I don't hate Christmas. I celebrate Christmas. I have fun at Christmas with my family. I often say, "Merry Christmas." I'm not trying to force anyone to celebrate Christmas in any way other than which they already do. My issue is with the constant idiocy about the "war on Christmas," and about how it's all about religious persecution against Christians. That is simply not taking place, and my point is that Christmas did not begin as a Christian holiday, so don't try to create the fallacy of some "war on Christmas" as a persecution against Christians. If you look at the history of the holiday, it's a ludicrous argument. People were celebrating this holiday for thousands of years before Christianity existed. Christians really don't have exclusive rights on it. :)
As my friend Paul and others have pointed out, you don't have to be a Christian to celebrate Christmas. See previous entry for the full explanation.
But I digress. Change of subject.
First is strength training. I want to get more toned, I want to get stronger, and with some loss in bone density, I need to work on improving that little problem. I want to do some treadmill work and really focus on weights...but I just generally need to get off my lazy ass and DO something! I got busy today--if not quite jiggy wit' it--and did a little on the treadmill, did some weights, and did some crunches on the Ab thing. Man, I have really lost strength and tone and I'm looking forward to getting some of that back!
My second goal concerns skipping meals. I can easily go all day long without eating anything until dinner, which is usually late, around 9 PM. That's a long time without eating, but I've always been that way and it doesn't really bother me. However, I know that's not a good thing. I know that it fucks with your metabolism, and your body goes into a sort of "survivor" mode. I don't overeat at dinner to compensate, but that's still a long time without eating and can do more harm than good. So I'm starting to eat a little something in the morning, whether it's a yogurt, some cottage cheese, or a grapefruit like I had this morning. I have a feeling that the combination of kick-starting my metabolism by actually eating more and starting to work out might make me lose a pound or two.
I also want to thank Kyle over at Out Left for giving me a blog award, the Circle of Friends. I met Kyle through some other blogging friends, and we think alike on so many things! We really do have a little "circle" (I could easily make a naughty joke right here, but I won't be a jerk) going on, and it's a pleasure to know not just Kyle and the gang, but all of my fellow bloggers and readers. As I always do with these awards, if you're reading, you're in the circle, so feel free to snag the award for yourself.
Oh my........I don't want you toned and all muscle like that photo! LOL
ReplyDeleteHugs, Rose
I thought that you were very clear in your previous post and I did not view it as an attack on Christmas or christianity. As you accurately point out, the holiday season that the christian church subsequently claimed existed in other permutations before christianity existed, just under different names and under different beliefs. The funny thing about religions is that throughout history so many wars have been fought and people persecuted because of the desire of so many factions to declare their religion the only religion with merit. Mark Twain wrote a wonderful satirical piece about how we pray to smite our enemies, assuming that God is on our side and interested in helping our side kill the other side. I think it's called "The War Prayer."
ReplyDeleteYou know that I fully concur that the gay marriage issue is a matter of civil rights. I am angered and ashamed that so many African-American ministers argue against gay marriage and declare that it is not a civil rights issue. The sad truth aboujt bigotry is that just because a group has been the target of discrimination, it doesn't mean that they will have any antipathy towards in turn being bigots themselves.
Lastly, that model is not beautiful; however, you are.
woo hoo to the work out. i am trying to run 20 minutes a day now with 3lb weights and once it became a habit, it feels weird on days like today when i sleep in and don't run first thing.
ReplyDeleteif marriage is a religious thing then why do you still have to file the paperwork with the courts to make it LEGAL?
xxalainaxx
I completely understood your last post and, as usual, completely agree. You should be able to celebrate, or not, decorate, or not, as you wish, or not.
ReplyDeleteCase closed.
Atheists getting married? That's funny, because we all know God doesn't see them as married, and He won't allow those nasty gay people to do it either.
Marriage is and always has been the combining of one man and one woman of the same race, same socio-economic class, same religion, and it should always be. Marriage has never changed in the last 5000 years, and it won't change in the next 5000.One man, one woman and never NEVER allow those awful homosexuals the same rights that belong to normal people.
Oh yeah,[sarcasm font]
In my defense Beth I never said a word about your entry being wrong. I just said I agree with you but it will not stop. Next year it may be 4th of July, when they start putting Christmas things out. Sorry if you misunderstood. I truly enjoyed what time we had that was good but I will see ya. Keep up with your sarcasm or not.
ReplyDeleteFunny ... read Alaina's comment, and I felt the same way yesterday, even though it was a scheduled 'off' day. And Sheria hit upon the lack of enlightenment shown by the African American community about Gay rights. So what does that leave me to comment about, since the Christmas issue was well covered in your last entry and in this revisit ..?
ReplyDeleteWeight training!! At home when I feel like getting busy, I will grab my dumbells and do a combination exercise, and I think that it would help you out a great deal, with your goals and with time.
If you have a pair of dumbells, you can squat. When you recover from your squat you can curl the weights up to your shoulders for a curl. Once at your shoulders, you can press them up. You have to make sure that your form is good and you are disciplined in going from exercise to exercise.
At the 'press' part of the shoulder press, you count that as '1'. If you can do that for however many sets and reps you can, that is a great work out.
While I haven't heard anything to the contrary, squats and presses will definitely increase bone density. And getting something to eat in the morning will go a long way to getting your metabolism going ..!
Hi Beth,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree, you don't have to be Christian to celebrate Christmas. I'm not ... and I do (sort of)! Way to go on the work-out front,
Best,
Marty
I too didn't think you hated Christmas, though to be honest, I was taken aback with the pictures. And I agree that the first 1,000 years or so it wasn't a Christian holiday. In fact, I point out in my blog that in the beginning, keeping of Christmas was the acid test if you were a Christian or not. And when the Pope declare 25th the birthday of Messiah, not all believers agreed. Many still don't. You did come on strong, but hey that's who you are. I too use to hate eating first thing in the AM. But Mark got me to start having breakfast and it kick start your day as well as get you metabolism going.
ReplyDeleteFirst off congrats on the award and good for you on the pre new year's return to your healthy routine...someone around here needs to be healthy and since you stepped up I don't have to now..Yea!
ReplyDeleteAs to the Christmas stuff I think I will have to respond on my page as it is taking a lot of space to get my idea out.
Here's a link to my Christmas response on my page.
ReplyDeletehttp://ramblingwoolysheep.blogspot.com/2009/12/in-response-to-beth-at-nutwood-junction.html
Oh and to the gay marriage thing. Marriage is both secular and religious. Gays should be able to get married, but religious organizations should not be forced to recognize or perform the services if it goes against their religion.
Ideally separation of church and state should be going both ways. Protecting the state from theocracy and protecting the religious organizations from those that would want to impose their views and lifestyles on others' faith.
This is America. If your church or religion doesn't recognize your orientation start a new one. That's why we're free afterall.
HMM..I was wondering what all the fuss was. Well.. LMAO. Jesus wasn't REALLY born in December, so I'm with you about most of this argument. I see Christmas at this point in time much the same way I look at Valentine's day, but with wider appeal(ie. everyone can shop for xmas). And that is that it has become a retail extravaganza. Charlie Brown had it right! Fa La La La La
ReplyDeleteSo much I could say here. Totally got what you meant in your other post. Done lots of the reading myself over the years. You should have seen the look on my devoutly Christian aunt's face that Christmas I told her that it was a pagan holiday. And then my uncle -- not her husband-- the imam told her that I was right.
ReplyDeleteAs for the "lack of enlightenment in the African American community" on gay rights, I could go on and on as to the historic reasons this has happened. Instead of that though, I would like to ask folks are they actively working to change minds or are they sitting around and just saying "tsk tsk." I personally find broad statements such as that to be as presumptuous as the mindset of the women's movement toward women of color in the 1970s. Just because someone has suffered from discrimination, does not mean that they will automatically understand yours nor does it mean that you automatically share a common agenda.
Kristi, I read your blog entry in response to mine. I fully respect your right to your opinion, and that is why I'm responding here.
ReplyDeleteYou wrote:
...certainly there at Nutwood Junction there are enough good minds to come together figure out what the new secular winter holiday should stand for and be called and you can leave the name 'Christmas' to the Christians .... since we came up with the name and it refers literally to Christ.
I find that an interesting argument. The Christian church appropriates a holiday (one of several, actually), slaps a different name on it, and then proceeds to tell the people who celebrated the original holiday that they can't celebrate it anymore because it has a new name and you can only celebrate it if you believe a certain way? That doesn't seem quite fair to me. Say that you had a hundred dollar bill. I take it, write "This belongs to Beth" on it, and then tell you that you can't spend it, because I've put my name on it. Hey, I'm the one who renamed it, so it's all mine now, right?
As for marriage, it is a civil institution, not a religious one. It can be a religious institution for those who practice a religion or belong to one; for those who don't, it is purely a civil matter. As Miss A said, a marriage isn't LEGAL until it is filed with the court. You can get married in any church you want to, but it's not going to be legal until the court gets that license.
I don't know of any of my gay friends who give a rat's ass about getting married in a church. (If any of you feel differently, feel free to weigh in.) They merely want the same LEGAL privileges that are offered to every other citizen in this country. The right to make medical decisions concerning their partner, the right to benefits and pensions, and the simple right to live as married partners, if that is what they choose to do.
They have that right every bit as much as every other person in this country. It honestly amazes me that this is still an issue, and I can only hope that it is resolved soon, with everyone being treated fairly and equally. We are mistreating a significant portion of our population, and that pisses me off. However, the days are numbered for such blatant disregard of their civil rights. It's going to happen, and I hope sooner rather than later.
On the gay marriage issue: I agree. None of my gay friends care if they're married in a church either. They just want to be legally united with the same rights and privileges as every other American. They also want to be able to publicly declare their love. This is a GOOD thing, a very good thing. Time to stop legislating against love and tossing love out of our churches. It's just insane!
ReplyDeleteBeth, of course Christmas is only for Christians. I would think that's fairly obvious.
ReplyDeleteIt's just like the words "Sunday", "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday" and "Friday" only belong to the believers of the Norse Gods and anyone who doesn't needs to come up with new names for those days. Don't believe in the Roman Gods? Get rid of "Saturday" too, then.
Ok - as a "gay friend", I'm going on record here. I'm pretty sure you actually have to date someone before you marry them - but if I ever got to that stage, a big church wedding would be lovely. All my bridesmaids would be fierce drag queens and the reception would be held at my favorite restaurant ... Arby's. The FANCY Arby's ... in Brooklyn.
ReplyDeleteAs always Beth, you hit the nail on the head.
XOXOXOXOXO
The thing is that legalizing gay marriage would not in any way affect any religious institutions right to refuse to marry anyone. As it is currently, any religious institution, be it a church, synagogue, mosque, temple etc. does not have to perform any marriage that it does not wish to perform. I can't help but view the arguments about forcing churches to marry people as being much ado about nothing. As usual Beth, you sum it up well--marriage is a legal relationship, a contract. The religious trappings are a matter of individual choice. A couple married at city hall are just as married as a couple married in a church.
ReplyDeleteBeth, your previous post was very clear. Right with you on that post and the marriage debate. I know you are shocked! Glad to see the health changes kicking in. You will find the right eating pattern and workout regime. Just listen to your body. It doesn't lie.
ReplyDelete