Bah Humbug!

In today's Washington Post, Charles Krauthammer joins ranks of those who worry about the repression of yule-tide celebration in this country.

It is Christmastime, and what would Christmas be without the usual platoon of annoying pettifoggers rising annually to strip Christmas of any Christian content? With some success:

School districts in New Jersey and Florida ban Christmas carols. The mayor of Somerville, Mass., apologizes for "mistakenly" referring to the town's "holiday party" as a "Christmas party." The Broward and Fashion malls in South Florida put up a Hanukah menorah but no nativity scene. The manager of one of the malls explains: Hanukah commemorates a battle and not a religious event, though he hastens to add, "I really don't know a lot about it." He does not. Hanukah commemorates a miracle, and there is no event more "religious" than a miracle.

Sigh. Every year we get commentators writing about this issue, about the supposed "repression" of Christmas celebrations in public settings, and how this once again illustrates the attempts of an intolerant minority to prevent good-hearted Christians from celebrating the holiday as they see fit. Frankly this is becoming as much a holiday tradition as "It's a Wonderful Life."

I don't know about you, but I don't see much in the way of Christmas repression this time of year. Walking around town I see Christmas lights and decorations on homes, people wearing Christmas-themed attire, Christmas music on the radio, Christmas decorations hanging from Union Station, people saying "Merry Christmas" to each other in the streets..and so on and so on. In other words, this time of year the country is inundated with Christmas, and I sympathize with the Scrooges among us who have to watch our country go from red, white and blue to red and green! So, I really can't relate to Krauthammer and his indignation by pointing out a few examples where people have admittedly gone just a little overboard in not offending anyone. These few examples are not a sign that anybody is attempting to roll-back Christmas, as if such a thing could even be done in the first place.

Anyway...get over it Krauthammer. There's plenty of Christmas to go around.