FUN AND UNFUN

We, some of us, remember. We remember the fun of school days as Christmas slowly crept closer. We remember teachers who asked us to bring an ornament from home to put on the Christmas tree in the classroom and we brought the best we could find from the old homestead. Everybody did and each of us  pointed with pride to our special decoration we'd put on the tree. It was exciting; it was fun.

Our teacher would decorate the classroom door and inside the room, she would show her creative expertise by making the bulletin boards festive. They were good at it, very good. That was exciting; that was fun.

We remember drawing names in class and keeping the name we'd drawn a secret until the last day of school before the holidays hit. The teacher would instruct us to buy a gift (we weren't exceed a specified monetary limit) for the classmate whose name we'd drawn, bring it to school, and put it under the decorated tree.

In a quirk of Christmas fate, in the third grade, I drew Sue's name and she drew mine. When the last day before the Christmas vacation came (that's what we all called it back then, the "Christmas vacation," we didn't call it, "The Winter Break," or, "The Holidays," nor did we know anything about a "Winter Solstice."), we had the Christmas party, with a Christmas tree right before the Christmas vacation, the party was in class, and we exchanged gifts. It was then we learned the identity of the person who drew our name. It was exiting; it was fun.

And, in class, leading up to the most fun day of the year, we sang Christmas songs. When we got older, our choirs did too. I was excluded from all choirs back then because of a lack of talent which lingers to this day; but it was most enjoyable to go to our high school assembly and hear the choir sing those carols. It was exciting; it was fun.

Then, being at home for the Christmas holidays, that was something else! The traditions, the fudge, the divinity, the pralines, the family friends who would drop by, and everyone of them would be served a special hot, spiced tea my father would have at the ready for one and all. It was Christmas time, and family friends were welcome to come over unannounced. It was exciting; it was fun.

Every family has their own favorite memories of a Christmas past. Some child, now an adult, remembers hearing reindeer on the roof on Christmas Eve night. Another remembers how his parents let him read Luke 2 to the family, maybe by candlelight. It was exciting; it was fun.

During the Christmas holidays, families would get in their cars at night and start the traditional  "seeing the lights." We'd drive around the residential areas and see all the yards and houses decorated for the season--the lights, the manger scenes, the snowmen. Some homes would have music tastefully broadcasting from among the decorations. Things were lively then, exciting, and fun.

Radio programs and then television programs would have their special "Christmas Shows," not "Happy Holiday Shows," and even dramas would have a Christmas theme to them. "Specials" would feature Christmas music as talented celebrities would sing and sing some more. Many would end on a serious Christmas note. It was exciting; it was fun.

Back then, there was a Christian consensus that permeated our culture, a culture that grew out of the Bible and Christian doctrine. That didn't mean that everybody was a Christian, but it did mean that there was a Christian agreement back then. And it was that consensus that made those days exciting and fun.

THAT WAS THEN

But today, cultural commentator Dennis Prager asks, where have all the decorations gone?  He notes that not nearly as many yards are decorated for the season. He's right. Today, the commercials on television don't wish us, "Merry Christmas;" they tell us to have "Happy Holidays" instead. Schools get sued over a tree, a carol, or even a classroom door decorated with a Charlie Brown Christmas theme. University administrators instruct students on how to have a diverse, inclusive holiday party, with diverse, inclusive decorations and themes, lest the season be found offensive to some.

Speaking of "offensive," an elementary school in Pennsylvania (whose state motto is, "Virtue, Liberty, and Independence") recently destroyed its 40-year tradition of the children;s performing Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol because of a few parents who decided that they were hurt and offended by the famous last four words in the play.

For four decades, back to when Gerald Ford was President, the children had practiced and produced the play with excitement and enjoying the thrill of acting out the story of Ebeneezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, Jacob Morley, and Tiny Tim. But no, the thrill, the joy, and the excitement must stop.

Over the years, secularism has done its work, chipping here, chipping there, until individuals, business, and corporations think twice before daring to say or advertise the words, "Merry Christmas."

What's happening is unfun. Secularism makes everything bland, grey, and dull. Take God out of the society and things turn brown. The color drains. The excitement fades into blah. We see this is any atheistic country you want to name. The secularists are draining excitement and fun from  this time of year that was there.

REMEMBER THE ANNOUNCEMENT?

What did the angel announce 2,000 years ago?

"I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people." 

For those of us who remember, it was and still is "good news of great joy." 

Let's live it up. Let's  it out.