Happy December 21
Here it is, just four days before Christmas, and not one holiday post this year!
Let’s start with a re-cap of some of my favorites from last year.
- Auggie Wren’s Christmas Story
- The 10 Least Successful Holiday Specials of All Time
- Beatles Fan Club Christmas Albums
- It’s a Wonderful Life, in 30 seconds, performed by bunnies
And some new ones for this year.
First, this Slate piece gives some historical perspective to this whole anti-Happy-Holidays pro-Merry-Christmas “War on Chrismas” meme. Kids, I gotta say, no lie, I just love what our friends at Fox cooked up this year! Not only is the idea the Christmas is under attack so hilariously and demonstrably false, but, as has been my observation, and as the Slate piece points out, it’s the hardcore fundamentalists who have historically had issues with Christmas. You know, people who have problems with celebrations in general, or back-to-the-bible purists who don’t see any commandment like “Thou Shalt Deck the Halls With Boughs of Holly, for such greens are pleasing to The Lord.” The Slate piece doesn’t delve too deeply into modern fundamentalism, but one incident from about 20 years ago in my own past is one of a fundamentalista substitute school teacher back at my old school district who told a class of kindergartners that there was no Santa Claus, to do her bit to throw some water on the fires of paganism. (I assure you, she won no converts among the parents of the tearful children). So, anyway, really, while the whole spirit of the “War on Christmas” is ugly, the silver lining is that if this is the “front” of the culture war, it means that secularism and paganism have pushed back the front without even fighting a battle.
Second, A Christmas Story, in 30 seconds, performed by bunnies.