I know Christians who regard Christmas as their favorite holiday. I am not one of them. While I receive benefit from sermons about the significance of Jesus' entry into the world and enjoy listening to the music of Handel's Messiah, there is enough crassness and excess about the overall holiday to make me wish it would go away.
This opinion piece, written by someone who I gather would not describe himself as a Christian, nearly perfectly captures my own ambivalence regarding the modern celebration of the holiday. From the article:
"Okay, sure, much of the terrible Christmas music we’re now force-fed like detainees at a very festive CIA black site is sorta-kinda more secular, and so therefore ought to be more appealing to those who object to having a religious holiday crammed down their ear holes. But I’d take a profound messiah over a half-a***d shopping gimmick any day. I’d rather be exposed to two months of transcendently great religious art than a single week of noxious shopping gimmicks dressed up in Santa drag."
Read the rest here.
