Wing & a Prayer Productions

I think I can just squeeze in a Christmas related post (seeing as we’re only on the eleventh day of Christmas)!

I realise this year that I’ve undergone a change in my views on Christmas. Hitherto I have bemoaned the fact that people no longer remember ‘the reason for the season’, railed against cards wishing ‘Happy Holidays/Season’s Greetings’, ranted at Christmas pop being more prevalent than Christmas carols and wailed about Father Christmas (or rather ‘Santa’) being the most recognised symbol of Christmas.

A couple of incidents have led to me rethinking what I think on the matter. The first was group of friends railing about some town in the tabloids which was proposing changing the name ‘Christmas’ to ‘Winterfest’ (or some similar trite ‘blah’ name). My friends were up in arms, complaining about undermining our Christian heritage for the sake of political correctness. In essence, I agreed. But here’s the rub: none of said friends would describe themselves as Christian (one is a proud atheist) or followers of Jesus. I found myself puzzling about what it was they valued so much about their ‘Christian heritage’.

A few weeks later another friend (of whom I am very fond, I hasten to add) was complaining because, at a Christmas Church service, one of the people leading the service had shared about what a difference knowing Jesus had made in their life. They complained that they hadn’t gone to Church for all that emotional nonsense. Surprisingly they made little response when I asked if the reason we celebrate Christmas wasn’t the fact that Jesus had come to make a difference in our lives.

I still hate ‘Happy Holidays’. I still groan when Slade come on the radio. I still wish that Christ, rather than Santa was central to Christmas. For my part I intend to try to keep Christ as the focus of my Christmasses. And I hope and pray that more people would do the same. But if people want the Christmas trappings (tree, stockings, snow, reindeer, etc) without Christ why don’t they call it Winterfest or Winterval or whatever? At least it would be more honest. Seriously, I keep wanting to ask ‘What on earth are you celebrating?’ It’s like organising a birthday party for someone and then forgetting to ask the birthday boy/girl to attend; just call it a party then and do away with the pretence.

However, for my part, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas (all twenty-four hours of it).

P.S. And where Christmas pop’s concerned, I look forward to seeing Rage Against the Machine’s ‘Killing in the Name of’ on ‘Best of Christmas’ compilations in future years (Best Christmas no. 1 of my lifetime, that’s for sure!).