Christmas Should Be Christmas

My mom and I were in the mall the other day, running a couple of errands. She commented on the bag I had placed on the table filled with my three small purchases from a major retailer.

She didnít like the color. It was bright green with the companyís logo and white snowflakes and three little houses with evergreens next to them.

It should be red or a dark green, my mom said.

ìWeíve whitewashed Christmas,î my mom said.

Nobody can say, ìMerry Christmasî anymore. It has to be happy holidays.

So what happened? Are we so politically correct and all inclusive that we exclude those who believe that Christmas should remain Christmas. Itís a day on the calendar, inked in as Christmas Day. It carries religious meaning. It also has been commercialized into a gift-buying, spend-lots-of-money holiday.

A few years ago, my hometown decided to discontinue putting up colored Christmas lights in favor of white or blue holiday lights. I lived out of state then, but my mother said a controversy arose over those of another religion feeling excluded by the choice of color. The group claimed the colored lights signified a Christian holiday.

If you take away someone elseís rights, it slippery slopes into a loss of other rights. I wonder when I wonít be able to fly the red, white and blue when itís the colors of my nation, but not of all nations.

It makes me sad ñ no matter what my religion is ñ to not be able to yell Merry Christmas out my window. I love red and green. Bright green is okay, but itís a color for springtime. Itís not a natural color you see during the winter when the trees are barren and the days shorten.

Itís Christmas Day that adds excitement to the otherwise dull month of December.

5 Responses to “Christmas Should Be Christmas”

  1. Respecting others includes respecting one's self, too. Merry Christmas to you, Shelley!

  2. This just in from 5280's Panorama - more flap in Denver this year. Sad to see this happening again.

    "Another December, Another Beef with the Nativity Scene at the Denver Civic Center"

    This Friday night, and again on Saturday night, the Parade of Lights will usher in the holiday season, passing by the Denver City and County Building, which will be bathed in light and feature a display that's been constructed there for decades: a Nativity scene with a baby Jesus in a manger. Part of the tradition, Westword points out, has been some sort of protest against the spectacle, which this year comes in the form of three billboards downtown backed by the Colorado Coalition of Reason. "The Nativity scene is a religious icon, and it's on public property," says Marvin Straus, the man behind the billboards (via The Denver Post). Way back in 1986, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled there was nothing unconstitutional about Denver's display of the life-sized Christian figures, including Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, but that isn't stopping Straus' group from paying $1,000 for the billboards, which will say, "Move this Denver nativity scene to a church."

    Nevertheless, city and county officials defend the Nativity scene, notes Boulder's Daily Camera. "The display on the front steps of City Hall is a holiday tradition in Denver, having survived numerous legal challenges over the past 40 years," says Ann Williams, communications director for Denver's mayoral office. "Public sentiment and courts support this direction. Anyone is allowed to disagree, and the First Amendment gives them the right to do so." --MdY

    Go here to sign up for the daily Panorama or any of the other interesting 5280 blogs:
    http://www.5280.com/page/email-newsletters-5280

  3. Fay Ulanoff says:

    How true

  4. Helen Colella says:

    May you, your family and friends be blessed with the Christmas spirit.
    May joy and happiness fill your days.
    May you eat, drink, sing and dance to celebrate...after all, "Tis the season!"

    Using the words and heeding the wisdom of little Tiny Tim (via Charles Dickens) in A Christmas Carol, "God bless us, every one!"

    MERRY CHRISTMAS, SHELLEY!

  5. cheryl Courtney says:

    yep, as for me and my house we will say Merry Christmas and mean it.

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