Thursday, December 1, 2011

.December 1-To Be Or Not To Be-Merry Christmas?

Okay everyone today is day one of twenty five very busy days for me. I am not really sure why, but always from December 1 to December 25 I am a very busy person. I have a feeling -between revisions, critique group, new MS, and everything else that I always have going on - these twenty five days will be SUPER BUSY. I have decided to give myself yet another thing to do during these busy days. I will have a topic daily-some will be related to each other, but I am sure some will not.
So to kick off my 25 days of posting(my countdown to Christmas)....here comes topic number one:

TO BE OR NOT TO BE- MERRY CHRISTMAS???

I was born, December 18, 1985 one week to the day before Christmas. From the time I was born, beginning December first(and sometimes around Thanksgiving) everyone would say Merry Christmas. In elementary school we had Christmas parties and Santa's Workshop(which is where a group brings items to the school so that the kids can shop for presents for their family-so they can have gifts that are a secret and that they got all by themselves.), we always put on a Christmas Pageant-where we sang Christmas songs and did a Christmas play,  there was always a Christmas Parade, people put up Christmas trees and decorations, everyone read(or watched) A Christmas Carol and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, we made Christmas cookies and drove around to look at Christmas lights. And on Dec 25-Christmas day-we opened up presents, Christmas presents. I said Christmas fourteen times just now, and it flowed out completely natural-it didn't even sound repetitive to me as I typed it. The reason? Because it is what it is. Every time I said Christmas it was because it fit there, I couldn't imagine another word in its place. Well, some I can imagine it because it has already been "changed" to say something different. For instance-schools no longer have Christmas parties, they have Holiday parties; there is no longer a Christmas Pageant, but a Holiday Pageant. The Christmas parade is not the Holiday parade, and decorations are just that, decorations-even sometimes though they are Holiday decorations. And Merry Christmas is now Happy Holidays. I know other people celebrate the holiday of Christmas differently and call it something different. Some celebrate Hanukkah, other Kwanzaa-but people have been celebrating those for years. When did it become so offensive for people to say Merry Christmas? When did everyone decide it was best to just say Happy Holidays and leave it at that? I was always taught that some people have different beliefs and it is okay to accept that and you must respect them. So I say why cant everyone feel that way? I respect anyone who celebrates Christmas different than me, who calls it by a different name, anyone who has different traditions for this time of year. So should I not receive that same respect? I have spent 25 years 11 months and (almost) 2 weeks celebrating Christmas and will continue to do so until then. (My children will be raised the same) I have always, and will continue to say Merry Christmas. I mean no offense by it if you do not celebrate Christmas. Tell me Happy Hanukkah in return, or whatever it is you believe-but please do not be upset that I tell you- MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

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