happy holidays

Here I am, blogging to you from Virginia. It's been nice here so far, not cold and lots of snow. On Monday, we went out to cut down a Christmas tree, trudging through about two feet of snow. But it was worth it- the tree is beautiful and all gussied up with tinsel and lights. I'll have pictures for you when I return to California.

Virginia is nice- we're in the rural southwestern part. It has been a bit of a culture shock- no Asian people, funny accents, outdated hairstyles, and lots of camouflage. And people here are nice and polite- they actually say 'I'm sorry' when they bump into you and 'Excuse me.' Sales clerks actually greet you and smile. I've already been to the Waffle House once, and I'm sure there will be more visits in the future.

So I noticed the following quote floating around on Facebook: "They may want to take Christ out of Christmas, but they can never take Christ out of me. If you are proud to be a Christian and are not ashamed of Christ then post this as your status for 1 day as a light to the world. Most people will be to ashamed or scared to do this. If you agree, copy and paste to your wall."

I know that there are people (ahem, Christian) who have themselves all in a tizzy because there is a contingent of people who for a variety of reasons- maybe to be politically correct, maybe because they oppose cultural imperialism, maybe because they don't believe in god, maybe because they don't celebrate Christmas, or maybe because they want to acknowledge the existence of other holidays like Hanukkah or Kwanzaa- don't say Merry Christmas. A dominant subgroup is all up in arms because other people realize that Christmas isn't the only holiday celebrated during the month of December. And those people are all pissed off because we say Happy Holidays these days and can't have mangers and crucifixes in public places. Now we acknowledge other holidays, and boy, these people are hoppin' mad because we are taking the Christ out of Christmas.

Here's a newsflash: Christ was taken out of Christmas with the advent of Santa Claus, Black Friday, Hallmark cards, the gift giving frenzy, and Rudolph. Apparently, Christmas is about the gifts. Even in this shitty economy, people are lining up to save money on gifts and go mad to find the 'perfect' gift. Apparently, the radical notion that forgoing gifts might be a good idea at a time like this hasn't crossed most people's minds.

Don't blame the atheists or those who, in the interest of promoting cultural diversity, acknowledge other holidays. Don't blame them for taking Christ out of Christmas. Santa Claus already did that, and so did Black Friday. So if you're pissed that Christmas isn't about Christ, forgo the gifts. Put your money where your mouth is, and stay out of the shopping malls.

Oh, and happy fucking holidays.