advertising in other places, such as America, since they have Thanksgiving to celebrate first. I hate that they try to force the season on people early.
Anyway, back to santa. From an early age I loved Christmas because it was the only time I believed that magical things could happen. When I was really young though, I was terrified of sitting on "santa's" lap in the shopping malls- if you think about it, it is kinda creepy.
My parents always made christmas fun, and here is a rough outline of how the season went for me in years gone by:
Christmas Eve: Most of my large family on dad's side would come down to my city and visit nan. She and her late husband had eleven children all up, nine of which grew up and eight of which are still alive today. Even though some of them lived too far away to make it down, when you factor in spouses and children of those who lived near enough to make it, we form quite a large crowd. I got to see all my loving family again, we shared presents that we couldn't open yet, and i got to eat heaps of junk food. Then when we went home that night we got to open one of our presents early :) One year though, I'm not sure why, we went to church on christmas eve. It was packed and boiling and sooo boring.
Then of course we put out milk and cookies for santa, carrots for the reindeers, and put my sack on the end of my bed (we have no chimney or fireplace, and remember its summer here at christmas)
Christmas Day: Try as I might, I couldn't stay awake for santa, but my sister and I woke up early and went through our presents in our shared room. Then, when it was an acceptable time, we woke everyone else up so we could get more presents! We would see that santa liked his food, and one year there was even "reindeer poo" on our front lawn (my parents got horse crap or something :P).
Then we would sit around the tree and film us opening all the presents and thanking each other. We would play with everything for a while, and then had to choose something to bring with us to play with at nan and pop's.
We had christmas lunch with my mother's parents and my uncle (in later years his partner and their kids too) and we would all sit around and talk for a while while we ate the snakcs. Being young though, i just wanted to get to the presents :)
Presents would be picked at random under their very small tree and handed out until none were left, we'd thank each other, then have lunch. Christmas lunch was the only time we ever said grace- and that was about as much as Jesus had to do with my christmas, except hearing his name in the occasional carol.
After lunch we'd all talk some more and then have desert, and by the time we left I'd usually be a bit sad because I knew the day was almost over, and sometimes the holiday hadn't been as great as I had expected. Then when we got home we would play with our new presents and try to find a place in our room to keep them all.
Boxing Day: After lunch we went to visit my great-grandmother at her house, and see my great uncle and my second cousins, all of whom were much older than myself and sisters. We would spend the whole day in one room, basically, and they would all talk. I never really had anything to talk to them about, and even when I did I couldn't usually get a word in. My parents always told me not to interrupt others, and to wait until there was silence to say what I had to say, but the thing is there was never a moment where someone wasn't talking. Don't get me wrong, I like my second cousins and liked seeing them (although I haven't for years now), but I got bored when I was younger. Furthermore, I felt slightly ripped off that I only got one present from them all day :P I would sit and think of santa flying all around the world delivering presents to kids who were in a different time zone, and envied them for only just beginning their christmas.
And then suddenly the whole holiday was over and it would be a whole year until it came around again- and as a child, a year seems like forever. But as years passed and the routine happened some more, I got used to it and knew what to expect. When I was older I began drawing christmas posters each year, which my mother kept. Other little traditions, like the opening a present on christmas eve, also formed.
Then came the time where santa stopped coming to my house, if you get my drift. I was eleven or twelve, and although part of me had already sort of realised what was going on, when I was told all the magic of the holiday vanished. And sadly, that was what really made me stop looking forward to christmas some years- no santa :P Of course I loved spending time with my family, but the traditions also changed.
My nan was a type 2 diabetic whose condition only got worse as the years went by. Soon she had to move out and into special nursing homes, so there was no more christmas eve party at her house with all the relatives I love most. We did go up to see her a few days after christmas when she was staying with my cousins, and i think we had a slightly smaller party, but things were still changing. Nan died when I was 14.
We still went to my grandparents for christmas lunch every year, but one year we decided to stay home, and instead have them over for lunch. I'm not sure why, and it threw me completely out of whack. Made a nice change though.
Then came the year when my parents were divorcing, and I was worried they would fight over who would get the kids for christmas, or whether we would have some awkward time all together. As it turned out though, my dad didn't make it to christmas; he passed away at the end of september when i was 16. So we had lunch with nan and pop after laying flowers at his grave, and then on boxing day i dont think I saw my second cousins. I can't clearly remember, but I think my sisters and I went up to see my cousins instead while my mum stayed here.
And now for the past three years, I can't fully remember what we've done for the holiday. We still have lunch with my grandparents and now we have small parties with my mum's friends. My sisters and I try to get away to see our cousins too, but we can't always arrange it, unfortunately.
Anyway, no matter what we seem to do on the holiday, I never quite enjoy it or look forward to it as much as I used to. Whether this is because of the changes, or just a general part of growing up, I'm not sure.
And as I grew older, I realised the weirdness of millions of children liking the idea that once a year a fat old man would break into their house, sneak into their room and give them a "present"... :P
But even though I don't believe in the son of god's birth or existence as a whole, i can still enjoy christmas- even without santa. Christmas to me isn't about religion, its about people coming together and giving and receiving gifts with the people they love. And with all the commercialisation of the holiday, I think christmas has long since turned into a time where people celebrate this love more than the birth of a "virgin's son". Jesus comes second to santa and love, it seems.
So this year at christmas, hopefully my sister won't punch me in the gut and make me cry (angry face!) and hopefully they will both be nice to me. Hopefully we get and give the gifts people want, and pretend we can stand each other for just this one day :P just joking, we get along... sort of. I just don't want to get so bored -_-
I hope all my family- and you guys too I guess- enjoy christmas this year. It will be hard to be any worse than some of them :P
Monday 21 November 2011
Sunday 13 November 2011
McHappy Day
Yesterday, the 12th November 2011, was McHappy Day in Australia.
I hadn't heard of such a day until about three years ago at most (I have no idea how long it has been running) and since then this is what I have learned.
In Australia, on McHappy Day either $1 or $2 (I'm not sure exactly) from every big mac sold is donated to the Ronald McDonald House charity. Other countries may do the same thing, or the nature of the donation money may vary slightly. When I first heard of McHappy Day, I thought it was a wonderfully generous thing for McDonalds to do.
However, now that I've given it some thought, I'm not so sure anymore. What I'm saying is that although they raise so much money, is it really the best they can do?
McDonalds, a fast food chain that probably has enough restaraunts to average out as one per city- at least in most countries- would raise such a large amount of money every single day of every single year.
Think about it- everytime you go to one of the restaraunts, usually there are so many other people there. It's always so busy, and remember that just as many people go there for food on the days you aren't there too. They serve food with specials for each meal time, and now most ones in the city are open twenty four hours. Now I understand they have expenses- supplies, salaries, maintenance of stores, etc, but obviously they are raking in a whole lot more money.
If I'm honest, I think some of the food there is slightly over-priced as well. So now think: this restaurant is making so much money every single day of every single year, and they think it is generous that for ONE day a year, they donate a percentage of ONE of their products sold.
The Big Mac is not my favourite- I don't like it at all, really. I wouldn't have even known yesterday was McHappy Day if I hadn't known someone who works at a restaraunt. I saw no advertising for the event, personally.
So for such a large corporation, why don't they donate all the money from every Big Mac sold that day? Or a percentage of ANY product sold that day? (People who go there in groups for McHappy Day often buy more than just a Big Mac- eg coke, fries, nuggets, etc)
Or better yet, why don't they have a sort of "McHappy Day Every Day" deal where $2 from every Big Mac is donated to the charity no matter what day of the year?
I'm not suggesting that they donate all their profits, but surely they can do so much better? And if they really cared about their charity, wouldn't they be willing to do all they can?
I guess for now the one day a year will have to do :/
I hadn't heard of such a day until about three years ago at most (I have no idea how long it has been running) and since then this is what I have learned.
In Australia, on McHappy Day either $1 or $2 (I'm not sure exactly) from every big mac sold is donated to the Ronald McDonald House charity. Other countries may do the same thing, or the nature of the donation money may vary slightly. When I first heard of McHappy Day, I thought it was a wonderfully generous thing for McDonalds to do.
However, now that I've given it some thought, I'm not so sure anymore. What I'm saying is that although they raise so much money, is it really the best they can do?
McDonalds, a fast food chain that probably has enough restaraunts to average out as one per city- at least in most countries- would raise such a large amount of money every single day of every single year.
Think about it- everytime you go to one of the restaraunts, usually there are so many other people there. It's always so busy, and remember that just as many people go there for food on the days you aren't there too. They serve food with specials for each meal time, and now most ones in the city are open twenty four hours. Now I understand they have expenses- supplies, salaries, maintenance of stores, etc, but obviously they are raking in a whole lot more money.
If I'm honest, I think some of the food there is slightly over-priced as well. So now think: this restaurant is making so much money every single day of every single year, and they think it is generous that for ONE day a year, they donate a percentage of ONE of their products sold.
The Big Mac is not my favourite- I don't like it at all, really. I wouldn't have even known yesterday was McHappy Day if I hadn't known someone who works at a restaraunt. I saw no advertising for the event, personally.
So for such a large corporation, why don't they donate all the money from every Big Mac sold that day? Or a percentage of ANY product sold that day? (People who go there in groups for McHappy Day often buy more than just a Big Mac- eg coke, fries, nuggets, etc)
Or better yet, why don't they have a sort of "McHappy Day Every Day" deal where $2 from every Big Mac is donated to the charity no matter what day of the year?
I'm not suggesting that they donate all their profits, but surely they can do so much better? And if they really cared about their charity, wouldn't they be willing to do all they can?
I guess for now the one day a year will have to do :/
Tuesday 1 November 2011
Halloween Through My Eyes
Hello!
Being that many of the people I follow on twitter live in the US, I have been reading a lot of stuff about Halloween. Personally, I never understood the holiday.
I don't know how it originated, or what it was to begin with, but I know that it has evolved into a highly commercialised time where people dress up and take candy from strangers.
Now that is the main thing that confuses me. As a child, the instruction to "never take candy from strangers" was drilled into me for years, and I have always obeyed. I think this whole candy issue came from a serial killer who lured boys over with candy and then went on to do some pretty horrible things before killing them. That or just the general possibility of having an allergic reaction to strange foods, or being drugged, etc.
Whatever the reason for this piece of advice, it always made perfect sense to me as a rule- just like don't get lifts with strangers. So it is really weird for me to see that there is a time where children are actively encouraged to go door to door all through their neighbourhood taking whatever candy they are given and eating it without question.
Are there many cases of Halloween-candy-poisoning in America? Or do all the horrible people in the world have the decency not to taint the holiday and save their luring for the other days of the year?
Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Halloween. If I lived in the US or any other place that is big on celebrating it (are there many?) I would love to join in on the fun. I would, however, take a great deal of care with what I eat. I love dressing up and partying as much as any other person. Admittedly I haven't done it for a while, but I like it all the same.
What I think is funny are the different attitudes that heavily Christian people have about it. On the one hand I see on the tv that some places have those "houses of sin" or whatever, where they try to make halloween educational as well. From what I can gather they are places telling everyone how abortion is a horrible crime rather than a reasonable choice for a woman; how lust and those feelings are shameful; how wanking will make you blind; how drugs will mess you up, etc. It seems like just another way to push their christian ways and threaten you will hell.
And then there is the other attitude that I wasn't really aware of until this morning while on twitter casually looking through the tweets of some of the bigoted idiots who have harnessed the power of the internet. People who have names like "Gods word is law" or "I'm a believer" or "magic happens" or "I'm a sad person who needs to wake up"... well not the last one, obviously.
These people were saying things like "HALLOWEEN IS ENCOURAGING WITCHCRAFT" and "HALLOWEEN IS THE DEVIL'S HOLIDAY".
Firstly- Witchcraft? REALLY? The religion that follows a magical man in the sky and a son who could walk on water and conjure up food (and then some) is going on about witchcraft. That is just so stupid that I really can't bear to talk about it any more. I think the hypocrisy is clear enough.
But onto the "devil's holiday". It's just a bunch of people getting together to have a good time and celebrate- oh yes, i can see why satan would be responsible for that. In no way must anyone have a good time if they are true to "the lord". The idea that god is against halloween is just stupid; these days due to the commercialisation its not like it means anything dark and eerie. I get thats probably how it all started, but all it is now is some partying and fun, right? God will need to get over it.
But yes, on the whole the attitude to and origin of Halloween thoroughly confuses me. I do know that even though I hate the fact that they're trying to encourage it here in Australia, if I had grown up in the US I would have loved it...
Even though I don't know what it's all about. Any insight would be appreciated!
:D
Being that many of the people I follow on twitter live in the US, I have been reading a lot of stuff about Halloween. Personally, I never understood the holiday.
I don't know how it originated, or what it was to begin with, but I know that it has evolved into a highly commercialised time where people dress up and take candy from strangers.
Now that is the main thing that confuses me. As a child, the instruction to "never take candy from strangers" was drilled into me for years, and I have always obeyed. I think this whole candy issue came from a serial killer who lured boys over with candy and then went on to do some pretty horrible things before killing them. That or just the general possibility of having an allergic reaction to strange foods, or being drugged, etc.
Whatever the reason for this piece of advice, it always made perfect sense to me as a rule- just like don't get lifts with strangers. So it is really weird for me to see that there is a time where children are actively encouraged to go door to door all through their neighbourhood taking whatever candy they are given and eating it without question.
Are there many cases of Halloween-candy-poisoning in America? Or do all the horrible people in the world have the decency not to taint the holiday and save their luring for the other days of the year?
Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Halloween. If I lived in the US or any other place that is big on celebrating it (are there many?) I would love to join in on the fun. I would, however, take a great deal of care with what I eat. I love dressing up and partying as much as any other person. Admittedly I haven't done it for a while, but I like it all the same.
What I think is funny are the different attitudes that heavily Christian people have about it. On the one hand I see on the tv that some places have those "houses of sin" or whatever, where they try to make halloween educational as well. From what I can gather they are places telling everyone how abortion is a horrible crime rather than a reasonable choice for a woman; how lust and those feelings are shameful; how wanking will make you blind; how drugs will mess you up, etc. It seems like just another way to push their christian ways and threaten you will hell.
And then there is the other attitude that I wasn't really aware of until this morning while on twitter casually looking through the tweets of some of the bigoted idiots who have harnessed the power of the internet. People who have names like "Gods word is law" or "I'm a believer" or "magic happens" or "I'm a sad person who needs to wake up"... well not the last one, obviously.
These people were saying things like "HALLOWEEN IS ENCOURAGING WITCHCRAFT" and "HALLOWEEN IS THE DEVIL'S HOLIDAY".
Firstly- Witchcraft? REALLY? The religion that follows a magical man in the sky and a son who could walk on water and conjure up food (and then some) is going on about witchcraft. That is just so stupid that I really can't bear to talk about it any more. I think the hypocrisy is clear enough.
But onto the "devil's holiday". It's just a bunch of people getting together to have a good time and celebrate- oh yes, i can see why satan would be responsible for that. In no way must anyone have a good time if they are true to "the lord". The idea that god is against halloween is just stupid; these days due to the commercialisation its not like it means anything dark and eerie. I get thats probably how it all started, but all it is now is some partying and fun, right? God will need to get over it.
But yes, on the whole the attitude to and origin of Halloween thoroughly confuses me. I do know that even though I hate the fact that they're trying to encourage it here in Australia, if I had grown up in the US I would have loved it...
Even though I don't know what it's all about. Any insight would be appreciated!
:D
Monday 31 October 2011
My boring year off
My name is Rachel and I am a 19 year old from NSW, Australia. This blog is about what happened to me in 2011- my "gap" year.
I graduated from high school in September 2010, and 2011 has been my year off from education. The town I live in doesn't have many offers for jobs going, unless you count McDonalds and all the other fast food chains that plague every city, and I refuse to work at one... again. As a result I have had an entire year filled with doing whatever I like day in and day out.
I admit this may sound wonderful, but when you factor in the lack of friends (turns out smart, sarcastic people aren't always appreciated) it can actually be horribly, depressingly boring. Almost every day of this year I have woken up with absolutely nothing to do besides the morning washing up, which was always there for me. And to convey how little it was I had to do, know that for a while I found myself looking forward to doing it. Pretty pathetic...
This has given me an idea of what retirement will be like, and I have to say I'm horrified. How can I be expected to live years of my life with nothing to do when I could barely stand the one? How is it that retirees can stand it? Because playing bowles and doing the gardening do not appeal to me in anyway, and that's all most of them seem to do.
On top of the vast nothingness that slowly ticked a year of my life away, my boyfriend and I constantly had problems that we tried to work through. I was alright with breaking up though, as he moved away to start work and I was ready to move on.
I wonder if I'm one of a minority who look forward to starting a career. Is it really so weird to want to spend my days working when I'll be in a job I like? I learned that I'm the kind of person who needs something constructive to do or I go mad.
That was another problem I faced this year. Back in January I had no idea what career I wanted to pursue. I graduated without a clue of where I would be that time next year. I was dreading the possibility that I would still be sponging off my mother and spending every single day on the computer. At that point university was not an option, as I was afraid it would just be a larger version of high school.
I'm not 100% sure why, but people in high school had a tendency to hate me- even if I did nothing to them. I'm over it now, but at the time it was really frustrating. I just didn't want to go to a place where thousands more people would be doing that too. I realised though that university would be full of people who truly want to learn (and aren't being forced to) and that the weirdos like me would most likely be in the majority. And since I would be choosing special subjects, those people and I would share common interests.
I then found a course that I would like to do, and had to suffer through the fears of rejection until a few days ago, when I found out that I was accepted!! I will be moving out from home early next year, and have to deal with the much less paralyzing fear that I won't be good at my courses.
But as boring as this year off was, I found out a lot about myself. That's right, it was all some fantastic journey of self-discovery..... just kidding. I did learn some stuff though, like my opinion on matters such as: gay marriage, abortion, religion, etc, and those (and then some) will be the topics of my clumsy attempts at blogs.
Well that's all for now folks, thanks for reading :)
I graduated from high school in September 2010, and 2011 has been my year off from education. The town I live in doesn't have many offers for jobs going, unless you count McDonalds and all the other fast food chains that plague every city, and I refuse to work at one... again. As a result I have had an entire year filled with doing whatever I like day in and day out.
I admit this may sound wonderful, but when you factor in the lack of friends (turns out smart, sarcastic people aren't always appreciated) it can actually be horribly, depressingly boring. Almost every day of this year I have woken up with absolutely nothing to do besides the morning washing up, which was always there for me. And to convey how little it was I had to do, know that for a while I found myself looking forward to doing it. Pretty pathetic...
This has given me an idea of what retirement will be like, and I have to say I'm horrified. How can I be expected to live years of my life with nothing to do when I could barely stand the one? How is it that retirees can stand it? Because playing bowles and doing the gardening do not appeal to me in anyway, and that's all most of them seem to do.
On top of the vast nothingness that slowly ticked a year of my life away, my boyfriend and I constantly had problems that we tried to work through. I was alright with breaking up though, as he moved away to start work and I was ready to move on.
I wonder if I'm one of a minority who look forward to starting a career. Is it really so weird to want to spend my days working when I'll be in a job I like? I learned that I'm the kind of person who needs something constructive to do or I go mad.
That was another problem I faced this year. Back in January I had no idea what career I wanted to pursue. I graduated without a clue of where I would be that time next year. I was dreading the possibility that I would still be sponging off my mother and spending every single day on the computer. At that point university was not an option, as I was afraid it would just be a larger version of high school.
I'm not 100% sure why, but people in high school had a tendency to hate me- even if I did nothing to them. I'm over it now, but at the time it was really frustrating. I just didn't want to go to a place where thousands more people would be doing that too. I realised though that university would be full of people who truly want to learn (and aren't being forced to) and that the weirdos like me would most likely be in the majority. And since I would be choosing special subjects, those people and I would share common interests.
I then found a course that I would like to do, and had to suffer through the fears of rejection until a few days ago, when I found out that I was accepted!! I will be moving out from home early next year, and have to deal with the much less paralyzing fear that I won't be good at my courses.
But as boring as this year off was, I found out a lot about myself. That's right, it was all some fantastic journey of self-discovery..... just kidding. I did learn some stuff though, like my opinion on matters such as: gay marriage, abortion, religion, etc, and those (and then some) will be the topics of my clumsy attempts at blogs.
Well that's all for now folks, thanks for reading :)
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