Keeping Christ in Christmas

Posted by Molly

I love sending out Christmas cards. I send them out early and I send a lot!

And my cards never say Happy Holidays - they always say Merry Christmas or something about the coming of Christ or the season. I never put Santa on there. I prefer angels or a nativity or something that reminds us about the real reason for the holiday. This is just my preference, though, so if you sent me a card with a big reindeer on it, don't worry. I love Rudolph, too.

This morning on a talk show I heard some women discussing whether of not it is offensive to send out Christmas cards rather than Holiday cards. The argument was made that we don't send 4th of July friends to people in London. I get that, but Christmas is different than the 4th of July.

Christmas is a time for sharing our faith and our joy with the world.

When I send a card to a friend of a different religion, I am not trying to convert them or put down their beliefs. I am just sharing the joy I feel about mine. My friends know I'm Catholic so it should not come as a shock when they recieve such a card. Plus, I know I talk about my kids and their devilish behavior a lot but for little rascals those boys sure are cute! I don't care what your religious beliefs are - who wouldn't get a little joy out of recieving a card with those little angels on it, right?

I have many Jewish friends who send me cards that say "Happy Hanukkah" and I am never offended. These friends are not trying to change my beliefs, they are just sharing their joy about their own faith and I respect that. I also love playing dreidel and have Adam Sandler's "Hanukkah Song" on my ipod.

I think in our world today there is so much worry about political correctness that it takes away from the holidays - not just the Catholic ones but all the holidays. I understand wanting to be sensitve to others but I think we're so overly sensitive now that we end up hiding important parts of ourselves that the world might benefit from. I think if we really want to show our acceptance of other people's faith then we should be open to hearing about it rather than wanting them to keep it hidden. How does hiding our faith do anyone any good?

I have a close friend who is agnostic - which means he believes in a God-like being but he is not sure who or what that God is. I asked him if he finds my Christmas cards offensive and he gave me a great answer. He said "Molly, first of all, I know you accept me so I never feel like you're cards are trying to force me to believe what you believe. And while I'm not as sure of the whole Jesus thing as you are, I think anyone with any knowledge of history knows that at the very least he was a great man so why not celebrate his birthday?" Amen to that!

Merry Christmas, Friends.

Don't be afraid to let others know why we are celebrating.