I have a friend with whom I have philosophical discussions on myriad issues the latest being the celebration of Christmas and how most if not all traditions were co-opted from various pagan traditions way before Fox News officially declared there to be a war on Christmas.
A week ago this fried, Jacki, mentioned an online comment she read, and responded to, where the writer declared that no one was going to take “Christ” out of “Christmas tree” for her. Damnit! (I added that last part.) Jacki said she felt compelled to clarify the history of the Christmas tree for this poor put-upon woman but has few illusions it got past the outrage.
The woman’s comment, and Jacki’s response, has been in line with a lot of what I’ve been thinking about regarding the holidays and how I want to celebrate the season. And one conclusion I’ve come to is that a bunch of us are enormous hypocrites and that the “War on Christmas” began long ago.
I am no expert on either the birth of Jesus or the history of those pagan rites Christians have claimed as their own to celebrate same. I do know that the consensus is that Jesus most certainly wasn’t born in December (and that the date was chosen since those pagans were celebrating anyway). Christmas trees, ornaments, Santa Claus, the orgy of gift-giving, boughs of holly, mistletoe, stockings hung by the chimney with care (or not), and so on are not part of the first Christmas no matter what time of the year one should celebrate. Don’t get me wrong, I like all of those things, except Santa who creeps me out, but if we are going to celebrate such a monumental event, and declare there to be a war on such celebration, then it seems to me we should get it right.
(Here is a disclaimer: part of this whole issue arose because of my personal beliefs that lead me away from celebrating Christmas at all. I am not, however, trying to dictate how anyone celebrates or decorates; go hog wild and enjoy if that’s your choice. Maybe I’m just jealous because for most of my adult life Christmas Day has passed pretty much like any other day but I’d like to think my attitude has more to do with being truer to the spirit of the holiday than buying into what we’ve been convinced is “right.”)
So it seems that if we are going to celebrate the birth of Christ that means doing what the wise men did and give the gifts to Jesus; which to my mind means giving to a church as a proxy. Another friend who fears for my damned soul that Jesus said that by giving to the less fortunate you are giving to him (that’s a paraphrase but I think I got the meaning correct). And we shouldn’t do it one day out of the year but every day should bring small acts of giving or kindness.
Which sort of segues into that hypocrisy I mentioned earlier … there was some uproar over a number of store: Walmart, K-Mart, Kohls, Macys, etc being open on Thanksgiving. I was annoyed too and have told myself that I won’t be doing any holiday shopping at any of these store this year (or likely next). I don’t go to Walmart or Macys anyway and K-Mart is too far away. And I usually go to TJ Maxx because it is the closest for the type of stuff I’d buy at the other store and they were not open Thanksgiving! Anyway, I got to thinking about why we aren’t in an uproar over convenience stores being open pretty much all day, grocery stores are often open, many restaurants are open, the NFL had three games this year (and don’t forget the NBA plays on Christmas as does NCAA football). Apparently that’s okay with folks. People have justified any and all of this various ways. Grocery stores are open for emergencies. To which I say, “Oh! So someone has to work that day because you forgot something?! How is that fair?” Apparently Maine says stores under a certain square footage can open Thanksgiving Day which seems to be blatant discrimination against big box stores (not that my heart bleeds for those stores). How many folks planned their day around the football games without thinking about the people who work concessions, parking, security, etc.? Someone said that the reason people are pissed off is because either workers at some or most retail places didn’t get overtime and/or were not given a choice where other places asked for volunteers and/or paid overtime; this argument has merit but if people shouldn’t work then people shouldn’t work. Thanksgiving is built on the notion of spending time with family and friends to reflect on all that we are thankful for. Of course, Thanksgiving is about as much a lie as Christmas has become. It is just another commercialized reason for stores to make money off of shoppers caught up in the frenzy of buying gifts made by grossly underpaid factory workers that are in turn sold by grossly underpaid store workers who are working for grossly over-compensated legacy billionaires (see Waltons) or other shareholders who couldn’t give a rat’s ass if their employees are working or not as long as the value of their shares doesn’t go down.
So this year I’m celebrating the Winter Solstice with the battery-operated LED candles I bought from Amazon because, yes, I’m a hypocrite (although I did look to see if what I wanted was available locally first) and by using evergreens and other natural products with nary a Claus or reindeer or gaily wrapped box of something that will be forgotten in two hours in sight. This year presents will be things I have made myself given to true friends and family and to those in my community who might need their days brightened just a bit. This is my choice and serves as no judgment on anyone else’s choices.
