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There seems to be far fewer attacks upon Christmas this year. As I go out into the stores I now see a variety of signs greeting me including ‘Merry Christmas’ most of the time. Some of the same stores only had the perfunctory ‘Happy Holidays’ on their signs last year.

Maybe some of the business administrators read the same poll I did that 70% of Americans prefer the ‘Merry Christmas’ greeting to ‘Happy Holidays’. Maybe some of the businesses in their haste to be ‘inclusive’ and not to offend a few now realize they were actually offending the many instead.

Some other polls that I have read find that between 85-92% of the country celebrates Christmas in some form or another.

Even for those who are not really believers, the Christmas season still brings the story of the birth of Jesus to the forefront for a few weeks out of the years at least. Though a cursory inventory of the shows on TV demonstrates a continuing trend towards the myth of Santa Claus and his reindeer and away from the true miracle of the season. For some the season should probably be called ‘Santa-mas’.

One disturbing thing I found over the weekend is that my grandchildren really do not know very many of the old traditional Christmas carols. They stopped singing them in schools so their exposure to traditional Christmas music is now limited to home and church and the car radio.

This Christmas season is a time of economic difficulty for many. I know in our own family we will not be spending as much on gifts as we have in the past. Nevertheless, this Christmas will not be diminished in any way since we plan to emphasis the ‘merry’ and the ‘Christ’ during this season and reach out to others when we can.   

Sometimes it is Sunday, Tattoos, the name ‘Christian’, contemporary worship, or any Bible but the KJV that gets them going.

But this time of the year it is Christmas that is under attack by those folks that I call the ‘Super Spiritual’ and ‘Knowledgeable’-folks that know it all and are way beyond the rest of us Spiritually.

I am sure you have all heard it by now from one source or another, December 25 was originally celebrated by the Romans as ‘Saturnalia’- the birthday of Saturn and the tradition of decorating trees comes from Druid pagan worship -‘Real’ Christians don’t celebrate Christmas and God hates and condemns it!

All that may be somewhat historically true and I guess if you are worshipping Saturn on the 25th of this month and you have dedicated and decorated a tree to a pagan god then they may have a point.

First time I heard this line was back in the early 70’s one Saturday when our family was decorating our tree. Then there was a knock on our door and a very fine couple from the Watch Tower (Jehovah Witnesses) proceeded to explain to us how what we we doing was pagan. It wasn’t very convincing to me then and still isn’t and I do know all of the history and the facts thank you very much.

Yes, Jesus was probably born sometime in the fall since the shepherds were still in the fields and the Wisemen didn’t show up till months later when they were living in a house, that’s why Herod had all the babies under 2 killed and not just the newborn. But the rest of the events and story we celebrate this time of the year is entirely true and recorded in Matthew (Mt 1:18-2:18) and in Luke (Lk 1:26-56, 2:1-40). However, Isaiah should never be ignored:

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Is. 7:14)

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Is. 9:6)

As usual on Christmas Eve our family will break out the Bible and read those passages about the first Christmas and when we come to the part of the angels appearing to the shepherds my granddaughter will probably point to the angel at the top of our tree.

Oh yes, there will be no mention of Saturn or any other pagan deity.