I'm not a big fan of Christmas but it's not hard to be friendly to people. Besides being with famiy, I like the season for the reminders about kindness, generosity and family.

Related: my wife gave me a book by by this writer back when we were first dating. I received it about as well as she did the Betsey Johnson top I bought her. Unless he has changed, e guy kinda sucks and/or is a totally self involved douche. Certainly he was in the book I tried to read.

eh, sounds like the guy had a horrible childhood, and had wonder well and truly beaten out of him.

I think of it simply... have you ever met someone who was just slightly melancholy... but who you would go to great lengths to cheer? didja notice that same person could make the universe sing when they smiled?

You acted out of yourself. Perhaps that person wasn't sad at all, but you wished to make them happy. You wished the best for them.

If you are especially lucky, they wish the best for you. Pretty soon, many people wish the best for each other, and things in the world seem better.

If it so happens that this well wishing happens to be around some religious festival that you don't believe in, so what? If everyone has that moment of happiness, isn't it good? Instead of worrying about delusional people, you could just accept their well wishes and move on.

I've known an atheist or two that just couldn't accept the well wishes from me... so I asked them if I was really acting any different... maybe slightly more expressive but similar. I guess I convinced them that there was no harm in my well wishes, because that is the way I am inside.

It's Christmas, and I wish you Amy, and everyone Merry Christmas, in addition, I wish you well no matter what you believe. Today and everyday.

Pat Condell's recent commentary on the the intolerance of diversity* about the militant atheists complaining about a nativity scene in Texas. I'm pretty much of the opinion -- get over it.

I've been atheistic/agnostic since my early teens and have just been reinforcing the idea of being more secular year after year. I generally don't care about the public displays of the nativity, and all the rest.

I do stridently object when laws are based on religious principles such as same sex marriage or something as simple as liquor license changes because it is Sunday.

That being said; to all the believers

Merry Christmas! or Happy Hanukkah!

* -- youtube.com/watch?v=IolHgMf_nbw&feature=colike

Happy Holidays -- Blessings and Peace to Amy, Gregg, and everybody in the Advice Goddess world!

(Looking forward to Christmas Dinner tonight -- at a Korean Restaurant a few miles north of us. Much easier than cooking!)

at a Korean Restaurant a few miles north of us.

If you've never done Korean before, I highly recommend bi bim bap (prononced bee bim bop). Every person I introduce it to goes face down over the bowl eating it. ;-)

Thanks! I'm at my parents house with hubby and baby, and bro is here too. It's nice to be back in America, where the beggars are friendly! (Swiss beggars are assholes).

Not really on topic, but the Lucy show video reminded me of what I think were about the funniest 12 minutes ever on television... back when you could dress like a Nazi and make fun of Hitler...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf6csGvNYQU

As an atheist - I like Christmas. If you aren't religious, call it the Winter Solstice holiday, who cares? It's a pleasant tradition. I even enjoy the religious music that goes with it; I heard a lovely rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus yesterday.

Regarding nativity displays (or the lack thereof): if it's private property, which includes companies, then its a private choice. If it's private property, I would mildly object. Mildly, because it's just not something worth getting your panties in a wad over.

@NicoleK: That's odd - most "Swiss" beggars I see (and there aren't that many) are very clearly illegally here, and hence not Swiss. Even so, I've never run into anyone really rude - at worst, they walk up to you in the train station and ask if you can spare a fiver. Used to be they were happy with just one franc - inflation over the years, I suppose. Perhaps it's different in French-speaking Switzerland?

Merry Christmas from a national treasure.

Also, probably the best short that Robert Smigel ever did.

Amy: "...as more than a kind of hippie with some nice ideas about how to treat people..."

That's basically how Thomas Jefferson saw him. I'd never heard of the "Jefferson Bible" until, while web-cruising a few years ago, I came across a 2005 article by Erik Reese in Harper's Magazine called "Jesus Without The Miracles." (If you do a search using that phrase, it's at the first link.)

Reese writes:

By excising the Resurrection and Jesus' claims to divinity from his private gospel, Jefferson portrayed an ordinary man with an extraordinary, though improbable, message.

Jefferson's gospel also leads to an impressive clarification of what those teachings are. One can make a list, and it need not be long.

. Be just; justice comes from virtue, which comes from the heart.
. Treat people the way we want them to treat us.
. Always work for peaceful resolutions, even to the point of returning violence with compassion.
. Consider valuable the things that have no material value.
. Do not judge others.
. Do not bear grudges.
. Be modest and unpretentious.
. Give out of true generosity, not because we expect to be repaid.

I wrote: As an atheist - I like Christmas. If you aren't religious, call it the Winter Solstice holiday,

Amy wrote: Why? It's Christmas.

I agree. I just meant that as an option for the Grinches in the world.

I think my mother . . . characterized him that way to me.

I think it's a great way to view him. It seems to me that so many Christians focus on Christ's supposed divinity while ignoring (or downplaying) the teachings that Jefferson emphasized.

I was raised Lutheran (in Minnesota) but moved away from that in my late teens. I don't care whether Jesus was or was not the "son of God." What I find important are those teachings of his, which are applicable to anyone. It's far more important to be loving, kind, compassionate, forgiving, generous and just -- whether you're a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Zoroastrian, etc. (or agnostic or atheist) -- than it is to "accept Jesus as your personal savior."

I'm an atheist too, and my favorite carol is "Angels we have heard on high."

(And BJ and Cyn gave me a matted, framed rubbing of Phillip K. Dick's tombstone. How can you not love a holiday like this and friends like that?)

I prefer greensleeves, I know it isnt technically a carol, but they always play it around christmas for some reason

Lujip, they're playing "What Child is This?" which is a carol with the same tune as Greensleeves.

What child is this, that laid to rest, on Mary's lap is sleee-eee-ping?

I'm Wiccan and celebrate solstice but Christmas, too, as I'm culturally protestant (and technically a member of the church in Switzerland).

Amy, it might be the cultural demographics of the beggars. Swiss beggars tend to be Roms, they are very aggressive and not friendly, American beggars tend to be African-American. Maybe it's because the American beggars need it more, so try harder to get repeat customers.

But there's also a cultural difference in that you can be friendly to street men in America, but in Europe they take friendliness as a come-on. So maybe beggars are less inclined to be friendly.

Most beggars I see in Switzerland are women. That could be it, too. Women aren't going to flirt with me for their coins.

Brad, Lausanne is crawling with beggars these days, don't know why, but there seem to be more of them every time I go downtown. Out in the stix where I live there aren't any, of course.

Amy, it might be the cultural demographics of the beggars. Swiss beggars tend to be Roms, they are very aggressive and not friendly,...

I'd been wondering about your earlier comment too, Nicole. I've dealt with Roma in both Paris and Rome and never found them to be overly aggressive except for one time in Paris, when a group of young kids wouldn't leave us alone. It sounds like they're worse in Switzerland (or else I just got lucky with my experiences.)

Where are you in Switzerland? The only large Swiss city I've been to is Zurich, and that was just passing through on my way to the Lauterbrunnen Valley (I've been to Lauterbrunnen twice and Gimmelwald once.) On the Lauterbrunnen & Gimmelwald trip, we stayed overnight in Lugano on our way to Vernazza and I loved Lugano. Incredibly beautiful setting.

My nearest towns are Lausanne and Yverdon. I should mitigate my statement, as I seem to have given you the impression they are worse than they actually are. "Aggressive" as in giving me mean looks, narrowing eyes, etc. They weren't threatening me with violence or following, they were just glaring at me, using nasty tones of voices, etc. Contrast that to American beggars who smile and compliment me.

Many of the beggars just sit there. I've just had a couple annoying experiences.

Everyone loves Lugano, its Switzerland and Italy combined!

I'm Wiccan and celebrate solstice but Christmas, too, as I'm culturally protestant (and technically a member of the church in Switzerland).

I'm not specifically Wiccan, I just consider myself a hedge witch, but I celebrate the solstice and Christmas, too, and I run around wishing everyone a "Cool Yule" because I can. I so much enjoy it when everyone is being kind to everyone else!