Is this the end of Christmas as we know it?

You know the old saying, "give them an inch and they will take a mile"? This is what is happening with Christmas.

I was born in the 50s and all through my childhood within a couple weeks of Christmas the only thing on television was what I considered "boring" Christmas shows. where are the cartoons? The have all been preempted for Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, a Charlie Brown Christmas and how the Grinch stole Christmas. I remember Burl Ives playing a snowman on television and singing "have a happy jolly Christmas".

At the time I considered the shows rather annoying and I would think to myself...
"There will always be Christmas."
"who would ever want to destroy Christmas?"
"it could never happen!"

Right after Thanksgiving, the stores will start decorating for Christmas sales, [that dates me, because now they start right after Halloween] the Salvation Army had their bell ringers in front of the store and everywhere you went, people were wishing you a Merry Christmas.

"BAH HUMBUG" I would think to myself.

Christmas is about family. I lost my family at an early age in my life. "Merry Christmas", "Yea, whatever. go suck an egg", I would think to myself as I politely returned the greeting.

Then I noticed a couple years ago, nobody was wishing me a "Merry Christmas" anymore.

People had stopped decorating for Christmas in their homes and at your place of businesses. One of the prettiest times of the year when the streets were lit up with all the colorful lights and decorations. oh yes, and I always looked forward to the eggnog. [Alcohol free of course]

Suddenly, almost without warning it happened.

The Christmas tree started to become something evil and had to be compromised and called a "holiday tree" so that its presence could be tolerated. Ordinances were springing up within the cities such as Eugene Oregon not allowing the Christmas tree on public property. And forget about decorations.

Like Presidents' Day, Veterans' Day, Labor Day and all the other federally sanctioned days, Christmas which is the time to celebrate the birth of Christ and for families to come together, was actually being threatened with extinction.

Just like Ebenezer Scrooge, Christmas is dying.

Comments such as, " do you think baby Jesus was born under a canopy of Douglas firs?... he was born in the desert,... and probably looked a lot like Osama bin Laden..." says Jack Bogdanski in his blog.

He may be right... but does it really matter?

The spirit of Christmas as we are reminded by the shows that I grew up with, was a spirit of family and helping others. A time of "Joy to the world and peace on earth".

It doesn't matter if you're Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Asian or whatever. It is a holiday to be celebrated by all.

Even if you do not believe in God and are not a Christian, enjoy the extra couple days off and holiday pay that you're receiving and let the people that believe have their day just like you would want to have your day celebrated, whether it be Hanukkah, Ramadan or the summer solstice.

If the celebration of Christmas offends you so much, then go crawl back into your hole and leave the rest of us alone.

Yes, I did not really understand the true meaning of Christmas, and maybe I still do not.

Just like Ebenezer Scrooge having the three ghosts having to show him what Christmas really is, perhaps the holiday tree is really one of the ghost of Christmas future.

Merry Christmas!


[images from Rudolph the red nose reindeer provided by Tv Party and is copyrighted by their respective owners.]