Christmas is Coming; Time for the Oversensitive to Become Offended

By: Steve Yuhas

When the Speaker of the House of Representatives Dennis Hastert decided that Capitol Christmas Tree would be called The Capitol Christmas Tree you would have thought that Congress passed a bill saying everyone had to convert to Christianity.  The visceral reaction to the word Christmas and the convulsions that some people must endure upon a mere glance of a tree with lights on it begins this time of year – every year – but this year it looks like the American people have said enough with the political correctness and call the big tree erected to celebrate the federal holiday of Christmas what it is instead of what a few people wish it to be.

Christmas is under attack in the United States and nowhere is that more apparent than in the public square where images of Christmas are struck down by fearful school boards threatened by the American Civil Liberties Union or city council’s or legislatures who would rather capitulate to a bunch of lefty lawyers than fight for the right to display a symbol of the holiday.

In June 1870 Christmas was declared a holiday for federal employees and in 1894 it became a federal holiday for the entirety of the United States.  Separatists point to the fact that Congress was in session in 1789 under the American Constitution on Christmas Day, but they conveniently leave out the fact that Congress was busy creating a Republic.  The only time Christmas was actually outlawed was 1659-1681 and only in Boston (these same people who hate Christmas displays today also conveniently forget that it was celebrated with earnest in Jamestown during the same period).

As with most other traditions that have gone by the wayside the notion that Christmas can no longer be talked about as Christmas is an absurdity that no right thinking person could have believed the Founding Fathers would have even considered when they wrote the United States Constitution.  There are those people; however, who actually believe that because there is no specific mention of having Christmas displays in the public square that they are instantly unconstitutional (of course these same people believe that the same document contains the right to suck the life out of a human being despite the lack of specific language too, but why deal with details)?

Children go on “winter break” that just happens to coincide with Christmas because one or two sets of parents do not want their child exposed to the grotesque displays of a nativity scene, a snowman or, G-d forbid, a tree with a bunch of lights blinking away.  Isn’t it amazing that these winter holidays always occur in conjunction with Christmas?  One would think that someone would figure out that the two go hand in hand, but it seems to placate the ACLU and the lawsuits don’t come so these “winter breaks” are fine with the unelected few.

Liberal federal government employees are certainly not lining up to give up their day off on December 25th (and if it falls on a Saturday or Sunday they certainly want either the folowing Monday or previous Friday off instead), but don’t accuse them of demanding Christmas off when they’re only looking for what they are owed – a day on the taxpayers.

Nativity scenes of the birth of Jesus Christ, a historical figure to be sure, are not allowed unless they’re accompanied by a Santa Clause and a snowman (throw in a Menorah and you’ll be set) regardless of the fact that the holiday that the mail is being delayed over and the reason you can’t register your car is because people are celebrating Christmas; not winter solstice.

Stores are getting just about as bad as government in their desire not to offend people.  No longer are there greetings or good-byes coupled with Merry Christmas, but a sobering and dull happy holiday is offered instead.  Of all places stores should recognize that the reason people are buying a bunch of items between Thanksgiving and Christmas is to give them away to other people as gifts for Christmas; not to celebrate the 1837 Battle of Okeechobee and the US military forces defeat of the Seminole Indians.

Christmas is a holiday in the United States because most of America celebrates it and it is beyond absurd to believe that because our Founders did not write it into the US Constitution is reason to remove it from the public square.  It could very well be that our Founding Fathers never thought that our nation would go down a path of G-dlessness where people become offended by a nativity scene depicting what billions of people believe to be a historical fact, albeit on a different day than originally believed to have occurred.

Finally people are doing what they should be doing and joining together to return Christmas to the public square – with or without the help of the politicians and usually in spite of them.  Interesting about this whole debate is that liberals and atheists love to compare America to Europe – well Europe celebrates Christmas – that in and of itself should be enough for them, but I guess even if it is fashionable in Luxembourg or Amsterdam it is still Christmas and too closely related to something religious.

The federal government created the holiday of December 25th to celebrate Christmas and to allow the American people to do the same.  Now it seems that the only people who benefit from the fact that Christmas is a federal holiday are people who work for the government or a bank.  Everyone else just has to ignore Christmas and pretend that they are celebrating the anniversary of the 1862 game played by the Union Army in front of 40,000 people at Hilton Head, SC.

Steve Yuhas is a columnist and radio talk show host on KOGO AM 600 and may be reached at www.steveyuhas.com or steve@steveyuhas.com