The “War on Christmas”? Bah humbug.

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waronchristmas

Certain Christians who celebrate Christmas (not all Christians do) have lately been bellyaching via blogs, bumper stickers, and various memes that there is a “war on Christmas” going on. Even some conservative Christian politicians have been bloviating about this alleged “war on Christmas.” Where are the tiny violins?

I find it all a bit mystifying because if anything Christmas is more in your face today than it ever was before. The holiday season used to start the day after Thanksgiving; now it starts the day after Halloween, and even Thanksgiving has been insidiously taken over by a day celebrating the spirit of greed called “Black Friday”–which now has edged into “Black Thursday,” meaning many stores are now open on Thanksgiving so people can stock up on cheap TVs and other appliances to give their holiday shopping a head start.

You can’t get away from Christmas. Everywhere you turn, it’s buy this, buy that; give this, give that; host a big holiday bash or else; and you’re either a Scrooge or a sucky parent/lover/friend/employee if you don’t blindly obey these messages that are blasted into our ears 24/7 for an entire month or more.

If you don’t have the funds to give extravagant gifts or host lavish parties and holiday dinners with all the trimmings or the time or desire to decorate a 10 foot Christmas tree and bedeck your entire house with exterior lights, you are made to feel defective–and Scroogelike. And it’s getting worse and more in your face every year.

So Christmas itself is having no problems. I don’t see any war against it going on.

christmascartoon

I think what the “war on Christmas” actually refers to is cards, banners, signs, and greetings that say “Happy Holidays” or “Seasons Greetings” instead of the more Christian-centric “Merry Christmas.” Those who complain about the war on Christmas are objecting to the political correctness of those attempting to be all-inclusive–because after all, America is a melting-pot nation that includes Jews, Muslims, atheists and people of other faiths besides Christianity. “Seasons Greetings” is convenient and covers at least the Jews who celebrate Hanukkah and African Americans who celebrate Kwanzaa (who probably also celebrate Christmas). In fact, I know a lot of Jews who celebrate both Hanukkah AND Christmas. Christmas has become more of an American holiday than a religious one–and a handy excuse for Big Business to rake in big bucks.

“Seasons Greetings” has been on Christmas cards for as long as I can remember (and I’ve been around quite a while), but it didn’t seem to me that anyone minded that until the past 10-20 years or so. Personally, I think it’s petty and stupid to make such a big deal about it. “Seasons Greetings” or “Happy Holiday” doesn’t exclude Christians, but for some reason certain Christians think that such a greeting is a sign of hostility against them or Christmas itself. I think there are far more important things for them to be worrying about besides the printed message on a holiday oops Christmas card that will probably be tossed in the trash the week after New Years’ anyway.

Here’s a news flash: There is no “War on Christmas.” It’s all in your head.

10 thoughts on “The “War on Christmas”? Bah humbug.”

  1. I would like to skip it this year, I don’t have a tree or decorations because of my lousy ex-husband took them and tossed them. Then I have memories of my FOO. Yeah, Bah Humbug

    Where can I go and join the war?

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  2. Good point. It doesn’t matter to me either one way or the other. You can say Merry Christmas to me and I’m Ok with it. But I got used to saying Happy Holidays I guess because that’s what was being said to me in the last ten or so years. Dense population of Jewish people where I live too. The word Merry is awkward to say anyway. Lol. Do you say it like the name Murray or Mary or is there another pronunciation altogether? 😉

    Anyway, we just got through having a bunch of work done on our house so we’re not decorating, although I keep thinking about lights. I dig the lights.

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    • Lights are awesome. If I was having guests to my house this year i would probably put up some lights and have a bigger tree (this year I have an adorable little dollar store fiber optic tree that required about 2 minutes to put together). But whats the point when your kids are grown and you’re spending Christmas at someone else’s home?

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  4. I used to be one of those that felt like we should say “Merry Christmas,” instead of “Happy Holidays” too. Now I cringe at the thought of saying “Merry Christmas” because the way I see it, Christ is nowhere in Christmas. The holiday that we know as Christmas is a mostly western holiday that is celebrated in the spirit of greed and covetousness that is so hyped that people actually do crazy things like wait in lines for hours to spend, spend, spend. In the meantime, they get poorer and the business get richer. So naturally, businesses want to include everyone, hence “Happy Holidays.” As you noted, “Seasons Greetings” and “Happy Holidays” has been around for a long time. I think people are complaining more now because the commercialism of Christmas is becoming more and more obvious, especially with the holidays sales starting earlier and earlier each year. Incidentally, this holiday wasn’t a Christian holiday originally, but was modified to include Christians. Well, we can see how that worked out. Now, I feel guilty when “Merry Christmas” slips out every once in a while.

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    • Good post. I agree completely. And I can’t help wondering, “what would Jesus think”?

      I can even understand why some Christians have opted out of celebrating Christmas.

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  5. Reblogged this on Lucky Otter's Haven and commented:

    Since this very topic came up in the comments under my last artile (the one about the Illuminati), I decided to repost this article I wrote from last year that expresses my sentiments about this issue. In spite of my being closer to Christ than I was a year ago, my opinions on this matter have not changed much.

    I’d also like to add my 2 cents about the whole dumb Starbucks coffee cup drama. I think it’s a delusion fed to us through (possibly) illuminati-run organizations like Faux News. Christmas, if anything, is more commercialized than ever because it’s become a way for big business to rake in the big bucks every year. It starts with Black Friday and everywhere you turn, it’s “buy buy buy, spend spend spend, smile smile smile”! It’s become a holiday of greed and fake cheer and it makes those who can’t afford much and/or don’t have families to spend Christmas with feel like crap. And that’s their intention–to emphasize the huge gap between the rich and the poor–and of course to make more money. I don’t make a big deal about Christmas anymore because it causes me too much stress. I treat it like Thanksgiving and focus on the food rather than the gifts, and I don’t decorate much. Thankfully this year my daughter is doing Christmas at her house. She gets a lot more into it than I do. Anyway, my point is, the whole Starbucks coffee cup thing is stupid. I mean, come on, if you really want a Christmas tree you can draw one on your cup. Maybe they should provide markers with the cups. I think they did that because they know many Jews and other non-Christians buy their products too so they just colored the cups red for the holidays. It’s no different than Christmas cards saying “seasons greetings” so non-Christians won’t be offended. And that’s nothing new, there were cards like that for as long as Christmas cards have been made but no one used to complain about it. People getting their panties in a bunch over Starbucks think it’s something new and there’s a war on Christmas because Fox News tells them there is. December 25th was originally a pagan holiday anyway. If there is a war on Christmas then it’s the fact that most people don’t remember it’s a solemn holiday to remember Christ’s birth, not a commercial free for all to make big business even richer.

    Now, don’t think I’m completely down on Christmas. I want to end this article on a positive note. I stress a lot less about Christmas than I used to. My children both understand that I simply am not going to make a big deal over it. I also heard something interesting in church today. Our priest was addressing the issues of financial and emotional stress during the holidays, with many people feeling very alone. He said that at those times we begin to feel inadequate or alone, we should remember what Christmas is really all about and know that Jesus loves us no matter how poor, lonely or dejected we feel. And celebrate the coming of the Lord, who can deliver us from those negative thoughts and feelings. The trapping don’t matter, only our relationship with God does.

    I felt lighthearted when I left church and felt inspired to do my little bit of Christmas shopping. I also put up my tiny fiber optic tree that took about 5 minutes, and its just perfect. Suddenly I feel much more in the holiday spirit. I’m ready!

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