A "Meh!" Christmas

The above words are the ones my friend Dale used to aptly describe this winding down holiday season. I can't come up with anything better.

Of course, with my father passing away, a depressing, gut-wrenching Christmas was all-but guaranteed for me and my family. My Mom and I were pretty apathetic throughout the weeks we were supposed to be shopping for each other. Still, for a while I couldn't help but feel (especially during office gatherings) that I would have been pretty indifferent to the season even without the added tragedy in my life.

Other people around me, like Dale and Lynne, were the same way. More and more people I spoke with seemed tired rather than festive--more than what's usually the case during this time of year, I mean. What was the source of all this?

Well, did you know there was a war on Christmas going on? I knew it started last year, but I missed the part when one of the sides apparently won.

I knew the right wing campaign to "protect" Christmas from Godless heathens started last year, but the war seemed to escalate this season. I spent a lot of time driving these last couple of months, and it might just be me, but I noticed on the car radio that there was an onslaught of holiday music starting up unbearably early. Stations changing to 24/7 Christmas rotations (with a pinch of Adam Sandler's Chaunaka song)? Did I miss this in prior years?

I heard all this before Thanksgiving, but Dale says she started hearing it played weeks before her marriage--which took place before Halloween!

Apparently, talk radio has been pushing the War On Christmas myth for all it's worth. My Mom started complaining one day about the lack of the word "Christmas" in catalogues (as if it's a surprise that marketing wants to appeal to everyone who has money). When members of the dominant religion--the one that is represented day after day in everything from government to entertainment-- are made to feel persecuted and threatened over nothing, that's a major triumph for right-wing propaganda.

You think that with the people asking my Mom for money (the week after my Dad passed away) just so they can get their kid another game for the XBox (to be lost under the couch and forgotten a week later) that Kwanza would be welcomed over this financial suicide people put themselves through each year.

But no. Apparently Christmas wasn't mentioned enough for most people, so people wanted it shoved right in the faces of those who wanted to be left alone (the ideal target of warriors like Bill O'Reilly). And they won, I guess. And most people who celebrate the holiday are more sick of the holidays than usual.

Good job, people. Nice "victory." Hopefully, the warlords behind this will finally pull out for at least another year.