Assignment 4-1

Christmas: Religious Holiday or A Reason to Get Gifts
With the Christmas season upon us many of the articles that are currently in newspapers or news sites such as CNN.com have some mention of Christmas. As most people know, Christmas is December 25th each year and is holiday that Christians use to celebrate the birth of Christ. However, in today’s society can we truly call this a religious holiday? If you went in to a public grade school and asked the average 2nd grader what Christmas was about how many of them would mention baby Jesus, a manger, or the three wise men that brought him gifts? I have been in many schools during the holiday season. Because Christmas is a religious holiday you have to be careful in mentioning it at all. However, if you ask children what Christmas is they talk about gifts, Santa Claus, decorated trees, and reindeer. They do not think about what they will be getting or occasionally what they will be giving others. This is even true for most adults. If you ask about their holiday preparations they will not bring up church services or helping others but most often what they are purchasing for their children, trips to the mall for photos with Santa Claus, and shopping trips with disastrous results.
The day after Thanksgiving is known to many as Black Friday. The reason for the name is that many businesses will finally break out of the red and start turning a profit for the fiscal year thanks to this one day. People will flock to the stores by the thousands with ads in hand and a plan of attack on how to get the most for their money. Unfortunately, because of the emphasis that we all place on giving and getting the newest gadgets, this day has turned into a nightmare. In recent years people have been robbed in store parking lots, trampled to death going into stores, or shot during confrontations. This year a temporary Wal-Mart employee was killed while trying to open the doors at 5am on Black Friday. Two people were killed while shopping at Toys R Us – a toy store! We have become so obsessed with buying that big screen HD television that we are willing to take someone’s life. Often during this time of year, I listen to people fighting in the aisles because someone touched them or bumped them with a cart. Complaining about long prices or pricing errors. It has become all about the gifts.
Another example of how the latest craze has affected this holy season is the decorations that people purchase. While shopping in Lowe’s this week I decided to look at the large yard decorations that they had. While I was not looking for one, I do not recall seeing even one religious decoration – I saw Santa Claus, Thomas the Train, Mickey Mouse, Tigger, and Snow Globes. But I do not remember seeing one manger scene. If you look at the ornaments that many people have on their trees you will also find this to be true. I have seen Disney ornaments, Simpsons ornaments, even Budweiser ornaments.
I have come to some understanding of why the meaning of this holiday has changed but what I do not understand is why we are still not allowed to talk about Christmas in schools - no Christmas concerts, winter break instead of Christmas break, holiday parties. Is this a religious holiday or a reason to give gifts? At what point do we start seeing this holiday for what it is? I am okay with it going either way but I wish those people who are so against religion being brought into schools because they do not believe themselves would stop using what I consider a very holy day as a reason to give their child an Xbox 360.