Although Christmas is a pagan festival that is also anchored in many Christian communities, this period is also a time of cosy togetherness that no one can be against.
In these dark days, many families make time for socialising as well as giving presents and wishing each other all the best for the coming year.
It’s not a bad idea to think about these gifts and how to make them as pleasant as possible for those around us.
Much too often consumers forget that they have to bear the responsibility for our ecosystem. We still see too many people participating in the waste culture of packaging, plastics and not ecological produced goods, contributing to a too big ecological footprint.
We cannot just stand by and watch. It is time not only to make our voices heard but also to take action.
Regularly, the customers are reminded that this world expects them to spend their money on as many goods as possible. Soon we are having Black Friday again and commercials are luring the public again to get them to buy goods they do not necessarily need now.
We crossed the line of decency. We all are consuming much more than we really need and often we do forget the impact on our environment. As consumers, we are often as guilty as the producers, helping to pollute our earth. We too often forget that we are equal partners in this downward spiral of humanity.
Today the current culture of seeking materialistic pleasures or satisfaction makes many to enrich themselves not willing to see who is behind the making of those goods and at what cost for humanity and nature, as long as it is the cheapest for them.
For many it seems that this want for more keeps growing but not satisfying them. More than once we can see that wild chase of things people do not really need and sometimes even do not want. This wants and seeking only seems to create an emptiness in their lives, which they hope to fill by buying something new, in the hope to feel better.
We need more meaningful consumer engagement, with more reliable information and support provided for the choices we make.The governments should guide their citizens towards ‘greener consumption’. But to reach the targets set forward in Paris and Glasgow, the governments shall need help from manufacturers and retailers.
Supermarkets, online clothes retailers and other global companies should also be blamed for all the plastic waste which is polluting land and water. We’re encountering too much wrapping stuff unnecessarily in single-use plastic. We also often hear that we should avoid such plastic wrappings, but often we have no choice in the supermarkets. We’re told to buy loose fruit and veg, but it seems that the government is not putting the same pressure on supermarkets to sell loose fruit and veg.
Let us not forget:
Within this ‘money makes the world go round’ paradigm, though, advertising slogans are true indicators of how much we are being brainwashed into supporting the economy, at the cost of our autonomy, the developing world and the actual planet. {Programmed to spend}
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Preceding
A Snippet of Advice on Cultural Analysis
Material wealth, Submission and Heaven on earth
Looking for the consummation of presents
One can buy a lot in the supermarket, but not hope
The Culture of Excesses- Losing Humanity
Time to be strengthened, thankful and to be prepared
Beginning of a festival of lights
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Additional reading
- Ecological economics in the stomach #2 Resources
- Classes of people and Cronyism
- Welfare state and Poverty in Flanders #9 Consumption
- Greenpeace demands scale up of ecological farming
- Green Claims in Europe
- Time to consider how to care for our common home
- Fast-rising energy prices attract China to capitalise on them
- After a virus pandemic an energy disease
- Coming to Thanksgiving day 2020
- The time of year we remember our many blessings
- Dangerous climate change is already with us
- Each of the small voices important
- Young people at COP26 have to “Stay angry”
- Charities demand radicalism in face of officials’ delay
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Related
- Consumers need and want more help to go green
- mental health and consumerism plus some answers;
- To save, or not to save: that is the question.
- Taxing Hight
- Is decluttering an answer to consumerism or a bullet wound to capitalism?
- How to Shop Black Friday Like a Minimalist
- Consumerism
- Everything That I Need, I Already Have
- I am not eco (but I want to do better)
- Accumulation.
- ‘Zero crashes, zero congestion, zero emissions’ – the perennial myths of autonomous vehicles
- We Need to Talk About Our Demand Chain Crisis
- Customer Service or Not
- How social media is changing Indian consumer behaviours
- There isn’t even a clear ‘least worst’ option
- That’s How They Get You: On the Tag
- B.L.M. and the Consumer Conundrum
- Influencers in the Wild; An exploration of Influencer Marketing
- The Culture of Excesses- Losing Humanity
- Programmed to spend
- alienation
- 11.11 sales are a symptom of the greater disease of mindless consumerism
- Consumer Rights and Responsibilities
- Free From Modern Capitalism
- The problem with overpopulation
- How to Have a more Sustainable Christmas
This has always bothered me, but I just read another article on BBC which is telling consumers how to reduce their CO2 emissions by a “fraction” and it’s honestly the last [plastic] straw.
Consumers are told to “stop watching TV in HD”; a Channel 4 documentary told us that our social media “addiction” is “killing the planet”; and Coca-Cola is telling us to “please recycle”.
Yes, consumers and individuals should be doing everything that they can to reduce CO2 emissions, energy consumption, food, water and plastic waste and save the planet. But, I’m honestly getting frustrated that so much of the blame and responsibility for the climate crisis seems to be put on us.
Consumers are blamed for how much single-use plastic we bin; but, why aren’t supermarkets, online clothes retailers and other global companies blamed for wrapping stuff unnecessarily in single-use plastic?
We’re told to buy loose fruit and…
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From our forgotten & unpublished material
In 2016 the interest for the food programs seemed to heave reduced. Still much attention was given to the British Bake-off and the television consumer programs “Food rip-off” and “Radar” showed clearly that enough people are getting fed up with the way how lots of factories are presenting some food products, misleading the consumer, doing as if there is so much of something in the packet, like for example butter or fruit, which is not so much in it.
Unbelievable is to notice how the very unhealthy dishes of Jeroen Meus (‘Dagelijkse kost’ or ‘Daily food’) reached a very high popularity his books passing those of Pascal Naesens.
After five Daily Food -book and the anthology My 200 classics, Meus published again a book, since his departure from publishing Halewyck, where he sold a million books and walked out “because the soup was fat.” Meus signed a contract for three years and for at least as many books at WPG-Manteau. This publisher now releases his first more stylish book on the market with a hard cover that reveals some private photos of Meus.
In his book Meus continues to swear by what he calls wonderful ‘Flemish fare’ and to go “beyond all food hype”. On every night he brings some ordinary food dishes in the picture on the Flemish television. But the simple fare is no light stuff and we would not recommend to eat such meal regular with that amount of fat and salt he uses. Yet it is striking that Meus want to cook and eat
“without hurting or harming health. Everything in between is common sense. And thus allowed. So I live myself. Clean but sin. One day sausage with endive in white sauce and potatoes, the other day quinoasalade. And of course you need on Sunday to chicken cubes in sweet and sour sauce and roast pork can continue to order. But not every day.”
he says.
Exclusively for the newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws, the most popular Flemish television cook composed of five culinary province country guides: “Lekker onderweg met Jeroen Meus” (Nicely on the move with Jeroen Meus.
Until recently the books by Pascale Naessens were the best-selling books in Belgium, but now her friend Jeroen Meus came on the first place. Her first book continues to vie for the top spot. She has since become the figurehead of the pure and healthy food in Flanders. Several of her books have been translated into English, French, German and Chinese. She won the Gourmand World Cookbook Award in Paris and Beijing.
The cookbooks reflect her personality and her many different talents. She creates all the recipes, writes the text and is solely responsible for the styling, design and layout of the book. She serves her dishes on ceramic pottery that she creates in her own workshop.
Her recipes offer healthy dishes without a long list of complicated ingredients, which has something extra for those who have to work for long hours and do not want or have not much time to spent in the kitchen. To prepare her lovely dishes which do not present complicated combinations, you don’t have to spend hours in the kitchen, but she makes it possible still to prepare something surprising for dinner, making it still looks like you’ve been working for hours.
She says
As a result, people are eating better food with more flavour and, at the end of the week, much to their surprise, they find that they’re a couple of kilos lighter and healthier too, without having realized it. It’s all these factors together that make a difference. I’ve also succeeded in proving that tasty and healthy needn’t be a case of boring or a case of having to eat ‘less’ on the contrary, it’s a case of ‘more’. You can eat more and above all get more out of life.’
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2021 update:
Filed under Food, Health affairs, Lifestyle
the sexy santa assistants were there to take a photo of you in front of the xmas tree or you could just ask them to take a photo with you and pretend that your girlfriend is a sexy santa assistant See where this picture was taken. [?] (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Sarah, a dog-faced atheist currently living in North Carolina, writes
Once when talking to a family member who is aware of my atheism and verbal about it, she asked: “Does it bother you when you get Jesus stuff for the holidays?” The truth, yes and no. {Holiday Shopping For Your Token Atheist Friend}
She, like many other atheists and lots of Christians, does not seem to know that all this Christmas event has nothing to do with Christianity or the real Jesus born in Bethlehem. Christmas is a pagan feast of which real Christians should abstain. But many Christians love to think about the true real Greatest Gift on earth mankind received. That was indeed the saviour or the Kristos, Jesus Christ, who was really born in 4BCE, October 17. So, we could wonder why they like to celebrate his so called birthday on the birthday of the goddess of light and on the pagan holy day for that goddess.
Therefore it is strange that as self-proclaimed resident holiday gift adviser, this Sarah gives her guiding rules on how to shop for heathens as follows:
Don’t give your atheist friend anything religious.
Avoid gifts that use “Christmas” or “Xmas.”
Coffee is good. Atheists like coffee. {Holiday Shopping For Your Token Atheist Friend}
When we look in the shop windows we also do not see much that reminds people of the Messiah and what he has given to mankind and why we can look at him as the best gift the world ever got.
Many may say that
“The Word became flesh.”
but do not really know what this means.
A certain Chandy who is also knowing that she is been given a gift, likes to share it, but considers it impossible. she also seems to see the reason.
No one’s bothered, which is fine. People have their own choices and finally, Jesus does love them. Others possibly communicate their theology but I can’t. And in some senses I wish I hadn’t learnt it. {Despairing Resonance}
This December she writes
Blood, bodily fluids, wordless crying are at the heart of Christmas story. It is icky, joyful and fills the senses. {Christmas fragment 1}
When we carefully look around everything turns around getting presents and just making lots of fun. Naturally nothing is wrong with making lots of fun and giving each other presents. Lovely. But to have stress about it?! And to say it is all for Jesus?!
Chandy at WordPress continues
It is icky, joyful and fills the senses.
This is why with so many objects criss crossing the planet it fulfils part of the spirit of Christmas. The handling of the card, the wrapping of the gift, the prising of the plastic, the eating of food, the drinking of wine affirms our bodily humanity; for God affirms bodily humanity in its messy state by taking on a breathing, weeing, gurgling body. {Christmas fragment 1}
Looking at mankind they all seem to look for their luck in stuff.
Everyone seeking love, joy, hope, peace, contentment and seeking to find it in stuff. Anyone who has an eternal perspective sees how silly this is – chasing after wealth and popularity and power. Still the pull of this world is strong. Smell that cheddar? Don’t worry about that spring loaded wire it’s sitting on. “People who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.” Wealth isn’t the issue. Idolatry – love of money is. (But sometimes wealth breeds the other.) {Contented Consumer?}
Even those Christians who say this is the season of peace are arguing that all those refugees better stayed in their country and would leave our developed society on its own, they not coming to take away some food and quality of life. They forget they themselves never brought anything themselves into this life at start, but got everything given to them, life, education, edible plants, sunshine, rain, the earth. Man is so selfish he thinks he has done it all by himself and that everything belongs to himself. To share it with others is difficult. For that reason such a gift season may not be so bad, because than people have to provide something for somebody else, and they have to spend something from their own money for it, which is not so easy for them. but many have fallen in the trap of the ” tyranny of expectations surrounding this so called Holy Day”.
Those who belong to the wealthy better should think about those who have less. This time of gifts should bring them to think about what gifts we all get in our life. Scripture is not against products that make life better for those who produce them. It is also not against consuming products. but it warns us how we use our money and warns us about the attitude we can take or have to take with the things we can enjoy.
Scriptures does not say at all that luxury would not be allowed, but it gives us an indication that we should be willing to share with others. The Bible tells us the “Love of money” is wrong and corrupting.
Studies show that those with a lot of it are more narcissistic and less generous. Our tendency is to think – that’s people who are richer than we are – They are self-absorbed and greedy. {Woes and Watch-out Warnings}
In the West we have become a “Consumer driven society”
Buy, buy, buy. Get, get, get. We’re all buyers; consumers of stuff. There are things we need and things we want. Separating our wants from our needs has become more difficult with the growing ideology of consumerism. The encouragement of acquiring more and more stuff at an increasing pace continues to change our society. The “one who dies with the most toys” philosophy has propelled the age of consumerism as our appetite to acquire things has skyrocketed. I wonder though if this is healthy for our society? {Top Risks for a Consumer-Driven Society}
The Spirit of Christmas (short film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The way people want to consume is changing and shopping becomes for some less a social activity, but a lonesome internet action, not really interested were it comes form at what cost, as long as he can get it the cheapest.
Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Distinguished Programs Joseph DeRosa warns
So as we enter the Holiday season – whatever Holiday you celebrate – think about your own gift giving habits. If it’s cheaper online, I get it. That’s simply being fiscally responsible. But if it’s not, I’d challenge you to go to the store, walk the aisles, smile at others and say hello. Let’s not slip so far into our rabbit holes that we forget that the difference between living and being alive is the amount of interaction and experience we have with one another. Would any of us really want to be walking around this planet alone? Would that be alive? Not me. Make the choice to live alive. Connect with someone. Today.
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Preceding
Family happiness and little things we do
Halloween is Satanist Christmas
He who beams never walks in the dark
The Evolution Of Passover–Past To Present
Next: One can buy a lot in the supermarket, but not hope
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Seventh day of Christmas +++
Filed under Economical affairs, Food, Lifestyle, Religious affairs, Social affairs, Welfare matters
Lifestyle and Readers Digest Magazine founded by Marcus Ampe on the 26th of March 2014
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