And the beat goes on...

I am spending my last night away from family in my quick 3-day trip to the lovely Tennessee Valley.

Here on business, I am aching for home. Not only because it is about 74 degrees below zero, but because I have never before left my precious LaLa and Joyboy overnight. And, though their Daddy has been so jazzed to get to spend some solo quality time with our munchkins this past week, the throb in my soul from the distance between me and my husband and especially my sweet children is painful. I miss my babies terribly and am counting the hours (14, EXACTLY) until I am with them again.

While isolated and alone here, I have taken special comfort in corresponding with friends via email and the computer. I participate on a message board with women I met online more than 5 years ago as we were all preparing for the birth of our children who were due in May, 2001. This astoundingly diverse and incredibly passionate and caring group of women has been more meaningful and has impacted me more in the last five years than any friendship group I have ever formed.

This week, we have taken on the tangled discussion of the question of what Christmas has become in America in our "debate" section. Our latest musings have included the Target boycott and ponderings as to what "Christmas" even means in concept and practice anymore.

I thought you might be interested to read my latest thoughts, as posted within this phenomenal group of women. I have changed the following only slightly to remove personal commentary and alluded references. While I lament with all my soul the attack on Christianity and traditionally faith-filled Christmas, I rejoice that I can openly discus it with my friends. And though I am not sure anyone hears my heart, I'll just keep putting it out there and hoping...

"...While I agree that there should be some general "lightening up" of people, including myself, about our faith and the fact that we are all sharing the same planet, and that we must not be afraid to be openly different with one another, I cannot resist the gauntlet thrown out:

My answer to the "why not 'Happy Holidays' in public or service related settings"?" question is: because not being free to express the joy of Christs'' birth (read: my faith) with others in exclaiming "Merry Christmas" without fear of offending the PC brigade is both discriminatory and unconstitutional. But it also breaks my heart. It's not joyful or respectful to be wished a "Merry Whatevertheheckitis". One may as well say, "Happy HooHa Day." It is simply meaningless drivel, and it belittles the religious values of the faithful.

The aggressive removal of Christmas from Christmas attempts to remove the last bastion of sacred meaning from a celebration that has become increasingly secularized. But is a celebration of the BIRTH OF JESUS: "Christ" (or Jesus) and "Mas", or birth. That is the meaning of the holiday. The holiday is not an entity unto itself. Without Christ, it is reduced to yet another excuse to shop, eat a meal together, bake cookies, give gifts, and decorate.

It is not about being spoiled brats and refusing to share a birthday cake. It is about joyfully & eagerly inviting everyone to share the blessing of the cake. But then those same party guests insist on stamping on the cake, tossing it aside, and bringing in hoagies to replace my cake. Deemed unappetizing to a few, it is summarily labeled inappropriate and thrown aside, where NO ONE gets to enjoy it.

Can we not have cake AND hoagies, too ~ joyful and respectful recognition of individual faiths in this nation and their unique celebrations of what is sacred and valued to them? Why must Christmas be discarded from the public realm in order to appease the PC brigade? Inclusion can never be achieved by a policy of exclusion in order to appease those heralding the path of least resistance.

Some of the Target backlash is louder than the specific incident would seem to merit. But please understand that for those us of fussing about it, removal of the words "Merry Christmas" from public presence is the latest in a relentless series of attacks on our faith. This is about freedom of religion as well as peace on earth. If Christmas cannot be openly acknowledged by Christians in public (whether marketplace, school, etc.), that is blatant discrimination. I would not expect a Jewish person to accept my labeling of sacred Passover as mere "happy holiday" to assuage me because Easter happens to fall at about the same time of year, I don't approve of/relate to their symbols of acknowledgment of their sacred celebrating, and would rather create something which asserts my celebration of faith into theirs and thereby morphs the sacred celebration into something more palatable to myself but devoid of meaning for them.

American Jews and Christians joyfully share a calendar date for a Spring holiday which is individually sacred to our faiths without requiring the forced submission or blending of the celebrations into some kind of superfluous sandblasted "holiday", and insodoing, allow freedom for one another and respect each other's right to religious expression. Why can we not seem to achieve this balance at Christmas?

My honestly honed experience and perception of public displays and celebrations of the "Holidays" reveals active encouragement of public displays of "holiday" trees, Menorahs' and dreidels, the crescent moon symbol of Islam, the seven symbols of Kwanzaa, and in our geographic area - even Chumash Indian cultural displays - but erect a display of the nativity in some sort of publicly accessed place, and people go absolutely bananas.

It is specific exclusion.

Christians are part of the public too. Merry Christmas has as much place in the public arena as we do. More, because God CREATED this public space we think we have so much control over. Or should we people who love Jesus and want the freedom to express that sentiment just shut up and go away altogether? Or perhaps it would be better if we were segregated into "Christians-only" areas of Walmart or Target, where we can freely express our faith within preset boundaries and with others "of our kind"?

This issue hits raw depth within me. In a year where "In God We Trust" is under attack in the Pledge and on our money, where the mere Constitutionally protected freedom for Christians to gather and pray together at school is targeted for eradication, and where political and judicial appointees are GRILLED over their private and public Christianity has peppered our national realm, this latest attack on the Christian faith is yet another brick in the wall. (never imagined I'd quote Pink Floyd while defending my right to love Jesus and celebrate His glorious birth out loud - but hey... :))

MERRY CHRISTMAS.
PEACE ON EARTH.
GOOWILL TOWARDS MEN.