The reason for the season...

Ask 10 people on the street what the biggest Jewish holiday of the year is and 9 will say Hanukkah. Ask those same 10 people what the biggest Christian holiday of the year is and 9 will say Christmas. But they'd be wrong...

For Jews today, the biggest holiday (the high holidays) are the new year and day of atonement and Passover. Why does Hanukkah have all the chutzpah? Probably because it's promoted as the Jewish Christmas holiday, a coincidence in timing and a tradition of gift giving that marks the occasion.

The real question is: Why is Christmas seen as the biggest Christian holiday? Easter is the center of the Christian calendar and the date of biggest significance. Why then does Christmas get the center stage? To borrow from Stephen Colbert, in a word... comericalizationability! Cadbury and Burlington Coat factory aside, it's hard to truly capitalize on a holiday more than the season that has come to mean obligatory gift giving.

So what lit the match under this outburst? i know you've been wondering what it was. i got an e-mail today from my father. At first glance, it was this neat little naughty or nice list. Who is on this clever little list? Well, on the naughty list is every store and online company who is celebrating the "holiday" season and on the nice list... you guessed it, those openly celebrating the "Christmas" season.

Now any self-respecting devout person would patronize the latter, right? Well, it seems to me that if this is the CHRISTmas season, celebrating the birth of Jesus, a man whom probably got his best 3 Christmas presents at his birth in a barn and spent most of his days as a wandering nomad with no possessions by choice... then you would want to avoid focusing on consumerism at all. However, if you're merely celebrating the HOLIDAY season, then consumerism and gift giving is a lovely way to do it.

i'm not going to advocate that you boycot shopping malls and go to church 5 times a week in the advent season. i, myself, love buying a few gifts for friends and family. However, it seems to me that if a store is capitalizing on the "Christmas" spirit/season of consumerism, rahter than peace on earth and good will toward all people, then why would i prefer their store to one that is merely capitalizing on the secular celebration traditions of the United States?

If a store wants to impress me with their Christmas spirit, they can warmly welcome Salvation Army bell ringers to their doorways, donate procedes to shelters, extend sales and selections so that no one is trampled running into their stores, and maybe close up on Christmas eve and day so that their employees, Christian, Jewish, or any faith at all can have some time with family and friends to share a wish for peace on earth.