God bless Santa Claus

By MARY ALICE ALTORFER

Christmas arrives every year with the speed and abruptness of a toy-laden sleigh landing on a short rooftop. Despite department stores playing “Jingle Bells” in September, the first real sighting of reindeer is through the eyes of anxious children unaware that the innocence of their vision is the best guard against the dominance of the Dow on this annual phenomena of love. The anticipation and excitement of Christmas morning still has a hold on the holiday.

Thanksgiving being the starting gate for the rush and rituals of the season. Before leftovers are finished, attitudes change. The transition occurs with one night’s sleep. Jump-started by the ringing of tills and bells, the following morning consistently peaks into the busiest shopping day of the year.

Besides making the lips of retail merchants smack and slaver, this time coincides with the beginning of Advent in a liturgical preparation for the coming birth of the Christ Child. After all, He is the reason for the season.

Christmas without Christ is less than half a word; it is the social equivalent of throwing a birthday bash without inviting the celebrant. Innocently enough, its secularization began with the offering of gifts by the Three Wise Men.

Escalating over the centuries with various cultural adaptations, the meaning of Christmas has evolved into an assimilation of values and beliefs wherein God and Santa Claus are now close to receiving equal billing. No irreverence meant, but if a deity is to be nudged from upstage by a myth, better it be a warm and fuzzy one than the usual tawdry icon so popular in today’s culture.

Critics should cease their complaints about Christmas being the only religious occasion that is also a legal holiday, because the temporal world has profiteered mightily from its theme.

When sheriffs and prisoners can work to together to provide bicycles for needy youngsters, when the Marines and Salvation Army can join forces to gather and distribute toys for them also, and when the matrons and mavericks of society can stand beside one another as equals ladling food to the hungry, then God and Santa are smiling. The assignation of good deeds to the proper sponsor is insignificant.

Christmas is a time of year when benevolent acts dominate the news and canned-food drives outnumber the shootings. Clerics complain about the materialism when they should exclaim about the compassion.

Political correctness devotees even want to remove the word “Christmas” from our vernacular. The movement is slow, but consistently effective. For example, a new generation of school children are growing up with the term “Winter Break” for the two weeks vacation in December.

Advocates for this change state pluralism and the separation of church and state as their reasons. Worthy arguments considering the sins of organized religion, which have been committed by man since he learned to walk upright; however, bigger than the corruption and killing done in the name of God is the mercy, kindness and justice performed in His name also.

Tarnishing the miracle of Christmas with the broad brush of pluralism is neither tolerant nor inclusive; it is, instead, a prejudicial and insensitive swipe at Christianity. Winter Solstice has never inspired the unconditional love expressed during the month of December by so many people of every creed and color toward the less fortunate; their labors as nonjudgmental as the hungry bellies waiting in line for a free holiday meal or the excited children reaching for a donated toy.

Like a gaily wrapped present, the spirit of Christmas unwraps itself in the most glorious manner. Bedecked and bejeweled, it glamorizes goodness and trumpets the message of a baby born to the meanest of circumstances, but a birth heralded by kings and streams of angels.

Giving is CPR for the soul and breathes new life into an otherwise cynical and dog-tired world. Be it reindeer or angels that inspire your beliefs and generosity, the recipients seldom question your motives.

Louder than any dispute over its author, Christmas is a heart song. From the heavens above Bethlehem more than 2 millennium ago, celestial voices sang it first. Briefly every year, these lyrics again halo the Earth with their timeless message: “Peace on Earth and good will to men.”

I can say it no better.

Mary Alice Altorfer is a frequent Beacon contributor.