Christmas without doubt is the most child centered event in the western culture. This fact of course makes it an easy target for economic exploitation, something which evokes grimmer feelings the elder I grow. But this increasing distance in age and the experience with my own kids also grows genuine interest in kids’ lives and in their prospects. Securing our common future begins with respect even for the small kids. And when we take their lifespan as criterion, some decisions and some lifestyle just disqualifies itself.
Hmm, funnily today I said something in the sense of “the older I get the more I am repelled by all this Christmas *traditions*”. I am glad when it’s over.
The expressions on the boys’s faces are very … expressive. Impressing photo.
And yes, I should go upstairs and get my “English Synonyms” book … I know.
Baah, all these overly sweet so-called Christmas rites. Quite a number of them got invented and get intensified to obscure what Christmas really is – regardless of one’s religious roots.
That out of the way, it is reassuring for me that I am not the only one to fight for the right words…
expression … expressiv … impressing. At least I used different forms, đ
Today on boingboing there was an article about Krampus, title was “Santa’s evil sidekick” – I liked that.
Maybe I can further increase your respect for the Bavarois pointing to Gerhard Polt’s statement “dass der Nikolaus kein Heiliger, sondern ein Mensch und dass der Krampus ein Arschloch ist”. Stronger, albeit less witty formulated than “Santa’s evil sidekick”.
What a wonderful image..and thoughtful commentary. Wishing you and yours all the best…
Markus, this is a remarkably Protestant statement, isn’t it? “Kein Heiliger, ein Mensch”. Interesting.
Well, trying to let a human incorporate (fake?) a saint bears the seed of failure. And the Protestants discovered this a whole bit earlier than the Roman Catholic church.