Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all . . . . . and a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2001, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great, (not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country or is the only "AMERICA" in the western hemisphere), and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, or choice of computer platform of the wishee. (By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.) No attorneys were harmed in the making of this greeting.

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), December 12, 2000

Answers

I laughed so hard there were tears in my eyes :o)). How appropriate for this day and time. Well I have never been fond of being politically correct. Happy Christs birthday to everyone! Amanda

-- Amanda in Mo (aseley@townsqr.com), December 12, 2000.

Joy, They say all great humor has a basis in truth. I loved it. John

-- John in S. IN (jsmengel@hotmail.com), December 12, 2000.

Dang! I forgot again -- I didn't write it, just got it from a friend.

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), December 12, 2000.

And a very Merry Christmas back at ya!

-- sharon wt (wildflower@ekyol.com), December 13, 2000.

Joy, I loved it! and Amanda, I'm with you- politically correct has never been one of my strong points either. Merry Christmas all- May the Lord bless you and your families.

-- Kristin, in C. Alabama (positivekharma@aol.com), December 13, 2000.

Joy! Perfect! I loved it, too. I think I'll put it in a few Christmas cards.

I MISS the Christmas pageants and events that I grew up with!! I can deal with the politically correct stuff the rest of the year, but I really get backed up this time of year with no Christmas stuff happening outside of a few churches. Will someone arrest me if I go caroling??!! What if I don't mention Christ in my singing? Yeah, right...

Can't we just have a big whoop-te-doo like we used to, and then give equal time later for other folks? OR SOMETHING!! *sigh*

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), December 13, 2000.

Sheepish, our church goes caroling on Christmas Eve every year, and has never been threatened with arrest (yet!!). Everyone seems to really enjoy having us come to their door, and a few people will pass out cookies or candy to the children in our group. (Since they are neighbors of the church, and known to members of the church, the children are allowed to eat said goodies!)

So I hope all of you have a very merry Christmas, and remember that it is the birthday of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Let's make reading the Christmas story from the Bible a part of our Christmas traditions, so the next generation of children don't grow up wondering where this holiday came from, and who Jesus is.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), December 14, 2000.

Amen,Kathleen

-- sharon wt (wildflower@ekyol.com), December 14, 2000.

What gets to me is how people go out of their way to say holiday this and holiday that instead of Christmas this and Hanuakah(sp) that. Just cause they don't say it doesn't mean it ain't there.

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), December 18, 2000.

Actually, December 25th was Saturnalia long before it was Christmas. Emperor Constantine substituted the Christian celebration for the Pagan one in 336AD. Several other religions have holy days around the winter solstice, not just Christians and Jews. You guys just get more publicity than we do. :-) Happy Yule! Sherri in IN

-- Sherri C (CeltiaSkye@aol.com), December 18, 2000.

Thank you, Sherri, and Happy Yule to you as well! Any of you who want to read more about the Pagan roots to many of the traditions of the Christmas season, here is a resource: YULE

Actually, I am surprised that so many devout Christians continue to celebrate Christ's birth with so many Pagan traditions, and at this time of the year, since it seems likely that his birth would have been in the Spring, when the sheep would have been out in the pastures, and the shepherds would have been with them at night because it was lambing season. Doesn't sound like a winter activity, does it?

And let us not forget Kwanzaa! If you want to read more about it, go here: Kwanzaa: What is it?

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), December 18, 2000.

Oh Rats!

First (Yule): http://www.msu.edu/user/rohdemar/earth/sabbats/yule.htm

Second (Kwanzaa): http://www.melanet.com/kwanzaa/whatis.html

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), December 18, 2000.