My "Holiday" Editorial

Okay, normally, I LOVE Christsmas. Love everything about Christmas, the snow, the songs, the trees, the food... all of it. BUT, this is really starting to get me irritated.

Christmas vs. Holiday.

What the hell is this all about anyway? Holiday trees? So, what, we put them up for the 4th of July too? Ooh, or maybe for Labor Day! Better yet, Arbor Day! Hey, they're holiday TREES, so why not use them to celebrate Arbor day? Like one of my coworkers said (and no offense meant to anyone who reads this and is Jewish), "We don't call a menorah 'Holiday candles.'" Or, as the woman said on CNN said, "Maybe we should stop calling Veterans Day Veterans Day because not everyone in the country is a veteran."
"The Boston Christmas tree situation is symbolic of what's happening ... around the country," said Mathew Staver, president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel. "Government officials, either because of misinformation, or private retailers, for politically correct reasons, are trying to secularize Christmas. "To rename a Christmas tree as a holiday tree is as offensive as renaming a Jewish menorah a candlestick," Mr. Staver said. (Taken from: http://washingtontimes.com/metro/20051129-120703-5977r.htm)

I told John the other day, this country has become so politically correct, it's offensive. Lowe's, the home improvement store, decided to advertise selling Holiday trees (see this referenced story here: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47634), yet the banner on the front of the store said in Spanish that they were selling Christmas trees. Go figure. "The American Family Association says its supporters contacted Lowe's to express their displeasure. The company responded in a statement: 'To ensure consistency of our message and to avoid confusion among our customers, we are now referring to the trees only as 'Christmas Trees.' We have also removed a banner that read 'Holiday Trees' from the front of our stores.'"

"'It's good to know Lowe's is a company that listens to their customers, a rarity in today's politically correct retail marketplace,' [AFA President Tim Wildmon] said. Wildmon added, 'Since they can't take Christ out of Christmas, many national retailers are trying to simply do away with Christmas.'"

Can't take Christ out of Christmas? Why the heck would you WANT to?! Every holiday has it's basis in something. This one just happens to be based in the Christian faith!

In Boston, the furor of changing the name of the city's Christmas tree to a Holiday tree was intense. "The Nova Scotia logger who cut down the 48-foot (14-meter) tree was indignant and said he would not have donated the tree if he had known of the name change.

'I'd have cut it down and put it through the chipper,' Donnie Hatt told a Canadian newspaper. 'If they decide it should be a holiday tree, I'll tell them to send it back. If it was a holiday tree, you might as well put it up at Easter.'" (See the story here: http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2005-11-25T225326Z_01_KRA582362_RTRUKOC_0_US-LIFE-TREE.xml&rpc=22) "Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said he would keep calling the Nova Scotia spruce a "Christmas tree" regardless of what it said on the city's official Web site. 'I grew up with a Christmas tree, I'm going to stay with a Christmas tree,' Menino told reporters on Thursday."

The following came from this website: http://washingtontimes.com/metro/20051129-120703-5977r.htm
Calling a Christmas tree a Christmas tree has become a politically charged prospect in jurisdictions across the country -- from Boston to Sacramento and in dozens of communities in between.
"It's a growing problem," said Jared N. Leland, spokesman and legal counsel for the Becket Fund, a District-based legal and educational institute. "Celebrating the season with Christmas trees ... and leaving them named 'Christmas' is simply recognizing the religious nature of people. Christmas should be able to be called Christmas."

But enough from what the newspapers and online articles have to say about everything. Thanks to some guy on the raido Friday, I'm even over the use of X-mas instead of Christmas. Apparently the use of that came from the Greek, as the letter Chi (pronounced ki) is written looking like the letter X, and is equvalent to the letters "Ch" in English. Therefore, it was just shortened.
I know most of this stuff is about the difference between a Christmas tree and a holiday tree. That's probably because that's where most of the argument has been. But let me tell you what I believe:
I believe that everyone has the right to celebrate the holiday of their choosing without fear of offending someone else.
I believe that Christmas should (and will!) always remain Christmas, regardless of what people try to do with it.
I believe that people can put a wreath, or a Merry Christmas doormat or a menorah in a highly visible spot and not have to feel threatened by doing it.
I believe that people who see that wreath, the Merry Christmas doormat or a menorah have enough moral values to know they are a symbol of the holiday that the person they belong to choose to celebrate and will respect them.
I believe in Christ, therefore, I believe in Christmas and the spirit of Christmas.
And, I believe that Dave Barry put it best when he said "In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it 'Christmas' and went to church; the Jews called it 'Hanukkah' and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say 'Merry Christmas!' or 'Happy Hanukkah!' or (to the atheists) 'Look out for the wall!'"