My First Annual Pro-Christmas Season Rant

[ER]

First of all, Christmas season should not start till after Thanksgiving. Yes, I know my taking on the topic before Thanksgiving is intruding on my own statement made to the left of this sentence, but, hey, I’m a nihilist at heart.

Secondly, if you celebrate Kwanzaa, Chanukah, Yule, or anything else in December, congrats to you, that's great, and furthermore, Happy Kwanzaa, Joyous Chanukah, and an Appropriate Yule. Enjoy yourself, have a good time, be with your family, make memories, that's what the season is all about. I love holidays and am all in favor of everyone having the festive experience they choose to have.

But I’ll tellyawhat, I celebrate Christmas, as do I bet 90%-plus Americans, and I for one am tired of people being in denial about the fact that we have a Christmas season, that it's not the sale of toys and merchandize during Kwanzaa or Yule or Chanukah that keep so many retailers going and stimulate the economy (or not) every year, it's Christmas. I am tired of Santa appearing on a “Holiday” card when it’s so obviously a Christmas card! Has Santa ever appeared on a Chanukah card? No! That’s Chanukah Harry’s job. So what's wrong with calling it a Christmas card? Do you hang stocking up for Kwanzaa? No, for Christmas, so attention Hallmark, why not call them ChRisTmaS stockings instead of holiday stockings? Is Christmas a dirty word all of a sudden?

Why in recent years the word "Christmas" has so mendaciously vanished from the landscape irks me and defies honesty and common sense. Not only that but it's become looked down on to wish someone "Merry Christmas." Why? One of my closest friends, Edie Kavner, is Jewish. Judaism is for the most part a great religion, I’ve always gotten along well with Jewish people and often gravitated toward them. I once almost rode off into the sunset with a half-Jewish (albeit non-practicing) man, and neither he nor Edie nor any Jewish person I’ve known has ever hesitated to wish me or anyone who celebrates Christmas a Merry Christmas. Nor have I ever felt I was slighting Christmas by telling them “Happy Chanukah.” (And frankly a lot of Jews I know observe Christmas, a very secular sort of holiday anymore.)

So why, you know, why is it Christmas is a word that dare not speak its name? Sell Chanukah merchandise, or Kwanzaa craft sets, or for all I know December 25th Observation Day T-shirts if there’s a consumer demand, that’s beautiful, it’s capitalism in action, but come ON, retailers, call Christmas stuff Christmas stuff. And if you know someone celebrates Christmas, say “Merry Christmas” in person or with a CHRISTMAS card, instead of some washed out timidly neo-modern “Holiday” message. OK?

Huh? Why, yes, I did forget to take my meds today, L. Thanks for bringing them. Ah, nourishing tranquilizers! Now what was I typing? I forget. Hitting post now.

[WingedSerpent]

Merry Christmas to you too.

[Rev. Powell]

There's some truthiness in what you say

[indianasmith]

Well said, ER!!

I will wish you Merry Christmas after next Thursday.

[Patient7]

My school currently puts up "festive pines" near the doors, that's right FESTIVE F&*#ING PINES!!!  I couldn't agree with you more, Merry Christmas.

[BTM]

Once again Foamy sums it up pretty well...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNqlGlzNVEE
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I once almost rode off into the sunset with a half-Jewish (albeit non-practicing) man,

Wait, are you female?  Or gay?  I mean, gay's cool... but we don't have too many females around here, so I like to keep track of them.  :)

[ER]

LOL The non-gay option.

[schmendrik]

So why, you know, why is it Christmas is a word that dare not speak its name? Sell Chanukah merchandise, or Kwanzaa craft sets, or for all I know December 25th Observation Day T-shirts if there’s a consumer demand, that’s beautiful, it’s capitalism in action, but come ON, retailers, call Christmas stuff Christmas stuff. And if you know someone celebrates Christmas, say “Merry Christmas” in person or with a CHRISTMAS card,

Dunno. But of course I've never run into any mention of this phenomenon outside of Bill O'Reilly's annual rant. Doesn't seem to be an issue among anyone I've ever met in the reality-based community, where for instance a frequent topic of conversation about now is "how is your Christmas shopping going?"

instead of some washed out timidly neo-modern “Holiday” message. OK?

Sure. And all personal cards I send or receive are actually Christmas cards. The "Holiday" thing tends to come as anonymous cards from businesses who are not sending to a strictly Christian customer base. Like Fox for instance.

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2007/12/happy_holidays_from_the_fox_bu.html

Lest you be tempted to think that Bill-O was the first culture warrior to step up to the plate to defend you from evil Holiday cards, or that everything was nice and Christian till the damned hippies got involved, perhaps you should read some history. The first culture warrior on your ramparts appears to have been Henry Ford early in the 20th century. The John Birch Society took up the call in the idyllic 1950s.

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/12/26/051226ta_talk_hertzberg

By the way, an amusing side note in O'Reilly's rant is that during the time he launched the first one, the Fox merchandise division was offering "holiday" decorations and "holiday" gifts. Needless to say, they did some fast editing of the online catalog, but not before some people got screen captures. And caught some other evil Holiday references.

http://www.newshounds.us/2004/12/24/happy_holidays_from_the_fox_news_channel.php

But Fox still uses that language.
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Nov12/0,4670,HolidayMailTroops,00.html
http://gawker.com/news/news-corp./news-corp-holiday-party-invites-bill-oreillys-christian-rage-213694.php

[ER]

For the record I've probably seen Bill O'Reilly's show maybe a total of twice in my life. Nice to hear he's on the right side of an issue for once, though. It's a shame when people are so scared of appearing non-multicultural that they deny they're celebrating Christmas, when they are.