Yes, Virginia, There Is a War on Christmas, et al

Well, several years have passed since the fear of having the word "Christmas" appear in stores reached its peak.  Stores that had specified other holidays, but left out Christmas, have ceased this silly practice.  Generally, I find most stores I go to feature employees using whatever greeting they prefer (Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays) and shoppers usually responding in kind.

I'm not Jewish, but I have no objection to my Jewish friends wishing me a Happy Hanukkah during these remaining days of their joyous festival of lights.  Being wished Happy Holidays does nothing to take away from my upcoming celebration of one of the Church's holy days.  My Christmas joy is something I cannot help but wish upon others, even of non-Christian faiths or no faith at all.  Though I must say, "Season's Greetings" seems a bit overly generic.  It's almost like telling your wife, "General Affectionate Expressions," on your anniversary.  Happy Holidays at least implies a specifically positive greeting.  I could greet someone with an insult, and it would still be a greeting.  Thankfully, I know of no one who actually says that, the phrase generally being relegated to tags and store signs.

Yet there are insidious forces attacking this period of peace.  Yes, there most certainly is a war on Christmas, and one on Hanukkah, and on everyone who, each in his own way, wants to celebrate the holidays in peace.  It is born of greed and worldly anxieties.  It eats away at the beautiful celebrations of many cultures, leaving them a mere shell or illusion of what they were.  Furthermore, it has existed since long before retailers asked the paranoid question, "What greeting should we use?"  If anything, that question was a mere symptom of the true war.

Before the Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays skirmish, there was the tradition of the Black Friday Battle.  The day after Thanksgiving, armies lined up outside the stores to battle for supremacy in getting the best deals.  Door busters, they called them.  Getting a good deal on something is not itself a bad thing, but an instrument that could be used for good or evil.  Unfortunately, it has been used for evil.  Gradually, the battles grew earlier and earlier, until the peaceful holiday of Thanksgiving was also attacked.  The armies have marched in and occupied a portion of that peaceful territory, attempting to destroy it as well.  Now, while people feel safe saying "Christmas" again, people wish each other a "Happy Holiday" before Thanksgiving.  What a brilliant deception.  Leave the name Christmas safe, but take away the spirit of giving thanks for what we have.  With that gone, it will be easy for people to trample each other to death, pull knives on each other, even kill pregnant women, and completely contradict the spirit of Christmas to get the best deals - all in the name of Christmas!  But those who did not celebrate Christmas were by no means safe from this invasion.

Years ago, my Mom, God rest her soul, spoke to me about a religious talk show she had seen where a priest and a rabbi (no I'm not launching into a joke) both had some serious words for their congregants.  I wish I could remember the name of the show.  The rabbi mentioned how many Jewish families had elevated Hanukkah, which is a beautiful celebration, to a higher level of importance than it deserved in relation to other days in the Jewish calendar.  The priest replied Christians should be ashamed, as they too elevated Christmas to a higher level of importance than Easter and Pentecost, which was not where it belonged.  What's worse is the reason for elevating those days, presents, has resulted in those celebrations losing their meaning.  We Christians stumbled upon a major paradox, destroying ourselves, then turning on other cultures to destroy them.

Don't get me wrong.  I love giving gifts, and giving out of a spirit of love is wonderful.  In its proper context, the giving of gifts to our loved ones can be a wonderful reflection of the greatest, most undeserved Christmas gift ever, God sending His only Son to humanity.  We didn't earn that.  We weren't on the good list when that happened.  As a matter of fact, humanity had certainly earned a spot on the naughty list.  On a side note, that's why I'm not a fan of the whole idea of earning presents from Santa by being good.  That's not a gift; that's a reward.  Save that for other times.  Even in the song, "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," we're not told to be good to get a huge haul of presents, but rather, be good for goodness' sake.  Since we can do no good of our own, how do we gain goodness?  We can learn that from another song, "Here Comes Santa Claus," when we're told that peace on earth will come to all if we just follow the light.  That sounds like good advice to me.  Merry Christmas!