Santa Is Not the Messiah

Earlier today, I was eating an Andes mint and realized that the taste made me think of Christmas. If I were to have an Andes mint in July, I would end up with that Christmasy feeling, no doubt about it. And it struck me as a little odd. I mean sure, tastes and smells can bring back memories. But the whole thing brought to mind the big to-do about people referring to "the holidays" rather than calling it Christmas. For the past few years, people have been bucking the political correctness system that has taken Christ out of Christmas. There have been protests and boycotts. Feathers have been ruffled. Undies have been in a bundle. But how the heck is an Andes mint connected with the birth of Jesus?

It isn't. In fact, most of what we associate with Christmas has very little to do with Jesus. Sure, there are programs at churches and all. And there are the "twice a year people" (the ones who show up to church on Christmas and Easter) who go so they can feel like they're keeping it real. But once the program is over, they go on their merry way, off to shop for gifts or attend parties. Hey, just throw a manger scene on top of the gift pile to make it look like it all means something. I remember being at a friend's family gathering once and the matriarch had the grandchildren read the Christmas story from the Bible, admonishing them to "remember that Christmas is about Jesus." And then they commenced to ripping open a mountain of gifts, leaving a frenzied pile of wrapping paper and ribbon in their wake.

Hey, I'm as guilty as the next person. I'm not going to lie. But if we're going to make Christmas about gifts and parties and such, perhaps we SHOULD just call it "the holidays." If you think about it, it's ironic that people will threaten to boycott a store because the employees aren't allowed to wish them a merry Christmas while they're in there taking part in the very commercialization that takes Jesus out of the equation anyway.

Maybe we should just have a separate holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus. He deserves to have his own special day and not just be a supporting cast member to Santa's leading role. I know, some people will gripe that that's "letting them win." But at the end of the day on December 25th, the baby Jesus in the Nativity is usually buried beneath a pile of wrapping paper. And that's not exactly keeping Christ in Christmas.