A Christmas Wish: Can't We All Just Get Along?

A few days ago, I posted the following status to Facebook:

“Re all the current ‘War on Christmas’ rhetoric posted on FB: No one I know is offended by the phrase ‘Merry Christmas.’ I'm not, and I haven't been a Christian for many years. At this holiday season, does it really do any of us any good to manufacture bad feelings that never existed in the first place? Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it, and peace on Earth and goodwill toward all. Namaste!”

It got a lot of positive feedback, but it also puzzled a few people. What was I talking about? They hadn’t seen anything like that from their Facebook friends.

So I thought I would share the content of the status that inspired me to post, as well as expand my thoughts on the matter.

First, the inspiration: A former high school classmate posted, “MERRY CHRISTMAS! If that offends you, get over it! JESUS is the REASON for the SEASON!”

Now, throughout the build-up to the big day, I’ve been seeing similar postings, mostly from former classmates, and I’ve let them go without comment. I don’t have any problem with such phrases as “happy holidays” or “season’s greetings,” and I don’t see why anyone would find them problematic, but apparently there’s a lot of umbrage out there about more inclusive holiday greetings—umbrage that to me seems ill-placed. But whatever. It was the tone of this status that I found particularly counter to the spirit of the holiday season. My way or the highway! Almost as if the person who posted it was counting on offending those who don’t celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday. Or those who celebrate other holidays at this time of the year. And was, in fact, proud of doing so.

Initially, I was simply going to post my response as a comment on her status. Then I thought, “No. I think other people need to see this. With the number of similar (though not as strident) posts I’ve seen in the last few weeks, I figured I couldn’t be the only person, Christian or not, who, while not being the least bit offended by the greeting “Merry Christmas,” is plenty annoyed by the ginned up outrage over an issue that doesn’t, in fact, exist, and that the pursuit of which does nothing but divide.

So I posted my reply as my status.

And I simply have to add a bit of a history lesson here—I was a Social Studies editor for years, after all—Jesus is ONE of the “reasons” for the season. In fact, most human cultures that developed in the Temperate Zone of the Northern Hemisphere held some kind of celebration around the Winter Solstice. After all, what better way to encourage a society to work together to brave the cold, dark winter than to celebrate with a festival of warmth and light? For the Celts and other northern European pagans, the festival was Yule. For the Romans, it was Saturnalia—the holiday that the early Christian church actually appropriated as Christmas. A wise move, really, but if those who tout Jesus as the reason for the season want to be accurate, they should acknowledge that Saturn predates Jesus if they want a reason for the season in the first place. The truth is, there are probably as many “reasons for the season” as there are humans who celebrate at this time of year.

And yes, I celebrate Christmas, even though I’ve been an agnostic now for much longer than I ever was a Christian. I give presents to friends. I decorate. I enjoy the company of friends and family. I sing Christmas carols and drive Jeff nuts playing them for hours on end. I force him to endure Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol year after year after year. Yes, I celebrate. And no, I’m not the least bit offended when someone wishes me a Merry Christmas.

So to all my friends, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Season’s Greetings, Blessed Yule, and to all, a good night!

An Old-Fashioned Tree

Remember a few days ago when I was waxing nostalgic about mid-twentieth century Christmas trees, dripping with tinsel icicles made of lead? Well, I've been looking through the family photos in my possession, trying to find a good example. And look! I did.

That is yours truly up there, all of five years old, ripping paper off what looks to be a rather large present.

See the way the icicles drape and shimmer? They are heavy, and so they weigh the boughs down a bit. I just love this look.

Here's the same tree on the same day back lo, those many years ago:



Look how sedate I am! But don't be fooled.

During my photo-hunt, I came across a lovely picture--one that warms my heart. It's my mom and dad on their first or second wedding anniversary, in front of their Christmas tree just dripping with tinsel. My dad, an amateur photographer, put the camera on a tripod and set the timer--and this was the result:



Aren't they a cute couple? This would have been in their apartment in Schenectady, NY, in either 1946 or 1947.

Anyway, I know that Christmas is over and that even Epiphany is a memory, but it's always nice to get all misty-eyed over a past that shimmers.

The Christmas of the Unbreakable Tree

You know I like the shiny stuff. And among the shiniest of shiny stuff are Christmas ornaments--especially old glass ones with a shimmery patina that evokes those old fashioned trees dripping with tinsel and baubles.

The tinsel I gave up on years ago. After they stopped selling the lead tinsel icicles (and for good reason, don't get me wrong!), it was nearly impossible to get that old look with the plastic substitute. I did see a tree once that came close. It was the huge lobby tree at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco in the late 1980s, and it was festooned with tinsel--gobs of it. I realized then that the trick was to put on as much as the tree could possibly hold, and you'd approximate the look of an old-fashioned tree. But with a kitty, such things are impossible. The very least that can happen is that the kitty will end up prancing around with a thread of silver plastic hanging from her butt. The worst--you don't even want to go there.

So, we started using aluminum icicles with hooks on the end. They're not exactly the same, but they look nice, and no kitty will try to ingest them. Well, maybe a kitty will TRY, but the kitty will not succeed. If you look closely, you will see them on this tree--our 2008 tree:



If you look closely, you'll notice something else as well. The only glass ornament on the whole tree is the spire at the top.

This was for all our protection.

You see, the late, lamented Shelly would lounge beneath the tree, but the zaftig feline queen would not attempt to climb it. Too much effort. And too much cat. And she knew it, too.

But Mifune...

The little demon. You can just tell what she's contemplating, can't you?

She was up in the tree before I could even get the thing put together all the way.

So, reluctantly, I kept the vintage glass ornaments in their tissue paper. Instead, I trotted out the nonbreakable ornaments--and I was surprised at how many of those I had! Little elves with candy canes. A plastic penguin. Some spangled Christmas balls, adorned with paillettes. Little wreaths and candy canes my mom made with plastic beads on a crafting kick a quarter of a century ago... Lots of things I had forgotten. Not as shimmery a tree, no. But not a bad tree, all told.

Nothing but a spray bottle of water kept the little samurai kitty away from that tree. The expensive spray we bought at the pet store didn't do a thing. Neither did the moat of aluminum foil we placed around the tree. She hopped over it. The orange extract and water mixture we sprayed on the tree kept her at a distance for a while, but it wore off pretty fast.

No, the only thing that would keep her away from the fake conifer was the spray bottle--by the time the tree was up a week, all I had to do was pick the bottle up, and she took off down the hall.

Of course, I know she was up there when we were gone or otherwise engaged... after all, I caught her headed down the hall with a papier-mache dinosaur in her mouth, hook hanging.

And as I took the decorations down the other day, I couldn't find one of my favorites--not a glass ornament, but one that I've hung on the tree every year since I bought it my first Christmas in San Francisco, at Macy's where I was temping in the personnel department. I feared the worst--after all, it was a little nest with two little birds in it. It wasn't until I started unhooking the lights one by one that I found it, under the tree on the far side. Clearly, the fearsome huntress had snagged it from its place on the tree. And clearly, she had tried to eat it. And succeeded in part. One of the birdies was missing its feathery tail.

Hmmm. No wonder Mifune seems partial to the food with chicken in it.

Well, maybe next year I'll try a glass ornament or two, provided she has calmed down a bit. Right now, she's just a bundle of energy, and most of the time we're home with her is proverbial kitty crazy time.

No matter--I hope everyone's Christmas was peaceful and full of joy.