Everyone wants to keep CHRIST in Christmas...what about MAS?

Well, November is over halfway done, and Thanksgiving is next week (this week if you're one of those crazies that starts their week on Sunday), which can only mean one thing- Christmas season started 3 weeks ago.

Normally I'm all gung-ho for Christmas.  A couple years ago, I spontaneously decorated the house one early November weekend because we got an inch of snow.  This year....well, this year I'm trying to remember that Turkey Day technically comes first chronologically and there's still a whole month to enjoy the Christmas festivities afterwards.  Besides, snow (obviously) plays a huge role in my Christmaspiritometer, and Marquette has been going through a period of snow impotence lately.  I mean, I woke up to our first snow day of the year to find this on the ground:

In serious need of some snow Viagra.

Most people don't care about that though, and so Christmas has begun.  Viva la Christmas!  

With the onset of the Christmas fever, it is inevitable that Facebook walls, Twitter, message boards, and church signs everywhere will begin the War on anti-christ-mas and those unholy spawns of Satan who want to ninja-sneak into our beds and slice the CHRIST right out of CHRISTmas- leaving behind a poor, tired, huddled -Mas.  Indeed, it has already begun, and can only lead to a holly, jolly blood bath, some amped up rhetoric, and all of us waking up on December 26th just to realize no one really changed anyone's mind or made any headway in winning the war.  Nope- we just took a month of peace and goodwill, dragged it out back, and shot it in the face.  Ho ho ho indeed.

It doesn't have to be this way though.  Because here's the thing about holidays- they are what you make them.  You.  Singular.  Emphasis on YOU.  You decide the meaning of the holiday.  I literally cannot make this any more clear.  Seriously, I can't.  I bolded/underlined/italicized it.  Then I changed the size and the font.  Finally, I gave it some color (Christmas colors in fact).  The only thing I could do at this point would be to provide a hyperlink, but if you can't understand it here, you sure as heck aren't going to understand it there, where they don't even go to the trouble of providing such witty banter and excellent service.

Think about the various Christmas traditions.  Santa Claus.  Christmas trees.  The decorations.  The giving of the gifts.  Even the date (December 25th).  All of them have some basis on Pagan traditions.  But most of us don't care about that because all of those things mean something completely different to us now.  Saturnaila is out of the picture.  We aren't worshipping the trees by adorning them with precious idols. 

And we are able to celebrate free from the stain of guilt on our pious consciences because we have made these customs our own.  Each person, each family folds a desired practice into their celebration and lets the other things fall by the wayside.     

This doesn't just go for Christmas, either.  It's all holidays.  In our family, Halloween is not some big Satan fest (we celebrate that on 'SomeBigSatanFest Day')- it's a day where we get to dress up like Batman and go get free candy.  I'm sure I have spent at least a few Thanksgivings without giving thanks for anything besides that big old turkey we chomping at the bit for.  On Easter we teach our kids about the time the Easter Bunny rose from the dead to check if there was six more weeks of winter and to give all the good little boys and girls of the world pastel candy.

Of course, we also have the freedom to ignore holidays should we so choose.  Columbus Day pretty much comes and goes like any other non-Columbus Day in our house (except with disruption to the mail and banking sectors.  Even in death, Chris Columbus is giving us the finger).

No holiday pay for you, SUCKAS!!!!

I believe the reason that things started to shift away from Christmas and towards Wintersmas is that some people couldn't understand/accept the idea of different beliefs being taught than what they believed and felt persecuted.  Then they went on a crusade for their beliefs.  So the powers-that-be, not really understanding how to accommodate minority belief systems without upsetting the majority, just decided that nobody gets to play Special Winter Holiday today (which is honestly how any good parent decides a dispute between their two children fighting over the same toy.  That is what good parents do, right?).  Many Christians, not understanding/accepting the idea of different beliefs than what they believed, started to feel persecuted and began to crusade for their beliefs.

Just saying.

Personally, I have no problem saying 'happy holidays' to someone. I'm acknowledging the fact that there are like, a bunch of holidays in the span of a month as well as acknowledging respect for another persons feelings and beliefs. Maybe they celebrate Christmas because of Jesus, maybe they even celebrate Christmas without Jesus (because, let's be honest- the idea of unlimited sweets, free stuff, and two weeks off of school are all pretty good non-religious reasons to celebrate Christmas), and maybe they don't celebrate Christmas period.  In a country that was forged by a group of people fleeing religious persecution, I don't mind not persecuting someone's religion.

If you want to keep Christ in Christmas, then first try being Christ-like.  Jesus didn't run around waving the sword of "Na-nana boo-boo" or smashing people over the head with the hammer of "Pwn'd n00bs".  By and large, his earthly ministry was based on kindness, compassion, and humility.  Of course, we take that example and become the religious equivalent of John McClane.



Shoot first, shoot later.  THEN ask questions.  Then shoot them too.

Myself, I wouldn't mind if schools allowed the incorporation of different festivities- and not just so I could keep my CHRISTmas.  It'd be a way for my kids to learn about people outside their tiny bubble.  I mean, come on- most children end up believing what their parents believe anyways so it's not like our kids are going to drift away into heresy.  As long as we're actively involved in their lives, and they know we love them and want what is best for them, we have nothing to fear about them being exposed to things outside of our comfort zone.  If we actually embraced differences (instead of treating them like they're a great big game of Hot Potato) then maybe our kids would grow up and realize that 'Hey.  We can, you know...actually talk about our differences in a respectful fashion and maybe not just hate each other because of some invisible, ideological divide'.  Crazy talk, I know.

Look, Jesus was the Son of God, right?  The Son of freaking God.  Not only that, but He was freaking God Himself.  But He humbled Himself to come down to Earth to hang with us, teach us all really good lessons, and then die for our sins.  I think if God was willing to do that...then maybe this Christmas we can all humble ourselves and spread some peace and goodwill instead of lobbing culture bombs at our demon neighbors.

PICS- Columubs- http://sepiamutiny.com/blog/2005/10/10/o_henry/
John McClane- http://media.screened.com/uploads/1/13855/580047-3.jpg