It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Happy Holidays

This is the most wonderful time of the year, as the song reminds us. The bright lights, the holiday treats, and the timeless music. I’ve seen more homes with elaborate, Chevy Chase-style lighting this year. Maybe it’s a silent way of rebelling against a system that frowns on Nativity scenes and actual Christmas Carols.

I understand the reason for the season. Although it’s almost a certainty that Baby Jesus wasn’t born on December 25, it’s still an important part of faith to acknowledge that he was born. Of the Virgin Mary. In a lowly manger, with no place for a bed. The Star of Bethlehem. The Three Wise Men. I’m old enough to have sat in the Oakton High School planetarium every December, while we watched a fascinating recounting of the story of the Star of Bethlehem. I don’t think there is any discussion of the Star of Bethlehem permitted in today’s schools. Anywhere. It’s a magical and riveting story, no matter what day of what month it actually took place. The masses still pay some homage to it. They enjoy Linus’s speech in A Charlie Brown Christmas. But do they really believe it? I recall reading a while back that a majority of Jesuit students didn’t believe in the Immaculate Conception. More importantly, they didn’t accept the divinity of Jesus. You know, the entire basis of Christianity.

Nowadays, in America 2.0, Jesus is a character on cartoons like Family Guy and South Park, to be mocked instead of worshiped. The primary signs of life for the religion can be found in the nondenominational churches. The “super” churches that preach the prosperity gospel. And, of course, emphasize the Jewishness of Jesus Christ. Call him a rabbi. It’s a wonder they don’t claim he wore a yarmulke. I have no idea what conventional protestants, who don’t use the Schofield Bible as a textbook, or my own Catholic faith, feature at Sunday service during the Yuletide season. I haven’t been to mass in a long time. Why has the film The Ten Commandments been traditionally aired on television at Christmas, and Easter? Why such a Jewish-centric exploration of the Old Testament, with Moses instead of Jesus as the star? Remember, all the television networks are headed by the non-Irish. A 2024 Gallup poll found that some 69 percent of Americans still identify as Christians.

So, with a solid majority of the population celebrating the birth of Jesus, why then is the subject of his birth so seldom mentioned in our state controlled media? Why should a seeming Christian country be afraid to sing Christmas Carols in schools? Why should courts, in a majority Christian land, rule that Nativity scenes can be considered “offensive,” while Transgender Story Hour, for example, can’t? As Homer Simpson once said, “Did we lose a war?” So just who is it that finds inspirational Christmas songs or even the expression “Merry Christmas” itself to be offensive? In New York, perhaps the state most noted for the influence of the non-Irish, it has been ruled that schools can display the menorah, and the Muslim star and crescent. But not a nativity scene. Jews are two percent of the population. Even fewer Americans, some 1.34 percent, are Muslims. To be fair, this is not that much smaller than the group that utterly dominates our culture. We could call this salvation without representation.

So why do 69 percent of the people, whose faith is presumably of great importance to them, allow it to be subjected to state censorship? It amounts to a “pray, don’t tell” policy. Keep your Christianity in the closet. But we will feel free to ridicule it in countless films and television shows. Are we supposed to laugh at the Family Guy episode where Jesus wants to lose his virginity with Peter’s wife Lois? Recall that South Park was frightened off from showing the prophet Muhammad onscreen. It’s blasphemy to depict Muhammad at all, but not to show Jesus in as demeaning and insulting a manner as possible. There really isn’t a comparable figure in Judaism. Abraham and Moses don’t seem to be sacrosanct, and polls have sometimes suggested that a majority of Jews may be atheists. Now, that’s some religion. Regardless, either we all get to be sensitive and file lawsuits, or we all adopt a more mature attitude. I’m not offended by a menorah. Why would anyone be offended by a Christmas display?

The trappings of the most wonderful time of the year are still here. As I said, more homes than ever are decked out in elaborate displays, including giant blow up Santas. At least one local radio station plays nothing but Christmas music for a whole month leading up to December 25. But they won’t play an actual Christmas Carol. The songs revolve around secular idol Santa Claus, or Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, or Frosty the Snowman. I’ve noticed that the shopping centers around here don’t have the usual colorful wreathes on the top of their parking lot lights. Maybe someone found that “offensive.” Perhaps it wasn’t a non-Irish. Why would there be objections to O’ Come all Ye Faithful, but not to Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer? There are evangelical Christians who also object to celebrating Christmas. They point out that it came from Pagan rites, and is a man-made holiday not found in the Bible. Plus, Christmas isn’t Zionist approved. What can it do for the Greater Israel Project?

How can anyone listen to Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and not believe that Felix Mendelssohn wasn’t divinely inspired in composing such a glorious piece of music? Or that the hand of God isn’t evident in young Austrian priest Joseph Mohr writing the lyrics, and in choir director Franz Xaver Gruber composing the melody, to the beloved Carol Silent Night? A century after it was written, during World War I, German soldiers suddenly began singing Silent Night from the trenches on Christmas night, and British troops joined in, all of them dropping their arms and embracing each other. That is the power and majesty of the holiday, and what is represents to Christendom. Now, brutal reality made this a very short armistice, as their commanding officers quickly set them straight. There was a completely senseless war to be fought, and much blood to be pointlessly shed. So commence to killing again, as Jed Clampett might have said. Merry Christmas, the war isn’t over.

I know there are some who don’t like the Christmas season. Even if you don’t believe in Jesus, or God, isn’t it uplifting to watch how everyone becomes as generous as they can possibly be? Lots of people enjoy giving more than receiving at Christmas time. It brings out the best in people. Yes, I realize how horrible it must be to have no one to celebrate the holidays with. There’s a reason why the suicide rate rises at this time of year. Watching your new girlfriend open your present, or sitting down by the Christmas tree while your excited young children tear open their gifts, gives you a feeling of incomparable warmth. But, I understand how those who have recently lost a loved one, or lost them during the holiday season, would not exactly be feeling festive. I always keep those people in mind, and indeed wrote about them on Substack last Christmas. But we can’t allow the unbearable tragedy of others to rule our lives. Giving gifts, eating treats, caroling, being with family, should be relished.

Unlike some evangelicals, I cherish the secular nature of Christmas as well. Santa Claus is a fascinating mythological character. For those who poo-poo conspiracies, consider how virtually every parent in western countries conspires to convince their small children that Santa is real. It’s a benign conspiracy, perpetrated with the best of intentions. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, the Grinch- all delightful seasonal characters. I put up a real Christmas tree for decades, until it became apparent that no one else really cared, and dreaded my cursing as I struggled to make it stand steady more than how beautiful the fullest, real tree looked. I still miss that delightful pine scent wafting through the house. Now we have an artificial tree. It looks nice, but it isn’t quite the same. At least I don’t have to drag the real tree out to the curb for the garbage men/women/they/them to cart away. I am ridiculously sentimental about good byes and finality, even when it’s a mere Christmas tree.

But the commercialization of Christmas, largely fueled by those who never believed in Jesus, is offensive. You know, like nativity scenes are to the non-Irish. I can never forget my father ranting about the sacrilege of Barbra Streisand singing a Christmas Carol. I wonder why there are no Hanukah sales? Kwanzaa sales? Or Ramadan sales? Why did some enterprising capitalist come up with “Xmas” as an abbreviation for Christmas? Shouldn’t it more logically have been “Cmas?” I barely squeaked by in my math classes, but I know that “X” is the unknown factor in algebra. So I guess someone wanted to represent the Lord as an unknown factor. I don’t really mind hearing “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas,” but I know it bothers a lot of people, including our beloved President Trumpenstein. At any rate, if you want to say “Merry Christmas,” you ought to be able to, even if you’re a pampered, overpaid government employee, or a nameless, powerless, low paid retail worker.

As Scrooge asked in Dickens’ immortal A Christmas Carol, why can’t the spirit of Christmas be alive within us all year long? How many millions have read this incomparable story, understood the obvious message very clearly, and yet resumed their greed and insincerity as soon as they closed the book? How many have watched It’s a Wonderful Life, and immersed themselves in what is essentially the same message, yet five minutes after the film is over have gone right back to not recognizing that it is a wonderful life? I have seen my favorite film more times than I can remember, and every time the Harry Bailey character flies back through a blizzard to raise his glass and toast “my big brother George, the richest man in town,” the tears well up in my eyes, and a shiver runs down my spine. That’s powerful writing, and powerful filmmaking. And great advice for us all. Each life does matter. We can all make a difference, if only in the lives of those around us.

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