Taking Back Christmas

(This column first appeared in print December 11, 2006)

I love this time of year. The inordinate insanity of snapping the perfect Christmas card photo you won’t be ashamed to see years later; Ella Fitzgerald singing about a sleigh ride; finding and selecting the perfect Christmas tree that will draw enough water over the season so as not to threaten your home with a small bonfire; and yes, the shopping.
Generally I dislike the rampant negative cash flow associated with this most materialistic of holidays, and yet, I love to see the looks of a tree overwhelmed by the packages beneath it. I love the cheer, the merriment, and joy that Is Christmas morning.
Lately, though, I’ve come to notice a serious decline in Christmas cheer. Oh yes, even in this hamlet tucked between two interstate highways, Christmas is in danger. Store employees wish everyone Happy Holidays. Once, just before Thanksgiving a young employee of a grocery store wished me ‘Happy Holidays.’
“It’s Thanksgiving. You can say Happy Thanksgiving, it’s not religious.”
She got the point, but she wasn’t the only person I corrected.
I can’t stand this garbage-speak where we are so afraid of offending someone we actually refrain from trying to make people feel good.
Needham is doing away with printing the names of honor roll students in the paper so that the kids that didn’t make the honor roll won’t feel bad. Here’s a thought, I’d bet the schools and the paper both would love to print the names of every single kid in town if they all worked hard to earn the grades. Rather than reward the kids that worked to achieve something, and thereby reinforce a strong work ethic, Needham wants to hide it, put it away so no one will feel left out.
‘Happy Holidays’ is a similar sort of trap. Rather than offend non-Christians we say this catch-all phrase that’s effectively meaningless. Maybe it means ‘shop more’ or ‘I hope you don’t get indigestion from eating too much’ or ‘I hope you get what you want.’ Perhaps the phrase is supposed to capture the spirit of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Saturnalia, and school vacation, all wrapped up in one innocuous and inoffensive package. Instead, the perfidy of the phrase just aggravates me.
If you are Jewish wish me Happy Hanukkah. If you are Muslim, please wish me a prosperous Eid ul-Adha. If you celebrate Kwanzaa, share something of your plans with me. If you’re a dead Roman, wish me Io, Saturnalia. And I will wish you all a Merry Christmas.
Its not about offending or not offending people that do not hold the same beliefs. Taking the time to share part of your faith or culture that matters very much to you is a little gift. Accepting that gift, rather than throwing it back, is yet another way to show respect and dignity to your fellow man, or dead pagan, as it were.
Would that all those politically correct hacks and obnoxious bigots got down off their jackasses and took a little time to share in the true spirit of the season, rather than defend their virgin ears against a preceived religious assault. What a difference a little listening might make…
But good news abounds. During the tree lighting ceremony in Tewksbury last week, Board of Selectmen Chairman Charles Coldwell wished everyone a “Merry Christmas.” He said it, I was there. I witnessed the moment and smiled.