Just a few stories to liven up those last days before Christmas:
-- The local high school (public) had its Christmas and holiday concert last week. There were five different bands/ensembles who played, complete with approximately 10 versions of Jingle Bells. Most interestingly, they also played variations on a variety of Christmas carols such as Good King Wenceslas, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Silent Night, O Come, All Ye Faithful, and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. I had to thank God that the ACLU must not have known about this abominiable violation of church/state separation.
-- At the church's youth Christmas program Sunday night, we were treated to a slightly different version of the wise men's gifts. During her reading, one of the girls informed us that the wise men brought "gold, Frankenstein, and myrrh."
-- Today, my son's class will enjoy a Winter party, as he informed me.
"It's a Christmas party," I said.
"No," he answered solemnly. "It's a winter party."
"Other than the birth of Christ, why would you be celebrating winter? Do you have a spring party, as well?"
"Actually," said my husband wryly. "It is a spring party. You can't call it an Easter party."
-- Admittedly, even I have been conditioned to ignore the obvious Christmas overtones to my son's winter party. I'll be helping the Room Mom, and I volunteered to bring goody bags for all the kids.
At the party store yesterday, I searched for properly non-Christian, non-Christmas goody bags.
"Snowmen, ok," I thought to myself. "Are pointsettias ok or are they too Christmas-y? What about Santa Claus? Is he still all right or has he been dumped, too? No bags with Merry Christmas emblazoned on them. A picture of mittens? That should work. No bags with Christmas trees on them. Hmm."
Making non-sectarian goody bags for a non-sectarian unmentionable day off party seems like a lot of work and not much fun.
-- The youngest child informed me (at the same seating) that there is a girl in her class who can't even hear the word Christmas.
"We aren't supposed to say it," she said. "We can't have a Christmas party. That's why it's a winter party, because she can't hear the word Christmas."
"What happens if she hears the word Christmas?" I asked. "Does she melt?"
My daughter shrugged and continued eating. It made me wonder how the girl had completed the project we'd been given the week before. We had to cut out a Christmas tree diagram and then decorate it with whatever we liked (buttons, feathers, beans, macaroni, etc.). If hearing the word Christmas was so offensive, what would actually decorating a Christmas tree do to such a person?
Cross-posted at Common Sense Political Thought.
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