Oh, how I love Christmastime. And by Christmastime I do mean the days between November 1 and January 1. :-/ Gotta love all the Christians whose only problem is that someone dare tell them that there were actually others in the Country who - God forbid - celebrate something other than Christmas! There is SO much wrong with this I can't even count: First - if you're really Christian - which means you try and live as Christ lived - you wouldn't get SO upset about something SO trivial. Christ was nothing if not tolerant of others' feelings. Christ was at the base someone who despised material goods so to honor his birthday with material goods seems well, un-Christlike. The "Christmas" tree was actually brought into the whole Christmas celebration to INCLUDE the pagans who decorated trees at Solstice. Since we have now started celebrating Christmas for more days than just the 25th - I see it as perfectly normal to say "Happy Holidays" because there are MANY days in there! Oh and as far as someone being UN American if they don't celebrate Christmas -
"The first century of colonial life saw few set times and days for pleasure. The holy days of the English Church were as a stench to the Puritan nostrils, and their public celebration was at once rigidly forbidden by the laws of New England. New holidays were not quickly evolved, and the sober gatherings for matters of Church and State for a time took their place. The hatred of "wanton Bacchanallian Christmasses" spent throughout England, as Cotton said, in "revelling, dicing, carding, masking, mumming, consumed in compotations, in interludes, in excess of wine, in mad mirth," was the natural reaction of intelligent and thoughtful minds against the excesses of a festival which had ceased to be a Christian holiday, but was dominated by a lord of misrule who did not hesitate to invade the churches in time of service, in his noisy revels and sports. English Churchmen long ago revolted also against such Christmas observance.
Of the first Pilgrim Christmas we know but little, save that it was spent, as was many a later one, in work."
The whole "season" makes me so very depressed. All the hype, all the running around, all the mandatory happiness. Oh, and if you DARE voice your dislike of this most wondrous (made-up) holiday - you would be best to disrobe and take your lashings like a man. :-)
And so it starts - I try and hide my disdain from my children at least - this IS the greatest holiday for children. But I certainly don't go overboard and try very hard to instill in them some sense of tolerance and that there is in fact OTHER people in the world who don't march in lock-step and actually celebrate other beliefs AND that those people actually have VALUE! I did get to see last night that my actions are not all in vein when Jack reminded me of a song that one of my friends (a Jahew - gasp) sent to me and I shared with Jack. He told me he got to learn that song on the guitar and I was proud - maybe MY kids will be at peace with Christmas, there's always hope.
