"Besides, We Give Gifts Throughout the Year!"

Swan

The JWs always give a lengthly explanation as to why they don't celebrate Christmas or birthdays, and then always add the final statement "Besides, we give gifts throughout the year!"

Yeah, right! Okay, lets get an unofficial count of all the people who actually did get gifts on other days of the year. I mean nice gifts, and wrapped properly. I want to hear about the gifts you got as a child just because your parents wanted to give you a gift, and not a birthday or Christmas.

Also, it's not fair to include gifts that your dad got you that were clearly toys for himself. My dad got "us kids" some radio controlled airplanes and cars that sat up on the shelf until we were "old enough" and so they were up there for many years to just be looked at. I think they were sold at a garage sale just before we moved.

So do they really give gifts throughout the year, or does the next gift need to be a bullshit meter?

Tammy

Hamas

They do speak some shit, innit.

Satanus

I don't remember any gifts like that from my parents or other dubs, nor did i give any when i was a kid.

SS

ashitaka

0. Unless it was an occasion...

Anniversary, Graduation, Wedding...and even then, you find more stingy people than generous ones. For my Graduation, I received a couple of inexpensive presents and 36$. One of my friends, who kissed all of the JW ass, got over a thousand, and none of it was from family. You had to be connected to get anything worthwhile on those three occasions.

ash

Valis

We got things from time to time, but well so do other children. sheesh...The only time it was made any big deal was on the day of my parent's wedding anniversary. And then it was very little if anything. By the time I really started to care I was making my own money one way or another and bought my own toys and most of my clothes. That started when I was about 11 or 12 doing odd jobs for the drunk elder who "helped" me get baptised and selling candy and school supplies to the people I went to school with. This in itself though got me to thinking just how dumb it all was that we couldn't be a part of any festivities. It was fun going to shop for presents for my friends at school...especially chickies during the holidays...My mom tried to get me to not do anything holiday like when I was in the ninth grade...*LOL* I lied..deny deny deny...*LOL* That was the last time I let her try to have a say in what I did at school or otherwise. I guess I can thank my parents for showing me how to decieve people just to get what you want, something young people should never have to do or be put in such a position when they get old enough to make their own religious descision. It isn't even fun to think about really...The one thing in my head is the smugness with which they spoke of others who had decorated their houses or were out shopping during the holidays..."Boy, aren't we glad we don't have to do that?"...bleck...This leads to odd thinking IMO..When I was quite young I spent may an hour in the middle of the night sneaking out during xmas break w/my cousing and wire clippers in hand....alas I hope Jehovah was happy that all those xmas lights suddenly stopped working! *LOL*

Sincerely,

District Overbeer

minimus

The only time I hear people say, "I wish I was one of you Jehovah's Witnesses", was during the holiday season. While everyone went into debt, we could afford the after Christmas sales............No, I never got any special gifts to make up for the holidays, but I never felt that I didn't have as much as everyone else.

Funchback

I have always had a problem with that statement. Here's why:

When the JWs say "Besides, we give gifts throughout the year", they are suggesting that non-jw's ONLY give gifts during birthdays and holidays. Is that really true? The fact is, non-JW parents buy their kids gifts year-round, too. Do you think when you see parents and children going to Marshall's or Toys-R-Us or Electonic's Botique or The Limited Too that those parents must be shopping for their kids because it MUST be their birthday of it MUST be Christmas time? Isn't it fair to say that they may be in those stores buying their children something because they did well in school or because the child did a special chore around the house or because, well, JUST BECAUSE?

The next time a JW says the they buy gifts throughout the year, say to them: "SO DOES THE REST OF THE WORLD!"

Yerusalyim

My step son Barry pointed out to me about three years ago that he'd NEVER received an actual WRAPPED present in his life until I came on the scene. Now Sean, his younger brother who has denounced the Society makes a point of wrapping all the gifts he buys for people.

jwbot

My parents bought me what I needed...but never a wrapped gift. I remember for a couple years waaaaaay back when I was a little kid, we had "family day" with a couple crappy gifts...hoo rah.

rocketman

Yeah, I never bought into that "gifts throughout the year" stuff. It's a bogus excuse to try to make them look like a rational group of people in the face of possibly looking very bad by never bothering with gifts.

"Besides, We Give Gifts Throughout the Year!"

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