It's almost Thanksgiving, but since I don't have anything interesting to say about that particular holiday, I'm going to talk about Christmas. For those of you who think it's too early to start any yuletide related discussions, I have this to say: If retailers can start pitching Christmas goods in October, I think I'm entitled to start talking about it in November. And even if I wasn't actually entitled to talk about it, I'd talk about it anyway. That's just the kind of guy I am.
Moving on.
I have a problem with Christmas. The problem isn't that it's become a global symbol of rampant consumerism, widespread covetousness, and bad stories involving fat men in red suits. The problem also isn't that Christ has been relegated to a side role in the holiday that's named after Him and is purported to celebrate His birth. My problem is that we have two holidays sharing the same name, and that's just flippin' confusing, if you'll pardon my gratuitous use of the word "flippin'."
Holiday number one is where Christmas actually gets its name. You know, the whole world wide celebration of the Savior of Mankind holiday. This holiday involves getting together with family, a good church service or two where people gather to worship Christ, sparkly decorations to let the world know that you're pretty okay with the fact that Christ was born, and maybe even giving a few gifts to remind us all of the gift that God gave us.
Holiday number two is subtly different. This holiday involves getting together with family, giving gifts, fat men in red suits, reindeer, elves, fake snow, lots and lots of sparkly decorations to let people know that you like lots and lots of sparkly decorations, and, of course, eggnog. You'll note that while this holiday shares the same chronological date as Christmas, shares the gift giving bit, and even shares the pro-family aspect, it has absolutely no mention of Christ.
I like to call holiday number two "miscellaneous secular winter holiday that's not New Years but is pretty close, you know, time wise and all, but doesn't really involve as much alcohol." The name needs work, I'll admit that. The point is, the two holidays are separate and distinct. They just happened to be on the same day of the year. The problems I didn't have with Christmas (greed, commercial excess, and the marginalizing of Christ) weren't problems with Christmas for the very reason that they're really problems with the "miscellaneous secular holiday."
It's with that in mind that I propose the formal separation of the two holidays. Christmas gets to keep the Nativity, the Christmas story, bad Christmas plays by fidgety Sunday school students, the expression "Merry Christmas," and general good cheer. "Miscellaneous secular holiday" (MSH) gets to keep greed, Santa, sexually ambiguous elves, crowded malls, the expression "Seasons greetings," and fruitcake. In time, I plan on getting the dates moved so that Christmas and MSH have their very own days. For now, I think that just being aware of the two different holidays should be enough.
With that in mind, have a Merry Christmas and a Fantabulous MSH... in about two months or so.
Moving on.
I have a problem with Christmas. The problem isn't that it's become a global symbol of rampant consumerism, widespread covetousness, and bad stories involving fat men in red suits. The problem also isn't that Christ has been relegated to a side role in the holiday that's named after Him and is purported to celebrate His birth. My problem is that we have two holidays sharing the same name, and that's just flippin' confusing, if you'll pardon my gratuitous use of the word "flippin'."
Holiday number one is where Christmas actually gets its name. You know, the whole world wide celebration of the Savior of Mankind holiday. This holiday involves getting together with family, a good church service or two where people gather to worship Christ, sparkly decorations to let the world know that you're pretty okay with the fact that Christ was born, and maybe even giving a few gifts to remind us all of the gift that God gave us.
Holiday number two is subtly different. This holiday involves getting together with family, giving gifts, fat men in red suits, reindeer, elves, fake snow, lots and lots of sparkly decorations to let people know that you like lots and lots of sparkly decorations, and, of course, eggnog. You'll note that while this holiday shares the same chronological date as Christmas, shares the gift giving bit, and even shares the pro-family aspect, it has absolutely no mention of Christ.
I like to call holiday number two "miscellaneous secular winter holiday that's not New Years but is pretty close, you know, time wise and all, but doesn't really involve as much alcohol." The name needs work, I'll admit that. The point is, the two holidays are separate and distinct. They just happened to be on the same day of the year. The problems I didn't have with Christmas (greed, commercial excess, and the marginalizing of Christ) weren't problems with Christmas for the very reason that they're really problems with the "miscellaneous secular holiday."
It's with that in mind that I propose the formal separation of the two holidays. Christmas gets to keep the Nativity, the Christmas story, bad Christmas plays by fidgety Sunday school students, the expression "Merry Christmas," and general good cheer. "Miscellaneous secular holiday" (MSH) gets to keep greed, Santa, sexually ambiguous elves, crowded malls, the expression "Seasons greetings," and fruitcake. In time, I plan on getting the dates moved so that Christmas and MSH have their very own days. For now, I think that just being aware of the two different holidays should be enough.
With that in mind, have a Merry Christmas and a Fantabulous MSH... in about two months or so.
Comments
I'm actually not opposed to MSH, either. How could I hate any holiday that brings me eggnog? I'm just annoyed that people confuse MSH with Christmas.