Christmas

Listening to local radio jockeys this morning argue about the relative merits of saying/celebrating Christmas OR calling it the more neutral “Winter Holiday Season”.  People say it is offensive to waggle the Christian terminology in other peoples’ faces if they don’t believe in it etc.  Heck check out the Wikipedia article on the “Christmas Controversy”.

So of course, being a natural born debater – I was itching to interact and talk with these people and voice my opinion (which is a little hard to do when commuting to work) – so I thought I might blog about it.

My thoughts around Christmas (and it’s just my perspective, mind you) are a bit more personal/intense.  Christmas’ original meaning was rooted in Jesus’ birth – that is where it came from.  There used to be a lot more practicing faithful in years past (particularly in the circles I associate with – it just seems so many have lost a connection to spirituality – not saying that’s wrong, but it just seems to have happened), and celebrating Christmas used to be much more of an important, sacred time of the year.  But over time as the Christian churches’ numbers dwindled it transformed into more of a societal habit (speaking for my region of Canada only – may be different elsewhere to varying degrees) built primarily by consumerism and mass consumption – the marketing machine grabbed hold and saw the opportunity for big retail sales! 

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So as far as I am concerned (since I am a practicing Christian), I am more annoyed that it seems like society in general has taken what it wanted from Christmas (the grandiose and over-indulgent and excess consumerism), and has discarded what it didn’t want to deal with (formal religion, “preachy” morality, “churchiness”, solemnity, duty etc.). 

I guess I look at it more from my own Christian viewpoint. I think deep down I sort of resent those who throw the word “Christmas” around so casually when it has no meaning to them, because it still has very deep meaning for me.  To me it’s a celebration, a time of reverence and awe – a time of deep connection to my church, my family, to my close friends, to my Creator and to humanity.  I guess it’s kind of like I don’t want to share such an important thing with people who couldn’t care less about it’s origin and meaning.  (And AGAIN, don’t misinterpret me – I am not saying that Christianity is right and everyone else is wrong, but *Christmas*, the word,  really was/is about Christ.)

Maybe I’d rather those people just call it “Winter Holiday Season”