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All I want for
Christmas this year is..... Christmas. That doesn’t seem like a huge
request, but the way the government and business is going, I guess I am
just going to have to put that with the list of all the things I wished
for but never got for Christmas.
When I was a kid I used to go to Lobban Furniture at Christmas time and
drool over all the toys, bicycles and sleds. Mom always went to
McClung’s Department store for socks and underwear. A tradition my mom
observed until I moved away from home and she no longer knew what size
to get. I was always happy with what few toys I received each Christmas
for trying to be as good a kid as I could. That is not real hard to do
when you grow up in a town where everybody knows everybody.
Christmas to our family was a lot more than decorating a tree and
putting a few tensile on it. Christmas was about family and the birth of
the Savior. Since we were poor we could readily empathize with that
little babe in the manger wrapped in swaddling clothes. In Sunday school
soon after Thanksgiving, the story of the miracle baby would be told and
retold while the arts and crafts portion of the class was used to make
tiny models of the manger scene. In those days the manger scene was the
only scene depicted on the lawns of Churches and public buildings. All
the stores were decorated and the special lights would be put up across
the bridge that separated the town.
There was always a pretty good cold spell around Christmas and every kid
in town would pray for some snow. The times when there was no snow and
the temperatures were right, a person who will remain nameless would
turn a fire hydrant open at the top of high school hill and the water
would freeze and give sleds about three quarters of a mile of down hill
ice. I am sure that the Mayor, the police and the fire chief knew of the
skullduggery, but no one ever complained that much.
Christmas season would find the churches full, and the bars empty. Even
the worst among the population seemed to behave themselves during this
brief time of year. You would see boys and girls who had left the town
for larger cities and jobs now returning with husbands and wives and
children of their own. Their cars would be full of luggage and brightly
wrapped gifts. For a time the town and the families seemed to be at
peace. The people who passed you on the street would wish you a Merry
Christmas and the Post Office would be bursting at the seams with cards
and gift boxes from far away relatives. In the evenings churches and
schools would send out carolers and the elderly, disabled and shut-ins
were always on the lists of places to stop and sing.
So what happened to my Christmas? Many store managers and companies have
sent memos to their stores stating under no circumstance would the words
Merry Christmas be uttered or implied by the employees. None of our
public buildings will have anything to do with a manger scene, and now
many churches have banned the scene so as not to alienate any one in the
community who might have a different belief.
In our politically correct thinking, we have taken something pure and
simple and made it so complicated no one can figure out what to do.
Where there once was a season of peace is now confusion and turmoil.
Where there was serenity and dignity, there is now scoffing and
bickering.
Children who once asked their parents what they could give them for
Christmas are now demanding what they will get and to put it bluntly, it
darn well better be expensive. On “black Friday” as it’s called in the
retail community, people were fighting for I-pods in electronic stores
this year. One woman followed another woman home from the store and beat
her up and stole her I-pod because she had gotten one of the last ones
off the shelf. If this is Christmas, stop the bus and let me off.
Since there is so much confusion over whether it should be Christmas or
Hanukkah or some made up holiday, why don’t we just do the simple thing.
Every Christian in America should just withdraw from the public
observance of the season and go back to the reason its celebrated in the
first place. Let the people who do not believe in the Christmas season
go their own way and fight over the bargain tables at JC Penny’s.
Christians have been tolerant to those who have elected to observe our
season and will continue to do so, but under a new set of rules. We will
buy one or two gifts as a token for the gift given by God for the world.
They should be toys for little ones and something spiritual for the
grownups. Under no circumstance should Christians buy any gifts between
Thanksgiving and Christmas. Lets have all churches who believe in the
manger scene to put it up on the lawn from Thanksgiving through New
Year.
About two years of this and I will guarantee you that everyone from
Macy’s to the US Supreme court will be happy to put Christmas back on
every calendar. They will even put up a picture of Jesus and invite
everyone in for a piece of birthday cake. We have the power to do this.
As always its up to Christians to make the choice, to do what’s right or
go with the ways of the world.
I do wish to take this time to wish every one a very Merry Christmas and
happy and prosperous New Year and remember “The reason for the Season”
is to celebrate the true meaning of giving. The giving of a Son to save
the world from sin.
If I have offended anyone I do not apologize. You may at any time send
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