Friday Five (on a Thursday before Christmas)

[fajrdrako]

Got this from monsieureden:

1. Christmas is celebrated by many people in many different ways. What does Christmas mean to you?

A time of beautiful symbols: of light and birth and hope. A time to appreciate friends, and love, and beauty, and the really valuable things in life.

2. Have you or do you attend a religious service on Christmas Eve or Christmas? Why?

I have done so in the past, though not for a number of years. I am not Christian and there is no church I would chose to go to for doctrinal reasons. But I like the ambience, the Christmas hymns - I always loved the beauty of the candle-lighting service I used to go to occasionally at the Anglican church on Bank Street.

Sadly, I have heard so much about how people shouldn't go to Christmas services if they don't go to other services throughout the year, that I feel somewhat awkward going to it, and stopped doing so. Perhaps I also feel that I would be unwelcome if the people there knew I was not Christian. I'm never sure of that - the level of tolerance to expect. It's like trespassing, though I feel that Christmas is (for many reasons) part of my spiritual life as much as it is theirs.

3. It’s a Wonderful Life, Rudolph, Frosty, Home Alone? What is your favorite holiday film?

I have seen so few holiday films - and those I have seen were mostly at the urging of my ex-husband when I was married, so thanks to him I've seen a few of the traditional American ones like It's a Wonderful Life - but none of the other ones mentioned above. I never feel any urge to watch them. I suppose my favourite holiday film is The Lion in Winter, with second choice being The Sound of Music.

The only time I remember ever actually watching a movie at Christmas was when I visited my cousins in England, and we watched Night at the Opera on television. It was the first Marx Brothers movie I'd seen and I thought it was one of the funniest things ever. So in my mind, it's associated with Christmas. But I'm not sure I've seen it since.

4. Which is better; the giving, or the getting?

Either, if it happens with affection.

5. When you were little, what was something you asked Santa for, but now may make you chuckle?

Year after year I asked my mother for weaponry - swords, bows and arrows, that sort of thing. She preferred to give me other things - though I did get the bow and arrow one year, and she was both amused and shocked that I slept with them beside me on my pillow. I was never a violent kid - to me it was the romance of history that I craved through the weapons, and the symbol of courage and challenge. I still crave that sense of the dramatic, romantic past. And I still want a sword.

Comments

[widget-alley.livejournal.com]

A birthright Quaker is someone who's been a member of a Meeting since birth. Someone who wasn't convinced (convincing is like conversion, only, without the converting. No evangelism.)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

That makes sense. Thanks for explaining!