Take Santa Out of Christmas - O

Ok, so they don’t want Jesus in Christmas anymore. Whoever “they” are. They would be the ones who object to nativity scenes, to the Passion of Christ, and to the singing of songs rejoicing in the birth of Jesus Christ. They don’t want plays in schools about the birth of Christ, or songs or any reference to Christianity. It scares them.

Let them have December. I don’t want Christmas in December anymore, and I want to remove Santa Claus from any part of the celebration of Christ’s birth. Let “them” have the Holidays, whatever their Holidays are. Let them keep Santa and December and the frantic rush to spend money that no one has, on things no ones needs, to fulfill some expectation that no one has ever actually defined. If Christians stopped supporting the commercialization and distortion of the sacred Holy day, how would Sears, and Starbucks and the malls survive? Actually, that would not be my problem.

My problem is the ground swell to kill the very reason we celebrate Christmas – hello “it’s about the C H R I S T in Christ MASS.

I vote to move the celebration of Christ’s birth to the spring. The Gospels refer to Jesus birth as occurring shortly before Herod the Great died. History can fix Herod's death with some accuracy. Lunar records reflect an eclipse of the moon just before Herod passed on. The eclipse occurred on March 12th or 13th in 4 B.C. We also know that Herod died just before Passover, which took place on April 11th, in the same year, 4 B.C.

I can visualize some really cool spring celebrations, which could coincide with spring break, so the kids, and grand kids can travel to see gammy and gampa. Spring would provide a more weather friendly time for outings to the fields to see shepherds and sheep, to watch the big sky and embrace the miracle of stars and big lights.

I want to return to the basics, to the essence of the celebration of Christ’s birth. I want to bring back the acknowledgement of heavenly bodies, stars, moons and planets. I would love to frolic in the fields with sheep. Ok, maybe that is taking things a bit too far, but who made our Holy day a commercial spend fest, with a fat guy and flying deer? Why do I have to spend $75 dollars on a dead tree? Why do I have to tip people, who buy the way are probably a part of the “them” group, just because it is Santa Claus day?

No, no, Santa Claus and the ACLU can have December. I want to move the celebration to a time less cluttered with their commercialization. Of course, there will be no more need to have the 24th & 25th of December off, the lines at airport will be significantly reduced, shopping malls will have plenty of parking spots, and no need to sue the schools or cities over nativity scenes, because we will move them to our own special place during the year when it will be obvious who the Christians are. No one will have to pay any attention to our customs and religious celebration. No, anyone who does not wish to be a part of Christmas, can just go about their day, or week, and have December all to themselves.

Thank you, that felt good.

Susan Moses - Beverly Hills, CA