It's Christmas, Darn it!
Funny line, huh? Conjures up the old Saturday Night Live skit by Eddie Murphy, I’m Gumby damn it! Demanding respect, forcing his way unto others, this was Eddie Murphy’s Gumby; the Rodney Dangerfield of cartoons, no wonder Pokey was always in the background. Take the same idea and wish someone a Merry Christmas and some people may look at you as you just shouted out a curse word. The fact is though; we are getting farther and farther away from wishing each other a Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays is a wonderful saying, a great way to say hello to many, why, there’s even some wonderful songs singing the praises of ‘Happy Holidays’. One is a nostalgic song by Andy Williams. There is a real catchy version from Steve and Edie. Ask your parents who Steve and Edie are, and why Andy Williams thinks this is the most wonderful time of the year.
Andy Rooney said that nothing mystified Americans more than the cotton in the pill bottles. Well that may be true rest in peace dear Mr. Rooney, but nothing makes me scratch my head more than people who think nothing of taking the Lord’s name in vain and yet can’t wish you a Merry Christmas as fear of offending you.
Go to the local malls and they say Happy Holidays. Fill you stockings with these lovely gifts. Not fill your ‘Christmas stockings’ with lovely gifts, but ‘stockings’. This year it has been reported that they have been record sales and filled to the brim shopping malls. It should also be noted that there will be record returns as people suddenly get the Holiday ‘bills’ in the mail and realize they cannot pay for them. Guess the prayers to Santa’s elves aren’t working.
Members of the House of Representatives cannot send out e-mails saying ‘Merry Christmas’ or ‘Happy Chanukah’ as it may be viewed as promoting religion, and God-forbid, we can’t do that now can we?
I too, have been guilty. When I worked in corporate America the ‘Holiday’ version of our company newsletter could not have anything in it specific to Christmas, or any other specific religious Holiday observance. I could not even place an image of Santa Claus in the newsletter. The meeting was borderline insane, ‘...but it’s Santa I said! ‘No No’, I was told, you can’t do that, it’s not in the Holiday Corporate Spirit - you’re ending up on the naughty list’! Personal! I swear you cannot make this stuff up!
People are afraid of losing money and customers by appearing to be showing an affiliation to a specific religion. It is not popular to be spiritual, and it may even be a downright sin to be religious. Let’s face it in the world of political correctness, ‘Merry Christmas’ does not fit the bill.
Was it always this way? Back in the day when the Mona Lisa was sitting there smiling that Giaconda smile maybe she knew something the rest of us didn’t. Maybe she saw change coming.
There is much meaning in the word ‘Christmas’. In its purest essence, Christmas is the Birth of Christ, a symbol of peace and love. ..which is one reason why we want to keep the Christmas spirit going all year long.
There is the beautiful Chanukah celebration in December. One in which I participate each year and as we all get together the first night it is one of my favorite nights of the year. My sister Gayle married into a wonderful family and they are Jewish. Together we all participate in each other’s Holy Days and Holidays. We will send them a Chanukah card. They will send us a Christmas card. As Captain Renault said in Casablanca, ‘It is very convenient’.
There is Kwanzaa which is a wonderful cultural message and of course, Festivus, a Holiday for the rest of us. From ‘Seinfeld’, the show about nothing showed you can even have a Holiday about nothing. Although the downside of Festivus is that with having an aluminum pole instead of the Christmas, errrrr…sorry, Holiday Tree, there is no place to hang the Christmas.. oops again Holiday ornaments.
Perhaps better days are coming. Perhaps we can see that behind all the craziness that comes with the Season of giving, perhaps we can ‘get it’. Perhaps others can understand that for those of us who do believe in Christmas that it is offensive and tired to just continue to be passé’ about it and wish us ‘Happy Holidays’.
Maybe Santa will put a little something extra in our Christmas stocking this year. Maybe we will all get a bit of moxie for the Holidays. So perhaps in that spirit, we can hope for a Festivus miracle and wish each other a Merry Christmas. Even now, as you sit and read this you may even have your Mona Lisa Giaconda smile going and you are saying to yourself …
Merry Christmas!
Gary Englert
12:16 pm on Friday, December 23, 2011
A Happy Festivus (for the rest of us)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN3-po2fNz8&feature=related
Nick Muson
12:50 pm on Friday, December 23, 2011
Much ado about nothing. What do you Christians want that you don't already have? Must you feel persecuted?
Rich McAllister
3:08 pm on Friday, December 23, 2011
Thanks Gary, as Kramer says, your greeting is ‘scratching me right where I itch’.
And Nick, like it says in the video clip on Festivus, I find tinsel, distracting, much like your comment which comes across as hollow. The point is not about ‘feeling persecuted’. Rather, why is it acceptable to take the Lord’s name in vain and wrong to wish someone Merry Christmas? Keeping Christ in Christmas is important.
However as we gather around the Festivus pole and go around the room on what disappointed us this year, we will be sure to bring up your comments.
Merry Christmas!
Nick Muson
3:21 pm on Friday, December 23, 2011
Come to think about it, aside from "say 'Merry Christmas'", I have no idea what your point is. Sorry I am so disappointing.
Ryan
4:28 pm on Friday, December 23, 2011
I'm with Nick. What is the point here? "Happy Holidays is a wonderful saying, a great way to say hello", says Rich. And yet it is also a sign of civilization's decline? How does that work? If it's wonderful, why must we stop saying it?
For me there is a simple and obvious reason to say 'Happy Holidays' to someone: I DON'T KNOW WHAT THEIR RELIGION IS. It's not as if we all walk around with our religion emblazoned on our t-shirts. Rich, if I met you on the street (and I hadn't read this column) I would say 'Happy holidays' because I don't know what you celebrate! If I say 'Merry Christmas' and you're Jewish, at best I've given you a meaningless greeting; at worst I've insulted you because I've made an assumption about you. I'm a nice person. I don't believe in going around insulting strangers for no reason. So I say 'happy holidays' to avoid doing so. It's very, very, very simple.
Gary Englert
3:27 pm on Friday, December 23, 2011
@ Rich McAllister: I am perhaps one of the least spiritual people on the planet (though I do hold the Judeo-Christian ethic dear) but, it has long since gone beyond the point where we all need to live and let live and get past the nonsense. Just when did it become politically incorrect to wish for someone to be merry or happy about anything...and just how ridiculous is that?
I hope that everyone has the Merriest of Christmases, Happiest of Hanukkahs and Kawanzas and revels in the worship whatever deity (Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Wiccan, Pagan, Druid, etc.) they choose, while seasonally erecting whatever jouful images and symbols they wish on public lands.
None of this infringes on anyone else, let alone the separation of church and state: what it does is undescore the freedoms we all enjoy as Americans.
That said, I reserve the right to say Bah Humbug to your Merry Christmas, you Hallmark Holiday, Kool Aid drinking fools! :-)
Rich McAllister
3:48 pm on Friday, December 23, 2011
The freedoms we all do enjoy as Americans. One nation, under GOD.
Merry Christmas! More Kool-Aid anyone?
Nick Muson
3:54 pm on Friday, December 23, 2011
"One nation, under GOD"
So, a bit that was added to the POA in 1954 proves what, exactly?
Rich McAllister
5:02 pm on Friday, December 23, 2011
Ryan - I never said it was bad saying and I use it quite often myself and if you read the beginning of the article you will see that –
What a nerve I hit as my thought is quite simple. Why is it acceptable to take Gods’ name in vain yet it is inappropriate to say Merry Christmas -
Ryan
4:05 pm on Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Who says it is? Whom are you asking? Who says those things are related?
First, almost everyone curses at some point or other. I have heard clergy curse! So you might as well ask 'Why is it acceptable to breathe oxygen yet inappropriate to say Merry Christmas?'
Second: I cannot think of a time in my life when anyone has told me it is "inappropriate" to say Merry Christmas. Most of the time, when people refrain from saying it, and instead say 'happy holidays', they are doing so of their own free will, out of common courtesy, for the simple, obvious reason I outlined in my earlier comment. They want to be polite, not because they are afraid some 'inappropriate speech police' will swoop in and scold them while they're in line at the supermarket or walking their dog.
In the corporate context, you've answered your own question! Companies want to avoid losing customers (and thus money) by appearing to be discourteous. They make such policies for the same reason they make every policy: because they think it will help them make money.
Similarly, politicians don't want to appear to lump distinct groups together, because people don't like that, and it might cost them votes.
It's not that it's "inappropriate" in some moral sense. It's just that it's perceived to be (by the people who make such policies) bad for their own self-interest. If you've got a problem with that, take it up with them, and stop ranting at the rest of us who are just trying to be polite.
SusieQ
9:06 pm on Friday, December 23, 2011
Happy Chrismakwanzukas! There, I covered Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Festivus in one word!
Pat Schlosser
9:01 am on Saturday, December 24, 2011
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate Christmas as I do. Happy New Year to ALL.
Rich McAllister
3:00 pm on Friday, January 6, 2012
Merry Christmas Pat!
Rachela Doran
9:11 am on Saturday, December 24, 2011
Merry Christmas!!
Rich McAllister
3:00 pm on Friday, January 6, 2012
Merry Christmas Rachela!
Patrizia
5:59 am on Friday, December 30, 2011
Sorry this is a late comment, but I thought your article was very lighthearted and entertaining Rich. We cover everything at work too. But as I returned from the "3 day holiday weekend" I scratched my head as in the cafeteria saw the menorrah (for Channukah) , the kinara on the Kwanzaa table but no Christmas tree! I think it was stored so well no one could find it this year. I prefer to wish "Happy Holidays" or "Peace" on our greeting cards one reason being we can never manage to get them addressed, stamped and sent before Dec. 25!
Rich McAllister
11:41 am on Friday, December 30, 2011
Hi Patrizia -
Never too late and I appreciate you taking the time to read my BLOG and make a comment - IU willk have a BLOG here trhgat will go out every Thursday - I wish many people Happy Holidays during my travels but embrace Christmas -
I want to wish you and your family - Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Peace now and for the coming year.
Thanks again!
Rich
Martin Rommer
10:11 pm on Saturday, December 31, 2011
Nick Muson seems to have a "chip" on his shoulders regarding Christmas and dare I speculate "Christians" as well. There is nothing wrong or illegal with saying Merry Christmas or God Bless You, or GOD. Period. To go one step further, it's about time Christians in town and across the US start demanding that local municipalities once again start honoring Christmas - the religious day, and not just the secular holiday. Christians are taxpayers too and the First Amendment (let me type this slowly so you can all understand) to the Constitution prohibits CONGRESS from acting on religion, and NOT ANY OTHER GOVERNMENT ENTITY. Certain people like Munson, with their hostility toward anything “Christian” has lead a “BIG LIE” that government cannot honor our faith but it's time the lie is exposed. Merry Christmas and God Bless America!
Rich McAllister
11:27 am on Monday, January 2, 2012
Hi Martin,
Thank you for your comments - and for taking the time to read my BLOG -
Merry Christmas and a Happy Nerw Year to you and your family.
Rich
Nick Muson
3:06 pm on Wednesday, January 4, 2012
"Certain people like Munson, with their hostility toward anything “Christian” has lead a “BIG LIE” that government cannot honor our faith but it's time the lie is expose"
What the hell are you talking about? You're babbling nonsensically. I am glad that I could be your perceived foe today -- this time there's no charge but next time there will be a small fee.
Lauren Bright Pacheco
10:36 pm on Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Ah, but Nick - he was ranting about YOU at the top of that post:
"Nick Muson seems to have a "chip" on his shoulders regarding Christmas and dare I speculate "Christians" as well."
By the end he's moved on to this "Munson" character...no worries! If that was just a typo, you'd think he'd of caught it, typing so slowly and all....
Martin Rommer
9:57 pm on Thursday, January 5, 2012
Apologies for the typo. Apparently I was typing so slowly that my fat fingers added a letter to his name and Nick still missed the point, probably because the extra letter confused him.
If anyone would like to see what I am talking about specifically, all you have to do is click on Mr. Muson's name and read what he has posted here and on other town Patch sites regarding anything or anyone "religious." There is a word that is used for what this is but I shall take the upper road and not make the charge. I believe in free speech and he can say what he wants. And I have the right to say what I want.
He is effectively condescending toward them and/or their religion. I am not one to name call and seldom do here or on my blogs, but sometimes one needs to protect his own rights from those who make efforts at silencing them by attempting to belittle what they believe or by plain old ridicule.
In the second post above this one, Nick tells me directly "I am glad that I could be your perceived foe today -- this time there's no charge but next time there will be a small fee." What is that? Some sort of threat? When you post here (or anywhere), you become a "public figure" and the rules are a bit different, so be very careful with your threats (and it is my perception that counts).
Nick Muson
12:06 pm on Friday, January 6, 2012
Martin, why don't you take it down a notch? I was most certainly NOT threatening you -- that is not my style. I was having fun at your expense. Sorry I did not make that more clear, but you have nothing to get all upset about.
As far as the rest of your continuing rant goes, I stand behind everything I have said. My feelings about Christianity, Christians, and Christianists (to borrow a term coined by my idol, the DEVOUT CATHOLIC Andrew Sullivan) are more complicated than you are willing or capable of considering.
I make distinctions, you see nothing but black and white, and never the twain shall meet when it comes to religion. I made a big mistake engaging you at all, and for that I apologize to you and the original poster.
Rich McAllister
3:09 pm on Friday, January 6, 2012
Hi Nick,
Actually I appreciate you taking the time to read my posts and comment on them. Not everyone will agree with me and I am not asking anyone to do so... These are thoughts on one subject and I will have many more as my intent is to bring awareness of the possibilities what a person can do after a undergoing a life changing event.
I do believe in Christ, and hopefully I live a life that one day Christ believes in me.
Hope to see you comment on other posts I write.
Thanks!
Rich