Christmas Curmudgeon: Alexis' war on the Christmas Season.

If you were expecting a post on the secularization/commercialization of Christmas, then you are in luck because that is exactly what you are going to get. You will also get the bonus of a history lesson!

Let me start of by first saying, Merry XMAS everyone! 

Did that offend you? Are you mad because I crossed Christ out of Christmas? If you are, then our friendship is sad. Do you get mad when people say Happy B-Day to you? Because they took the birth out of birthday? Well then you should not good mad when you hear or see the word XMAS. X comes from the Greek letter Chi which is the first letter of the Greek word that means Christ (Remember the NT was written in Greek).  That crazy symbol to the right it Chi-Rho and is a Christian symbol that represents Christ. The term XMAS has Christian roots not secular roots. It is no one crossing out or leaving out Christ. It is the abbreviation for Christ. It shouldn't be offended terms like Xpian and Xtian were terms that were also used in the past. 

"Santa= Satan if you just move the 'n'"

Please, stop saying this. I am not going to get too deep into this history because there are actually quite a few people that Santa could come from. I believe he is a mixture of all, but he does have some Christian roots too. St Nicholas, a man that brought presents to poor children. How horrible of that man to give kids presents, right? Now, believing in Santa Claus is a magical moment for kids, and just because they believe in him doesn't mean they don't believe in Christ nor that they don't remember Christ. I have five nephews (three of whom are at the ripe age of Santa/Elf believing), and the other day the oldest slept at my parents' house. My mom asked me to read him a story before he went to bed. I asked him what he wanted me to read, and he picked out a book called, "The Christmas Story" because it was close to Christmas. The book starts out saying there is more to Christmas then presents and Santa, and right after I read that part, my nephew looks at me, and says, "I prayed that I would remember to wish Jesus a happy birthday." This 6 year old boy believes in Jolly Old St Nick, but still understands that this is a day that represents so much more. Giving isn't a bad thing, allowing kids to have an imagination isn't a bad thing, and every child no matter what economic class or race feels hope, and the magic of Christmas when they sit on Santa's lap. The reason I think so many adults say that Santa is really Satan is they have forgotten that Santa isn't creating super greedy kids, he is making them all feel special, and eventually the kid will not believe, so if this is really a Satan impostor then he should come up with a much better disguise because by the age of 10 he doesn't even exist anymore. 

"Happy Holidays" and where Christmas comes from...

Happy Holidays is what you will see more in department stores now a days, and this seems to really piss people off. I cannot understand why because these stores are not just marketing for Christmas. They are marketing for Hanukah, Kwanzaa, New Years, Thanksgiving, Christmas... and so have you. In other words the "HOLIDAYS." It is not horrible that United States is accepting all holidays no matter the religious belief, and saying, "Happy Holidays" is not going to ruin Christmas. 

In other news, everyone needs to calm down. Christmas is never going to lose the Christ, and the religious tag that comes with it. Christmas was first started because of Constantine (the pagan who converted, but refused to be baptized till he was on his death bed, so that he could continue sinning) wanted to incorporate the winter celebration into Christianity. This way the Pagans would be much easier to convert, and they wouldn't have to give up all their celebrations. Such as trees that got decorated. Now, you can read up more on the history of all this, but it was a political move by the church to get involved with this, and it did result in a lot of pagans converting. It also resulted in a lot of Jew killing, and you can also read about that. The point of this post was to show you how Christmas came about, and that is survived the fall of Rome. It will survive everything believe me. The birth of Christ will never be out of Christmas. 

This Christmas season and every one after that don't look for ways to be offended, but enjoy the time with your family and friends. Enjoy decorating the Christmas tree, put out cookies and milk for Santa Claus, happily give presents, and receive them, and remember that this is the time when we reflect on Christ's birth and life. Taking offense in little things like shopping starting earlier doesn't allow you to enjoy the Christmas spirit either. If shopping starts earlier bust out your Christmas music earlier, and reflect on what the lyrics mean (I am talking about the Christian stuff, not "Up on the House Top," but enjoy that too. Christmas is a great time for all people, so don't be a Christmas Curmudgeon love the season for all it is, and remember "It's Christmas! Let's be Glad!" 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! 

To my loyal blog readers-

I am sorry for the blogger challenge. I know some of you enjoyed constant blogs from me, and I will try and continue to post a lot. 2010 was the year of the blog, and my goal is to write even more in 2011, but I am going to try and make them on Alexis' conveniently true opinion instead of whatever I wrote about during the challenge. 

Thanks for reading,

Alexis 

I'm going all in

This post will be the final blogger day challenge post because I need all the time that I have tomorrow to write, "Christmas Curmudgeon."

Day 27- A picture of something you are afraid of.

This is a weird day because nothing comes to my mind that I am absolutely terrified of. I would put rodents, but I worked with a rat, and had to handle it, so that fear was overcome. Next I would put pigeons or ugly birds, but once again I worked with pigeons, so it was overcome. I can now see that a degree in psychology did accomplish something.  I am not scared of speaking in front of people, heights, being a lone, or what have you... there is still one cliche thing that frightens me though....

SPIDERS!!! AHHH!!!

Day 28- A picture of you a year ago and now, and how you have changed.

I guess this one should probably be deep, but I am not making any promises.

I dunno why I picked these pictures. Probably because Lia is great, and she is featured in both of them. As you can probably see nothing visually has changed. I do have a BS in Psychology, a ring on my left hand, and have seen 4 different countries since then. I continue to develop my opinions every year, and continue to grow, but I expect this will go on for the rest of my life. I feel much older, but it has only been a year. When I look at the pictures.... I don't think really much has changed, but I still feel that something has.


Day 29- A picture that always make you smile.

This picture is my senior year of high school at a HP premier. Pictured is J-Slut and Cambo. We hardly knew each other then, but I will forever love this picture. It was actually my debit card for quite sometime. PS the date is wrong.


Day 30- Who are you?

So easy, but so complicated.... I am Alexis Danielle Lopez. I am LDS, liberal, a complete HP geek, and in love with Daniel Hilker. I like to laugh, I love to talk, but more than anything else I love to learn. I think I can learn something from everybody in this world, no matter their level of education or political ideology (I am not saying I will necessarily be convinced that their "knowledge" is right). I love people, but not in the small talk kinda way. I don't like fluff.... I always want substance. Give me that, and you will get a pretty good friend in return (I think).

Day 25 & 26

So I didn't blog yesterday. Probably because this blogger challenge has gotten old. I think I will start doing double days (I know that it pretty much defeats the purpose), but I like the idea of being done on Friday. Don't you? Then "Christmas Curmudgeon" can come.

Day 25- Another picture of you and a family member

That is a picture of my child, Chaz. He is Dan and I's illegitimate puppy.
We love him with all our heart. He is A LOT bigger now. 

Day 26- A picture of something that means a lot to you

I don't know what to put. There are a lot of important things in my life that define me in some way or another. I feel like because it says "something" I should post a picture of a thing or idea, and not a picture of a person.

The Individual Soul/Mind. It might be confusing that this is what I picked, but I will try and explain. Christ sacrificed himself not for the group as a whole, but for each individual. Nothing is more destructive or helpful than an individual. The individual is so beautiful, and so powerful.  These two quotes explain this pick much better.... I am not as good at expressing my thoughts/feelings with words as John Steinbeck, and CS Lewis.

“And I feel that I am a man. And I feel that a man is a very important thing — maybe more important than a star. This is not theology. I have no bent toward gods. But I have new love for that glittering instrument, the human soul. It is a lovely and unique thing in the universe. It is always attacked and never destroyed “

-East of Eden

"Our species is the only creative species, and it has only one creative instrument, the individual mind and spirit of a man. Nothing good was ever created by two men. There are no good collaborations, whether in music, in art, in poetry, in mathematics, in philosophy. Once the miracle of creation has taken place, the group can build and extend it, but the group never invents anything. The preciousness lies in the lonely mind of a man. ... And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual." 

-East of Eden

"Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses." 

-CS Lewis

Day 20-something.

I am sick of this blogger challenge. who knew it would start getting so lame. I bet you all are sick of it too, but I have to finish because I would feel lame if I didn't. On December 23 or 24 I will be posting a blog entitled "Christmas Curmudgeon." It will be a post dedicated to the war on Christmas that I am going to start. Get excited! I sure am!

Day 24- A picture of yourself an a family member. 

My brother, Mike, and I 

My sisters- Melissa, Alicia, and Shevon

All the siblings

I cheated, but these are pictures of me and my siblings. Love them! 

The end. 

I hate Michael Vick (Day 23)

Day 23- A picture of you and the person you have been closest to the longest. 

Obviously my family, we have known each other my entire life, but there is another person that I have known my entire life... 

Jr High style

That is myself, and Kelly Greenwell. I have known her probably since the day I was born. We lived two houses away from each other until she moved a block away. A couple years later my family moved into the house next door. We can't get enough of the Greenwells! She got me in trouble in Mrs. Winham's class for talking, but made up for it eventually by giving me Newsies for Christmas. We have been through a ton together.... Learning to ride bikes with no hands, bike accidents, riding the Vespa with three passengers, going to Rays and getting Beef jerky and jones soda, trick-or-treating, Lagoon season passes, both of us liking Seth Green, rotating between each others house for sleepovers (everyday!), making movies (spandex, and scrubs), and just countless other memories. Good times! 

I can't believe I am posting this. Da** you blog challenge!

Day 22- A picture that confuses you.

I am going to post a few pictures, and they are kind of embarrassing...

Me during my freshmen year confuses me more than anything else. I look at these pictures and some make sense, and I still think show my personality while others.... I don't even know what to say. They were all definitely some good memories, but still I am glad that whoever is in these pictures is not who I am now.

I missed a day!

My first missed day, so sometime in the evening another post will pop up.

Day 21- A picture of something that makes you happy.

Can you find me? Being an Aggie, and apart of the USU crowd makes me happy. Watching Utah State win basketball games makes me more happy. 

This is an old picture, but this dunk is saved in my memory, and replayed often. It was the only Quayle dunk at the Spectrum, but he sure did throw it down.  It definitely made me happy. 

PARA DONDE VOY

Day 20- A picture of somewhere you want to go

Sweden. I am a European kind of a girl, and Sweden is everything I love all mixed into one. Great music scene, European look (check out the colors and lack of sky scrapers), and it's government is fantastic (emphasis on civil-rights, education, and health care). 

Switzerland is beautiful. Quaint cities in the Alps. Oh mi oh my I am in love. Plus while there the joy of being in Europe will come to life. 

Hogsmeade! The real one would be much better, but I will settle for the one at Universal Studios in Orlando. I want to go live my wizarding dream life. 

I left my heart in Logan, Utah

Day 19- A picture of someone you miss

So it is not going to be a picture of someone specific who I miss. It is going to be of a place....

UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY/ LOGAN, UT

 even in times like this...

I may have broken the rules a little bit, but a picture of the Campus represents so much more than me missing the campus. I miss.... taking naps on the quad during the few warm days of the spring semester, getting a marv 'n joe in the Hub with Dan, visiting Kara in the Quickstop, camping out with the Aggie faithful, spending hours in a small room waiting for basketball games and bounding with the others that are there too,  studying in a computer lab, and being interrupted by a friend, reading the statesman, walking to class hoping for some ice slippage, but that it doesn't belong to you, and just waking up every morning and going to Utah State University.

I don't want it to seem like I am living in the past because I am really about happy with where my life is now, and what is happening. I don't want to go back now, and am glad I graduate when I did. Logan was my home for four years, and it was hard to leave. I am glad that I was able to live with the people I did, meet the people I did, and do the things that I did while I was there. I will forever be an Aggie!

"I once broke up with someone for not offering me pie."

Day 18- A picture of the cast of your favorite TV show.

When I first read this question, I was concerned because there are so many shows out there that I enjoy, but the answer was really quite simple.

I will give you some hints... (The title of this blog is a hint).



Mandelbaum


















"If you know what happened in the Mets game don't tell me, I taped it. Hello?"





















Vandelay Industries





















"Master of your domain"
























Monk's Cafe

















Close Talker/ Low Talker/ High Talker/ Man Hands.....




















A show about nothing







































........so it should have been pretty easy, because those hints made it pretty simple. It is of course the best TV show to ever grace television.....

SEINFELD

It is a show about nothing, but at the same time it is about everything. Every day I have at least one Seinfeld relatable moment. It is hilarious, fun, and has some of the best characters in the world. 4 people who spend a good amount of time making fun of others, that is my kind of show. Love it!

Sing, sing a song. Sing out loud, sing out strong.

Day 17- Your favorite song.

This was incredibly hard. I have been thinking about it all day, and like always there will be more than one.

These are songs that I truly enjoy, and I think I will forever enjoy.

• "Bohemian Rhapsody"- Queen; I love songs with no choruses. This has three distinctly different parts, but still flows perfectly. I don't think that I have ever heard this song, and not sang and danced along. It is a classic, and every knows it. Listening to "Bohemian Rhapsody" in a crowded room is great because everyone is singing and dancing. 
• "Let Down" and "No Surprises"- Radiohead; What can I say? I am an Ok Computer kind of a girl. I love Thom Yorke, and Radiohead, so if I didn't list at least one song then this list would be a complete lie. Ok Computer kind of has a depressing sound to it (why I listen to it in the rain), but it doesn't make you feel that depressed, and dark because it leaves you with a twinge of hope in it too. I love it, and I think these songs encompass that feeling so well. 
• "Eleanor Rigby" and "Hey Jude"- The Beatles and "Imagine- John Lennon; This is another group that I cannot list without getting my real feelings. Eleanor Rigby is supposed to be about the post war feeling, and that violin in it is perfect. Hey Jude is for Lennon's son when they were getting a divorce, but I think at the beginning when they sing, "take a sad song, and make it better" everyone's heart is lifted a little bit. Imagine is a beautiful song, and if you haven't heard it then I suggest you listen to it, "You may say that I am a dreamer, but I'm not the only one." 
• "Temptation of Adam"- Josh Ritter; Everything this song alludes to is incredible, and just shows how great a writer Josh Ritter is. It is a song about the cold war, and two people a man and woman that are in a missile silo together, and they fall in love. At the end he is tempted to launch a nuke and start world war 3 just because he wants their love to last, and he doesn't believe it will outside in the real world, just like how eve is tempted with an apple by satan to have knowledge. There are so many great things about this song, but I will move to my last song. 
• "Sin Wagon"- Dixie Chicks; I won't get into the meaning, but it is a well written song about rebelling (pretty much). I love it. I love Natalie Maines' voice. The twang is perfect, and the blue-grassy feel to this song makes you want to get up dance. 

I don't care for the # 16, but I like this blog day

#16- A picture of someone you would like to change places with for a day.

Once again you are going to get more than one picture, but they will be in order of my wanting to change from last to first. Get excited....

Natalie Portman. I like her, I like the movies she is in, I like her style, I like her taste in things, and I think she is pretty much radical. I would change lives with her even though I just think we should be friends in real life. 

Elaine Benes (not Julia Louis-Dreyfus). I don't know if a fictional character is an option, but changing lives is impossible so I am picking her. She is funny, and amazingly sarcastic. An independent powerful woman who gets to hang out with Jerry. I will take it. 

Jenny Lewis. Smart, talented, and just super cool. I would love living her life for a day. 

Tina Fey. She is my hero. She can make fun of herself, she is having tons of fun, and she is freaking smart. Love her.

My 15 minutes.

Day 15- A picture of something I want to do before I die.

First, the inner Columbus in me wants to go discover the world. I want to travel, travel, travel...... I want to meet new people, learn new things, immerse myself in different cultures, and just see the world, and all the beauty that it has. Unlike Columbus, I will not kill the indigenous people, but instead immerse myself in their culture, and learn from it. 

The next thing I want to do is skydive. I know it is cliche, but this is a rush that I want to feel.  

Finally, run a marathon. I used to love running, and when I do it I remember why I loved it.... it hurts so good. 

The 14th Day

Day 14- A picture of someone you can't imagine your life without... 

Your friends really do have a huge effect on your life. They have helped me through a lot of difficult times, and have kept me grounded (for the most part). Figuring out who I was, and the whole growing up process would be a whole lot different without these people. 

 My nephews always make me smile. No matter how rough the day has been. They are a blast. I am going to miss them A LOT when I move to Denver. 

Last but not least... 

We have been together for the past three years, and now are truly starting a life together. It will be a blast, and I couldn't imagine not having this wonderful man in my life, and lucky for me, I don't have to.

Wilt Chamberlain was #13 and so is today.

Day 13- Post a picture of something you hate.

Well HATE is a strong word, but, lucky for you, there is something out there I hate....

or a much more honest picture...

It is the news station that I HATE not the people. I just have an extreme distaste for the people on it....

Megyn Kelly

Bill O'Reilly

Glenn Beck

Who promote stuff like this...

and you just spit all over the American Muslims
that were killed in the attack, and all over our constitution. 

This lady reads all of the newspapers, and magazines. 

The Tea Party

brought to you by the tea party. Is anyone surprised? 

 This blog is going to be hard to post because the idea of these pictures being up on my blog is absolutely horrible.
Fox News, I wouldn't have a problem if you stood for what you really are... a conservative propaganda machine, but claiming to be fair and balanced is a lie, and it is sad because your viewers believe it is true. They believe that what you are saying doesn't have a ridiculous republican agenda. You have been called out multiple times, and have admitted to skewing the news to reach your audience, so it is time you stop calling yourself fair and balances. Fox News is everything that is wrong with american politics, and has dramatically increased the polarization of politics.

FOX NEWS, I HATE YOU!!!!

twelve

Day 12- A picture os something you love.

BOOKS, BOOKS, and more BOOKS! I love to read. Nothing feels better than getting lost in a book. This is a picture of the library at Trinity College (I have been there), and some HP shots were filmed here, so it is a great picture that represents my love for books, and means something to me.

CHAZ LOPEZ-HILKER

Look at how cute he looks, that sweet mug, and crazy hair. 

How can you not love him? 

I don't think he enjoyed these two pictures nearly as much as I did.

 This last picture is in honor of the holidays. 

Merry Christmas!!

Love, Chazzy-boy!