Taking Christmas Back -- A reply

[Skidmore]

I received this from a neighbor who gets her undies in a bunch about everything the minister at her very fundamentalist church puts out. Lots of the people in our little village attend similar churches and let their pastors vote for them. There are about 7 Dems in this village of 204--my husband and I being 2 of them.

Anyway, the following little lament arrived as a Christmas message from them:

I don't know who they are
Saying I can't greet the crowd
The way that I want to
Can't say CHRISTMAS out loud.

I walk into a business place
See things that I rather not see
But dare I not say CHRISTMAS
And ask for a "holiday" tree.

What happened to freedom of speech
And living in the land of the free
How can they take my CHRISTMAS money
But can't say MERRY CHRISTMAS to me.

Men and women have given their lives
So we could still go free
I wonder how they would feel
At saying "HOLIDAY" TREE.

Come on AMERICA let's wake up
Don't let our freedom escape
If they get by with doing this
What else will they take.

This is starting to get out of hand,
And I've begun to keep track
Well I've just about had enough
I'M TAKING CHRISTMAS BACK.

So MERRY CHRISTMAS AMERICA
I hope this gets all over the net
If we all stand united and take freedom back
'Twill be our best CHRISTMAS YET!


MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY

I sent the following reply with the subject line of "Holiday Greetings."


A Merry Christmas to you and XXXX, XXXX.

I read your attachment, but I can't for the life of me figure out why people think Christmas is under attack. I see the stores being frequented by people looking for gifts, plenty of decorations out this year everywhere, lots of Christmas celebrations being well attended. All the trappings that the original Church borrowed from the pagans -- the trees, the yule logs, the wassalling, the date itself (originally the Romans celebration of Saturnalia) are most certainly here and not being threatened in anyway. I just don't get how this little distraction came to be. In the meantime, the peace, love, charity, and hope encouraged by Christ are being removed from Christmas and people have begun to worship the very thing they were instructed not to--Mammon. I think there's plenty of Christmas to be found within ourselves if we only look--not in the pageantry or gifts, not in labels we use, not in the gluttonous excesses that have come to be associated with the Season. A return to the simple meaning of Christmas and Christianity where people prayed in their closets and worshipped with introspection and in their actions. "Be ye not hearers of the word, but doers also", I believe was the admonition. So I'm hoping that people are less concerned about the commercial trappings of the Holiday and more concerned about helping the poor, sick, and hopeless among us, caring for our extended family in the world, and actively seeking peace for all mankind in this world.

Peace of Christ to you and XXXXX and your family in the coming New Year.