What Happened to Christmas as I Remember It?

Christmas time is my favorite time of the year.  As we age we look more back in time and instead of forward.  I think the reason for this is that our memories of  fun events are etched more vividly in our memory bank when we were young. I recall living in Ohio during the 50s & 60s how we hoped and prayed for a White Christmas. It just did not seem like Christmas unless it snowed.  Maybe it was Bing Crosby song and movie "White Christmas" that made us wish for it.  I also remember the TV shows that had a Santa Claus that read letters from young boys and girls and on Christmas Eve you would see him pack his bag and turn out the lights to end that year's show.  You knew he was on his way that night to your house to bring the goodies.  Do you remember special Christmas programs during the season.  Never were the shows called holiday shows.  These special presentations added so much more to the excitement of the season.  You see a few of these programs now but not many.  Why?  I know but you figure it out. 

I recall the Christmas season was truly a great time of charity and love and I believe it still is with one exception.  The assault from minority section of the population is something we never experienced during the 1960s.  Christmas Day  is a federal holiday and has been since 1870 when President Ulysses D. Grant made it a legal holiday.

I recall how the expression Merry Christmas was given with no hesitation not too long ago.  I also remember how we celebrated the season in our schools with musical assemblies. Christmas decorations  including the Nativity scene  were seen throughout the city without a complaint.  Today it is norm to try to remove a special meaning of the celebration when it offends just a few persons. that over 90% of the U.S. population recognizes.   I believe in freedom of religion not freedom from.  

Controversy and criticism continues in the present-day, where some Christian and non-Christians have claimed that an affront to Christmas (dubbed a "war on Christmas" by some) is ongoing. In the United States there has been a tendency to replace the greeting Merry Christmas with Happy Holidays. Groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union have initiated court cases to bar the display of images and other material referring to Christmas from public property, including schools. Such groups argue that government-funded displays of Christmas imagery and traditions violate the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which prohibits the establishment by Congress of a national religion. In 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Lynch vs. Donnelly that a Christmas display (which included a Nativity scene) owned and displayed by the city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island did not violate the First Amendment but in November 2009, the Federal appeals court in Philadelphia endorsed a school district's ban on the singing of Christmas carols.  What a shame.  We sang them in our school as part of the Christmas program.  Today due to trying not to offend anybody, the Christmas vacation iss now called Winter Break in the public schools. 

In the private sphere also, it has been alleged that any specific mention of the term "Christmas" or its religious aspects was being increasingly censored, avoided, or discouraged by a number of advertisers and retailers. In response, the American Family Association and other groups have organized boycotts of individual retailers. In the United Kingdom there have been some minor controversies, one of the most famous being the temporary promotion of the Christmas period as Winterval by Birmingham City Council in 1998. There were also protests in November 2009 when the city of Dundee promoted its celebrations as the Winter Night Light festival, initially with no specific Christmas references.

 

The attack has also gone to cable TV on Comedy Central on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart who in most cases has no appeal to the baby boomers.  His appeal is for the younger generation who seem to admire him and look at his show as real news. It has become a pitiful situation when he sells what he shovels as news and comedy. 

 

I remember the smiles, the laughter, the wide eyes of amazement from the young children, beautiful decorations and more importantly  the real reason we celebrate Christmas,   My God help us never to forget what we are celebrating and help us defend the true meaning of Christmas and our right to celebrate it.  Merry Christmas to all even to non believers.

Old Fashion Family Christmas Gathering

Yesterday was a great day and a reminder of Christmases of the past. All you baby boomers know of the the kind I am referring to. Christmas where the family gets together for a decorating party which gets one another in the Christmas spirit.

Actually it wasn't a planned event but occurred when my oldest grandson suggested to his dad, my son, that they should come over to our house and decorate the Christmas tree and put up the lights outside since his grandmother is on crutches after a recent surgery. My grandson knows I am not into the decorating Christmas trees scene. I do help with the lights, though.

My daughter and my granddaughter dropped in as well so we had everybody together. The only person missing was my other daughter who lives in Phoenix. What put the icing on the cake (with no pun intended) was it was also my wife's birthday so it was a pleasant surprise and a very nice day for her. With the Christmas music playing and the laughter and fun, it was a reminder of Christmases of the past when I was young and when my children were young. Also of the Christmases we had when my children were in elementary school. As all children of baby boomers grow older and have their own families, it seems we older generation are forgotten and not because we are not loved but because they have their own families and priorities now. My wife and I have the same fault in regards to her mother who lives in Florida. Since my father-in-law's death in 1992, she has lived alone there but it is her choice to spend Christmas there.

On the phone just early yesterday morning, my wife's mother said how much she wanted to have the entire family together including her two daughters, grandchildren and great grandchildren for Christmas. My mother-in-law is 82 and she keeps saying she doesn't have too many more Christmases left. I know this gathering won't happen this year but I sure would like to make it happen for her next Christmas. I believe nobody should be alone for Christmas. I have tried to get her to come here but she won't leave the warmth of Florida for the moderate weather of Texas which really isn't too bad for this time of year.

I pray that we can make it happen. Please don't forget our older family members this Christmas and if you have an older generation neighbor please visit them this holiday season because they may not have anybody.

On the subject of traditions; our tradition for Christmas is a Christmas Eve dinner after church with our family and then exchange one gift. On Christmas Day we have the traditional Christmas dinner with the family and more gift exchanges. Although Christmas is not about gifts, it is just one thing added to a holiday which is my most loved and I am sure that of most children. I still enjoy watching the gleam in the eyes of the little ones on Christmas morning. Walking through mall my eyes wander through the crowds watching the smiles and the excitement of the little ones. It so much reminds me of when my kids were small and of the excitement that I once experienced so many years ago.

This tradition I just described as now gone by the wayside. None of the family seems interested in doing them any longer. The Christmas Eve dinner disappeared and now the family Christmas dinner happens occasionally. I guess this baby boomer is getting too old to continue to make more memories of the this beloved season for his children.

Merry Christmas!

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Whatever Happened to "Merry Christmas?"

As of this entry there are just 27 more days until Christmas. In case I forget to tell all of my readers I want to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas.

I know most of you are aware how the word Christmas is being taken out of our celebration. In many schools it is called a winter holiday break instead of Christmas vacation. I remember when attending school in the 1960s that the word "Christmas" was not taboo. We had Christmas programs in school assemblies where Christmas religious songs were sung and the meaning of Christmas was explained and celebrated. So easy to understand. This country was founded under Christian ideology. The Pilgrims came here to escape religion persecution and to worship as they saw fit. As I look back I don't ever recall my school ever pushing a religion on anybody. We celebrated the Christmas season as we saw fit. After all, the Christian faith is the majority in this country then and now. I don't expect a Christian celebration in a country I was visiting or even living whose religion population is not Christian.

I remember also Nativity scenes displayed throughout the town and on city government and state government property. Nobody complained then. What has changed? Atheists are coming out of the closet to file lawsuits that it impedes on what they claim "their civil rights." What about the Christian majority civil rights? If we as a Christian majority don't speak up all we know as being sacred and dear to us will be stripped away. There are towns in these United States that are trying to ban Nativity scenes. They have even tried to ban them on private property but have failed on this thus far.

Two years ago Walmart did not allow the employees to wish you a "Merry Christmas" fearing they would offend somebody. You received "Happy Holiday" as a greeting. A large outcry and boycott of Walmart began and last year, "Merry Christmas" was once again permitted. This year, although the breakdown has been corrected, occurred at Lowe's. In there catalog they listed "Christmas Trees" as "Family Trees." Hearing the outcry and fearing a boycott and their customers shopping at Home Depot redid that page and changed "Family Trees" to "Christmas Trees."

I don't understand what merchants are scared of. Christians are the majority and spend most of the money. Why worry? Persons who have chosen to live here must adjust to our customs not we to them. If I lived in a Muslim country, for example, I wouldn't expect them to adjust to my customs. Can you imagine if you asked them to do that?

I have Jewish friends who celebrate Christmas in their own way. Believe me their children know why the school really takes a vacation at Christmas time. It's not because it is winter and time for a break. It is a tradition that has been around since my parents went to school.

Why can't we get back to the old tradional Christmases of the past. Keeping "Christ" in Christmas makes sense to me. Without Him there wouldn't being any Christmas. For those that don't believe in Christ then don't celebrate our holiday or complain about the celebration of Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

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