Addressing Christmas Sprit, or Bah Humbug!

By Dan Barber

I need to apologize to family and friends for my lack of Christmas spirit this year. I can only blame myself for the absence of lights adorning my home or a large Christmas tree taking up valuable space in my living room… Yes Virginia, I’ve become a big bah humbug type of person.

My dread of Christmas cheer increases each year that I grow older. I used to believe that a miracle would happen on the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus… but that miracle has already happened at His birth. I do enjoy the happiness that my Grandchildren display during this time of year, but my dread starts to build from the time stores start stocking and selling Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa before Halloween has even passed. I would love to give my children or the Grandchildren who are old enough a nice new car with the big red bow as advertised repeatedly on TV but I can’t.

Then there are the news reports stating that our U.S. economy hinges on Holiday sales projections. Which just reminds me of the debate reported in the news about appropriate greetings during this time of year between should it be “Happy Holidays” or “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Hanukkah” or “Happy Kwanzaa.”

For the sake of disclosure: As a Christian my preferred greeting is Merry Christmas, but when I was a Navy Journalist I favored the government requirement of using “Happy Holidays” because it saved me from using up limited editorial space in my command newspapers, and it didn't anger anyone except for the Puritans.

When my children were young and we were stationed overseas far from family our tradition was to start Christmas decorating right after our Thanksgiving meal. My now adult children continue that tradition for their own kids.

There isn’t even the opportunity to escape from Christmas Cheer when all of my favorite TV dramas or comedies on Prime Time TV are preempted for Christmas cartoon reruns from years past…even “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” as sung by its creator Gene Autry keeps rattling around in my head until President’s Day in February.

I did give American made gifts to my Grandchildren this year… they were printed at the U.S. Mint, and I didn’t even have to fight the crowds at the mall! I just had to stand in line behind a few people at the bank who were smart enough to save up for Christmas in special interest bearing savings accounts.

I can proudly say I did my part by contributing to the U.S. Economy via my nine Grandchildren, who will probably spend their Christmas gift from me at the mall where they will buy their favorite foreign made doodad they believe they’ve always wanted. “They’re happy, I’m happy, happy, happy” as one of my favorite TV personalities would state.

I believe this year I will deflate my “self-imposed” holiday stress by attending Christmas Mass and telling Jesus, “Happy Birthday.”