*Twas the month before Christmas*
*When all through our land,*
*Not a Christian was praying*
*Nor taking a stand.*
*See the PC Police had taken away,*
*The reason for Christmas - no one could say.*
*The children were told by their schools not to sing,*
*About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.*
*It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say*
* December 25th is just a 'Holiday'.*
*Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit*
*Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!*
*CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod*
*Something was changing, something quite odd! *
*Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa*
*In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.*
*As Targets were hanging their trees upside down*
* At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.*
*At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears*
*You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.*
*Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty*
*Are words that were used to intimidate me.*
*Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen*
*On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton!*
*At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter*
*To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.*
*And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith*
* Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace*
*The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded*
*The reason for the season, stopped before it started.*
*So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'*
*Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.*
*Choose your words carefully, choose what you say*
*Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS ,
not Happy Holiday!*
Please, all Christians join together and
wish everyone you meet
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Christ is 'The Reason' for the Christ-mas Season!
6 comments:
glad you are back
Thanks Kris,
Actually, I'm not really sure to what degree I'm back. The closer I get to Christmas, the busier I become. I'm afraid I get caught up in the business more than I would like to and there never appears to be any solution for it.
I keep coming back to our puppy, Shasta, who I've been taking for several walks a day. He's getting a little better I think with the wanting continuous, constant attention thing, since we have been allowing him more time in our yard without constant supervision.
I think his play biting has gotten better too. He is actually starting to respond a little better when I tell him to "Be Nice."
Believe it or not, Shasta still peas on the floor on occasion even after all of this time and now that it has snowed he has gotten lazy and poops in the grass area or where ever he wants on the snow, instead of the pooping area. I thought we had him trained, but once again it appears that we are starting all over again.
He has caused me to run behind in everything that I do. Thanksgiving was more stressful because of him and so is Christmas. Hopefully next year will be a better year.
Attitudes about Christmas have always been changing. In the Dark Ages, the forty days prior were termed 'St. Martin Days', our advent; Epiphany was considered more important. When the Puritans
took over England in the Cromwell years, Christmas was banned in 1647 and after they arrived here, they banned it in 1659, their opinion being it was a Catholic/Anglican
holiday. It was an unimportant holiday in the early US, only growing in importance in the mid
1800s under the influence of mercantilism and the sentimental
fiction of Dickens. The current
secularisation of Christmas comes,
IMO, from retailers. A phenomenon
which has increased its importance
to us and perhaps as well to Christianity. Merry Christmas, Lista (and may Shasta shape up)!
I could do a post on my actual real opinion of Christmas, but probably won't because I'm too busy and too stressed. Perhaps that's enough said. But than again, I could also do something more brief here in the comment section.
The phrase "Spirit of Christmas" is generally used to describe joy and fun, as well as remembering the meaning of the Holiday, which is Jesus' birth. Unfortunately, though, there can be just as much of a negative "Spirit of Christmas", as there is a positive one. Because of the stress, not everyone feels joyful. For myself, December is the most stressful month of the year and I don't enjoy it that much.
I've often felt that the Dickens "Christmas Carol" elevates the Holiday and places guilt on those who do not enjoy it. A person does not have to be a selfish miser, in order to dislike Christmas, especially in its present state.
Just think about what it is that we do. Absolutely everything giving that a person can do is squeezed into one month out of the year. Buying gifts, sending cards, writing Christmas letters, making Charitable Donations, etc., etc. Plus we are required to decorate and cook fancy dinners. I think it's nuts. Wouldn't it be so much easier if we could spread all this activity out throughout the rest of the year?
I've posed the idea of sending out Easter Cards, whether than Christmas Cards and I could do without the Christmas tree, but I can't persuade my husband.
Personally, I'd whether stress individual Birthdays, whether than making such a big fuss on Christmas. I tend more to the Charitable Donation idea on Christmas and spending more time going to Christmas Programs and Plays and less time decorating the house.
Unfortunately, my husband and I have very different views about what Christmas should be and we argue about it every year. Consequently, I've grown to hate Christmas.
There are valid reasons for not celebrating this Holiday. Many of the traditions, such as the Christmas Tree, have Pagan, not Christian, roots and besides this, no one is absolutely certain of the actual date of Christ's birth, so the date chosen is not even correct.
I suppose that Children do love this Holiday. So we should do it for their sake, yet I was raised without a Santa Clause tradition and that hasn't hurt me that much. Getting up at the crack of dawn to open gifts seems totally nuts to me. My memories of opening gifts Christmas Eve, just after going to a Candle Light Service and Christmas Play were very precious to me and were more focused on the real meaning of Christmas.
For sure there are many who get stressed out, even depressed by the Christmas holiday; extra work,
relatives, travel, cards et. al.
I think you are right about the trappings being for children..at least in my memories. For me the church part was an Episcopal cathedral, not unlike the English ones, high vaulted ceiling, pipe organ, great choir (descants, even)
and I was a senior altar boy with what I thought was great responsibility. We were poor, but Christmas at home was memorable as well..a bike, a dog, visiting all over town. Now it is a time when my grown kids come home from around the US (they get along as poorly as when they were little!)
and the grandkids renew the cycle.
Today, we are in a snow storm and
folks are hung up here and there, adding to everyone's stress. IMO, it is the tradition, more than anything which makes it unique among holidays..not harsh, just not a spiritual fellow..and it is a most welcome break from the
'bleak midwinter'..:)
I think the main problem with me and Christmas is that my husband, Ray, and I don't agree on things relating to it and all the things that are occasionally wrong with our marriage throughout the year are intensified at Christmas time. If we were more in agreement, I would enjoy the holiday more, but things are as they are and I have to make the best of it, in the best way that I can.
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