CHRISTmas??

[Cecilie]

No ribbe/pinnekjøtt/lutefisk?

I'm planning on a feast of lutefisk, haggis, and agutuk for dessert...

... then I'll have a great reason to take 2 weeks off!

Mmmmm... Agutuk!

What's agutuk?

[Davin]

No ribbe/pinnekjøtt/lutefisk?

I'm planning on a feast of lutefisk, haggis, and agutuk for dessert...

... then I'll have a great reason to take 2 weeks off!

Mmmmm... Agutuk!

What's agutuk?

Eskimo Ice Cream?

[joeactor]

What's agutuk?

Here ya go - Enjoy!

AGUTUK (authentic) - (ALASKAN ICE CREAM)
 
 Recipe By     : http://www.grand-forks.k12.nd.us/~wilder/recipes.html
 Serving Size  : 1    Preparation Time :0:00
 Categories    : Ice Cream
 
   Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
 --------  ------------  --------------------------------
    2      Cups          seal oil
    1      pound         reindeer fat -- (1 to 1.5 pounds)
                         Berries (salmon berries, blueberries or
                         blackberries)
 
 Boil the oil and reindeer fat for 2-3 minutes.  Cool until lukewarm. Take a
 bowlful of loose snow (not too powdery) and add oil. Beat well to avoid
 lumps. Let freeze a bit and then fold in wild berries.

edit: some recipes also include elk or caribou meat and/or fat...

[Cecilie]

And I assume you eat smalahove as well?

You have been warned.
[spoiler:2ylbkmej][/spoiler:2ylbkmej]

[joeactor]

And I assume you eat smalahove as well?

You have been warned.
[spoiler:k2qrbeqy][/spoiler:k2qrbeqy]

Hee hee!  No... haven't had it cooked that way - but I have eaten a sheep's head before.  The eyes were the oddest part (good with lemon).  Tongue was like beef tongue, but sweeter IMHO...

(how did this turn into the "Food You Eat On A Dare" thread?)

[Cecilie]

(how did this turn into the "Food You Eat On A Dare" thread?)

Asmodean and I were discussing Norwegian Christmas foods.

[Asmodean]

Asmodean and I were discussing Norwegian Christmas foods.

Yup. Derailing is an art  

[Xtina]

When you're a kid, Christmas is absolutely magical. If it's done right, the transition from receiving the magic to giving the magic is a process of self-realization. The realization is this: the magic is real, but we create it ourselves. [cut]
This is the power and the joy of atheism. Life has meaning because we give it meaning. Magic exists - we make it ourselves. Love and family and special times are our creations - no one else's. We did it ourselves. How anyone can fail to find that uplifting, I will never understand.

Thanks for writing this. It's really well said, and it reflects the way I think I would like to approach Christmas when I have my own family a few years down the road. I think the Santa thing helped me get to being atheist too, because it was a practical example of how something I thoroughly believed in, thought I had good reasons for believing in ("I know Santa is real because he uses different wrapping paper than my parents!"), and which turned out to be false, no matter how nice the idea would have been in theory. I think the biggest thing to me was the fact that all the news stations carried broadcasts about following Santa's sleigh, which we all know wasn't really happening - it taught me that just because adults and even the news are saying it's true, doesn't mean it is!

[Sophus]

I don't do the Santa thing. Could never justify raising a kid to think for himself while simultaneously instructing him to believe in a fat man who has magic reindeer and elves, while there would undoubtably already be other children at school telling him his parents are lying. Holidays can be perfectly fun without myths.

[Tanker]

I don't do Christmas. I dislike the whole giving gifts because you feel obligated because you recieve them part especialy. My mother a few years ago told me she feels the same. I would much rather have a meal of spend time with someone ten go through a comercialised gift giving farce and have told my friends and family so (in nicer terms) I do however buy gifts for friend and family members kids. I loved Christmas as a child and Im not so jaded to ruin it for kids and I like seeing thier eyes light up. I also don't think as an Atheist it's apropriate for me to celebrate a Christian holiday. I don't celebrate Yom Kipor or Ramadan either for the simple reason that I'm not Jewish or Muslim.

Like I said I do like spending time with family and I love the good food. That's how I "celibrate" the season

[Inevitable Droid]

Like I said I do like spending time with family and I love the good food. That's how I "celibrate" the season

For reasons having nothing to do with atheism, but rather, with fatigue around the whole gift-giving farce, my extended family has instituted a new tradition among the adults*.  Starting this year, instead of giving gifts, we are each buying our own tickets to the Broadway play The Addams Family, and making a day and night of it together.

* At present, adults are all we have.  In a few years, this may change, as some of the nieces and nephews are at the point in life where having kids could be the next step.

[Iydak]

We usually set up a rediculous number of lights, give gifts, and use the time off to visit with family.

[ablprop]

Thanks for writing this. . . I think the Santa thing helped me get to being atheist too

I think you're the first person I've ever encountered who agreed that Santa led to atheism and that it was a positive thing. So thank you back, Xtina.

I completely understand why some here wouldn't want to celebrate the holiday, and certainly the commercialism is pretty awful, but if you can get past it the magic of the season can be very beautiful. I even love the religious carols, in the same way I love Greek mythology. I love the gaudiness of the lights, the sappy loveliness of It's a Wonderful Life (angels and all), and the utter ridiculousness of celebrating the darkest, coldest, bleakest time of the year.

Good luck with creating your own magic!

[Inevitable Droid]

Could never justify raising a kid to think for himself while simultaneously instructing him to believe in a fat man who has magic reindeer and elves, while there would undoubtably already be other children at school telling him his parents are lying.

In my case, I was divorced by the time my oldest daughter was old enough to ask me if Santa was real.  Her mother had told her he was.  I had to tread lightly, so as not to offend her mother too greatly, so I answered, "Santa lives in your heart."  My daughter accepted that answer and didn't ask any further questions.  Presumably she took away the idea that, yes, Santa wasn't real, but adults weren't being mean to her or making fun of her with their fakery.

In my case, it was important to me that my daughter continue to know that I wouldn't lie to her.  Both for emotional reasons and for practical reasons, I sought to maintain my credibility in her eyes.  To this day, neither of my daughters, both of whom are in their twenties, has ever heard a lie pass from my lips.

[TheWilliam]

I love all 3 parts of christmas.

christmas part 1 starting about october 20th-25th,

with people buying costumes and candy, and of course, christmas lights and trees going up around the city.

then my neices go trick or treating in my n'hood, and when the crash out i decide what candy they don't need.

then i love christmas part 2 which starts november 1st.
the company allows us to give food to homeless people,

EGG NOG LIKE A FUTHERMUCKER.

and the company makes so much money, you can't help but get a bonus.  even the people that suck do great numbers.

then christmas part 3 which starts the last friday of november.  with a wonderful day of people watching.
I don't buy anything on black friday, I just watch other people go bonkers and act like wolves on energy drinks.

then on christmas day, i literally eat over a dozen sugar cookies while sitting on my ass like a champ. and watching

home alone 1&2
a christmas story
buddy elf.
friday after next

and play video games and smoke cloves.

it's awesome.