I will try my hardest not to rant about the meaning of Christmas and how commercialized it has become and how desensitized we are to the real reason we celebrate, blah, blah, blah. I do, however, want to point out one thing that has already ruffled my feathers this ehem…”Holiday Season”.
Every morning I walk 2 blocks from my parking garage to my office (ok…smarty pants…my cube. I was using “office” as a euphemism for “place of work”. But nooooo…you had to rub it in that after 6 years I am still in a cube!!). Anyways, I pass by the world famous Neiman Marcus each day, specifically, I pass by their large glass storefront displays. Neiman’s takes a lot of pride in their Christmas displays and their Christmas catalog. Even if you haven’t seen their storefront, you are certainly familiar with their Christmas catalogue…you know the one, with the $1MM submarine for sale or some such other extravagant item on that special someone’s wish list. Well, last week they had their grand unveiling of their Christmas displays. The best I can tell, this year’s theme is “gold”. All the manikins were wearing gold, driving a gold moped, and eating gold (ok - maybe not eating gold). And now here comes the ruffled feathers - front and center in the middle of the store, in front of a massive window is a giant 25 foot tall Christmas tree. Covering this beautiful tree (fake - no doubt - so as not to harm a real living tree) is wads and wads of….cash! That’s it! - A massive Christmas tree with no lights, no ornaments…just oversized $100 bills for decoration.
Spare me. I know the Christmas tree is a pagan symbol and has nothing to do with the actual birth of Christ. But just because the wise men didn’t bring pine trees doesn’t mean that it is a meaningless symbol. I know Nieman’s is in business to make money. They make money by selling high priced items. But couldn’t they just spare the Christmas tree and not bastardize it like they and others have done to the rest of Christmas? Wasn’t it enough that the nativity scene is no longer welcome in public and Christmas has been replaced by “Holiday”? Why did they have to go ahead and decorate the Christmas tree with nothing but cash? This is depressing. I have to fight that much harder to make sure my children know the meaning of Christmas. They sure as heck aren’t going to learn about it in school, or see any representation of it in the stores, or at the town square.
Here is another sign that the end is near – Chicago has banned the “Nativity Story” ads during their Christmas festival. Lord...forgive them for they know not what they do.
3 comments:
Hey J-may I was wondering if you know that Jesus was not born Dec.25? As to the tree I thought it was a pagan symbol too (and it can be that also) but I also know somewhere in the Bible (I am too lazy to check right now) maybe Jeremiah the evergreen is associated with God so maybe some more study on that would be good. Anyway just my thoughts. I tell what I find funny is so many of the people who do not want Christmas mentioned but think holiday/s is fine . I guess they have no idea holiday comes from Holy Day. Oh well fools are a dime a dozen.
Of course I know that. I also know he did not rise from the grave on April 16 like my calendar says - that doesnt make the current celebration of Eeater and Christmas any less important or meaningful. Its not the date that matters, it is the reason that matters.
And I never realized th Holy Day = Holiday relation...funny!
I am surprised that you would think a falsehood is positive but I think I get where you are coming from in that it gives people a time to reflect on Christ. I just feel like it is a sad way to go about it. As to Easter (Ishtar) are you saying you know Easter is a pagan thing introduced by the Catholic church (like Christmas by the way)and that Christians should be celebrating passover. If you know this I applaud you as way to many Christians have no idea. If people would look up Easter in a good dictionary it would surprise them I bet. Also the one time it is used in the bible it is a very bad translation or error in fact. PS I think dates matter a great deal and if you really think about it I think you would agree. Thanks for your time.
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