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BTW, you all are aware that this entire " "Christmas" is short for "Christ massacre", celebrating the deaths of the holy innocents or of Christ himself" thing was completely made up, and has nothing whatsoever to do with the name "Christmas", right? There's lesser holidays like "Michaelmas" and "Candlemas". That one doesn't celebrate the deaths of the candles, just that candles are used AT THE MASS ONE IS EXPECTED TO BE AT FOR THE RELIGIOUS HOLIDAY. I grew up Catholic, so I was expected in church every Christmas, to attend a MASS on Christmas. Here's Candlemas: http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/common/candlemas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentation_of_Jesus_at_the_Temple Here's Childermas: http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/prayers/view.cfm?id=520 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_of_the_Innocents For the curious, the mass on Childermas (December 28) really IS a mass about the Holy Innocents Herod slew in Bethlehem to try to kill Jesus. Here's Michaelmas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michaelmas Here's a breakdown of the name "Christmas." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas#Etymology ""Christmas" is a compound word originating in the term "Christ's Mass". It is derived from the Middle English Cristemasse, which is from Old English Crīstesmæsse, a phrase first recorded in 1038, followed by the word Cristes-messe in 1131. Crīst (genitive Crīstes) is from Greek Khrīstos (Χριστός), a translation of Hebrew Māšîaḥ (מָשִׁיחַ), "Messiah", meaning "anointed"; and mæsse is from Latin missa, the celebration of the Eucharist. The form "Christenmas" was also historically used, but is now considered archaic and dialectal; it derives from Middle English Cristenmasse, literally "Christian mass"." ======================== "Christmas" was never a celebration of death. Nowadays, a quick online search can show that, for those who need it said outright. As for "Ho-Ho" songs, we did them in my fellowship decades ago, when we met. I went along because I thought it was funny-which is probably why we all did it (in my group).