Happy Holidays? Bah! Humbug!

Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture ^ | December 2001 | Tom Piatak

[Victoria Delsoul]

Thanks for the flag, B4Ranch.

Bump.

[watchin]

I think it's high time for a loud and jolly "Merry Christmas" at every checkstand, to the Postal workers, the man on the street, and the waitress at your table.

I personally arrange for an old-fashioned caroling party at my house each year. We usually have 40-50 show up. 30 or so tour the neighborhood, while the less hardy stay in the house preparing hot chocolate, spiced cider, cookies, and such.

They'll only erase Christmas if we're too shy to celebrate it. Merry Christmas FR!

[jmp702]

Bump number 3

[mafree]

..Teaching children about Kwanzaa, rather than about the Christmas carols and spirituals developed by blacks, inculcates negative lessons about whites instead of positive ones about blacks...

The author is misinformed about Kwanzaa.

First, Kwanzaa was not set up to replace Christmas and most blacks who celebrate Kwanzaa also celebrate Christmas. There is simply no need to choose between one or the other unless one wants to.

Second, Kwanzaa does not teach hatred of anyone, but encourages a greater appreciation of black/African culture. Anyone who thinks Kwanzaa encoruages negativity against whites doesn't know what they're talking about.

I have celebrated Kwanzaa for a long time and still plan to do so this year.

[redrock]

BUMP!!!!!

redrock

[Doctor Stochastic]

Obviously the author of the article is ignorant of American Christmas traditions. The piñata has been used in New Mexico (not to mention other areas of the US and Latin America) for centuries. link link

[who knows what evil?]

And how ashamed He would be if He could see the festival of greed it has become.

I can assure you...He sees EVERYTHING with a clarity far beyond our ability to comprehend.

[KirkandBurke]

"...the undeniably depressing nature of the continuing and expanding assault against Christmas..."

Anti-Frankfurtian BUMP!!

[AppyPappy]

My daughters school is 98% white and they do Kwanzaa. It's a marketing tool and a product of some shyster's fertile imagination. Ask any African. One of the Ghana professors here got in trouble for calling it "Slave Days".

[Northern Yankee]

Just finished reading Peggy Noonan's Column titled, "What have we learned?" in the Wall Street Journal.

She cites how Father Rutler, a Catholic priest, gave Final Absolution to scores of firemenn before they went rushing into the WTC.

My point here is that our Christian faith is still as strong as ever, no matter what some academics may want to do in discouraging the celebration of Christmas.

Be of good cheer, and go out there have a wonderful Christmas. God would expect no less!

Merry Christmas to you all!

[George Frm Br00klyn Park]

"All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the kings that ever reigned have not affected the life of man as much as that One Solitary Life - Jesus Christ of Nazareth."

"MERRY CHRISTMAS AND PEACE TO MEN OF GOOD WILL"

E-S, That bears repetition. Peace and love, George.

[mafree]

My daughters school is 98% white and they do Kwanzaa. It's a marketing tool and a product of some shyster's fertile imagination. Ask any African. One of the Ghana professors here got in trouble for calling it "Slave Days".

Kwanzaa has never been promoted as anything but an African-American non-religious celebration. It is now celebrated in parts of Africa but no one thinks it is African in origin.

The popularity of Kwanzaa is not due to "marketing," so much as it is to the fact that people tried it, liked it, and decided to celebrate it themselves. Its founder cannot control where or how it is celebrated, so if you or anyone else has a problem with it being celebrated in the schools, take it up with your school and/or school board.

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[tacticalogic]

It happened every time we turned it into a month long cornucopia of shopping and parties instead of an actual religious celebration that lasted for a day or two.

I think we just need to realize that what we really have going on are two different "Christmases". The religious Christmas that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, and the commercial/social Christmas that is the parties and shopping.

AFAIK virtually every culture in the Northern Hemisphere has engaged in some kind of social celebrations this time of year. Personally I suspect it may be partially driven by the fact that we aren't getting enough sunlight, and we're getting crabby and restless. Somehow we have come to call this social event "Christmas". But it is still just a label, a word, the mutterings of imperfect mortals. True believers will know and understand the difference. Non believers may yet some day, but for the the present, I see no good to be had by cursing them for what they do out of ignorance.

I can only make sure I keep the "Christmases" separate in my life, and while I may celebrate the social Christmas with friends and co-workers, and people I meet on the street, I reserve the celebration of the birth of Jesus to my heart, my home, and my church.

[tacticalogic]

I can assure you...He sees EVERYTHING with a clarity far beyond our ability to comprehend.

I believe he does. I also believe he must find much of what we mortal fools do rather humorous, even though believing in a God with a sense of humor seems to put me at odds with organized religion frequently.

[bleudevil]

I agree about the "assault from within," but in my experience as a Midwesterner, Reform Jews haven't "whined" about Christmas. Some Jewish co-workers usually volunteered to work on Christmas day so others could have the day off. I don't remember anyone volunteering to work for them on Jewish holy days.

[junta]

I'm a Pagan and I have no problem with Christmas, but I do have a problem with multiculturalists.

[Thorin]

Thanks for posting this article!

[Marysecretary]

Good post, but sad as well. I will always say Merry Christmas. They're not going to take that away from me or my family. I'm so tired of multi-culturalism, blah, blah,blah. It's anti-christianity. That's what it all boils down to. Put your kids in Christian schools and you can avoid this kind of nonsense, or homeschool them. At least teach them the real meaning of Christmas at home. They need something to counteract this nonsense. MERRY CHRISTMAS, FREEPERS!

[Marysecretary]

I refuse to buy anything but cards that mention Jesus. It's HIS birthday, nobody else's. I send them to my Jewish friends, african-american friends, etc.