'My' Holiday?
A few days ago my mother inquired, via email, if I would be celebrating Christmas this year. She figured that since I'm now a Christian and Christmas is therefore now 'my' holiday that I might change my stance and actually celebrate. My answer? 'I'm a Christian, Mom. That doesn't mean that I suddenly became a Capitalist'. She thought it was funny and asked again for my Christmas list. My mom doesn't care whether I celebrate or not. She celebrates and, for her, it's as much in the giving as in the receiving. I let her give; she knows I won't give back. It seems to work for us, as unfair it may seem from the outside looking in. You can call me stingy all you want, but I'm at least honest. I'm a conscientious objector. If I could avoid the holiday in its entirety, I would.
You see my long standing disenchantment with Christmas has more to do with blatant Capitalism than it ever did Christianity. I've always been cool with the Christians celebrating their savior's birth, if they feel they must (which I'm still largely on the fence about). They can drag out all the pagan symbols they want, attach a renewed Christian emphasis, have a tree, follow a star, feast on sacrificed animals, send out cards, and re-tell the old stories one more time. It makes absolutely no difference in my life.
What does make a difference in my life is the overwhelming buying, selling, giving, and receiving that completely overshadows any whisper of religious significance. It's been said many, many, many times before, I know, but when did Christmas become about Santa and gifts and credit card debt? Every other commercial on TV is about buying this or buying that. The media tells us what we're supposed to want and where we're supposed to buy it. I refuse to play that game. Not because I dislike giving, but because I dislike giving things no one really wants or needs while others go without EVERY day.
I'm also broke which doesn't help, but I'd like to think that even if I had all the money in the world, I'd still object to the massive retail regurgitation that the Christmas season has become. Oh, but it's about the 'Season', Stacee, and 'good will toward men'. Seriously? From where I sit, that's all a bunch of crap. People do not swell with the Spirit of Christ and suddenly become nicer around the holidays. If anything they become more stressed and more anxious, and thus meaner and more hateful. Nice people don't need a holiday to remind them to be nice and mean people are completely ignorant of nice. Spirit of the Season... Whatever.
Some may call me a 'Scrooge'. How can I possibly hate Christmas? Please don't make me list everything I dislike about the holiday. These last few paragraphs are about all the negativity I can take in one dose. Plain and simple, I'm a conscientious objector. This means I choose not to celebrate. You see, I don't need a holiday to encourage me to celebrate the life (and birth and death) of Jesus Christ; I do it every day by living the most Christ-like life I possibly can. As Christians, it's what we should all do. I can't see Jesus buying his wife a diamond necklace from Kay Jewelers, running up his credit cards on toys the kids will never play with, or putting 50,000 lights on his house because his neighbor did 49,000 last year. Sounds awful when you break it down like that, doesn't it?
So, what would Jesus tell us to do? Help our neighbors (meaning everyone we come in contact with, not just the guy next door with too many Christmas lights) by making sure that they have food, clothing, warmth, love and understanding. Of course, he wouldn't want us to do this just during 'his season' (which interestingly enough keeps getting longer and longer every year). He would want us to do it every day in every interaction we have. Above all, he would want us to live the understanding that we are all One. If we all managed to do that, we wouldn't need a holiday. Sure, the entire financial infrastructure of the capitalist world would implode from lack of copious holiday spending, but that's a worry for another day.
I realize it was a a very long answer to a very short question . To recap... No, I will not be celebrating Christmas this year simply because I am now a Christian and it's officially 'my' holiday. My decades old objections still stand. Maybe I'll re-think my position if they ever find a way to put more Christ than Capitalism into the holiday, but I'm not making any promises.
You see my long standing disenchantment with Christmas has more to do with blatant Capitalism than it ever did Christianity. I've always been cool with the Christians celebrating their savior's birth, if they feel they must (which I'm still largely on the fence about). They can drag out all the pagan symbols they want, attach a renewed Christian emphasis, have a tree, follow a star, feast on sacrificed animals, send out cards, and re-tell the old stories one more time. It makes absolutely no difference in my life.
What does make a difference in my life is the overwhelming buying, selling, giving, and receiving that completely overshadows any whisper of religious significance. It's been said many, many, many times before, I know, but when did Christmas become about Santa and gifts and credit card debt? Every other commercial on TV is about buying this or buying that. The media tells us what we're supposed to want and where we're supposed to buy it. I refuse to play that game. Not because I dislike giving, but because I dislike giving things no one really wants or needs while others go without EVERY day.
I'm also broke which doesn't help, but I'd like to think that even if I had all the money in the world, I'd still object to the massive retail regurgitation that the Christmas season has become. Oh, but it's about the 'Season', Stacee, and 'good will toward men'. Seriously? From where I sit, that's all a bunch of crap. People do not swell with the Spirit of Christ and suddenly become nicer around the holidays. If anything they become more stressed and more anxious, and thus meaner and more hateful. Nice people don't need a holiday to remind them to be nice and mean people are completely ignorant of nice. Spirit of the Season... Whatever.
Some may call me a 'Scrooge'. How can I possibly hate Christmas? Please don't make me list everything I dislike about the holiday. These last few paragraphs are about all the negativity I can take in one dose. Plain and simple, I'm a conscientious objector. This means I choose not to celebrate. You see, I don't need a holiday to encourage me to celebrate the life (and birth and death) of Jesus Christ; I do it every day by living the most Christ-like life I possibly can. As Christians, it's what we should all do. I can't see Jesus buying his wife a diamond necklace from Kay Jewelers, running up his credit cards on toys the kids will never play with, or putting 50,000 lights on his house because his neighbor did 49,000 last year. Sounds awful when you break it down like that, doesn't it?
So, what would Jesus tell us to do? Help our neighbors (meaning everyone we come in contact with, not just the guy next door with too many Christmas lights) by making sure that they have food, clothing, warmth, love and understanding. Of course, he wouldn't want us to do this just during 'his season' (which interestingly enough keeps getting longer and longer every year). He would want us to do it every day in every interaction we have. Above all, he would want us to live the understanding that we are all One. If we all managed to do that, we wouldn't need a holiday. Sure, the entire financial infrastructure of the capitalist world would implode from lack of copious holiday spending, but that's a worry for another day.
I realize it was a a very long answer to a very short question . To recap... No, I will not be celebrating Christmas this year simply because I am now a Christian and it's officially 'my' holiday. My decades old objections still stand. Maybe I'll re-think my position if they ever find a way to put more Christ than Capitalism into the holiday, but I'm not making any promises.
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