The season brings us back to first principles — religion, family, friends, generosity, the counting of blessings.
On the television show “30 Rock,” one conservative character seethes every time he hears a form of the word “holiday” instead of “Christmas.” It’s Christmas, he insists; deal with it.
For humor purposes, he is juxtaposed with a Vermont super-liberal who can’t bring himself to offer a greeting that doesn’t acknowledge every imaginable religious outlook.
For purposes of compromise, perhaps the season might be considered Christmas Plus, not with an eye so much on religious differences — which few want to fight over — as on the real nature of the season.
After all, one of the best things about Christmas, American style, is that it doesn’t end all of a sudden on Christmas Day.
The song says, “Soon it will be Christmas Day,” as if everything else is a buildup — or a letdown. But children don’t have to go back to school the next day. Often adults don’t have to go back to work either; and if they do, they still face something of a holiday atmosphere, complete with more time off.
Almost nobody has to go through a sudden decompression.
After the New Year, people are more emotionally ready, abetted a little by the prospect of a fresh start. Some are downright eager, having had enough holidays, whatever they might be called.
But most, let’s face it, are in a state of depression they can handle.
The extension of the season beyond this day, that is, beyond even the religious season of Advent, might be seen as partly a matter of chance, resulting from the proximity of New Year’s Day. At any rate, the extension makes Christmas all the better; all the bigger, too, entailing more travel to family and more socializing generally.
The Christmas phenomenon has always been remarkable for how it melds the religious and the secular. Over the last half century, many have complained that the religious side is losing out, as more emphasis has been placed on the giving of gifts, including for people who don’t need any material gifts.
But also fascinating is how Christmas adapts to the times. In recent years, those who really, really hated fighting all those crowds at the malls have had their Christmas loads lightened by the Internet and its marketplace.
Yet traditionalists have been able to cling to their ways, like the people who still vote on Election Day.
Maybe the reason we hear fewer complaints these days about materialism’s takeover of Christmas is that there are fewer angry shoppers, because people are no longer forced to fight the crowds.
For whatever reasons, we have a season that — no matter how many stories you hear about holiday suicides — Christians and non-Christians alike generally love, with a few moments of hatred thrown in.
The season brings us back to first principles — religion, family, friends, generosity, the counting of blessings. It makes the coming of winter less depressing, and it fortifies us. It offers a different kind of take on things.
Tomorrow it will not be gone. And when it finally does go, it will, like Frosty, be planning a comeback — at an interval of nicely chosen duration: long enough to keep the event special and short enough to keep hope alive.
The dispute on “30 Rock” is largely made up for fun. Notwithstanding a few cranks in the political-warrior business, the Christmas season brings people together, rather than dividing them. You can tell that by the letdown afterward, which also unites.
Cox News Service