One thing that's good about being a witnessi (page 2)

goingthruthemotions

I miss it....i hate this fucking cult of a religion. the biggest mistake of my life.

let's review....it's a cult.

GTTM

We are loving Christmas after missing so many years of it. My granddaughter's very first time to celebrate Christmas was last year, 2013, after insisting to her father at age 14 that she no longer wanted any part of the WT cult. We had stopped celebrating after studying with the jw's, in 1985.

We are getting ready to whomp up a wonderful country Christmas here in north Georgia. A fresh tree from Home Depot, because they gave us a tree last year when I was telling the tree lady that my granddaughter had just escaped a damn cult. We have wreaths and garland with red ribbons out front. No lights because there is no outlet outside, what were the builders thinking.

Maple sugar candy from Vermont, gemstone bead jewelry made at home. A game for the Nintendo. A calendar with pictures of her fave celebrity. A Dr. Who magazine.

My cousin told me how to do the gifting: Something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read.

My daughter is getting a membership to a retailer website from us. We will drive through a park to see the lights and have pot roast for dinner. We have sent out cards, both to customers and friends/family. (We didn't have any family in the WT. Happily I can say now, none of them ever listened to us.)

berrygerry

I'm doing Festivus this year - even have the pole.

jwfacts

Christmas is amazing and the best time of the year. My son's joy is abundant proof of how much I and other JWs missed out. It only is as materialistic as you allow it to be.

joyfulfader

Loving this holiday season. I have bought slowly over the year and stayed in budget. my daughter and I have made the house a warm and cozy haven of happiness with the lights and trees....not overboard. I have done 80% of my shopping online with fabulous results And the other 20% will be done on Saturday. And I wrap and label as I buy. The JW excuse is the cop out....always was for me.

its funny that I feel nothing at all strange about celebrating. I love finding the unexpected things for those I love. Aaaaand we absolutely LOVE our tree!!!!!

Finkelstein

I've been out the JWS for more than 30 years and I have to say I think X-mas is more of an annoyance if anything now

and I know a lot of non ex-JWS wordily people have pretty much the same opinion..

Its the overly commercialization of it all, the stress that comes with gift giving, who is giving this and doing that .

.

The intent of creating joy and spreading that around can have deliberating after effects such as going into debt,

making up your mind on what gifts for certain people ... etc.

The expectations placed onto people can create reverse effects of bringing them actual joy.

I would probably still celebrate it to certain extent if I still had children in the house though.

.

My advise is go Christmas lite , have a dinner or go out for dinner, see a couple movies or plays

make sure you take time off of work and try enjoy yourself.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

I'm not much of a shopper, but now that I'm making money, shopping isn't so bad. Some places and stores are worse than others. I like the lights, the food, the booze, the festivities, and some of the music. And speaking of music, here's a holiday classic...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc_F0zP9usU

cult classic

Christmas season is full of beautiful, fun and festive music, lights and decorations. My family loves receiving and giving gifts.

I do hate shopping (no matter the season), so each year I've fine tuned my gift gifting to minimize stress and maximize happiness. Many Americans feel it is overly commercialized and materialistic. But it doesn't have to be. It is what you make of it.

There is definitely a joyful spirit during the season. And the expressions on the faces of my kids, and other family who left also, lets me know how much we missed out on being WT slaves.

sloppyjoe2

This is only the second year I will celebrate Christmas. Maybe because I didn't do it as a kid it makes me enjoy it. I think it's the most wonderful time of the year!

stuckinarut2

Interestingly, this is the first year that both my wife and I (still in remember...) have both brought home all the cards we have been getting from clients, workmates, members of the community etc to show each other!

We both read them and say..."oh this is so nice that "..." has thought of us, or bought us this gift. Very much appreciated"

There are no snide comments, or digs about the "stupidity of Xmas, or paganism"

I think we are getting somewhere!!!!!!

One thing that's good about being a witnessi