My Disappearing Christmas :

Dr. Seuss told us, in his own special way, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". Well, nobody's stolen anything this Christmas. Oh, but Christmas, the real Christmas, the one I grew up with, seems to be disappearing faster than Santy at dawn.

I see it eroding year by year as we bow more and more to ridiculous notions of political correctness and over the top secularism. Every year it gets worse. Can't we be spared the cultural and religious differences just long enough to enjoy a good old-fashioned "Merry Christmas"?

Increasingly, the season is marred by debates over whether, or not, it's proper to display nativity scenes, sing carols, put up Christmas decorations, and so on. What should we expect next? Is a fat Santa really a good role model for our kids? Should one of the three wise men be represented by a female, so the women's movement won't be offended? Should the baby Jesus be depicted as coffee coloured to avoid being seen as racially prejudiced? And, please, before anyone jumps on me, I'm not talking about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ—I feel that's a peripheral thing for Christians to revere. Let's face it, Christmas has been so modified and modernised over the last two thousand years that it just means so much more and so much less than that now. I'm talking, quite simply, about a good happy time of the year for people to forget their differences and unite in friendship, tolerance, and understanding.

I'm not a Christian but I can still enjoy the Christmas season with all its glitter and trimmings—can't I?

Well, Christmas pageants and decorations are gradually disappearing from public schools and many other buildings, and the rousing "Merry Christmas!" is evolving into a bland "Happy Holidays". We're just so afraid of offending someone, or some group, somehow. Which someone, which group, and how, no one really seems very clear about. Secular, smecular! I don't want a sanitised season!

If we can't understand and celebrate our differences, can't we at least be open minded enough to respect and tolerate them?

According to the song, "It's the most wonderful time of the year..." yet it's just getting to feel more and more tiresome. A little more 'giving', which is the basic messages of Christmas, would surely help.

Now, please, may I wish you a very Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanzaa! And, damn it—anything else you may choose to celebrate, that happens to fall in the month of December!