It's my only Christmas icon.

[jackshoegazer]

Since Jacquelyn and I aren't spending Christmas with either of our relatives, this is the first year, we've been home, and thus, our first Christmas Generic Solstice-Derivative Gift Exchange Ritual tree.  It's a balsam fir.  It's smells delightful and covered my hands in sap as I carried it indoors.  We decorated it with wooden beads and lights and owls and birds and penguins and pine cones and candy canes and Yoda and the Bumble and a big brass star.  Pagan heathens, we are.

Comments

[onesoul.livejournal.com]

yay!!!

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

My sentiments exactly!

[holographia.livejournal.com]

love it- very festive! :)

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[marie-paris.livejournal.com]

YEAH!
We have our first real fir tree here as well, the we comrprised of myself and my roommate, a strange polar opposite of mine who is my only family really and has no family around here anymore. We decorate out tree in a similar style except, along with the disembodied evil 'period' santa head, bilbo baggins, and starship enterprise, we have blue and gold balls, gold ribbon, and white lights!

I want that last ornament, lol.

:)

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

My former roommate John and I had a tree one year (a fake one, but hey) and we decorated it with almost all homemade decorations, like paper Santa hats on Pokemon and rubber chickens and aluminum foil stars :)

I love the Bumble!

[hetrez.livejournal.com]

The abominable snowman is my favorite.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Ditto :D

[schmecky.livejournal.com]

Priiiiiiiiiiity!!

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Thanks :)

[helpimarock.livejournal.com]

That tree looks great! It makes me want to put up one again, but I don't know when Jessica and I will ever be home over the holidays to do it.

P.S. love the icon on this post.

P.P.S is that Clark Gable's face you used for your mood icon?

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Thanks. If we were going to, say, Vermont, to visit Jacquelyn's parents, we wouldn't have put one up, but since we're going to be home, we decided to go all out for our Pagan-origin solstice rituals :)

Thanks and why yes it is Mr. Gable!

[facinado.livejournal.com]

real nice.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[sasha-feather.livejournal.com]

Lovely!!

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

My post will include a close-up of Yoda and the Christmas peeekle. And the tree lit up. Mine will win.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Oh, well you go and do that, whydontchya!

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

Because I am having a hard time getting up from my nap on the couch right now!

[panther-nesmith.livejournal.com]

<3 for the fuzzy owls.

It's pretty!

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[brdgt.livejournal.com]

Gotta love a Christmas tree! I wish we had the time and energy to do one this year.

I'm curious - are you kidding around or are you really concerned that someone would assume you are religious because you celebrate Christmas? To me, Christmas is as about as secular as you can get, with most Christians not even thinking it's about the baby jesus, so by using some other term you almost emphasize the religious connotation more.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

A Christmas tree is definitely no trade for sanity :)

Kind of both, kind of neither? The actual phrase Generic Solstice-Derivative Gift Exchange Ritual was coined by me in a conversation with a friend while we were discussing the origins of Christmas, and how many different winter solstice holidays and festivals were grouped together to make Christmas, plus all the other cultures that celebrate at the same time now, and I thought of the best all-encompassing term for all past & present winter-solstice holidays, and thus GSDGER was born.

I don't worry about being seen as religious, but I am very aware of the symbols and meaning to the holiday and I like to be specific when discussing what it is that I am celebrating. This time of year for me has nothing to do with the Mass of Christ, (as you said, not even christians are thinking of the baby Jesus, except Bill O'Reilly, who is "just sticking up for the Baby Jesus..") but everything to do with the pagan origins of the solstice. Everything we actually do this time of year came from that, so I like to acknowledge that, and call it by a truer name than Christmas.

It also depends on who I am talking to. In order to communicate effectively, one must speak the language of one's audience. Thus, in general conversation with strangers, I will use Christmas or Holiday, but in select company, I'll use my more outlandish terms, which I again, find humorous and more accurate.

I hope that answers your question :D

[brdgt.livejournal.com]

It does!

I guess, it's just that by making such a point of stating you are not a Christian but celebrate Christmas can come off as defensive rather than humorous, so that's why I wasn't sure if you were being funny or trying to defend yourself.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

I can see your point; I've used the same argument against censoring nudity on the teevee. Everyone knows what's under the blue dot or the fuzzy area. BY censoring it, all you're doing is pointing it out and making it more obvious. :)

Have a fun trip. I hope you can get on and off your plane safely!