There are lots of signs of changing seasons: we had a blanket of snow Monday morning here in Western NY, my mailbox is full of catalogs, the large hardware chain store has large (fake) Christmas trees on display, and Bill O is pitching his "We Say Merry Christmas" stickers. (Yes, I must be a bit of a masochist, because I routinely watch FoxNews and listen to wingnut radio.)
For those of you who run from or can’t stomach FoxNews or Rush, the wingnuts-of-Christmas-past pulled a Wag the Dog routine, creating a false war on Christmas so that they could take the side of Christmas (admittedly a rough side to be against). Even if you don’t watch or listen to the wackjobs, you might have encountered this "war" in the past. At a funeral (of all places) this time last year, my wife greeted a friend of the family with a kind "Happy Holidays" and was met with a hostile sneering "we say Merry Christmas around here." She was a bit flustered and responded with something about living with a Jew (me) and being respectful and this and that. An accurate response, but exactly what they are against. They don’t want to say Happy Hanukkah or Happy Kwanzaa and when they hear "Holidays," that’s what they think.
Well, it seems the wingnuts-of-Christmas-present are at it again and trying to create another false war on Christmas. This year, instead of sticking to the inclusive answer like my wife gave last year, I plan to change the response to something that might actually resonate with them and make them see that they are not just excluding the things they don’t like, but also the things they do. This year, the focus should be on the exclusion of New Year’s Eve. The response should be "Just Merry Christmas? Are you telling me to go f$#k myself on New Year's Eve?" Let’s change the war from Christmas to New Year’s Eve and put them on the wrong side this time. Who doesn’t like New Year’s Eve after all?
In all seriousness, we had a wonderful victory this year and the republican party is licking their wounds, but they will be back and don’t be surprised if they mount any recovery on the back of xenophobia and uniculturalism. In fact, there’s no better way to get back the "real Americans" they may have lost in this election. The war on Christmas is all part of this movement and we need to take it away from them. Ideally we can make them see the beauty and strength of diversity, but let's start small by making them see that being narrow excludes things they like too. From this day forward, let’s vow to purposefully say Happy Holidays to show respect to multiculturalism, but, for their sake, keep the fight about excluding New Year’s Eve. When wished Merry Christmas, I will say "thank you, but only Christmas? Don’t you want me to have a Happy New Year?" Join me.