Christmas: It really doesn't matter!

A young lady this morning had the unmitigated gall to wish me "Happy Holidays!" I was highly offended. I had stopped in to buy gas and a pack of...gum, on my way to work. Because it was really early, there is a very good chance that she had worked all night long. She was also in her early 20's, so she may have had a little son or daughter sleeping in a toddler bed somewhere. Maybe she can barely make ends meet, but she shows up to work every day anyways. But honestly, any of those possibilities are irrelevant when you consider the fact that she said "Holiday" instead of "Christmas." How dare she remove the reason for the season? I mean, sure, December 25th was the date of Saturnalia, a pagan feast day to worship the god Saturn. But that doesn't matter, we took it, it's ours now! Since the decree of a Roman emperor that December 25th would henceforth and forever be the birthday of Jesus, no one is ever allowed to celebrate anything else, or greet anyone with anything other than a very self righteous "Merry Christmas." This is 'Merica. In 'Merica, we celebrate Christmas! This young lady in the gas station was also wearing a Santa hat! Can you believe it? A Santa hat. How dare she wear a hat that reminds me of a mythical fat man who brings kids presents on Christmas Eve, and has a reindeer with nose acne? Or, maybe Christmas doesn't matter to God at all. Did you know that the early believers never celebrated the birth of Jesus? They celebrated the Resurrection...but they did it every Sunday. Our special holidays started showing up Centuries later, as the result of the rule of a few Roman emperors, who made Christianity the state religion for political purposes. For instance, have you ever wondered where the name "Easter" comes from? It's actually named after an ancient goddess if fertility named "Ishtar." Fertility...hence the rabbits and eggs. So basically we stole both Christmas and Easter, and changed their meaning. Good news is, we made them up, so our opinions have no bearing on what God finds important. I love Christmas. I love the tree smell in my house. I love the lights, candles, eggnog, and the cold weather. I love spending time with my family, and buying presents for my girls. I love going to my moms' house and eating way too much. The thing is, Jesus doesn't need Christmas. His sacrifice demands our love, sacrifice, and devotion every single day. He's earned it. He doesn't need us renaming pagan holidays and giving them to Him. He owns the world. He doesn't need theologically awful Christmas carols, He gets worship from His people every day. He doesn't need a star on top of our Christmas trees (which is really weird, considering that bringing in a tree was also part of the worship of the "Sun god...Saturn") Here's my challenge. Instead of trying desperately to defend Jesus' Birthday, what if we acted like Him? For instance, when someone says "Happy Holidays", just say it back. What if we just showed them compassion and love, instead of demanding that they follow our customs? Stop putting "Keep Christ in Christmas" on your profile, it makes the rest of us look ignorant. Can't it just be an awesome excuse to hang out with our loved ones? Sure, I'm gonna thank God for anther day to chill with my family, but I'm not going to pretend it's His birthday (Jesus was most likely born in September). Just breathe and have a fantastic Christmas Season. I'm going to have a blast.