Tim, time to put up the Christmas lights.
I'll get to it after Thanksgiving.
But the weather is so nice right now. Do it before it turns cold.
I'll get to it after Thanksgiving.
Everyone else is doing it now...
But I like Thanksgiving. It's one of my favorite holidays and I hate to see it replaced by Christmas.
Arrgh... you can be such a Scrooge.
But I'm not. Really -- I like Christmas (a lot) -- but I like Thanksgiving more.
I feel like Thanksgiving gets rushed out the door like relatives who have stayed too long (and no, I'm not talking about you), and before you know it -- Christmas is everywhere. Rotary Lights are hung in Riverside Park early November, downtown La Crosse has its holiday "open house" celebrations before the first snow flake has fallen, Christmas music is heard while shopping for Halloween candy, and Liz's Christmas Club check is in the mail before the seasonal onslaught of Lands End catalogs.
I understand why. Christmas means spending money on gifts and every year merchants try to get an early start. It is the time of year when a business can make it or go under. They call it Black Friday for a reason, and it's not because it puts so many people in a foul mood.
This fall, we have "adopted" a Chinese student from UW-L who is planning a trip to Minneapolis on the day after Thanksgiving to take advantage of Black Friday deals in the Mall of America. Being a young man in America for the first time -- unfazed by the multitude of rude and pushy shoppers -- his brain synapses are firing on all cylinders. Unleashed from the chains of communism, he can't wait to take part in this tradition of unfettered capitalism gone amuck.
However, our tradition of waiting to shop until you drop, was dropped instead.
This year marked the first time many stores opened their doors before midnight. Not a good idea if you ask me. Not only does it take away from time spent with family, turkey and football, but it also means someone in the family has to leave early to be at the store to work. More shoppers mean more workers, even if it means everyone is miserable.
Maybe Liz is right. Maybe I am a Scrooge. Maybe my views on "tradition" is unconventional. So it's just another way of saying I don't like change, God knows I struggle with that every year. Maybe it's just my way of fighting the inevitable slide toward Gomorrah.
Ok, so you think I'm over-reacting. Some would say I need to look at things the other way around. Do we really need traditions anymore? Have they outlasted their usefulness? Some believe many traditions are based on outdated stereotypes that are insensitive, offensive and discriminatory. Traditional marriage, traditional Christmas celebrations, and traditional man/woman roles are all things of the past.
Or are they?
Traditions are important to our culture. They define who we are and what we hold valuable: our country is held together by the same things that hold our families together. Without traditions we become homogeneous, common and rudderless. Our country is a melting pot (or salad bowl if you're talking to my son) awash with different cultures -- each with their own stories and beliefs. That's something that needs to preserved, not lost.
One of the major criticism coming from conservatives today goes like this: that's not what our founding fathers intended. I realize that times change, and know we're not living in a bubble where things don't change for 200 years. But traditions are more than enjoying the lights at Christmas, or having turkey and pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. They give weight to our way of living. It's how we teach our children things from our past, with the hopes that they apply them to our future. As traditions change, so does our understanding of our place in society.
This is important in my household -- because I am always picking up water softener salt, killing spiders, collecting the basement garbage or cleaning out rain gutters. Most people wouldn't think of those as being traditional roles, but my wife feels like it's my job to make sure those things get done. If it involves something smelly, squishy or dangerous she wants nothing to do with it. Now, before you label me "sexist," let me make it clear that I don't mind doing those things. Liz has her own list of important things that she does that I don't do. Our "traditional" roles, so to speak. Not long after we became man and wife, we became muck and flour. Stink and sweetness. Grunt and nurture.
Some traditions are easier to leave behind than others. Casual dress at work is definitely better than a suit and tie. Black and white are much better at basketball than shirts and skins (you don't ever want to stick your face against someone sweaty and hairy). On a serious note, slavery never was a good idea. As were voting restrictions on women and minorities.
But some traditions won't go away without a fight.
Some, like religion and patriotism, have to be systematically reduced by the left before they can be removed. A union between a man and woman is seen unfair to gay people. The gap between rich and poor has to be reduced. Asking "what you can do for your country" has been replaced by "what your country can do for you." Singing religious songs at a holiday concert needs to be balanced by secular songs celebrating Frosty the Snowman.
I don't understand the politically correct desire to take Christ out of the holiday. It's not like it's Friday the 13th versus It's A Wonderful Life. As my left-leaning friends are always reminding me: be a little more tolerant. Well, the last time I checked, I'm not the one trying to remove a traditional celebration from our schools, workplace, movies, television and music.
Do they expect us to limit our appreciation for Jesus' birth to a candle-lit service on one night in December (yes)? Is there another religious holiday so relentlessly attacked here or anywhere else (no)?
The Christmas holiday is still on December 25 -- the day Christians have chosen to celebrate Christ's birth. So why replace it with something so bland as holiday shopping and Santa? Are you really that offended by someone wishing you a "Merry Christmas?" Some are. Children in school decorate holiday trees, not Christmas trees. Before any of that, we used to refer to Christmas as "Xmas."
Based on some of the videos going around the web showing in-store fighting, theft of money from Salvation Army kettles, and driver rage in mall parking lots, I'd say we'd be better off remembering Christ is the reason for the season. Maybe that's the reason people search for understanding and forgiveness -- at least once a year -- by going to church on Christmas Eve.
Another tradition under liberal attack is patriotism. A month doesn't pass when Washington politicians don't condemn the American way as being bad. President Obama continues to blame the United States for world poverty, global warming and Islamist uprisings. Tea Party candidates are blamed for racism, mass shootings, homophobia and fiscal gridlock. Whose side does Washington defend when it comes to illegal immigrants and enforcing our borders? The patriots enforcing our immigration laws, or immigrants that slip across the Mexican border in the middle of the night?
There are times when I feel like no one in Washington is obeying the law. Our constitution is being ignored when Congress allows the president to delay parts of Obama Care or send the IRS to question conservative groups applying for non-profit status. Our right to bear arms is under attack, as are efforts to ensure fair elections and limit voter fraud through voter ID.
But enough about Washington and atheists. They would attack the dead if they could (come to think of it they do). For the rest of us, holiday traditions are a way to enjoy --
. Eating cream-filled Krumkake and powdered rosettes during the holidays
. Walking through Riverside Park to enjoy the two million lights brightening a dark and frigid
December night
. Watching "A Charlie Brown Christmas" to remember the meaning of Christmas
When I was a child, my father would always put us kids in the Rambler before heading to church on Christmas Eve. Mom, of course, would still be in the house putting on make-up and combing her hair. Dad would grumble, "What's taking her so long? We're going to be late for church." As proof, I remember driving up and down the driveway for ten minutes waiting for her to join us in the car.
It wasn't until years later -- when I found out that Santa didn't exist -- that it was a tradition in Grandpa's family to take the kids somewhere while Grandma pulled out the Christmas presents and placed them under the tree. It was a tradition he gladly carried on with his family (by putting us in the car), and one all of us share in some form or other during Christmas and Easter.
Traditions don't have to be big in scope or meaningful to have an impact. Perhaps it's reading a book, watching a movie or calling a dear friend.
To this day, memories of waiting in that cold car come flooding back on Christmas Eve as I sit quietly in our Toyota, warming it up for Liz, Sean and Matt. As I turn to look in the back seat, ghostly images of my sisters, brother and I wrestling in anticipation of unwrapping Christmas presents, are still with me. As is the sweet scent of Dad's Aqua Velvet aftershave coming from the driver's seat. How something so mundane can still be with me after more than 40 years is a testament to the power of traditions, and why they remain so important in my life.
Thanks for the memories, Mom and Dad.
 |
| |
I understand why. Christmas means spending money on gifts and every year merchants try to get an early start. It is the time of year when a business can make it or go under. They call it Black Friday for a reason, and it's not because it puts so many people in a foul mood.
This fall, we have "adopted" a Chinese student from UW-L who is planning a trip to Minneapolis on the day after Thanksgiving to take advantage of Black Friday deals in the Mall of America. Being a young man in America for the first time -- unfazed by the multitude of rude and pushy shoppers -- his brain synapses are firing on all cylinders. Unleashed from the chains of communism, he can't wait to take part in this tradition of unfettered capitalism gone amuck.
However, our tradition of waiting to shop until you drop, was dropped instead.
This year marked the first time many stores opened their doors before midnight. Not a good idea if you ask me. Not only does it take away from time spent with family, turkey and football, but it also means someone in the family has to leave early to be at the store to work. More shoppers mean more workers, even if it means everyone is miserable.
Maybe Liz is right. Maybe I am a Scrooge. Maybe my views on "tradition" is unconventional. So it's just another way of saying I don't like change, God knows I struggle with that every year. Maybe it's just my way of fighting the inevitable slide toward Gomorrah.
Ok, so you think I'm over-reacting. Some would say I need to look at things the other way around. Do we really need traditions anymore? Have they outlasted their usefulness? Some believe many traditions are based on outdated stereotypes that are insensitive, offensive and discriminatory. Traditional marriage, traditional Christmas celebrations, and traditional man/woman roles are all things of the past.
Or are they?
Traditions are important to our culture. They define who we are and what we hold valuable: our country is held together by the same things that hold our families together. Without traditions we become homogeneous, common and rudderless. Our country is a melting pot (or salad bowl if you're talking to my son) awash with different cultures -- each with their own stories and beliefs. That's something that needs to preserved, not lost.
One of the major criticism coming from conservatives today goes like this: that's not what our founding fathers intended. I realize that times change, and know we're not living in a bubble where things don't change for 200 years. But traditions are more than enjoying the lights at Christmas, or having turkey and pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. They give weight to our way of living. It's how we teach our children things from our past, with the hopes that they apply them to our future. As traditions change, so does our understanding of our place in society.
This is important in my household -- because I am always picking up water softener salt, killing spiders, collecting the basement garbage or cleaning out rain gutters. Most people wouldn't think of those as being traditional roles, but my wife feels like it's my job to make sure those things get done. If it involves something smelly, squishy or dangerous she wants nothing to do with it. Now, before you label me "sexist," let me make it clear that I don't mind doing those things. Liz has her own list of important things that she does that I don't do. Our "traditional" roles, so to speak. Not long after we became man and wife, we became muck and flour. Stink and sweetness. Grunt and nurture.
Some traditions are easier to leave behind than others. Casual dress at work is definitely better than a suit and tie. Black and white are much better at basketball than shirts and skins (you don't ever want to stick your face against someone sweaty and hairy). On a serious note, slavery never was a good idea. As were voting restrictions on women and minorities.
But some traditions won't go away without a fight.
Some, like religion and patriotism, have to be systematically reduced by the left before they can be removed. A union between a man and woman is seen unfair to gay people. The gap between rich and poor has to be reduced. Asking "what you can do for your country" has been replaced by "what your country can do for you." Singing religious songs at a holiday concert needs to be balanced by secular songs celebrating Frosty the Snowman.
 |
Do they expect us to limit our appreciation for Jesus' birth to a candle-lit service on one night in December (yes)? Is there another religious holiday so relentlessly attacked here or anywhere else (no)?
The Christmas holiday is still on December 25 -- the day Christians have chosen to celebrate Christ's birth. So why replace it with something so bland as holiday shopping and Santa? Are you really that offended by someone wishing you a "Merry Christmas?" Some are. Children in school decorate holiday trees, not Christmas trees. Before any of that, we used to refer to Christmas as "Xmas."
Based on some of the videos going around the web showing in-store fighting, theft of money from Salvation Army kettles, and driver rage in mall parking lots, I'd say we'd be better off remembering Christ is the reason for the season. Maybe that's the reason people search for understanding and forgiveness -- at least once a year -- by going to church on Christmas Eve.
Another tradition under liberal attack is patriotism. A month doesn't pass when Washington politicians don't condemn the American way as being bad. President Obama continues to blame the United States for world poverty, global warming and Islamist uprisings. Tea Party candidates are blamed for racism, mass shootings, homophobia and fiscal gridlock. Whose side does Washington defend when it comes to illegal immigrants and enforcing our borders? The patriots enforcing our immigration laws, or immigrants that slip across the Mexican border in the middle of the night?
There are times when I feel like no one in Washington is obeying the law. Our constitution is being ignored when Congress allows the president to delay parts of Obama Care or send the IRS to question conservative groups applying for non-profit status. Our right to bear arms is under attack, as are efforts to ensure fair elections and limit voter fraud through voter ID.
But enough about Washington and atheists. They would attack the dead if they could (come to think of it they do). For the rest of us, holiday traditions are a way to enjoy --
. Eating cream-filled Krumkake and powdered rosettes during the holidays
. Walking through Riverside Park to enjoy the two million lights brightening a dark and frigid
December night
. Watching "A Charlie Brown Christmas" to remember the meaning of Christmas
When I was a child, my father would always put us kids in the Rambler before heading to church on Christmas Eve. Mom, of course, would still be in the house putting on make-up and combing her hair. Dad would grumble, "What's taking her so long? We're going to be late for church." As proof, I remember driving up and down the driveway for ten minutes waiting for her to join us in the car.
It wasn't until years later -- when I found out that Santa didn't exist -- that it was a tradition in Grandpa's family to take the kids somewhere while Grandma pulled out the Christmas presents and placed them under the tree. It was a tradition he gladly carried on with his family (by putting us in the car), and one all of us share in some form or other during Christmas and Easter.
Traditions don't have to be big in scope or meaningful to have an impact. Perhaps it's reading a book, watching a movie or calling a dear friend.
To this day, memories of waiting in that cold car come flooding back on Christmas Eve as I sit quietly in our Toyota, warming it up for Liz, Sean and Matt. As I turn to look in the back seat, ghostly images of my sisters, brother and I wrestling in anticipation of unwrapping Christmas presents, are still with me. As is the sweet scent of Dad's Aqua Velvet aftershave coming from the driver's seat. How something so mundane can still be with me after more than 40 years is a testament to the power of traditions, and why they remain so important in my life.
Thanks for the memories, Mom and Dad.
No comments:
Post a Comment