I’m a school bus driver, and last year right before Christmas we had a notice put up banning Christmas decorations on the buses. We eventually learned that this was because a couple of parents had complained about the pro-Christianity bias of Christmas decorations, which was strange because nobody had put anything on their buses other than the standard secular red-and-green shit; like, nobody put up Jesus or manger scenes or anything like that. We then learned that the actual complaints had been about drivers encouraging the children to sing religious Christmas songs.
It turned out that the culprit was me, because I had asked the kids if they could sing “The Little Drummer Boy”. None of the (60+) kids on the bus had ever heard it so I guess some of them asked their parents about it. Ironically, I’m a fucking atheist - I just like the tune. Fortunately the ban caused a giant shit storm as all the other parents in the district complained about it and it was rescinded. For bonus points, it eventually led to the firing of the district superintendent (who was a shitbag for lots of other reasons).
Christmas’s problem is that it has been too successful. It’s no longer a religious holiday. It’s a cultural holiday that has permeated every aspect of American culture.
Imagine getting your ass handed to you because of the little drummer boy incident lmao
Drag supports removing Christmas from schools. And drag will buy the story that Christmas is secular when the word “Christ” is removed from the name.
How about Horus-Day, since Christianity simply adopted an extant God’s birthday as a strategy to greater assimilation?
Well, it’s just Jul, so we could all just go back to calling it Yule. Literally nothing changes and the Christians can still do whatever they want.
In fairness to the one dude, gold would have been super useful.
The incredibly expensive luxury perfume ingredients aren’t exactly bad gifts either - should be able to convert them into ready cash at any market in the middle east.
They’re all very fungible assets, maybe even more than cash in those times. Except the drummer boy, but a song is probably all that poor kid had to give.
On the other hand… She just got a ‘miraculous’ birth and three dudes with expensive gifts show up for it… If I were Joseph I would be extremely suspicious
Am I just crazy, or is the mary illustrated here kind of a bitch? The baby isn’t going to care if you get it a fucking onesie or a lasagna, because it definitely won’t understand anything going on for another year, minimum. If I bring a gift ‘for the baby’ that the parents will use, isn’t that just as good? Maybe gold, incense, and myrrh aren’t the best things to put in the crib, but I’m pretty sure it was some 14-year old hands that opened the gift wrap, and those 14 year old hands can sell the expensive gifts if they want to.
Here are some practical gift ideas for the newborn saviour of humanity:
Baby clothes
Crib
Diapers
Teddy bear
Rattle
Babysitting vouchers
Baby bjorn
Tea (for mum)
Mobile
Chocolate (for mum)
The Hobbit hardcover
I’m not sure how this immaculate conception works, but maybe also baby formula in case Mary wasn’t lactating since this was a… mysterious pregnancy.
Weird nitpick, and I only know this because it was a bar trivia question that I got wrong once: the Immaculate Conception actually refers to Mary’s conception, not Jesus’.
… I know right? Like what?
If you just got done giving birth in a stable because some diety decided to knock you up without your consent then you’ve earned the right to be a bit of a bitch.
He played his best for him.