The Christmas Question

  I was brought up, as I have often said, by religious fanatics.  This is another way of saying they were superstitious about a great many things.  Rock music.  Fantasy and horror novels.  Television.  Movies.  Dancing.  Vulgar/Emphatic language.  Alcohol.  They didn't so much think indulgence in these things would bring "bad luck" so much as that they'd mess up your life karmicly.  If you went to the movie theatre, your life would take a downturn.  Stuff would stop working out.  You wouldn't be blessed with success.  Okay, I guess that means they did think indulgence in these things would bring bad luck.

  They didn't like us having anything to do with Halloween.  They didn't like the religious connections of Halloween to Samhein and other stuff like that which they knew little about, but disliked and were deeply, unexaminedly superstitious about.  They only discussed it with their ears wide shut.  They were concerned and wanted to distance themselves and take a firm stand against the pagan/druidic roots of Halloween.  They didn't like us to even SAY Halloween.  They were upset by anything that happened at school that would make us have to take part in Halloween.  One time in art class our teacher had us make construction paper masks on Halloween.  Of course I got black and made a Darth Vader mask.  I then wore it at recess.  My parents had sent me to school sans Halloween costume "to be a good example to nonChristians", and they got wind later that I, at age 11, had done this and they were all wigged out by it.  Mad at me.  Feeling tricked and betrayed.  Scared that I'd done something unlucky/worldly/not Christian.  More upset than some people get when they break a mirror, spill some salt, have a black cat cross their path and walk under a ladder, all in the same hour, on Friday the 13th.

  Over time my parents got more and more relig...superstitious.  About Christmas too.  We'd never had any Christmas decorations, nor a tree or anything like that, but over time they kept cutting back on what we were allowed to do in December too.  There was even a year or two there where they made us refuse any Christmas candy or presents from others.  Mostly they made up for this by taking us out and buying us presents on Boxing Day or for New Years.  But we were NOT to call them "Christmas presents."  If someone asked "What did you get for Christmas?" we were to say "We don't celebrate Christmas" to superstitiously distance ourselves and be a good example, and then we could say "But on Boxing Day they got me..."

  Because, just like with Halloween, they were superstitious and concerned and wanting to distance themselves and take a firm stand against the pagan roots of Christmas. The tree, the gift-giving, the winter solstice.  All the stuff that would have confused anyone in the bible (apart from the guy who wrote that observant Jews were NOT to go into the forest and cut down a tree, decorate it with silver and gold and sparkly things, set it up and worship it.  Because God hated that.)  I knew many other Plymouth Brethren families with a similar Christian prohibition against Christmas.  Some Plymouth Brethren kids laughingly said they'd got things for "Snow Day."  Because they weren't supposed to say "Christmas." It was beyond stupid.

  Today I went to my folks' house, where the TV was on, playing movies, and their Christmas tree was lit.  Thing is, it wasn't hypocrisy; it wasn't them "giving in."  It was them growing up.  Developing spiritually.  Demonstrating an understanding of what actually matters.  Showing a better relationship with joy and yearly opportunities to share and celebrate.  'Cause when others are enjoying themselves in something that isn't actually hurting them in any significant way that's your business, and you want to superstitiously distance yourself, state your concern and warn people about it, you really need to STFU and GTFO.

  So you can imagine how I feel when various people get all concerned and superstitious about the Christian roots of Christmas, don't want their kids to be subjected to Christmas songs that are about angels (though dancing snowmen and flying reindeer are JUST fine) and who don't want anyone to even SAY the word Christmas.  I really wish they'd STFU and GTFO.  In no meaningful way is there any real "war against Christmas."  Not in my area, anyway.  It's a mythic thing spoken of, an urban legend, as far as we in the country know.  It's not real to us.  Not any more real than the idea that Christmas started out 100% Christian, with no input drawn from pagans and other religious stuff revolving around winter solstice.  But I know there're idiots, on both sides, being all weird about something that can mean whatever you want it to mean.  It can mean something or it can mean nothing.

  If Christmas is only a Christian thing, then no one else should have it, probably.  Christian kids should get Christmas Day off and other kids should go to school.  If Christmas is only a Christian thing.
  That would be dumb, obviously.  If it is for everyone (which we're trying like hell to make sure it is), then everyone should be able to enjoy it without anyone getting embarrassed or superstitious about where it came from (pagan, then Christian, and then commercialized roots).

  This is one of those things I find so stupidly reactionary and vacuously unthought-out that I could barely bring myself to even weigh in on it.  It's December 25th.  Do whatever.  Or do nothing.  And leave me alone.  If I don't want to go to a church, don't bother to tell me what you think of that.  And if I sing a song with Lil' Christ in it, don't bother to tell me what you think of that either.  Because I don't want to hear it.  I'm busy living my own life.  Don't start (or make up) a war on or against something and want me to jump in.

  At what we unabashedly called our high school's "Christmas Assembly," I sang "Oh Holy Night" (anti-slavery verse and all) and John "Imagine There's No Heaven" Lennon's great song "This Is Christmas/War Is Over". There was a reason for those choices.  I loved singing both of them.  I got lighters waved and huge applause for both, equally.  There was no contradiction.  People got into both.  No one even commented on me singing a Christian Christmas song.  No one commented on me singing John Lennon.
  Like most things, Christmas isn't only one of two possible things that you have to decide between.  It is many things.  And it's what you make it.  You can make it what you want it to be.  If you want to make it a special thing you don't want anyone outside your religion from having a right to partake in, go ahead.  If you want to make it an evil, creepy, source of creep, go ahead.  And have a big hot cup of (unChristmas) STFU while you're at it.