What on earth has happened to Christmas?  You know, that time of year when there is a glow in the air and people do good things and think about pleasing others, and in return please themselves as the emotion of giving and helping people is turned right back onto them, giving them that ‘feel good’ factor.

People love themes in SL, we had Halloween and there were so many places to visit as people used their imaginations to build amazing sites for us to explore, then suddenly Halloween was over and we have Christmas coming up at the speed of knots!  Or don’t you called it Christmas? and if not why not?

Linden Labs in their great wisdom have called the event in SL ‘Winterfest’, and I’d like to know what this stands for, and why they don’t call it the holiday that it is – Christmas!  I expect they will say that calling it something totally irrelevant encompasses the whole of the SL population, so that no one is excluded.  Well as far as I can see no one wants to exclude anyone anyway, Christmas has never been a closed shop to those who want to enjoy it, even if they don’t share the Christian religion.  The excuse in the United Kingdom often used for banning anything to do with Christianity, is “in case it causes offence to other religions”.  I would like to know what the other non-Christian religions think about this and what does offend them, if they are offended that is! After all no one complains about the many non-Christian festivals that the others enjoy throughout the year in the UK and all around the world, and good luck to them.

On a similar note, in real life, we have the Scottish City of Dundee in the UK, which re-named the event this year, from ‘switching on the Christmas lights’ to ‘Winter Light Night’ instead.  There will be no mention of the nativity; the festival will feature a solar-powered disco, a circus with a continental market and a fairy on stilts!  You couldn’t make it up!!

People have set up some lovely snowy settings in SL with candy canes, snowmen, Santa Clauses, ice palaces, presents, and all the usual commercial side of Christmas that make it so magical for kids and adults alike.  You can go ice-skating, take a sleigh ride and do all sorts of things that people enjoy.  There are some Christian churches too in SL, and I expect they will take a more serious look at the festival.  I’m not particularly religious, but I can see the traditional values of Christmas dying out if people let them.

Lets make it Christmas, not Winter Light Night, or Winterfest, let everyone celebrate their own beliefs and traditions without hindrance from others, making it a peaceful 2010.

Calvary chapel  
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Fharsine/130/116/76

Winter Wonderland
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Winter%20Wonderland/28/128/23

Angel woods
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Boreal/91/39/117

Builders republic Christmas Square
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Builders%20Republic/120/121/34