When I was a youngster a long time ago (when Abe Lincoln and I shared a one-room school) the stores began their Christmas sales pitch sometime after Thanksgiving in November. This year, I noticed, they started before Halloween. At this rate by 2020 they will start putting out the Santas and the plastic Christmas trees right after New Year’s. In fact, since they might go this far, why don’t they just leave up the Christmas displays all year long?
Every year there is a plaintive cry to quit “commercializing” Christmas but it goes unheeded. I can see why in hard economic times, such as we have experienced for the last six years, that stores want to and actually need to, sell as much as they can at Christmas. Also, by starting very early on their sales campaigns they hire extra people to handle the rush. And this year more people need jobs than perhaps since the great depression of the ‘30s.
But, it wouldn’t hurt in the hustle of the season to remember two things. One: Don’t get carried away and load up your credit card with expenses that you won’t be able to pay off before next Christmas. And, two: Slow down and take a moment to remember what Christmas is really all about fundamentally. We are, after all, supposed to be celebrating the birth of Christ. This year, especially, when Muslims are massacring Christians all over the globe, we should at the very least take time to say a prayer for all those who are dying because of their Christian belief.
While this is supposed to be the time of “Peace and good will to all men” those who practice Christianity are under attack from all sides. Perhaps not since the Crusades have Christians faced such odds. But in spite of all the secular and fanatical attacks on Christianity, it will prevail. It has lasted for over 2,000 years and it will continue to triumph. We shall overcome has never meant more than it does this year. Merry Christmas. God loves you.
johnbeckmanbooks 