And to all a Good Night…
I believe in Santa Claus. I celebrate a secular Christmas and enjoy its trappings. Yes, it’s materialistic but materialism is fun, drives art and entertainment and creates jobs. Yes it’s gaudy, but people are gaudy, I don’t mind gaudy so much. It’s aimed at kids and, beautifully, makes them believe in wonder and magic. And then when they mature, when they pull aside the curtain, they can feel grownup. Magic isn’t real, but there’s a magic to maintaining the illusion for the next generation. No offense, I ignore the “war on Christmas.” For me it is a secular holiday, so I guess I’m on the “anti-Christian” side of the war. But I’m not here to preach and I personally don’t take sides. Worship as you like. I just wanted to stand up for my own non-religious reason for the season.
It’s the night before Christmas and all through my house
Not a creature was stirring, not even my mouse
The controllers were hung in the cabinet with care
Their cords twisted and tangled, a pile I can’t bear
Anyway, I forget how the rest goes and I’ve got to get back to Christmas Eve. Let me explain better about secular Christmas. I believe it’s more important to live like and with the advice of Jesus Christ (among others) and to be a good and just person at all times. That’s my commitment and it’s fundamentally Christian. Where I differ is that I don’t think it matters if I do this for a higher power, because it feels right, or because some cosmic authority figure has rules. I think you should be good, for the sake of good.
So I love the concept of Santa, the magic kids love about it. I take the Jesus out of Christmas and I’m left with a pretty tree, decorations, Santa Claus, generosity, charity, good food, family, and love.
So I say -warmly- Merry Christmas to all of you. Whether Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jedi, Mormon, or secular.
GamerMom is what’s called a “recovering Catholic” – she still believes in treating people right, she seems on board with my views, but the most important thing about her is her genuineness. She spends Christmas morning, with the kids, delivering meals to elderly shut ins. She still believes in Jesus, so she thinks this is a better way to serve him than plopping your butt down on a pew. I think she’s right and I love the impact it’s having on our kids.
The kids spent today watching the Grinch cartoon and then the Jim Carrey monstrosity (which they like), then we played about an hour of Mario Kart on the Wii, then 2 hours in the snow, now mom’s home so it’s pierogies
I’ll be back tomorrow with a Christmas story or two. For now, keep your eyes on the skies! And tonight when you’re saying your prayers – or wishing upon a star – hope for the poor and unemployed. They’ll need God and Luck to survive the coming economic storms.
Ugh. Downer. Sorry.
Merry Christmas from the GamerDad Family!
December 24th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
Merry Christmas GamerDad. Best wishes for you and your family this holiday.
December 25th, 2008 at 8:59 am
Moderation (in terms of materialism) is the key. Materialism is what led to the crisis in the mortgage industry and the massive taxpayer supported bailout.
As a Christian, I can appreciate that Christmas is both a secular and religious holiday and can enjoy and appreciate both.
December 25th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Actually wasn’t it more a lack of materialism in that most of the problem was the selling and reselling of things that sort of didn’t exist?
December 25th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Weird. This whole happy holidays “war on christmas” thing isn’t happening here in Britain. That’s certainly odd considering that Britain is much less religious than america. It’s probably because, in this country, no-one really views christmas as a christian holiday. When religion isn’t involved, there’s nothing for anyone to get annoyed about regarding christmas.
My close family is mainly made up of atheists and agnostics but that doesn’t stop us from celebrating christmas as much as everyone else. It’s been a great day so far!
Merry christmas to everyone!
December 25th, 2008 at 11:14 am
That did contribute, but a major portion was people getting mortgages that they couldn’t really afford and greedy brokers talking people into interest-only mortages or similar programs.
Some Guy, I think the GWOC (global war on Christmas) has been overhyped by the media. I doubt most people care whether the clerk at the store says Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays and Christans and non-Christians are free to celebrate in any way they want.
It has been a great day here, too. I think it is almost time open up Rock Band 2.
December 25th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
WOOHOO! I gots assassins creed and an X-box 360 for christmas! SHWEET! merry christmas!
December 25th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Uh yeah Some Guy but the “media” isn’t the one putting out weekly press releases on the subject. See Warren and Dobson.
December 25th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Oop!
I meant Steve S. I got Dead Space, Left 4 Dead, Fallout 3 for Xbox. I’m 15 and lovin’ life!
December 25th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Warren and Dobson are most certainly part of the “media”, in that they both have put themselves forth as some kind pundit.
How often do you hear the average person griping about the GWOC?
December 25th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Thanks for the hope, Bub 😉
December 25th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
This whole “war on christmas” thing doesn’t exist in any way here in the UK. The media doesn’t talk about it, people don’t talk about it, it’s always merry christmas, not happy holidays and nobody cares. Although it may be emphasised/exaggerated by the media, there’s still some sort of conflict in America that just doesn’t exist over here. I’m just wondering why it’s America that’s experiencing this conflict. It’s more American war on christmas than global war on christmas.
December 25th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
There’s no “War on Christmas”. To put it in perspective for a UK reader, it’s like any of the causes The Sun has come up with over the years, like this one.
December 25th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
It’s quite depressing that the sun can even call itself a newspaper.
So, basically, the “war on christmas” is something made up by the media and, in the grand scheme of things, there really isn’t a conflict at all?
December 25th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
There are numerous things that Americans are good at and one of them is getting outraged. Many things can cause this, such as sports teams losing, tort reform, and politics. I wouldn’t say that the GWOC is completely made up, but it certainly isn’t this major divide that some make it out to be.
Seriously, Americans don’t like being told they can or can’t do something. When people feel that whatever Christmas tradition they have is unwelcome or unwanted, they don’t like it. That being said, I don’t see it as all that big of a deal. I know that professional blowhards like Bill O’Reilly do, but he certainly doesn’t speak for everyone.