Since this very topic came up in the comments under my last article (the one about the Illuminati), I decided to repost this essay I wrote 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.  (The original essay appears at the bottom of this article.)

I’d like to add my latest 2 cents about the so-called “war on Christmas”–the whole dumbfck 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 the way I used to.  I’m going to bring a few inexpensive gifts and bake my traditional spinach and meat lasagna (Christmas colors in that, and no I am not Italian but I should be!)

I 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, with the $109 I just got from WordPress for the past 3 months of blogging.   It’s nice to know I can do fun things like buy a few nice gifts with money I got doing something I love.   I came home and put put up my tiny fiber optic table top tree that took about 5 minutes, and it looks just right in my postage stamp living room!  Suddenly I feel much more in the holiday spirit. So I guess I’m as ready as I’ll ever be, and that’s ready enough.