When Christmas was the Holiday by Peter DeMartini

Here is an article that my brother wrote that expresses the sentiments of many people I know includng myself:

When Christmas was the Holiday

By

Peter DeMartini

These are the ramblings of an old man who was having trouble sleeping one night and feels he should say something about the way this Country is changing. This old man doesn’t particularly like the changes.

When did it become politically correct for big department stores, corporations, and the media to stop celebrating Christmas? I was listening to the news on television and one of the reporters was talking about a Christmas Tree and suddenly stopped herself to say Holiday Tree. Who changed the Christmas Season to the Holiday Season? Is Christmas not the holiday anymore?

I would like to know who first came out with the phrase ‘politically correct.’ Years ago, before the days of ‘politically correct,’ all the store windows were lit up with “Merry Christmas.” All the store employees cheerfully greeted everyone with a “Merry Christmas.” They were not told by corporate headquarters to say “Happy Holidays,” instead.

I remember when there was no Black Friday. Back in the olden days, as recently as the 1980s, corporations knew how to market the season. Why do they feel they have to change its name now? They want to sell everything to the public who they know are buying Christmas gifts, but because of political correctness, they don’t want to call them Christmas gifts.

When I was an adolescent growing up on Long Island, it was always, “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year” not, “Have a Nice Holiday.” Everyone you passed on the street would give a cheerful “Merry Christmas” with a hearty handshake. “Christmas Carols” were not “Holiday Carols.”

Let us not forget the reason why we celebrate the season. It is not the Holidays; it is the birth of Jesus. You don’t have to be a Christian to know this. Back as long as I have been alive, I remember families buying “Christmas Trees,” not “Holiday Trees.” Is it wrong for a tree in a public location to have religious ornaments on it? I understand the White House is calling the tree on the front lawn a Holiday Tree this year and not allowing religious ornaments on it. Well if it is not a “Christmas Tree,” what is it?

Has anybody ever turned down a Christmas bonus or worked on December 25?

I don’t want to insult or disrespect anybody’s beliefs. Whether you believe in God or a prophet or nothing at all, there is no reason to change Merry Christmas to Happy Holidays? The vast majority still want it that way. It has been that way for hundreds of years, so let’s keep it that way. What will our children or grandchildren believe in; Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas? Will they still go to sleep with happy dreams of Santa visiting them? And, yes Virginia, there still is a Santa.

The founding fathers of this great Country believed in God enough to put “In God we Trust” on our currency and on many of the buildings in Washington D.C. This Country was built on Christian beliefs and has survived because of them.

In closing I want to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas.

© 2009 by Peter DeMartini. Used by Permission. All rights reserved.