The War on Christmas: 2012 Edition

[xDreamerx]

I am an ardent lover of Christmas music, but guess what? That's what my ipod is for. Also there's a special radio station that plays Christmas music 24/7 starting soon which I (and anyone else) can listen to any time they like. Solved. I don't see why people have to get their knickers in a bunch over this. Let stores do whatever they like. I also don't get this making everything to a muslim issue thing? Like really?! Not everything is their fault. I'm really getting tired of that whole gig, especially from people say 50s ish or older. I get it Canada was whiter when you grew up. Now it isn't. That's okay. It isn't really hurting anything as far as I can tell.

[Megan]

A few years ago some blogger was bugging out about the whole Merry Christmas V Happy Holidays. When I mentioned that we were founded on religious freedom and that Christmas wasn't the only holiday, I mentioned that as a Jew I especially appreciated that my people had someplace safe to go. She told me to "go back to my country" (similar to some of the awesome people who are mad that there's no Christmas music)

Dude. In what universe would Jesus say that? What a wackjob.

I imagine if you wait long enough they'll tell you how ardently they love Israel and/or go all Jews-for-Jesus. Seems to be one of the big fundie crazes.

[snarkbillie]

I have a "Jesus is the reason for the season" button from when I was fundie-lite. I wonder why I didn't wear it all year? Like really.

[kiwimusume]

It was probably employees that complained! Nothing is more grating than spending your entire working life at a dull job listening to artificially cheery Christmas pop. We only started ours in December when I worked retail and by Christmas I was ready to take a hammer to the speakers. And I *love* Christmas music.

That was my first thought the moment I started reading this thread! I don't know whether having Thanksgiving in late November helps to shorten the torture for American retail workers, but in my non-TG-celebrating country it's right into motherfucking Christmas carols (and Christmas singing toys if you're really unlucky) the moment Halloween is over. I don't even know who Parson Brown is, but I have wanted to shove his head into a pile of snow and a carrot up his ass ever since the year I had to spend two months listening to a playlist with multiple versions of that song on it.

[Lady_M]

It's too damned early for Christmas stuff. I don't really like it before the U.S. Thanksgiving. Let us enjoy fall and Thanksgiving before attentions are forcibly turned on conspicuous consumerism!

This, exactly.

[RosyDaisy]

Those who are on the "Keep Christ in Christmas" bandwagon need to be reminded that Christmas started out as a Pagan holiday.

[Convicted Blossom]

Hang on, I'm a bit slow here. This is a chemist/drugstore? It's the 3rd of November. And the problem is ?

[crassy]

I know the woman who was interviewed in the article in The Star she's the VP of Communications, and she's actually a christian herself). I went to high school with her (in fact, her brother was my very first boyfriend when I was in grade 8), and she is still really close with my sister.

You can't please everyone, and it would seem that most people aren't even reading the news story or what Tammy was saying...they aren't cancelling the music altogether, they are postponing the start of it because honestly, two months of Christmas music on repeat is enough to make anyone go mental. People on their site said they wanted it postponed, Tammy listened, music was postponed.

People really need to get over themselves.

[Childless]

The fundies would hate my house. We don't really do Christmas. No tree, no lights, no music, no church, nothing. I don't see the point in going through all the work to drag in the tree and decorations and put them up, just to have to tear it down a month later. I'm to busy to deal with that crap. Besides, I have a two year old. He'd knock the damn thing down at least once a day if I put it up. No thank you. And I loathe Christmas music. It grates on my nerves (probably leftover from my 3 years in retail hell). I'd rather listen to good rock.

[Curly Girl]

Put up a "Keep the X in Xmas" sign and watch the fur fly! Because these people generally don't know that X is an abbreviation for Xristos (aka Christ) in Greek. :)

I get into arguments about that with someone almost very year. It bugs me to no end that people who claim to be so holy know so little about their own religion. :?

[FeministShrew]

Put up a "Keep the X in Xmas" sign and watch the fur fly! Because these people generally don't know that X is an abbreviation for Xristos (aka Christ) in Greek. :)

I pointed this out to a guy on FB last year. He goes to strip clubs more than church and lives to party, yet he posted this long rant about keeping Christ in Christmas & not using Xmas. I ended up being called a heathen & worse by all of his friends & family I don't even know, just for sharing with him the origin of Xmas.

[Guest Anonymous]

We have a local radio station that switches over to playing nothing but Christmas music from the day after Thanksgiving through Christmas day. I love Christmas music but it does get old after a month of it non-stop. If they started the day after Halloween I have a feeling I'd end up slowly going insane after the two hundredth rendition of Deck The Halls.

They'll probably start than within the next week or so here. My luck being what it is, the two most-frequently played ditties will be "The Christmas Shoes" and "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus".

[sparkles]

Silly me, I had no idea that Alvin and the Chipmunks and the Ronettes were there in the manger, caroling the Baby Jebus. So postponing the endless tape loop until a date closer to the holiday is taking the X out of Xmas how exactly? I swear, people spend more time and energy complaining about how the heathens are ruining Christmas. If Jesus is the reason for the season, try acting like it.

I hate modern Christmas music--especially when everyone and his uncle puts out a Christmas record (Bob Dylan? REALLY?) but I absolutely love traditional carols and classical/church Christmas music, especially choral works. Atheist that I am, when I worked in NYC, I would always go to the concerts at various churches around the city. Sitting in some of those glorious cathedrals listening to the music was absolutely wonderful. And then I'd stop into Macy's Herald Square where I swear they had an endless loop that played nothing but the Nutcracker and I was ready to go postal after 5 minutes.

[snarktastic]

There are a lot of CHRISTIANS who loath Christmas music this early because of the Christmas = meaningful religious holiday thing.

Personally? Not a Christian / get my Xmas shopping done in early November before the crowds get too bad. So yeah - music, lights, decorations - bring them on!!!

(Sorry retail workers. I totally get that you'll be needing drugs to get through the working day before we're even in December :( )

[gravelmonkey]

Agreed, it is too early for this (Christmas music and the War on Christmas) to start.

One of the comments to the original article complained that her daughter couldn't have a Christmas pageant or sing "Oh Canada" in school.. Why can't the girl sing "Oh Canada"? Can any Canadians explain to an uninformed American?

[FaustianSlip]

I've got a neighbor who puts one of those damn signs in her yard which is really ironic since SHE IS NOT ONE BIT RELIGIOUS!

I hate those frigging signs. I hate the stupid "war on Christmas" crap, actually. To quote Jon Stewart, walk a mile in Hanukkah shoes, buddy. Granted, Hanukkah is not as major a day on the Jewish calendar as Christmas is on the Christian one, but it makes me teeth-grindingly annoyed to hear people bitching about a "war on Christmas" when I can't go thirty feet without seeing Christmas shit or hearing Christmas carols and my whole mall looks like Rudolph barfed tinsel everywhere. For crying out loud, even here in China my town has a Christmas market! Atheist, Communist China. There is no war on Christmas. There has never been a war on Christmas. Christmas is the single most ubiquitous holiday in the world. Shut the hell up about poor, defenseless Christmas already.

If you really want to get behind a holiday-related cause, I suggest the following:

[jaynie]

Agreed, it is too early for this (Christmas music and the War on Christmas) to start.

One of the comments to the original article complained that her daughter couldn't have a Christmas pageant or sing "Oh Canada" in school.. Why can't the girl sing "Oh Canada"? Can any Canadians explain to an uninformed American?

I have never heard of this. In fact, I just googled "singing o canada in schools" and only found articles about Catholic school students in Toronto being *forced* to sing it every morning. Quite the opposite (and I'd rather it be banned than forced, personally -- that kind of OTT nationalism does not sit well with me). I think that particular commentator was making stuff up that she thinks sounds plausible.

(We never had pageants when I was in elementary school fifteen years ago, by the way. And that was in good old redneck Alberta! We did sing Jesusy songs though, along with Santa songs and Winter Songs and the occasional token Jewish song. Actually my wee little skeptical brain assumed they were all in the same category of fictional, and I was shocked -- SHOCKED -- to find out people believed in the Jesusy ones but not the Santa ones.)

[BravaAmica]

You know if a store is NOT playing Christmas music in early November, I will actually stay there and spend my money. the second I hear Mannehiem SteamRoller or Trans Siberian Orchestra, I'm outta there.

[Markie]

One of the comments to the original article complained that her daughter couldn't have a Christmas pageant or sing "Oh Canada" in school.. Why can't the girl sing "Oh Canada"? Can any Canadians explain to an uninformed American?

Not exactly sure why the original poster said her daughter cannot sing "O Canada!" at her school. I am a public school teacher in Ontario. We play the National Anthem over the intercom every morning. The kids stand for it. Some sing along, some listen to the music, sometimes it's in English, sometimes French, sometimes a combo.

Not all schools have a Christmas Concert; ours does. It is usually just seasonal or secular songs, poems that are featured. Each class usually tries to do something fun, fast and shiny so the parents can get good pics of their kids and not have to stay in an overcrowded, hot gym over an hour. Last year we didn't do anything Christmassy, but recited and acted out "Marco Comes Late" by Dr. Suess. At the end we yelled out Happy Holidays! to the crowd and froze for pics. Not sure what my class will be doing this year. I'm open to any suggestions.

[ElphabaGalinda]

I have never heard of this. In fact, I just googled "singing o canada in schools" and only found articles about Catholic school students in Toronto being *forced* to sing it every morning. Quite the opposite (and I'd rather it be banned than forced, personally -- that kind of OTT nationalism does not sit well with me). I think that particular commentator was making stuff up that she thinks sounds plausible.

(We never had pageants when I was in elementary school fifteen years ago, by the way. And that was in good old redneck Alberta! We did sing Jesusy songs though, along with Santa songs and Winter Songs and the occasional token Jewish song. Actually my wee little skeptical brain assumed they were all in the same category of fictional, and I was shocked -- SHOCKED -- to find out people believed in the Jesusy ones but not the Santa ones.)

O Canada is played every morning in schools so I have no idea what she's talking about. You don't actually have to sing it, just you know, stand respectfully. She's definitely just making stuff up. Not sure what she means by a Christmas pageant, but although we had what were called Winter Concerts in school, every single fricken song was Christmasy, adn there were some Jesusy songs. Though maybe she means she can't have a pageant representing the religious story of Christmas? Well of course she can't! We have the separation of church and state here, so that shit would never be allowed in a public school. In Canada, Christmas is just as ubiquitous as in the US. Maybe slightly less religious in nature than the American south, because we don't have the same kind of fundies, but still everywhere. And our thanksgiving is in early october, so since there's no holiday between thanksgiving and Christmas, there's nothing to stop people from starting Christmas junk the day after Halloween. I was at a mall November 1st and it was all decked out for Christmas already. It's annoying. And there isn't and never has been a war on Christmas anywhere. How can there be a war on a holiday that infiltrates all aspects of public life whether you celebrate or not? It's like when fundies say they're persecuted for being Christian when the vast majority of people are Christian tooo. How can you be a persecuted majority? :roll:

[gravelmonkey]

Not exactly sure why the original poster said her daughter cannot sing "O Canada!" at her school. I am a public school teacher in Ontario. We play the National Anthem over the intercom every morning. The kids stand for it. Some sing along, some listen to the music, sometimes it's in English, sometimes French, sometimes a combo.

Maybe her daughter sings it at inappropriate times, like when the teacher is talking. And we can't have our special-snowflake budding artistes being subjected to such horrible rules.

Thanks, ElphabaGalinda, Markie and jaynie!

[mockingbird]

If you want your kids to do a Christmas pageant, send them to a Christian school or have them join a youth group/Sunday school class? My kindergarten class did a Christmas pageant... because it was a Catholic school. It was fun but I am sure I would have had fun being in any play they chose to put on if I had gone to a public or secular private school. (Or, slightly off-topic, you have some other options that seem fundy-friendly. I did a play with my church in 4th or 5th grade where I was the girl Jesus raises from the dead during one of his miracles. I don't know how much religious conviction I got out of that but I was very proud that a lot of people told me I looked convincingly dead when "Jesus" carried me across the stage. A few years ago our church's youth group put on a "passion play" about Jesus' death and resurrection - it was very dramatic focusing on Jesus' crucifixion [The Passion]. I would like to offer either of these pageants up as suggestions for Steve Maxwell, they seem right up his alley.)

I love Christmas music of all types (except the chipmunk variety) and will listen to it sometimes during other parts of the year, on my own (I am listening to it right now thanks to this thread). Some of my favorite memories from school were when my (public) high school orchestra+band afterschool group did Handel's Messiah and another year we did Trans-Siberian Orchestra-style arrangements of Christmas songs. However, I think it's too early for Christmas music and decorations in stores. My family was always one of those "day after Thanksgiving the house becomes Christmas central" families - Christmas is one of my favorite "seasons" (probably more for evil secular reasons, though I do like religious Christmas songs) but it does not start until after Thanksgiving! ;)

ETA: Starbucks holiday drinks have also officially arrived as of November 1st. I am ok with Starbucks being early because I love the holiday drinks. lol

[Anxious Girl]

Goddamit, fundies, I keep on telling you this: if you don't like secular government, create your own Christian micro-nation based on your "values" Biblical" laws included, and see how that works out for ya.

[Californiacicle]

I thought one of the issues was that people thought playing Christmas music/decorating etc before Remembrance Day was disrespectful. At least I saw a Canadian radio dj get reamed on FB for saying she put her Christmas tree up on November first. People then started complaining, in the same thread, about Shopper's.

[Peas n carrots]

I hate those frigging signs. I hate the stupid "war on Christmas" crap, actually. To quote Jon Stewart, walk a mile in Hanukkah shoes, buddy. Granted, Hanukkah is not as major a day on the Jewish calendar as Christmas is on the Christian one, but it makes me teeth-grindingly annoyed to hear people bitching about a "war on Christmas" when I can't go thirty feet without seeing Christmas shit or hearing Christmas carols and my whole mall looks like Rudolph barfed tinsel everywhere. For crying out loud, even here in China my town has a Christmas market! Atheist, Communist China. There is no war on Christmas. There has never been a war on Christmas. Christmas is the single most ubiquitous holiday in the world. Shut the hell up about poor, defenseless Christmas already.

If you really want to get behind a holiday-related cause, I suggest the following:

LULZ @ bolded :lol: :lol: :lol:

I'm totally on board with Keeping Han In Hannukah. Actually, I think I now know what I'm going to do for my annual holiday card...