First of all, that's an exaggeration to get your attention. Of course, Christmas in its origins is not more evil than Halloween. What I mean is that, as it is commonly practiced by many Americans, Christmas is more evil than Halloween.
What happens during Halloween? The majority of Americans celebrate by dressing up in harmless costumes and going door to door begging for candy, while a small minority celebrate by holding a seance or sacrificing their neighbor's cat to Satan in a backyard ritual. Conversely, during Christmas, a majority of Americans celebrate by giving people they don't necessarily like stuff they don't need with money they don't have--all because of some sense of cultural or traditional obligation. Debt is incurred. Feeling are hurt. Gifts are weighed in the balance and found wanting. Jesus gets ignored like a Christmas fruitcake, and so do the neediest people on the planet.
I'm not against giving at Christmas, but I am against the needless obligation of giving gifts for gifts' sake and expecting gifts in return--particularly when it is in celebration of a Gift that had no strings attached. That's why I like projects like the Advent Conspiracy and other efforts to redirect the energy of giving beyond the rather incestuous custom of inhabitants of the Western world to give gifts to each other while the rest of the world goes hungry.
And yes, the Green kids do get Christmas presents ...
3 comments:
Funny. When I saw the title, I thought you were going to say that Christmas is more evil because of fruitcake. At Halloween, kids get candy and at Christmas, adults get fruitcake. Just doesn't seem right.
I wouldn't be so sure that Christmas wasn't as evil in it's origins. The early church just tried to re-invent it as Jesus's birthday...
Oh well, I still think Jesus should come and take his b-day back by force...
Nice rant! Feels good to let loose every now and then, huh? I sense bottled up frustration from being censored by corporate eyes all those years. :-)
We do exchange gifts at Christmas, but we have always taught our kids the true story of Saint Nicholas and focus on the birth of Christ as Nicholas' motivation for giving. We also limit our kids to 3 gifts each and we limit the amount of money spent. Then we go all out on their birthdays.
Finally, we emphasize three special "Angelic" messages related to the birth of Christ and how those are the most precious gifts we could ever hope to receive in this life. (See my blog posts on Christmas Angels: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ericwilbanks/~3/481835852/christmas-angels-pt-1.html).
Thanks for thought-provoking posts. Keep 'em coming. Hope you and yours had a very Merry Christmas and have a blessed New Year to boot!
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