Don't You Mean Christmas?

A former Facebook friend recently commented derisively that I had named a photo album 'holidays' instead of Christmas, and inquired as to why.  So I thought I'd address that question here.

1) My friends include a wide variety of people with different beliefs and viewpoints.  The term holiday for me includes at this time of the year Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year.  However, my Jewish friends may choose to celebrate Hanukkah.  My British friends won't be celebrating Thanksgiving with me.  And this is all okay.  It is the holiday season and you can celebrate or not celebrate whatever you want.

2) Jesus was not born at Christmas.  Sorry Christians, but he just wasn't.  Look at the Bible; when Mary and Joseph went to give birth to Jesus in Bethlehem the shepherds were sleeping in the fields with their flock.  That's how they saw the magic star in the sky.  Well in that part of the world it was too cold to be out in December, so shepherds would certainly not be outside at that time of year.  Also, the reason Joseph and Mary were going to Bethlehem was because of the census.  Because of the extreme weather at that time of year they would never call a census in December.  Weather conditions would again be too harsh.  So just those two pieces of evidence alone shows us that Jesus was definitely not born in December.  Not to mention the fact that the Bible does not at any point claim that Jesus was born in December.

3) Christians hijacked Christmas!  The pagan festival of winter included the tradition of bringing a tree inside for good luck.  That's why we have Christmas trees.  It has nothing to do with Christianity or Jesus.  Early Christians simply repurposed a popular holiday and labeled it Jesus' birthday.  So let's not get all indignant that people with different beliefs do not capitulate and accept the incorrect notion that Christmas is the birthday of Jesus.

While we're on the subject of the supposed war on Christmas, I also wanted to mention that it is NOT an affront to Christianity to write Xmas instead of Christmas.  Xmas in fact is a historic abbreviation 'mas' coming from the Latin derived Old English for mass.  The X is from the Greek Chi, the first letter of the word 'Χριστός' which translates as Christ.

So it is a Fox News type of lie that Xmas is disrespectful or part of the fictional 'war on Christmas.'  It was in fact a historical term for Christmas dating back to the 16th century.

The bottom line here is that the holiday season means a lot of different things to a lot of different people.  But let's stop pretending that there is some kind of war on Christmas.  No one in the free world is prevented from putting up a tree, stuffing their face with food, and pretending that Jesus was born in a stable on December 25th.

Just enjoy the holidays, whatever they mean to you, and stop trying to heap your beliefs on others at this time of year.

You Can't Steal My Christmas

YOU CAN'T STEAL MY **CHRISTMAS*

Poem by Sharon Steege

I don't know who they are
Saying I can't greet the crowd
The way that I want to
Can't say **CHRISTMAS** out loud.

I walk into a business place
See things that I rather not see
But dare I not say **CHRISTMAS**
And ask for a 'holiday' tree.

What happened to freedom of speech
And living in the land of the free
How can they take my **CHRISTMAS** money
But can't say **MERRY CHRISTMAS** to me.

Men and women have given their lives
So we could still go free
I wonder how they would feel
At saying HOLIDAY TREE.

Come on AMERICA let's wake up
Don't let our freedom escape
If they get by with doing this
What else will they take.

This is starting to get out of hand,
And I've begun to keep track
Well I've just about had enough
I'M TAKING CHRISTMAS BACK.*

So MERRY CHRISTMAS AMERICA **
I hope this gets all over the net
If we all stand united and take freedom back
'Twill be our best CHRISTMAS YET!

Merrrrry Christmas and Happy Birthday Jesus !

***

Someone I know sent me the above email. It's the same old nonsense we hear every year. Christmas is being stolen blah blah blah. War on Christmas blah blah.

First off, there is no war on Christmas. The only reason that some businesses choose to use a more generic term is because we live in a society where non-Christians live. These businesses would like to include all non-Christians in an enjoyable celebration (slash consumer orgy). It's not that they are 'afraid' or that they hate Jesus, it is simply trying to be nice to everyone. Nice meaning wishing to take money equally from all consumers.

Secondly, the footnote about Jesus' birthday is clearly misguided. There is no compelling evidence in the Bible that Jesus was born on December 25th. None whatsoever.

The fact is there was no knowledge when the Bible was written as to when exactly Jesus was born. So the church simply selected celebration day of the Roman god Sol (god of the Sun).

The book of Luke tells us that Mary and Joseph were forced to travel to Bethlehem to as part of a government census ordered by Caesar Augustus. But such an order would be hugely impractical in December, due to the harsh weather at that time of the year.

If you take the time to do the research, consider what the shepherds were doing at the time, consider the astrological evidence regarding a big noticeable star. It all points to Jesus NOT being born on December 25th.

So let's not pretend there is a war on Christmas, especially here in America. And let's not try and pretend that Jesus was born in a stable in Bethlehem on December 25th. Because even the Bible doesn't support that theory.

And finally, since when did an asterisk become part of an acceptable poem structure?