It was nice. I usually got what I wanted. I usually didn't want much, of course. I was five when we got in so I had stopped believing in Santa, but my younger brother was born in and we never tried to convince him Santa was real.
Magical? No
Special? Sort of
Not all that diferent from everyone else's in the neighborhoods we grew up in.
One year I wanted a skateboard. My brother gave me a box that was just the right size for a board to fit in. Inside was another box, then another box and another and another. I was getting pretty upset by this point but was trying to maintain composure. In came down to a tiny box big enough for a matchbox car to fit in. Opened it and there was a tiny finger-skateboard. I kind of laughed. My brother was roaring.
So we sat for a second and my mom asked, "did everyone get what they wanted?". I said'" I Guess" with a half frown.
My brother let the cat out into the garage, and came back in with a real skateboard. I just about killed him.
My son's not here, but I can tell you what we did and how he still feels about Christmas today.
He was 5 when I got into twi. He already didn't believe in Santa, but I never "demonized" ole St. Nick to him, and I didn't know anyone else in the local fellowships who did, either. (Santa used to come to the kids' party at HQ, in fact.)
We always had a tree and decorations in our home. We celebrated Christmas just like I'd celebrated it as a child: lots of gifts, food, and family get-togethers with my parents and siblings and friends.
I know that it was a special, "magical" time for my son, and it still is. He called me right after Thanksgiving and told me that he put up his Christmas lights a week before Thanksgiving, the day he moved into his new apartment. He laughed and asked, "Do you think that's too early?"
Our girls were born into TWI but we never shoved it down their throats. I grew up Jewish so the magic of Santa Claus was lost on me! The way I felt about it, I'd rather have my kids know that dad and mom worked hard, took time to think about them and what they needed and wanted, and took the money they worked for and went out and bought them presents. That was my own take - TWI never influenced me on that one.
But - we did tell them that Santa went to kids houses and if he saw lots of stuff under the tree, he'd just fill their stockings and go to the next house. Of course, their stockings were empty Christmas eve, but filled the next morning.
Because I wasn't raised with Christmas, I always decorate my house to the max. One year, I found a beautiful angel for the top of my tree and was reproved by the BC for it. I grudgingly took it down and replaced it with a star and put the angel away. I can't find her anywhere. Went through all my Christmas stuff and she's not in any of the boxes. I'm going to have to go out and get a new one next year.
One more story...
Our neighbors, Roy & Shirley are an older British couple whose kids are grown. When the kids in our neck of the neighborhood were little, Roy used to dress up as Santa and come over with a present. When my oldest daughter was about 5 or 6 we had her answer the door for "Santa". When she heard him say "ho-ho-ho Merry Christmas!" with a British accent she got this disgusted look on her face and shouted, "That's not Santa, that's ROY!" I think that's when she figured out that Santa was not actually a real guy!
Hope R. color>size>face>
What a long, strange trip it's been!size>face>color>
I raised my kids in twi. We always had a tree and presents and food and even Santa. I remember in corpse resd at RC we had a Santa for the kids. Christmas was always magical for my kids. I use to make 17 different kinds of cookies just like my mom did. We knew is wasn't the birth of Jesus ( we did a thingy for that in Sept)but we kept christmas about love and giving and surprize and family.
by anyone in TWI to avoid Christmas. There was an emphasis on not having any kind of angels with wings or teaching kids about Santa Claus though. We didn't teach our kids that Santa Claus was real but we also always taught them to not tell other kids that.
In hindsight, would I do it that way again? Hard to say. Christmas was and still a great time for our family. For those who suffered under the Noel Nazis, I'm sorry for you.
We always celebrated it, but I was constantly lectured on how the tree represents a penis for everyone else (for us it was just a nice tradition to represent the way tree or something else I forgot) and how Jesus was really born on September 11th.
Still, we had a tree, gift giving, decorations, cookies (YAY!), music, and everything else. My parents cared quite a bit about their kids and we all got to experience things like this growing up. There was the cussing over putting up the tree and all that but it seems humorous now.
My daughter was born when I was still in twi. We left a year later. I still had the way brain though. I told my daughter everything including the no santa clause. She refused to believe it. No matter what I told her she would answer back that she believed in the spirit of christmas. Now I'm thankful that she was so head strong about it. Now she can have those memories that I had when I was growing up.
Ok!! I will not try to be a nice person...ok? I will not!!
I think the way Christmas was handled within TWI differed from area to area, sometimes drastically. However, what seemed to prevail throughout was always an underlying ambivilence. One the one hand, it was a devilish holiday, filled with horrible pagan inspired traditions. But on the other, it was OK to participate in it TO A DEGREE, as long as you held no delusions about its roll in the life of a "true believer".
So basically, we were given to believe that we could put up a tree, give presents and enjoy the day TO A DEGREE, but that we were NOT to put angels on our tree, a creche on the mantle, sing tradtional caroles having to do with Jesus Christ (Jingle Bells was OK, though), or send out "holiday cards" with messages or artwork pertaining to the birh of Christ.
Also, we were told that to lead our kids to believe in Santa was tantamount to setting up an "idol" before them, causing them to worship another god. I always thought that stance was a bit drastic, but I went along with it anyway... So we told our kids right off that there was no real Santa Claus, but that he was a "fun character", like Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny or Scoobie-do. We also admonished them to keep that secret to themselves because there were kids whose parents truly wanted them to believe in Santa, and kids who wanted to believe, also. It seemed to work out.
But I always kind of missed not being able to make Christmas magic for my kids through their belief in Santa Claus. I fondly remember the way it felt to believe in the magic. That wonderous innocence goes away all too quickly, replaced by the inevitable hard realities of life. In the end, I believe, it would have been totally harmless.
I now think that it should be OK to celebrate the birth of our Savior on this day. Most of the world knows that Christ wasn't born on Dec. 25th anyway. It's not on which day he was born that matters so much as why he was born and, how God triumphed over evil as a result. Now, I don't mind the creche, or even the angels, or any of that. I play Christmas music and think about what the birth of Jesus Christ would ultimately mean to a world dead in sin and trespasses. It makes me thankful.
One of the biggest thing I'm thankful for, is that I don't have to be ambivilent about Christmas anymore. I can say, "christmas" without reservation or fear. It sure makes enjoying the holiday a lot more pleasant.
[This message was edited by Cherished Child on December 18, 2003 at 16:12.]
My oldest daughter grew in twi until the age of almost 17. Christmas was however twi or 'the family' wished it each year. I don't remember even one christmas doing what our own little family wanted to do. I regret that.
She was not allowed to believe in Santa or any other fun imaginative things. Part of me was happy about this, cuz it saved alot of time later explaining the reality of it all. But I would have liked some of the magic and silliness with her, also.
We did a tree and all the other traditional things, punished her for using the Christmas word, and played nice doing whatever twi or the family wanted to do. Thank God for my mother, her grandma, sending gifts each year 'from Santa' anyway. But what I'd give now for her to have had some fun!!
I didn't grow up in the way, other than in the way of my mom trying to cook and stuff haha.
I was WOW in 84'85 and remember we had a christmas party at someones home and all the WOW's exchanged gifts. it was actually one of the good times I had as a WOW.
For me TWI took away the magical fun of Christmas...
When I was growing up we had Santa and of course a beautifully decorated tree and angels and a creche and cookies .. beautiful stories my Grandma told every christmas to us children.
TWI at the time I was in made it sort of okay but you always felt guilty about the tree and everything..
and god forbid you should have an angel or a creche.
Well Greasespot gave me Christmas back.. Thanks .. I put out my Creche happily last year for the first time in years.. and I have my angels out and I played Christmas music and remembered all the fun times I had with my family growing up celebrating Christmas and how much we loved each Other!
I wasn't in TWI but I was in an off shoot. We celebrated Christmas the normal way with a tree, gifts, family and food for a while. We were in twig so we did tell the kids the truth about Santa however which of course I took great grief from my mother of course about stealing the magic of Christmas from my kids.
Later as the cult we were in got more and more controlled, we no longer were allowed to celebrate any holiday right along with not talking much with our outside families or watching tv, you name it it all stopped.
Being out now, I do celebrate Christmas and all the other holidays with the kids. They still know I'm Mrs Claus...well...Ms Clause now. And yes I do talk with family and watch tv...hehe
I like angels. I'm glad I don't have the stick in my arse about them anymore. They are beautiful, and who gives a flying fart whether they look like that or not? They don't really represent anything evil.
We had Santa Claus and all the traditional things when I was a kid. Then, when I was 21, I got involved with TWI and fell for their schtick--- hook, line and sinker. Makes me wonder how much "profound" impact can result from celebrating Christmas the old-fashioned, traditional way.
awwww my dear dovey passed away. seeing her post and other wonderful posters makes me cry
i've told this story before, but i came home one ho-ho relo and gave all my catholic family a copy of "jesus christ is not god" as their christmas gifts
In the Way, we were discouraged from using the word "Christmas" because the word meant "Mass for Christ".
However, I've since found out that this policy could not be justified from the scriptures. In fact, the opposite is inferred by the epistles.
When I was younger, I remember that certain people had tried to avoid having to say the word "Christ" by changing "Christmas" to "Xmas". It seems that the word "Christ" grates on some peoples lips. However, the Way said that you can't take "Christ" out of "Christ"-mas, because he was never there to start with. Whereas that is a matter of subjective fact, it is not ALL that there is to say on the subject.
It was certainly embarrasing to have to greet your relatives with "Happy Household Holidays" and look for cards that didn't have the word "Christmas" on them. "Season's Greetings" seemed to be OK at the time.
The truth of the matter is that we should just be glad that Christ is acknowledged at all !!! - don't you think?
All I succeded in doing by adopting this hard-hearted mentality was to put a stumbling block in people's path that made it more difficult for them to see the truth. Maybe I should have been a little bit more circumspect in my attitude!
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lindyhopper
We had a tree, presents, wreaths etc.
It was nice. I usually got what I wanted. I usually didn't want much, of course. I was five when we got in so I had stopped believing in Santa, but my younger brother was born in and we never tried to convince him Santa was real.
Magical? No
Special? Sort of
Not all that diferent from everyone else's in the neighborhoods we grew up in.
It don't mean a thing, all you gotta do is swing.
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lindyhopper
Did someone say story?
One year I wanted a skateboard. My brother gave me a box that was just the right size for a board to fit in. Inside was another box, then another box and another and another. I was getting pretty upset by this point but was trying to maintain composure. In came down to a tiny box big enough for a matchbox car to fit in. Opened it and there was a tiny finger-skateboard. I kind of laughed. My brother was roaring.
So we sat for a second and my mom asked, "did everyone get what they wanted?". I said'" I Guess" with a half frown.
My brother let the cat out into the garage, and came back in with a real skateboard. I just about killed him.
We all laugh about it now.
That is one of the more memorable ones.
It don't mean a thing, all you gotta do is swing.
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CoolWaters
edited
[This message was edited by CoolWaters on January 31, 2004 at 20:37.]
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Linda Z
My son's not here, but I can tell you what we did and how he still feels about Christmas today.
He was 5 when I got into twi. He already didn't believe in Santa, but I never "demonized" ole St. Nick to him, and I didn't know anyone else in the local fellowships who did, either. (Santa used to come to the kids' party at HQ, in fact.)
We always had a tree and decorations in our home. We celebrated Christmas just like I'd celebrated it as a child: lots of gifts, food, and family get-togethers with my parents and siblings and friends.
I know that it was a special, "magical" time for my son, and it still is. He called me right after Thanksgiving and told me that he put up his Christmas lights a week before Thanksgiving, the day he moved into his new apartment. He laughed and asked, "Do you think that's too early?"
Linda Z
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Hope R.
Our girls were born into TWI but we never shoved it down their throats. I grew up Jewish so the magic of Santa Claus was lost on me! The way I felt about it, I'd rather have my kids know that dad and mom worked hard, took time to think about them and what they needed and wanted, and took the money they worked for and went out and bought them presents. That was my own take - TWI never influenced me on that one.
But - we did tell them that Santa went to kids houses and if he saw lots of stuff under the tree, he'd just fill their stockings and go to the next house. Of course, their stockings were empty Christmas eve, but filled the next morning.
Because I wasn't raised with Christmas, I always decorate my house to the max. One year, I found a beautiful angel for the top of my tree and was reproved by the BC for it. I grudgingly took it down and replaced it with a star and put the angel away. I can't find her anywhere. Went through all my Christmas stuff and she's not in any of the boxes. I'm going to have to go out and get a new one next year.
One more story...
Our neighbors, Roy & Shirley are an older British couple whose kids are grown. When the kids in our neck of the neighborhood were little, Roy used to dress up as Santa and come over with a present. When my oldest daughter was about 5 or 6 we had her answer the door for "Santa". When she heard him say "ho-ho-ho Merry Christmas!" with a British accent she got this disgusted look on her face and shouted, "That's not Santa, that's ROY!" I think that's when she figured out that Santa was not actually a real guy!
Hope R. color>size>face>
What a long, strange trip it's been!size>face>color>
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ladycat
I raised my kids in twi. We always had a tree and presents and food and even Santa. I remember in corpse resd at RC we had a Santa for the kids. Christmas was always magical for my kids. I use to make 17 different kinds of cookies just like my mom did. We knew is wasn't the birth of Jesus ( we did a thingy for that in Sept)but we kept christmas about love and giving and surprize and family.
Blessings,
Cat
~~Cat
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wyteduv58
We,always had a great Christmas in and out of TWI. But I don't remember ever beleiving in Santa ........I do now.........he's my hubby.lol
Dovey....proud owner of two low riders...Dovey's Doxies...... Dovey
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JustThinking
Dittos here. I was nevered pressured
by anyone in TWI to avoid Christmas. There was an emphasis on not having any kind of angels with wings or teaching kids about Santa Claus though. We didn't teach our kids that Santa Claus was real but we also always taught them to not tell other kids that.
In hindsight, would I do it that way again? Hard to say. Christmas was and still a great time for our family. For those who suffered under the Noel Nazis, I'm sorry for you.
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Georgio Jessio
Happy Ho Ho Relo to all!
Glow-ry!
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Mister P-Mosh
We always celebrated it, but I was constantly lectured on how the tree represents a penis for everyone else (for us it was just a nice tradition to represent the way tree or something else I forgot) and how Jesus was really born on September 11th.
Still, we had a tree, gift giving, decorations, cookies (YAY!), music, and everything else. My parents cared quite a bit about their kids and we all got to experience things like this growing up. There was the cussing over putting up the tree and all that but it seems humorous now.
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vickles
My daughter was born when I was still in twi. We left a year later. I still had the way brain though. I told my daughter everything including the no santa clause. She refused to believe it. No matter what I told her she would answer back that she believed in the spirit of christmas. Now I'm thankful that she was so head strong about it. Now she can have those memories that I had when I was growing up.
Ok!! I will not try to be a nice person...ok? I will not!!
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Cherished Child
I think the way Christmas was handled within TWI differed from area to area, sometimes drastically. However, what seemed to prevail throughout was always an underlying ambivilence. One the one hand, it was a devilish holiday, filled with horrible pagan inspired traditions. But on the other, it was OK to participate in it TO A DEGREE, as long as you held no delusions about its roll in the life of a "true believer".
So basically, we were given to believe that we could put up a tree, give presents and enjoy the day TO A DEGREE, but that we were NOT to put angels on our tree, a creche on the mantle, sing tradtional caroles having to do with Jesus Christ (Jingle Bells was OK, though), or send out "holiday cards" with messages or artwork pertaining to the birh of Christ.
Also, we were told that to lead our kids to believe in Santa was tantamount to setting up an "idol" before them, causing them to worship another god. I always thought that stance was a bit drastic, but I went along with it anyway... So we told our kids right off that there was no real Santa Claus, but that he was a "fun character", like Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny or Scoobie-do. We also admonished them to keep that secret to themselves because there were kids whose parents truly wanted them to believe in Santa, and kids who wanted to believe, also. It seemed to work out.
But I always kind of missed not being able to make Christmas magic for my kids through their belief in Santa Claus. I fondly remember the way it felt to believe in the magic. That wonderous innocence goes away all too quickly, replaced by the inevitable hard realities of life. In the end, I believe, it would have been totally harmless.
I now think that it should be OK to celebrate the birth of our Savior on this day. Most of the world knows that Christ wasn't born on Dec. 25th anyway. It's not on which day he was born that matters so much as why he was born and, how God triumphed over evil as a result. Now, I don't mind the creche, or even the angels, or any of that. I play Christmas music and think about what the birth of Jesus Christ would ultimately mean to a world dead in sin and trespasses. It makes me thankful.
One of the biggest thing I'm thankful for, is that I don't have to be ambivilent about Christmas anymore. I can say, "christmas" without reservation or fear. It sure makes enjoying the holiday a lot more pleasant.
[This message was edited by Cherished Child on December 18, 2003 at 16:12.]
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Shellon
My oldest daughter grew in twi until the age of almost 17. Christmas was however twi or 'the family' wished it each year. I don't remember even one christmas doing what our own little family wanted to do. I regret that.
She was not allowed to believe in Santa or any other fun imaginative things. Part of me was happy about this, cuz it saved alot of time later explaining the reality of it all. But I would have liked some of the magic and silliness with her, also.
We did a tree and all the other traditional things, punished her for using the Christmas word, and played nice doing whatever twi or the family wanted to do. Thank God for my mother, her grandma, sending gifts each year 'from Santa' anyway. But what I'd give now for her to have had some fun!!
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papajohn
I didn't grow up in the way, other than in the way of my mom trying to cook and stuff haha.
I was WOW in 84'85 and remember we had a christmas party at someones home and all the WOW's exchanged gifts. it was actually one of the good times I had as a WOW.
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CoolWaters
edited
[This message was edited by CoolWaters on January 31, 2004 at 20:37.]
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cheranne
Just throwing this out there for someone
http://www.rockyou.com/show_my_gallery.php?source=ppsl&instanceid=128938698
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leafytwiglet
For me TWI took away the magical fun of Christmas...
When I was growing up we had Santa and of course a beautifully decorated tree and angels and a creche and cookies .. beautiful stories my Grandma told every christmas to us children.
TWI at the time I was in made it sort of okay but you always felt guilty about the tree and everything..
and god forbid you should have an angel or a creche.
Well Greasespot gave me Christmas back.. Thanks .. I put out my Creche happily last year for the first time in years.. and I have my angels out and I played Christmas music and remembered all the fun times I had with my family growing up celebrating Christmas and how much we loved each Other!
Best defense against the dark arts of TWI Ever!
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Bolshevik
Christmas is a time to point out how "off the word" your relatives are.
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grand-daughter
I wasn't in TWI but I was in an off shoot. We celebrated Christmas the normal way with a tree, gifts, family and food for a while. We were in twig so we did tell the kids the truth about Santa however which of course I took great grief from my mother of course about stealing the magic of Christmas from my kids.
Later as the cult we were in got more and more controlled, we no longer were allowed to celebrate any holiday right along with not talking much with our outside families or watching tv, you name it it all stopped.
Being out now, I do celebrate Christmas and all the other holidays with the kids. They still know I'm Mrs Claus...well...Ms Clause now. And yes I do talk with family and watch tv...hehe
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Nottawayfer
I like angels. I'm glad I don't have the stick in my arse about them anymore. They are beautiful, and who gives a flying fart whether they look like that or not? They don't really represent anything evil.
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waysider
We had Santa Claus and all the traditional things when I was a kid. Then, when I was 21, I got involved with TWI and fell for their schtick--- hook, line and sinker. Makes me wonder how much "profound" impact can result from celebrating Christmas the old-fashioned, traditional way.
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excathedra
awwww my dear dovey passed away. seeing her post and other wonderful posters makes me cry
i've told this story before, but i came home one ho-ho relo and gave all my catholic family a copy of "jesus christ is not god" as their christmas gifts
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Pete
In the Way, we were discouraged from using the word "Christmas" because the word meant "Mass for Christ".
However, I've since found out that this policy could not be justified from the scriptures. In fact, the opposite is inferred by the epistles.
When I was younger, I remember that certain people had tried to avoid having to say the word "Christ" by changing "Christmas" to "Xmas". It seems that the word "Christ" grates on some peoples lips. However, the Way said that you can't take "Christ" out of "Christ"-mas, because he was never there to start with. Whereas that is a matter of subjective fact, it is not ALL that there is to say on the subject.
It was certainly embarrasing to have to greet your relatives with "Happy Household Holidays" and look for cards that didn't have the word "Christmas" on them. "Season's Greetings" seemed to be OK at the time.
The truth of the matter is that we should just be glad that Christ is acknowledged at all !!! - don't you think?
All I succeded in doing by adopting this hard-hearted mentality was to put a stumbling block in people's path that made it more difficult for them to see the truth. Maybe I should have been a little bit more circumspect in my attitude!
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crystalclearblue
Just curious. What is a creche?
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