celebrate or not, as you wish

Thanks to the time I've spent on the internet, I've learned a few things. One of them, which seems to pop up this time of year, is that there are Christians out there who are simply not comfortable with Christmas. My ideas concerning this are as such.

1. There is nothing in the New Testament that tells us to observe Christmas as the birth of Christ; therefore, to observe or not is up to each person, family, or church. Those who think it would be wrong for them to observe it are free to do so, so far as I'm concerned, as those who are ok with it, like myself, are free to continue doing so.

2. Just as I offer no condemnation to those who do not observe Christmas, so I expect them to not condemn me and people and like me who do.

Various argument are given concerning why or why not. Certainly, some aspects of how the holiday is popularly celebrated are worthy of questioning and even discarding. One could make the case that the shops start far too early in pushing for Christmas, though I'm tempered a bit in my criticism of that by the idea that stores are simply acting like stores. Still, it was a bit unsettling to see so much Christmas stuff up a few days even before Thanksgiving.

Some will go on about "commercialism" and "consumerism". I'm starting the doubt the existence of those thing, and to consider that it may be better to call them what they really are should they actually exist, things like greed and covetousness. Those things really do exist, but the point is, they exist in all of us, all year round. If anything, considering how much Christmas shopping can be about giving, one could say that at the least those things are tempered to a degree, though being fallen humans they are not completely absent.

And I could almost support a moratorium on any movie or show with the title "X Saves Christmas", X meaning any character or group or whatever. Yes, even something like VeggieTales' "The Toy that Saved Christmas". Enough, already.

And R&B and rap artists should refrain from ruining any more Christmas songs.

Anyway, to my mind and for what it's worth, Christmas is optional, and you may or may not celebrate it if you wish.