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| If you're offended by this, please read no further. This isn't for you. It's only for people who believe in Christ. Who celebrate his birth. Well, really who celebrate everything about Him. O.K. have they left the room yet? You know, those who would strip every mention of Jesus from Jesus's birthday. O.K. Now that they're gone, I have something to tell you. Christians are wimping out on Christmas. I'm afraid it's true, and I have evidence. I'm not saying Christians don't love Christmas. Or that we don't celebrate Christmas. I'm saying we're allowing those who hate Christ, Christmas, and Christians to have there way. We're playing into their hands. We ARE. I'm as guilty as you are. Oh I talk to my family and friends about it, but I don't do anything about it. It isn't too late to do a little something about it, so I want to float an idea out to you and let you decide if you want to do anything about it or not. This all started yesterday, Christmas Eve morning. It was too cold to walk outside, so I went to Rivergate Mall to walk for an hour. Walking 'round and 'round a mall four times can be pretty boring, so I decided to play a game with myself. My game? To count how many times I could see the word Christmas displayed in the mall. Anywhere would count. In the mall itself. On kiosks. In Santa's fenced-off area. In store windows, even in stores. Guess how many times I read the word "Christmas" in one hour of walking and four trips around the mall, passing nearly 100 stores, kiosks, and displays. THREE TIMES! WILSONS, The Leather Experts, store had two signs hanging in their windows advertising their "Before and After 50% OFF Christmas Sale." Hot Topic, a place that sells truly tasteless teenage apparel had a small sign on a tripod that read: "25% off all Nightmare Before Christmas Memorabilia." I only saw two stores that had the word Christmas visible to the naked eye. Two. I found the third "Christmas" printed on a box of Fitz & Floyd china. On a manufacturer's box in J. C. Penney's, the store that started out years ago as The Golden Rule Store, in honor of Jesus, the Christ. Now, years and many millions in sales later, they're so wimped-out on Christmas that they have substituted the word "magic" all over the store, but not the word "Christmas." That's it folks. Only three places could I find the word "Christmas" printed in a mall of nearly 100 businesses. No mention of Christmas anywhere near Santa. No mention of Christmas in the food court. On the kiosks. On the mall decorations. However, let me praise mall management for having the courage--or was it an oversight--to play Christmas Carols over the mall's sound system. If it hadn't been for that, there wouldn't have been much Christmas at the mall this year. Now here's the rich one, folks. There is a store in the Rivergate Mall called 'Tis The Season. It sells nothing but Christmas decorations and Christmas artifacts. But not a word could be found that mentioned Christmas. Not on the signs, not in the windows, not in the whole store. I could not find the word "Christmas" printed on anything in the "season" store. I wondere how they order their stuff. Do they ask for "season" stuff? Do they look in the "holiday" catalog? How does all the Christmas stuff get into a Christmas store? Maybe Santa brought it. The words most prominent are "holiday," "season," and "magic." But no mention of Christmas. After my walk, I bought a bite of breakfast at Chick-fil-a, a Christian business. (I read about it somewhere else.) It had no signs about Christmas. When I paid and picked up by breakfast, I said, "Merry Christmas" to the young man behind the counter. He looked at me like I was from another planet. Several awkward seconds passed, then he said, "Uh. Yeah. Thanks." I was dumbfounded. The kid acted like he'd never heard of the term. Maybe he hasn't. I sat and ate my breakfast, watching people come and go, shopping for Christmas, I presume. Of course they may be opening magic presents this morning. Calling their friends and shouting, "Merry Holidays." But I doubt it. I'll bet anybody opening presents this morning are opening Christmas presents. It's a dirty rotten shame that the people selling those presents don't have the courage, the intestinal fortitude, no, the GUTS to openly and unashamedly write the harmless but significant word "Christmas" on a sign and hang it in their store at Christmas. Whose fault is this? Who's to blame? I'm afraid I know. To quote that famous philosopher Pogo, "We have met the enemy, and he are us." So. We know the problem. My question is this. What are we going to do about it. As for me and my household, we're going to write, and speak, and even shout CHRISTMAS at every opportunity. I make this pledge: today I promise to you that I will say "Merry Christmas" to every person I see. I hope you'll do the same. But for the sake of full and fair disclosure, I must warn you that you may offend somebody. HLG |
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| Harvey L. Gardner is an author, syndicated
columnist, and speaker. Tantalizing Trivialities is a mixture of fun,
frivolity, nostalgia, inspiration, humor, love, marriage, tall tales, work, and
other absurdities. He lives in White House, Tennessee. Your comments,
suggestions, and inquiries are welcome. Email: Harvey@HarveyGardner.com © 2004, Harvey L. Gardner |