Happy Holidays - A Shot Over The Bows In The War On Happy

Anchorwoman Lilly Obvious: We take you now to Roger Daring, our war correspondent at the front lines of the War on Christmas. Roger? Are you all right? What's happening out there?

Roger: It's very hard to hear you, Lilly. We may be cut off suddenly at any time.

Lilly: Is the fighting bad, Roger? Are you seeing a lot of casualties? All these horrible liberals and atheists who are trying to take Christ out of Christmas, are they storming your position?

Roger: Um...no.

Lilly: What do you mean, um...no? You're supposed to be reporting on this horrible assault on Christmas! Damn it, man! Make something up if you have to!

Roger: I'm sorry, Lilly. My journalistic integrity has suddenly caught up with me this year. I can't do that. There's a lot of shouting here, but it's just to be heard over the music. Lots of Merry Yule! and Happy Solstice! and, yes, Merry Christmas! and no one's getting offended or even attacked. Except for the bonks on the head with empty wrapping paper tubes, but that's all in good fun. Eggnog? For me? Oh, thank you--

Lilly: Roger! This is unacceptable! You need to change locations and find us some warfare footage! Find us the truth!

Roger: Lilly, you twit, you guys sent me out here on a fool's errand! Here's some truth for you - there is NO War on Christmas. Just a few idiots standing out in the cold who are upset because they can't have everything their own way.

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Sorry, Lilly. Roger's right. There is no War on Christmas. If you are Christian and this is your time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, no one's trying to take that away from you. The angels can hang on the tree beside the Tardis. The sun-return ornaments can hang beside the dove of peace.

This time of year, for those of us in the Northern hemisphere, has always been a time for celebration. To keep out the cold. To celebrate the return of light. To bring scattered families back together. Sometime in the last two thousand years, it also became the time to celebrate the birth of a really cool guy who said a lot of things people are ignoring these days.

The crazies in the world, the ones who want to ensure that divisive conflict never goes away, want you to think that the horrible non-Christians are trying to "take the Christ out of Christmas." We have no interest in doing this. (The corporations have done a good job of it, but if you don't get caught up in the shopping frenzy, you can ignore them. It's your choice.)

They're trying to take the Happy out of Happy Holidays, these crazies. The part where you extend your love to your friends, your family, the people around you. The part where you think of others. The part where you get together to drive back the dark and laugh together, dang it.

We do celebrate Christmas in my house, in my family. We recognize that this is the designated birthday of the really cool guy who said really important things. Turn off the news models. Stop the silliness. You want to celebrate him? Remember some of the things he said. Love each other. Be kind. Be honest. Be generous. And remember that pagans and Buddhists and atheists and Jews everyone else who celebrates this time of year believes the same things. Concentrate on bringing together instead of ripping apart.

Happy Holidays, everyone! 

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