Earlier this week, I attended my company’s nondescript “Holiday Party” where we had a nondescript “Holiday Tree.” I’m officially done with it. I’m tired of the political correctness, and I don’t just mean the fact that I enjoy getting shocked looks when someone says someone is Indian and I respond “dots or feathers?” Yes, I do enjoy poking the liberal politically correct machine. I also enjoy calling homeless people “hobos” but that’s really just because “hobo” is a fun word. All that aside, there is something I’ve got to say to the liberal politically correct machine, and please, listen carefully: It’s Merry Christmas. Get over it.
That’s right, Merry Christmas. You see, it used to be that “Happy Holidays” was a short way of saying “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.” Now it’s become this way to not dare to offend someone. It used to be that you said Merry Christmas to basically everybody, and then if you had Jewish friends you wished them Happy Chanukah. I’ve got news for you liberals: 95% of Americans celebrate Christmas, according to Gallup. You got that? 95%...and the other 5% is not being injured in any way by being wished a Merry Christmas.
For the last few years, I’ve been intentional to wish people Merry Christmas. Do you know what they say? They thank me! They thank me for saying Merry Christmas…they’re tired of “Happy Holidays” too. That beautifully decorated tree in your living room? It’s a Christmas tree. It’s an old German Christian tradition that goes back about five centuries. Santa Claus? That tradition comes from Saint Nicholas, a Christian saint who would leave gifts in people’s shoes quietly and without being noticed.
Most importantly, and this cannot be minimized: Christmas is about Jesus. Christmas is the day we celebrate God sending His son to Earth to walk amongst us, to live the human condition for 33 years, then to go to the cross and suffer the worst execution man ever devised…for you and me…and then rise from the grave the victorious King! Christmas is the beginning of the greatest story ever told! Please hear me when I say this: Jesus is the reason for the season, and I’m not ashamed to say it! My savior was made incarnate man, and that’s why we celebrate Christmas.
I’m tired of hearing Happy Holidays. It’s Merry Christmas! (To my Jewish friends, Happy Chanukah!) Beyond that, this season is about Jesus! Jesus is the reason for the season! Now join me in saying it: MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Hey, I'm with you on the "Merry Christmas" and "It's a CHRISTMAS tree" thing, but I have to have a slight disagreement with you about what December 25th is all about.
ReplyDeleteYou see, there was a fairly wild Yule/seasonal celebration going on at that time of year, with most of the trappings of our overdone modern Christmas, throughout Europe before Christianity arrived. Then the Catholic Church (the ONLY church at the time) decided to try to calm things down by putting the Feast of the Nativity on that day.
What happened? Did the Yule celebrations calm down or go away? Not on your life. People these days think that Christmas is the 800-pound gorilla that eats everything for the last two months of the year. Well, Yule was the 800-pound gorilla that ate Christmas.
In reality, there are two different celebrations going on on that same day. It's like getting married on the 4th of July. There are the big, loud 4th of July celebrations happening on the same day that you and your wife might want to have a nice quiet celebration alone. But YOU chose to get married on that day, so you did it to yourself.
And so WE did it to ourselves by putting Christmas where we did. Had we put it anywhere else, it might have gotten all the secular PR that Pentecost does, and we'd have it to ourselves. But we metaphorically put it on the 4th of July, and we get all bent out of shape because people are focused on the fireworks and not the wedding anniversary.
But…there is one good thing about this very bad idea from centuries ago…it's one of the few times when it's socially acceptable for us to talk to others about our religion without seeming pushy about it.
So maybe the Catholic Church knew what it was doing when it put the Feast of the Nativity at the same time as the annual Yule celebration.
But what about me? Well…as for me and my house, we will celebrate both.