Some funny things happen around Christmastime.
* There’s the annual argument over whether Christmas is a
religious holiday marked by manger scenes and “We Three Kings,” or a secular
observance starring Santa Claus and Frosty the Snowman.
* There’s Bill O’Reilly, the Irish Catholic, declaring a “war
on Christmas” because some people prefer to use the greeting “happy holidays.”
Chances are, if O’Reilly was a Buddhist, a Muslim, a Zoroastrian, a Druid or a
Jew, he’d understand…but then he’d lose viewership and ratings from his
devotees who eat up the pretend Christmas war with a cup of egg nog and a
spoon.
* There’s Megyn Kelly – generally regarded as one of the more
intelligent pseudo-journalists on Fox News – proclaiming what “everybody”
knows…that both Santa Claus and Jesus were white people. So far she hasn’t
designated a color for the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Paul Bunyan or the
giant that lives above the beanstalk.
* There was Starbucks brewing up a ruckus last year by
introducing a plain red Christmas cup, signaling to some conspiracy theorists that
the company hates Jesus. Never mind that the “traditional symbols” they were
criticized for abandoning included snowflakes, reindeer, bells, ornaments and
the like and not pictures of Jesus, Mary and Joseph or the three wise men.
(Go back and read Paragraph #2 to understand the hypocrisy
of this complaint.)
* Then there’s Walmart putting out its Christmas decorations
before Halloween and my pharmacy starting to sell Valentine’s Day candy two
weeks before Christmas. I guess I should be accustomed to this by now, but I’d
be hoping for candy that was a little more fresh.
* In my neighborhood, a lot of people set up outdoor lighting
displays but no one wants to be the first to turn them on, so I took the burden
off my neighbors and lit ours up this year on the Sunday before Thanksgiving.
That was the day my children and grandchildren came by to help put the
decorations on our Christmas tree, so it seemed like an appropriate time.
And that brings me around to the reason for this essay.
I love this time of the year. I love our Christmas tree and
the fake holly, M&M lights and stockings that adorn the railing beside my steps and
the colored lights around my bay window and my wife’s Charlie Brown tree and the
Christmas music on the stereo.
Mostly I love buying and wrapping gifts for other people,
spending Christmas Eve with my family and seeing the faces of everybody when
they open their presents from Santa and the rest. Some in my family go to
church and some don’t, but we’re all well aware of the reason for the holiday and we
see no reason why the religious and secular Christmases can’t co-exist.
I appreciate that people have their differences, but I say “Merry
Christmas” to everybody because, well, because I just do. No one has complained
so far.
So with that, shieldWALL is going to take some time off and
enjoy the holidays. Thanks for taking time to read it and thanks for all of your
comments. I hope you’ll miss me just enough that you’ll be happy when I
return.
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