Surprise day/family day (page 2)

mtbatoon

Anyone else get the illustrated bible stories as a gift. Man that was a hard one to look surprised and pleased about, makes you appreciate the giving of socks.

vitty

There was no way we could celebrate bonfire night. How did you get away with that one?

Man, i was brought up in the wrong jw family, we had no holidays or make-ups except my parents anniversary, which always pissed me off that they could celebrate their anniversary and give each other gifts, but no freaking way would they buy us a birthday gift. Oh, i forgot, we did get one present on grading day at the end of every school year. My mom bought me a ruby ring for my graduation, only really nice gift i ever got. I did appreciate that one. As we got older and my parents got softer, they were really strict when we were little, they would sometimes buy us a present on their anniversary. Boy, am i glad my kids have christmas, birthdays etc. I remember every year, some little shit in my class would ask what i got for xmas, and then say "oh, i forgot. you don't get anything". That was very painful. Kids are cruel and when I see my girls open their presents on xmas day, tears well up in my eyes, cause i am so thankful that they will never know that feeling.

Dawn

We never had a family day - until I had my first son and I initiated it. My parents thought it was a great idea. I liked it so much - that I started celebrating x-mas 4 yrs later .

JW's are just like everyone else - they would love to have the celebrations and the gifts - it's what makes the winter bearable. It's sad that they are (and we once were) not allowed to enjoy life.

rwagoner

We would have "Package Hunts" a couple of times a year....

Basically a scavenger hunt around the house for gifts wrapped in newspaper...always thought it was a sneaky way to cover xmas and easter (gifts and the "hunt"). The whole family would gather and take turns hiding gifts for everyone and then the house was destroyed as everyone searched for the ones with their name of them and shredded the newpaper wrapping to open them.

It was fun but it still wasn't the "pagentry" of Christmas with the lights and wonderful music.

Now we have all the holidays with my two young children....we're like that movie "Christmas Vacation" with Chevy Chase....50,000 twinkling lights...11 foot tree....credit card bills to the toy stores that last until the 4th of July.

Speaking of the 4th of July...someone mentioned that they would go to the fireworks....I was publicly reproved for watching the local fireworks celebration from my car..wasn't even at the event itself..."elder" family drove by and saw me parked beside the road enjoying the sights and that was all it took.

Will Power

Gee Kwin, how come we were never invited to your happy day? LOL the song, that is too funny. Esp. when I'm used to seeing them scatter when the word birth is added to the song.

I do remember the kids being invited over once, around this time of year actually. I seem to remember a PayDay game. It was all very strange.

Like someone was trying to make a point of how it was so nice to not have to give presents on a set day,
and how normal it was to give something to borderline stranger cousins, just to prove you were normal.
Of course, the non jw adults knew nothing so we couldn't reciprocate at the time, then afterwards felt like it was like a pay back.
Very confusing.

wp

kwintestal

WP,

Gee Kwin, how come we were never invited to your happy day?

This was something that was done before my mom got married, so I don't know if you would have been around yet? Maybe Steve remembers.

Kwin

brutusmaximus

It seems as though some did and some didn't. But what annoyed me was it was ok for the folks to have an anniversary but not ok for a birthday, where is the differnece??

BM

Junction-Guy

After my Mom and Dad divorced, Mom and Grandma would hold for us a wrap-up party, complete with a superhero cake and candles. They would also wrap presents for us in non-holiday wrapping paper, and there would also be noisemakers and sparklers sometimes too. Thats one of the main reasons that I still love my grandma dearly despite her constant defending of the Watchtower. Her and Mom both realized how hard it was for children growing up as witnesses and they tried to make it easier for us so we wouldnt feel excluded. My Dad on the other hand was the real hardnosed, brainwashed JW and never agreed with the concept of those parties. My Dad also was one of those witnesses who always said "we dont need a special occasion to give gifts, we give gifts all year" I think my Dad bought us 3 toys the whole time we were growing up, not to mention the fact that he skipped child support quite frequently.

Dave

happy camper

Boy, consider yourselves lucky to have a surprise/family day. We never had any of them.

Surprise day/family day