Happy King TUT Day!!!!

We have entered that time of year when the war over saying Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas begins. As I am sure you know by now I love Christmas. As of today, there are 51 days until Christmas. I recounted just this morning when I saw on Facebook a different count than mine. Although I love all things Christmas and I constantly distracted by the holiday items in the seasonal aisles at stores, I mostly say Happy Holidays.

Oh I can hear the gasps now.

I ask you why does it matter so much what a person says? There is a reason for the season, LOVE and ACCEPTANCE. It is a season, not just one holiday. There’s Christmas AND Hanukkah AND Kwanzaa; There’s St. Lucia Day AND St Nicholas Day; there is the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor AND National Wear a Plunger on your head day (yes, it’s real). Don’t forget about Thanksgiving AND National World Peace Day. There is too much fear of forgetting where you came from or insulting someone from another country. There are times in which I feel quite offended by how someone treats my beliefs or opinion. But you know, it’s not the end of the world. Honestly, I should be angry that no one wished me Happy Book lovers day on November 2. Instead most people remembered the people who have died in their lives. Books are like old friends. Each one has a memory. I can remember People who have passed on from many of the books and stories I have, Heidi always makes me think of my godmother. SO the two go hand in hand and yet the book lover in me was forgotten. I should be offended. I should be outraged! But I am not.

When someone I don’t know says Happy Holidays to me, I feel good. They were polite enough to know I am a person. I have beliefs and I am special enough to have shared a moment with them. I am not offended that they didn’t know I celebrate Christmas or that it is really National King Tut day so we should walking like a mummy. It’s a greeting that encompasses everything and everyone. 

Now I have to say, be careful tomorrow. Its national Gun Powder day. You might want to leave that celebration for the experts but to those who celebrate it I say HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

 

Holiday Insights: http://holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/november.htm

What has happened to Christmas?

AJ had his Winter concert last night. He plays percussion in the school band. Since moving to our very tiny town, I have never heard his band play a holiday song. Until last night, they play one. He has gone to this school for the last 2 years. No sleigh rides or jingle bells or even a Suzy snowflake. The chorus gets to sing songs about the season but the band does not get more than one holiday song. So here’s what his band played last night:

Rolling in the Deep by Adele (not a holiday song)

Arena of the Gladiators (not a holiday song)

Eine Kleine Christmas (yes the one and only holiday song)

Convergence (again not a holiday song)

Suessical: The Musical (highly enjoyable but again not holiday)

Nobody’s Perfect (Jazz, but not holiday)

Procession of Surdar (as you probably guessed, not a holiday song)

Not to sound like anyone’s Grandparents or Parents, but when I was little we could say Merry Christmas and colored pictures of Santa and Menorahs in school. In our holiday concerts we sang Dreidel songs and Up on the Housetop, Jingle Bells, and Santa Clause is coming to town. We even sang a song about Jesus in a manger! Yes, I celebrate Christmas. My child celebrates Christmas. We celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Wise men finding the manger, and Advent. These are the center of this holiday for my religion. So you will forgive me when I say that I am offended.

I am offended because I am supposed to modify my beliefs and my celebration to make it more politically correct. I don’t ask anyone to change their beliefs or how they celebrate their festivals and holidays. This country was founded on religious freedom. This is why the majority of our ancestors made the harsh trip across the ocean, froze and starved in the winter. To have the freedom to worship God differently from the strict and corrupt Church of their homeland. So while we have this freedom that is so often taken advantage of, I would like to remind you that this country was founded on the principles of Christianity. The original Protestants believed in hard work. Things were not just handed you, you had to work hard for them. And yet, today many people feel that they are owed something special just for existing. Puritans, Amish, Catholics … all Christians but not the monsters of religious fervor that the media makes their members out to be. The Jewish religion has similar beliefs and  has been severely persecuted for their beliefs for centuries. Hanukkah and Christmas have always been celebrated together in this country … openly. Until recently.

I understand that there are many, many more cultures within our society today than their were in 1776, so do what we did in the daycare I used to work at. Observe all of them. Year by year, the holidays in December can change if they are based on the Lunar calendar. According to the Library of Congress December includes National wear Brown Shoes Day, National Cotton Candy day, wear a plunger on your head day, Bill of Rights Day and Human Rights day. There are many more. But these are severely overlooked holidays that should be addressed. Why do we not celebrate the day the Bill of Rights of was signed or the day the U.N. signed the declaration of Human Rights? Aren’t these as important to the way of life we covet now? Instead we focus on the commercialism of  religious holidays and forget the true meaning of the season, love.  Did you know that December is Universal Human rights month and National Stress free Family Holiday month?

I am offended for myself and everyone else who do not feel they can even admit they are Christian for fear of persecution. This is not Rome. We should not fear the lions.

I am not ashamed to say:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 I will also be wearing a plunger on my head on December 18 and root for the underdog on December 17.