RSSThe Death of Christmas, Part I
Gene Lalor | December 16, 2009
I admit I go back awhile. (That’s a euphemism for getting old.)
As George Burns famously said, getting old ”beats the alternative.” I sometimes question that wisdom but I’ll let that thought go for now.
Age has a few benefits aside from Social Security, including the capacity to hearken back to the good old days when things were far from perfect but still a damned sight better than they are today in almost every way, except maybe for the blogosphere.
I was recently reminded of those pretty good old days, not of the Harding Era but of a generation or so ago, maybe a quarter century back.
I understand that our younguns may consider that to be ancient history and in a sense it was ancient, the Reagan Era, a time when tradition and family values meant something and most of America felt a new pride in itself and a strong hope for the future.
One tradition of that bygone age was the annual Christmas Shows in our public high schools and junior highs.
That’s what they were really called, disbelievers, before they devolved into the “Winter Shows,” “Winterfests,” “Holiday Shows,” or whatever other secular title is applied today.
This was the time when my now-grown kids attended and performed in those always-festive, always entertaining presentations.
As was proper in public secondary school venues, those annual events didn’t feature strictly Christian religious song and music, although orchestral renditions of “Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem” and choruses singing “Silent Night” were not unheard of.
They were generously supplemented by more secular but still Christmas-y fare.
The high school-level bands, orchestras, and choruses invariably concluded those Christmas pageants with moving renditions of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” during which past performers joined the newcomers onstage to sing and play their hearts out to the delight of a standing, applauding audience.
Readers may recall its final, stirring verse:
And He shall reign forever and ever,
|: King of kings! and Lord of lords! 
And He shall reign forever and ever,
King of kings! and Lord of lords!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
The “He” was the reason for the season but that was then. 
Those days are no more, at least on New York’s Long Island. This is now:
In a predominantly Christian school district, my granddaughter’s “Winter Show” never mentioned “Him” or the word, “Christmas,” not once. The closest reference, of 11 numbers, was a new orchestral arrangement of “Deck the Halls” which the orchestra rendered beautifully.
Her school’s new music maestro was very proud of his charges. The audience sat firmly in their seats and applauded politely.
Something was missing.
This is not to suggest that her “Winter Concert” was totally devoid of any religious reference. The 7th-8th grade orchestra did present an arrangement of “Happy Hannukah” for the enjoyment of the audience.
Other “Happy Holidays” numbers included the themes from Love Story, Masterpiece Theater, and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
To complement the joyousness, the 7th-8th grade chorus sang an inappropriate piece about kids from the hit Broadway play Hairspray, about homosexuality: http://bit.ly/6m7DSo
How any of that related to Christmas or to “the holidays” eludes me.
This battle for Christians for Christmas in very Christian and Christmas-oriented America is getting old and beginning to wear thin.
To be honest, Christians seem to be losing that battle as epitomized by that audience who tolerated without complaint what was essentially an insulting slap at their tradition.
Cowed by a resurgent and viciously anti-American, anti-Christian fervor among gays, atheists, and other iconoclastic members of the disgruntled class who have an aversion to anything that smacks of Christianity, the good guys are in process of giving up.
A subservient, recent Christian propensity to avoid conflict and accept radical change now governs our thinking. We are engaged in a battle in which Christians have adopted the French approach to war: Surrender at all costs and enjoy being prisoners.
We are in process of surrendering more than a religious observation but even recognition of a national holiday because it’s designated as “Christmas” Day, a term that has been described as an affront to Jews, Muslims, and members of every other religious group.
Balderdash and humbug!
We get what we deserve, usually, and Christians no longer deserve Christmas since we obviously won’t insist it be retained and observed, at least on Long Island.
NEXT: Christian Complicity in the Death of Christmas
Contributor's website: http://www.genelalor.com/
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