Christmas has become too commercial?

Today’s Chicago Tribune had an article about megachurches across the United States that are putting on elaborate Christmas pageants involving thousands of people, professional Broadway choreography, pyrotechnics, and budgets in excess of $1 million. I must say, that was certainly not the kind of pageant I remember putting on at my church when I was growing up, which mostly invovled a bunch of little kids wearing acolyte robes and homemade tinsel halos while singing along with an old lady playing the piano. I guess maybe that’s what happens when you are part of a congregation numbering in the thousands rather than one whose membership barely hovers around 100, but it still seems rather excessive.

Something from the article that struck me was this quote from a leader of a Savanna, GA church regarding his church’s pageant: “Chirstmas has become so commercial now that people are upset to say ‘Merry Christmas’….This event reminds people of the true meaning of Christmas-God’s love for all people.”

Okay, I admit, I have never really understood this so-called “War on Christmas” or why some (and I emphasize the word some; it is unfair to blanket an entire religion based on the rantings of a vocal minority) Christians get so offended by people saying “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.” I’ve always thought it was some sort of invention of Bill O’Reilly and Fox News to keep conservatives angry about non-issues so that they ignore the clusterfuck that is the Iraq War. But, I don’t know. Maybe there is something there that I just don’t understand because I’m not a conservative Christian.

Beyond that, though, it seems utterly preposterous to say that saying “Happy Holidays” is somehow a reflection of the commercialization of Christmas, but throwing away $1 million dollars on a spectacle somehow isn’t. In fact, I’m not sure I can think of a better example of the over-commercialization of Christmas than this. James Twitchell, a professor at the University of Florida, seems to agree. He is quoted in the article as saying, “It has nothing to do with the Christmas message. … It’s selling a sensation, an experience.”

As I’ve said before, I’m not very religious, although I often wish I were. Nonetheless, I’m still saddened to see what is happening to the faith with which I was raised. Whoever it was who was able to turn religion into a successful commercial enterprise is an evil genius, I must say. This evening I’m not going to the little church where I grew up, as I usually do, mainly because I’m bringing my (Jewish) boyfriend to the family Christmas celebration. But after reading this article, I think I will give my parents some money to put in the collection plate for me. I don’t want to see all of American Christianity essentially being “bought out” by these megachurches which, to me, seem to entirely miss the point of Jesus’s teachings.

The Problem with Buying Gifts for Children

The problem with buying gifts for children is that I can’t pick up their gifts from the liquor store on the way to wherever I’m going.

Yeah, I’ve always been bad at picking out gifts for people.  That’s usually okay, because most people are perfectly content to get a nice bottle of wine.  They are happy with the gift, I had to expend as little effort as possible, and everyone’s happy all around.  I have a strange feeling that the parents of the children for whom I need to shop would not not appreciate such a gift Christmas gifts for their daughters, though.

Any advice out there for how to get last-minute gifts for two girls, ages six and eight?  One problem is that they already have everything.

Happy Winter Solstice!

This morning at 12:08 AM, the sun’s direct rays hit Earth further south than they do all year, marking the Winter Solstice here in the Northern Hemisphere. This meas that today is the shortest day of the year, with only 9 hours, 7 minutes of daylight here in Chicago. The sun (if you could see it) is in the southern sky, only 25 degrees above the horizon, the lowest point it will be all year. It’s no surprise that, in traditions all over the northern hemisphere, we choose this time of year for holiday celebrations. It’s like a cultural cure for Seasonal Affective Disorder

The good news is, the days only get longer from here. Already, the sun is setting later than it was two weeks ago; (4:23 PM instead of 4:20 PM) the sun will continue to rise later and later until around January 3rd, (7:19 AM then as opposed to 7:15 AM today) but this will happen at a rate less fast than the rate at which the sunset gets later. The bad news is that the air temperature lags behind the sun; days will continue to get colder, on average, until January 15th; at that point the air temperature begins to catch up with the increasing length of daylight and days will get warmer.

On that very bright note, enjoy your Winter Solstice, and whatever holidays you choose to celebrate this time of year. Get drunk, but not too drunk. I know I will.