It's Christmas

I wrote this during the Christmas season in 2005;

12/01/06, the Christmas season has already started. The weekend was full of people jamming into stores to buy discounted merchandise. With that came a few tussles as some people who think that the rules don’t apply to them tried to cut into line.
Another sign of the season are the lawsuits by the so-called American Civil Liberties Union seeking to ban displays of the Nativity. Even the mention of Christmas sends Liberals into a tizzy, screaming that it is not “inclusive.”
Their rationale is that if Hindus, Muslims, and Jews don’t celebrate Christmas, then no one else should.
Let me see. I’m not a Hindu, so I don’t celebrate any Hindu festivals. I’m not a Muslim, so I don’t celebrate Eid. I’m not Jewish, so I don’t celebrate Hanukah. Does that mean that they should not celebrate then because I’m not included?
In this society it seems proper to exclude certain groups in the name of “diversity” and “inclusion.” This means discrimination against Christians and any holidays associated with Christianity.
For example:1. Displays of Nativity scenes on town squares have been labeled “government pushing religion” regardless of what the majority of a town’s residents mat think. Now it takes one “offended” person to spoil everyone’s Christmas.
2. Schools have banned Christmas Hymns from their programs in fear of offending non-Christians who might attend.
3. A suburb prohibited the display of the colors red and green because they were considered “too Christian.”
4. A school has now banned the display of Christmas trees and Santa Claus. The rationale was that these were symbols of Christmas and therefore “Christian.”
5. The phrase “Merry Christmas” is now considered “religious harassment.” Terms such as “Happy Holidays” and “Seasons Greetings” are accepted as politically correct. Major retailers, citing their international customers, have accepted this policy.
6. Another retailer has banned the Salvation Army from setting up their collection kettles in front of their stores.
7. A lawyer, like clockwork, starts a lawsuit trying to force the US Government to remove Christmas from the list of Federally recognized holidays. He always loses.

These among many…..

It does not help that Christmas has become more commercialized in the past 40 years. Today it seems to be a whirlwind of parties, celebrations, concerts, TV specials (including multiple showings of It’s a Wonderful Life) and such. This year (2005) while people were watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Christmas Sale commercials were already playing. The discount stores were open at 5 a.m. to begin the shopping season. Some places needed riot police to keep order.

My favorite past time during the season is to go to the mall and watch people screaming as they run from one store to the other. Sometimes there is a case of spontaneous combustion as the shopper blows up from the pressure, accompanied by the presents rolling across the floor. Usually it goes like this:AAAAAAAAAA…………….ack……….ack…………BOOM!!.........rattle rattle.

My second favorite past time is thinking of ways to dispose of the most dangerous substance mankind has ever produced……fruitcake.
This is that concoction of candied fruit that is sent all over the world. These cakes have been likened to weapons of mass destruction, which is interesting since they are indestructible.
The average half-life of a standard fruitcake is about 1,000,000 years. Far more than plutonium.

Top ten ways to dispose of a Fruitcake:

Medieval Artillery Devices: Catapult, Trebuchet, Sling-shot. Partial to Roman Ballistae.
High Explosives: But I’m not allowed to use them within city limits.
Acid: The fruit just soaked up the acid and smiled.
Nuclear Reactors: The power boosted 500%. (Hmmm…a new fuel source?)
Running it over with a tank: Broke too many treads.
Baseball Bats: Several bats got broken.
Golf Clubs: Got chased off the course.
Dropped off a building: The sidewalk got cratered.
Fire: didn’t do a thing.
Nuclear Weapons: That idea got nixed because the government stopped tests in the 1990s.

Even though this has been satire pointed at fruitcakes, this is how some people think about the confection. Meanwhile, I’ll go get my trebuchet.

The Real meaning of Christmas:
As people rush to and fro to make their purchases, decorate their houses, prepare meals and desserts, travel to see relatives, and attend the office party, it is easy to forget the reason for the season.

According to Christians, such as myself, December 25 is set aside to mark the birth of Jesus Christ, God in human form and Savior of mankind. The reason I said set aside is that the exact date had never been recorded. Here is what I do know:This was during the reign of Ceasar Augustus, also known as Octavian, the 1st Roman Emperor. In the book of Luke, Chapter 2, it is recorded that Octavian ordered a census of all who lived in the Empire. This count was essential for the purpose of taxation. This required heads of households and their families to travel to their ancestral home to register with Roman authorities. This is why Joseph had to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem. He was descended from the line of King David, who was from Bethlehem, so any descendents had to travel there. Joseph had to travel with his wife, Mary, who was already pregnant with Jesus. God allowed her to get pregnant, without the sexual requirement, in order to fulfill the prophecy that the Messiah was to be born of a virgin. Here is the reason why this date could not have been in December. Even in the Middle East it can get cold and snowy. Travel during that time, especially on foot and even with donkeys, would be treacherous at best. The logistics required for a census including the possibility of sea travel, which was seldom done in winter, required things to be done in late Spring or early Summer. Scholars have narrowed the date of Jesus’ birth to either 7 or 6 B.C. between March and June.The date of December 25 was chosen by the Council of Nicaea, almost 400 years after Christ’s birth. The date actually coincided with the Roman holiday of Saturnalia, a winter festival which celebrated “the birth of the sun,” meaning that this was the time that daily sunlight had begun to increase (it seems that there was scant knowledge of the Earth’s axial tilt at the time). All the council had to do was change “sun” to “Son” and there you have it.

Other things to consider:What we have come to know as the Nativity scene did not happen at once.
Joseph and Mary were probably in Bethlehem several weeks before Jesus was born.
Middle Eastern customs would have had Joseph and Mary taken in by distant relatives or complete strangers. “No room at the inn” may have meant that there was no room in the guest accommodation that would have been at the upper level of a common house. Inns as we know them did not exist, but there might have been taverns with a few sleeping accommodations.
The Manger was actually the box in which hay was placed for the feeding of farm animals.
There would have been shepherds who arrived that night, since they were in the local area.
The Wise Men arrived from as near as Persia (now Iran) or even as far as India, which would have been a 1 ½ to 2 year trip to reach the area.
The census was a lengthy process, which would have required Joseph and Mary to still be in Bethlehem when the Wise Men arrived.
It does not really matter all the ins and outs of Jesus birth. What matters is that He was born. There was one mission, to redeem mankind. In order to do that, He had to be born as a human being and live as one (a future essay will address that).

The other Christmas traditions came later;
Christmas trees were a German invention.
Santa Claus is based on Saint Nicholas, a person born in Turkey and is revered around December 8 in Europe.
Santa’s present form may be an American invention, however other countries have different versions.
Lights on the tree have been attributed to Martin Luther, but that has not been confirmed.
Holidays were generally feast days, so that would account for the massive dinners.
Kissing under the mistletoe seems to have originated in Britain. The use of mistletoe and holly may have originated with the Druids.
Christmas was actually banned by Puritans, who considered the holiday papist (meaning Catholic) and therefore a sin.
It soon cane back into favor.
The act of singing carols was called “wassailing.” This was also a drink.Britain’s traditional Boxing Day (December 26) is thought to originate with the tradition of the lord of the manor giving gifts to the servants.

Based on my beliefs:
THIS IS CHRISTMAS
NOT A “HOLIDAY FESTIVAL”
NOT A “WINTER HOLIDAY”
THERE ARE NO “HOLIDAY TREES”
IT’S CHRISTMAS
THERE IS NO REASON TO BAN OR LIMIT IT.
IF I WANT TO CALL IT CHRISTMAS, NO ONE HAS THE POWER OR THE RIGHT TO STOP ME!
YOU CAN CALL IT ANYTHING YOU WANT, BUT YOU DON’T HAVE THE RIGHT TO FORCE ME TO CALL IT WHAT YOU WANT!