Holiday Rhet

If you have never heard the phrase "Peace on Earth" during the Christmas season, you must be living under a rock. Everywhere you turn you either hear the phrase in a song or you see it on a decoration of some sort. According to Merriam Webster dictionary it states that peace means " harmony in personal relations", and "freedom from disquieting thoughts or emotions." Have any of you ever just sat around and thought about why this phrase is mostly just brought up around Christmas time. No one goes around during the year saying this, only during the holiday season. Christmas is the time of year when everyone is generally happy and they want to enjoy themselves and their families. Of course we would all love to have peace all year around, but lets get real..unfortunately things just do not work like that. I find myself always wanting peace on earth that just like any other human being, and I wish things were just that simple.
I somewhat believe that this phrase is brought up around this time of the year because it is the most joyous time of the year, but it also has a lot to do with the real reason we have Christmas. I think that since Christmas is celebrated because of the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ, and this is why peace on earth is such a big deal around this holiday. When I think of Jesus I think of peace, and happiness. I kind of think this is a negative look on peace on earth, because we should have this hope all year around, not just around this holiday. I think that not only Christmas  should be peaceful, i think that all 365 days of the year should be this way. I cannot tell you how many times I have sang the song "peace on earth" throughout my nine years of chorus and i never really thought about the words, i just thought it was a christmas song, I now have a whole different outlook.

Not exactly the quid pro quo...

Thanks to Google Images for the pictures.

The holidays are a time of family, friendship, and all around together-ness. We're supposed to all get together and everyone be happy and loving and just have a great time with our little 2 adult, 2.54 children and 1.58 pet household. I mean, that's the average, so it's to be expected, right? My parents are divorced, remarried, and have children with their new spouses. The new children (2 of my younger siblings, Averi and Reid) call each other cousins and call the other parent of mine who isn't their parent Uncle and Aunt. So we don't exactly fit into the mold.

It's not unusual for families to be different than the norm. We live in a diverse society. We really don't have the cookie-cutter 2 adults and 2.54 children households with the stay at home Betty Crocker moms and "Honey I'm home!" dads anymore. We live in a society where families sit down to fast food between basketball games and volleyball practice; where the lines between divorces are blurred, and in laws are closer than blood relatives; where it's not as big of a deal to spend part of Christmas with someone else, or with friends at the movies. The ideas we have of families in Christmas sweaters implies a family mind-set that only seems to be present at Christmas. Not to say that the way things run now are bad- that's simply how some families, like mine, are now, and I love my family exactly the way we are. Not everyone fits the mold now, but that's what makes each holiday celebration unique and special.

Holiday Rhetoric

Both found on google images.

During Christmas you always hear the phrase "joy to the world", rather it be said or found in a song sung at church. According to Webster, the word joy means an emotion evoked by well being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of processing what one desires. So why do we chose to say this just around Christmas time? Around the holidays everyone wants to be seen as this perfect family, as Arola talks about in her video. She talks about how everyone gathers around the tree trying to look happy for that brief moment while a photo is being taken. Is our joy brief too? When I think of joy to the world I think of world piece, and happiness. Most people would agree that we could use this all year round and not just on Christmas right? But who I am kidding, no one goes around in the middle of May saying joy to the world, that is unless it is a teenager getting out of high school for summer break. 

I think people have this false thought that everyone should be happy and perfect during this season because of all the stories and shows we see on tv. Let's face it, when we were young we learned about Jesus being born, and how everyone was grateful and happy to be around their family. If anyone, I think my family is a prime example that this is not what really happens behind the Christmas photo. Two or three years ago, my grandpa and my uncle were messing with his guns, and identically shot a whole through the wall the had barley missed my aunt's arm leaving a scrape. Luckily, no one was seriously injured. Joy to the world? I do believe that familys can and should be happy around this time, but why do we chose to try and over do it and seem perfect to everyone around us? Although the saying joy to the world will always be around, we should make it something and bring back the meaning. Let us actually be joyous, and be who we are. Maybe that is what we need to make the world a better place. In this day and age, it all seems to be based of the saying fake it till you make it.

-Karah
word count 388

Holiday Rhetoric-JF

Gifts

Typically, when most of the people I know, including myself, think of the word, “gifts,” we think of items given from one person to another in care. When I think of gifts, I personally think of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. As a larger group though, we all consider gifts to be wrapped presents given by the (spoiler alert!) fictitious Santa Clause/Father Christmas/St. Nicholas/Kris Kringle to children as a reward for their good deeds. Essentially, gifts are associated with winter, particularly, the Christmas holiday. As a child, I was always told that the giving of gifts originated with the three Wise Men bringing gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the baby Christ. I was once told that Santa was Jesus in disguise, and that seemed to make perfect sense to me when I was at that young age. Regardless of my thoughts of gifts, everyone to whom I’ve mentioned the word seems to have the same idea. Ideally however, I think many should have a different idea when that word is stated.

 

In my opinion, every day on Earth as a human being is a, “gift.” Whether you are religious or not, we can all agree that someone else created us (God, parents, scientists, etc). First, being human is a gift considering we’re the most advanced species on the planet. Second, we (at least all of us on the blog) are American; by this I mean to ask, when was the last time your life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness was genuinely threatened? As an American human, we have the greatest gift in comparison to all other people. Sadly, instead of being content with this great gift we have all been given, we trample each other to get sales or cry when we don’t get whatever present we wanted. By holding this false definition of gift, we throw this true gift we have away. If we continue this selfish behavior, I have no doubt that we will lose our true gift. I implore all of you this holiday season not to overlook our true gift. It certainly wouldn’t hurt any of us if we took some more time to be thankful rather than needful (and, hey, look at it this way: If you spend all your time being thankful, you may be able to use that as an excuse for not giving any presents).

 

Word count: 394

Picture count: 2

Sarcasm count: a lot

Holiday Rhetoric-Family

Images from Yahoo images.

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of family is loved ones. I agree with Mrs. Arola when she says that the stereotypical family is a heterosexual white family and their kids. I come from the stereotypical American family, however, I do not think race matters, nor do I think having kids is something required to be qualified as a family. In her case, I would say her and her husband alone are a family. The fact that they are loved ones qualifies them as a family in my book. I would include all relatives into the loved ones category.

Also, I do not believe family does not have to include immediate family. For example I have multiple friends who I would consider as family because they fit into the category of loved ones. In addition to friends, I would say I am part of a family of teammates. Team sports have multiple similarities to immediate families.  Successful teams have people sacrificing for each other, communication, trust, honesty, and bonds that form just like successful families have. 

I, like Mrs. Arola, want people to rethink what family is. Family does not have to include a mother, father, and kids. Race does not matter either. There are plenty of families who are not in the stereotypical category that display the same love as the stereotypical families. I believe if a group of people or even two people show characteristics of a family, then they are a family. The holidays seem to put an importance on kids and relatives, but as long as there are the characteristics of a family like love and compassion, the number of people should not matter. My advice for people is to think about the people in their lives who are important to them whether they are a part of their immediate family or not, and ask themselves if they feel like those people feel like family. 

David Sacre (323 words)

"Jesus is the reason for the season."

                As children we often would stay up all night wondering what we were getting for Christmas this year, but rarely did we ever think about what Christmas was actually celebrated for. It seems like the history of Christmas is shrouded in history and not many people really know why we do any of the things we do. I did not learn till years later that Christmas was actually rooted in ancient Pagan holidays. Powered by religious reforms in England, the once Pagan holiday, was converted into a Christian Holiday. It was not until there was a surge in popularity in America that Christmas became a truly commercial holiday. In the past many kept traditions such as commemorating the birth of Jesus or going to church on Christmas. Now most American’s cannot even tell you why we celebrate Christmas except that we get gifts from some man in a suit. What was the cause for such a drastic change in America’s demeanor?

                The most obvious change is families themselves. The United States is much more accepting of different styles of living then they once were. People who are gay, atheist or of other ethnic groups are not as socially un-accepted as they once were or as pressured to take on more socially conventional practices such as following the Christian traditions for Christmas. Being more accepting of different cultures or practices can cause even the socially conventional to go about their own Christmas rituals a bit differently. The commercial aspect of Christmas is also starting to change the way we celebrate Christmas. Instead of going out and buying just a few gifts for the family, we now go out to events like Black Friday to race through mobs of people, while fighting for the newest electronics. So as for the old sang “Jesus is the reason for the season!” is beginning to lose its meaning in our country

-316

An anosmic Christms

pictures were found using google

When celebrating Christmas most people think of it as a joyous occasion where people gather to give each other gifts. To me it is becoming less and less joyous as the years go on. This is mostly due to me realizing things as I got older. I saw more and more of people taking rather than giving. When I was small I remember Christmas at my grandmothers with all sorts of distant relatives, but I was always my grandparents only grandchild and although I received many gifts, they were never expensive and I didn't expect them to be. My grandfather spent time to make me things and I still treasure those gifts to this day. Now it is all about which grandchild they spent the most amount of money on and who they favored the most. I am at a point where all I see is my grandparents suffering to please all of their kids’ kids. For all of the children it is a joyous occasion because they get all of these gifts and for the parents it is a contest and if some kid got a gift more expensive than their child’s all manners of hell is unleashed. Yet everyone still behaves as if everyone should be happy. Last week when I went to my grandparents for Thanksgiving my grandmother asked for all of our Christmas lists. Being who I am I asked for a Delorean, a flux capacitor, and some plutonium. Obviously I am a back to the future fan and I was joking, but my cousins gifts amazed me more.

                I saw my cousins asking for $60 video games and dolls that cost $100 or more. I could not believe that they would ask for such things especially when there is roughly 12 grand kids. There is no way that my grandparents should be expected to pay so much for each child. Yet this is going to happen just like every year. They do this to make not only the kids, but the parents happy as well. All of this stress is put upon two individuals who should have retired years ago, but because of their children’s greed and inability to take care of themselves, are forced to keep working. I am at a point where I am going to call it out and get branded the black sheep of the family because no one wants to bring it up. I am not going to say that my grandparents shouldn't spend their money how they please, but I will call out my aunts and uncles who deliberately ask for it when they don’t need it. These past few years Christmas has been like torture to me seeing my grandparents’ life sucked out of them and it fills me with rage. So much for joy being associated with Christmas. As long as everyone keeps acting like everything is joyful and fine, my grandparents will continue to be run into the ground.

-Codie Rome 493