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December 04, 2005
(Disclaimer: This post probably deserves more time than I am going to give it, but I have dishes to do.)
I'm excited about one day having kids. I think it's going to be a hoot. I'm so excited that I spend time thinking about how I'll raise them. One issue that's concerned me for a while is: should my children celebrate Christmas?
A little more than a week ago, my second favorite living biologist posted about the supposed liberal war on Christmas. Myers joked,
In a few weeks, this atheist's war on Christmas will begin in earnest when I take the family out to the local tree farm, pick out a fine Christmas tree, take a sleigh ride, and drink hot apple cider in an old barn with a bunch of other anarchists. It will culminate with presents under the tree and a big dinner and happy phone calls to all the relatives scattered around the country. Thus will the moral rectitude of our nation be undermined.
This got me thinking.
Today, there's an editorial in the New York Times which provides more food for thought. Apparently (I don't keep up with these things) conservative pundits are all up in arms because, for example, Wal-Mart has a "Holiday" sale, rather than a "Christmas" promotion.
On the eve of the Civil War, Christmas was recognized in just 18 states.Christmas gained popularity when it was transformed into a domestic celebration, after the publication of Clement Clarke Moore's "Visit from St. Nicholas" and Thomas Nast's Harper's Weekly drawings, which created the image of a white-bearded Santa who gave gifts to children. The new emphasis lessened religious leaders' worries that the holiday would be given over to drinking and swearing, but it introduced another concern: commercialism. By the 1920's, the retail industry had adopted Christmas as its own, sponsoring annual ceremonies to kick off the "Christmas shopping season."
Religious leaders objected strongly. The Christmas that emerged had an inherent tension: merchants tried to make it about buying, while clergymen tried to keep commerce out. A 1931 Times roundup of Christmas sermons reported a common theme: "the suggestion that Christmas could not survive if Christ were thrust into the background by materialism." A 1953 Methodist sermon broadcast on NBC - typical of countless such sermons - lamented that Christmas had become a "profit-seeking period." This ethic found popular expression in "A Charlie Brown Christmas." In the 1965 TV special, Charlie Brown ignores Lucy's advice to "get the biggest aluminum tree you can find" and her assertion that Christmas is "a big commercial racket," and finds a more spiritual way to observe the day.
This year's Christmas "defenders" are not just tolerating commercialization - they're insisting on it.
This week the White House is lighting both a Christmas tree, and a "holiday tree." Some stores are apparently selling "holiday trees", as well. Are there any people who buy them, but don't celebrate Christmas?
My concern, as a future parent, is that I think Christmas is awesome. For the same reasons that PZ Myers does -- for the cider, and the tree, and the family. I think gift-giving is a lot of fun; I like to have to sit and think about each of my loved ones, and what would make each of them happiest.
However, I don't want my kids to recieve a mixed message about Christianity. They should understand that it's not OK for the majority of the country to assume that everyone shares their religion. I side with non-Christian parents who don't want their children to have a "Christmas pageant" or to make "Christmas cards" at school.
So, if my children ask why we observe this one of many Christian rituals, what am I supposed to say?
"Habit."?
"I want you to truly appreciate movies like A Christmas Story and Scrooged."?
Anyone have any thoughts on this? Is anyone else willing to start actively celebrating "the Holidays" with me? Anyone want to put a "holiday" tree in his or her house, and call it that? Anyone want to actively celebrate Santa Claus and Jingle Bells and warm drinks when it's snowing outside? Is it still ok to call it Christmas if we do, and should we even want to?
Update: Maybe we should be celebrating a holiday dedicated to Giblets.
Update 2: This is priceless. It took me a minute of staring to really get it. Way to go, Fox News. (From Keith.)
p.s. you wrote this post on my birthday!
We also grew up with notions of a giant egg falling and failing to be put back together by men and their horses; a tiny boy who did nothing but jump over a candlestick; and a moon that was, quite literally, made out of cheese.
Have these folk stories, these tales that taught a moral or simply entertained, ruined our lives to the point that we should want to shelter our offspring from them?
Here's a better idea. Stop worrying about a fat man and his eight tiny reindeer. Start focusing on tolerance. Closing your children off to the world is an easy way to become a pretentious oaf with no sense of fun. Stop taking things so seriously. If Jewish people want to celebrate (this is hyperbolic) a character name Chanukah Harry (ala SNL) who delivers toys to good Jewish boys and girls, I'd have no problem with that. If nonreligious people celebrate Christmas as a festival of goodwill and affection (as I do), who says there needs to be mention of God or Jesus? Bill O'Reilly? Forgive me, but I'd sooner take advice from the inside of a beer cap.
The point is that there are (sadly) certain inevitabilities in society that must be confronted. Lots, if not most, are unpopular: racism, genderism, bigotry of any kind, idiocy, government programs, traffic laws, cigarette bans, and the invention of the Dunkachino. Others, less harmful, should be taken for what they are and pulled out of their sacred arena. Why are people who don't celebrate Christmas so offended by it? I'm not black, which upsets some of my fellow 2Pac fans, but I don't have a problem with Black History Month. I'm not a mother and never will be, but I don't have a problem with Mother's Day. I'm also yet to be a veteran, and I have no problem with Veteran's Day. We should remember that there are just some things people celebrate that don't involve us personally. But participating in their tradition is a way of investing yourself in the country's culture. I don't have to know what it's like to be demeaned for the color of my skin to respect Black History Month; or deal with screaming 2-year-olds to honor mothers. I also don't think I'd need to be a member of the British citizentry to let loose and have fun on Guy Fawkes Day.
I think it's what the big book, the Dictionary, calls tolerance and open-mindedness. The idea that there's more to the world than yourself. Does that mean Christmas shouldn't be shoved in your face? Sure. But does that also mean you should feel uncomfortable whenever a co-worker offers a "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays"? Semantics aside, the intention is the same. It's a wish of happiness, of health, and general well-being. Is that really so bad? Why not brush it off, and join in their celebration? Offer them a big, wet "Merry Christmas" back at them.
Like Todd, I probably haven't given this the thought it deserves, but I'm still willing to post it on the internet for all to read. And eventhough it's January now, I'm still willing to say Merry Christmas. After all, it's the intention that counts.
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