How does Christmas make you feel?

[Bryd0]

The festive period isn't always a happy one for many people, even me (where I begin to feel this since last year). So I'll ask this... does Christmas make you be filled with joy or misery? As an example, many parents feel Christmas is a bleak time for them as well as one of my friends who'll find it difficult because three of his family members died this year.

 

[Evil Eye]

It doesn't... I don't suddenly become happier (or more depressed for that matter) because of the holiday season. It's fun, sure, but it certainly isn't constantly on my mind.

 

[DrLeftover]

I answered that question in 2008.



http://themediadesk.com/files8/christmas.htm

 

[Evil Eye]

I answered that question in 2008.



http://themediadesk....8/christmas.htm

Hehe, perfect sentiment.

 

[DrLeftover]

Thank you EE.



After I posted that I remembered that I answered this question for a newsletter ten years ago.

Do they Christmas in Star Trek?



The answer is a qualified 'Yes'.

Aside from the direct representation of the holiday and assorted 'French-Flavored' decorations and traditions in Star Trek 'Generations' where we see Picard and his 'should have been' family gathered for the occasion. The name of the day is never mentioned, but unless the French of the 24th century exchange gifts with a large heavily decorated tree in the room for Bastille Day, it had to be Christmas.



Other references to almost Any Holiday seems to be lacking except for birthdays and the oft-mentioned but never actually celebrated 'Federation Day'. But since the Federation, and thereby Star Fleet, recognizes all and sundry beliefs, it is easy to imagine that Christmas, and Kwanzaa, and Ramadan, and Chanukah, and Occlusion of Saturn too if you wish to observe it, are all celebrated, or at least recognized, by the Federation.



However, with umpteen cultures represented, if the government allowed every holiday on the books to be officially observed, Every Day would be a holiday for somebody and it could easily get out of hand. So the best thing to do would be to simply not recognize any official holidays but allow a reasonable unofficial observance of whatever the locals want to celebrate. And the same would follow through on individual ships, such as Neelix did on VOYAGER for the various crew from different species. For instance, everybody knows Christmas Day is December 25, right?



Well, unless you ask somebody from the Orthodox Christian Religion known as the Coptic Church. In which case Christmas is December 7. Or maybe you happen to be in Eastern Europe or parts of Asia, where Christmas is in the first week of January.



So whichever calendar you adhere to... Peace. And long life in honor of your Holy Day.

 

[Fatal Dawn]

For me it represents transition. I look back at the year in inventory.

What you've done and what I wish I could have done.

The laughs I've had and the tears I've shed.

Friends I've made and the ones I've lost.





You try to preserve the things you care about and you end up losing it in the process.

You want things to get easier and they will get tougher just to test you. You become so focused on the past that you are so blindsided by the present.



I know the holiday season seems manufactured. But it isn't about the two months worth of joy and spirit over the other 305 days worth of drudgery.. It's about transition and change.

And change to me seems to be the only constant thing in life and it surprises me so.