No matter what holiday you celebrate, the important thing is the reason for your particular season. That’s been made so much more evident in this shaky financial climate that we’re in. It’s tough out there. Many of us have lost jobs and have had to make major adjustments to our everyday lifestyles just to survive. So if you can’t give or receive the presents you’d like, it’s okay. Everyone will and should understand. Cliché or not, it truly is the thought that counts. The Rolling Stones said it best. “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find a honky tonk woman. Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues”. Truer words were never spoken.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanza, and whatever it is you say to Scientologists in December, Christopher Davis.
commercialism and materialism. Unless it’s a 42 inch flatscreen at Walmart for just $300. Dammit, I should’ve gotten in line at 4:00 a.m. on Black Friday!
One thing we do focus on is our children. It’s the kids we think of most during the holidays. There’s no more selfless act, than going without, so your kids can have everything they want to make them happy. Which brings me to Black Santa Claus? In the 70’s, there was an emerNaughty? Nice? Whatever. Gimme!
We looove to get gifts this time of year. To quote Sally from A Charlie Brown Christmas special, “All I want is what’s coming to me. All I want is my fair share”. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then that means you’ve never seen A Charlie Brown Christmas. And I don’t trust anyone who hasn’t seen A Charlie Brown Christmas. What’s wrong with you? Whether you be Jew, Gentile, Muslim, Buddhist, or jolly atheist, check your local listings for Snoopy and the gang. You’ll be happy you did.
The annual orgy of excess is upon us.
No, I don’t mean bailed out Wall Street executives, swimming naked in their bonuses. Time to reach into your hearts and wallets and get presents for those special someones, and receive them as well. Unfortunately we sometimes lose site of the true meaning of the holiday season. We forget that Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Christ. We forget that Hanukkah recognizes the miracle of lamp oil lasting for eight nights. We forget that Kwanza commemorates when James Brown descended from heaven on a chariot of gold and Italian leather, slayed the evil dragon, freed the princess
and made the world safe and funky for all. We mustn’t get too caught up in crass gence of Black Santas. Surely to relate to young black boys and girls during Christmas. For African Americans, the 70’s were a time where special emphasis was put on embracing your identity as a race and a people. This culminated in things such as keeping your hair in a natural afro, wearing traditional West African dashikis, and taking an interest in your history and culture. That said, what gives with Black Santa? I grew up as one of those young black kids in the 70’s and my cynical young mind never understood why Christmas had “jumped the shark” in such a way. Black kids who were used to White Santa, all of a sudden had Barry White in a beard. White kids were totally confused. And the Jewish kids had to be downright bewildered! Sure, it seemed like a good idea on paper, but now I got two fat bastards disappointing me come Christmas morn! No thanks.
But there’s one gift that keeps on giving. Hysterics! Besides that crazy bitch who pepper sprayed her way to a new X Box on Black Friday, here comes that brand new holiday tradition. The uproar about the supposed “War on Christmas”.
There isn’t a war on Christmas everyone, so calm down. There is a cola war that has continued since Pepsi Free and New Coke waged battle in the early 80’s. Nobody wants to talk about that! We lost a lot of good sodas back then. The “War on Christmas” is no more than political correctness and inclusiveness butting heads. Everyone wants in and no one wants to be left out, but there’s plenty of room for everybody to play. Just don’t lose your minds. If there’s a group of kids on a stage dressed like reindeer and singing Jingle Bells, guess what?
It’s a Christmas play, not a holiday play. If there’s a big fir tree in the town square with tinsel, garland and a star on top, it’s a Christmas tree, not a holiday tree. Let’s call and accept these things for what they are. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then you are two birds a way from a tasty Turducken dinner. On the other hand, if a cashier at a mall says seasons greetings or happy holidays instead of Merry Christmas, don’t shit a fruitcake! She doesn’t hate the baby Jesus. There are other holidays out there ya know?! It’s not here yet, but someday, in a perfect world you’ll walk down the street and see Santa hoisting a rabbi onto his shoulders to help him light a six foot menorah, then sit on a park bench, share a kosher Hickory Farms gift basket and a pitcher of eggnog. Ahhh, good times.