Well I don't know about the rest of you but I simply cannot believe it's only five days until Christmas. Since becoming an adult—I use the term loosely—I believe I've said this every year in regard to the stealthy approach of the Yule-tide and every year it continues to amaze me, each time catching me seemingly unaware that the most wonderful time of the year has arrived once again. I guess I should count my blessings that I can still spot it coming instead of waking up, like Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas morning realizing I almost missed the whole darn thing.
Each year though, Christmas seems to lose some of its luster. The hustle and bustle are seen through less wonder filled eyes, and are experienced as an epic struggle with masses of less than pleasant, hurried people convinced that what they're about is the hottest thing going, and if you don't get out of their way they will stab you. In the eye. Ah yes, Merry Christmas to one and all.
Oh and speaking of Season's Greetings, lately that seems to be yet another way to generate ire, and wither the old holly and the ivy right there on the vine. In case you hadn't heard—or perhaps just didn't care—there's a 'war' on Christmas being fought right here in our own back yards and store fronts and mall parking lots! I don't know when it started; it could have been going on for years. This year it seems to be lurking just around every corner and behind every link you click. It's the whole thing about people getting upset if you say Happy Holidays or Season's Greetings instead of Merry Christmas, because if you don't say Merry Christmas then you're in with those liberal bastards that hide underneath our childrens' beds and behind the robes of our judges and in Tom Hanks' closet and they're all trying to take Christ out of Christmas and God and religion out of our public discourse, our schools and our government. [Side note: Though he may be liberal(honestly I don't know), I am in no way suggesting that Tom Hanks cavorts with the particularly insidious and feral species of under-bed-hiding, surreptitious rumor-mongering liberal. I merely wanted to choose a wholesome, undeniably good and likable(I love Tom Hanks, and really, who doesn't?) counterpoint to the nasty depiction of your run of the mill, dastardly liberal.]
Here it is in a nutshell: People are getting upset because some folks choose to say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. Wow, saying it twice in a row makes it even more ridiculous. The argument is that Christmas is a Christian holiday, by God, and nobody's going to forget that so stop trying to take the 'Christ' out of Christmas and say it like you mean it! This letter to the editor of the Casper Star Tribune, an online news site in Wyoming, really captures the essence of the whole thing in one shot. There are so many places I could go with this, it's tempting, but I want to keep this post manageable, not turn it into a dissertation. Since when did we—and I mean Americans—become so sensitive and, well, ridiculous? It's fucking Christmas people! It's not like folks are going around this season saying, 'Hello, I hate you and hope you die of cancer.' They're still wishing you well. Whether you say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays or Festivus for the rest of us, what difference does it make? It's not a conspiracy against Christ or the the Christian religion and not part of a liberal campaign to subvert Christianity! Relax.
Which brings me to another point: these people run around claiming everybody needs to say Merry Christmas. Well what about the folks who don't celebrate Christmas? You know folks who like, oh I don't know, might be Jewish, or pagan, or maybe just not originally from the Western hemisphere(in places like Saudi Arabia, China, and Japan, Christmas isn't a formal holiday, though it is increasingly celebrated all over the world, even by non-Christians. Gasp!) [via Wikipedia]And just to make it clear I'm not all hatin on the Christians, let me say this: It's called a Christmas tree, because that's what it is. It's been called a Christmas tree for hundreds of years, why change that when the phrase itself conjures up images in your head of...a Christmas tree! I don't tell my Jewish friends that no sir, that is not a menorah, it's a nine-pronged candelabra used for ceremonial purposes, and in turn my Jewish friends don't hit me on the head with their menorahs.
I don't want to cut into that whole other ball of wax about Christmas being a wholeheartedly Christian holiday—it doesn't take a lot of searching to find that our beloved Christmas has a ton of pagan and other influences—and America being founded on Christian ideals because, briefly, it isn't and it wasn't.
It's Christmas, how about just trying to spread some of that good will towards others instead of worrying about whether that good will is being spread in the name of your God, or someone else's.
Happy Holidays
