December 23, 2004
Midwinter
Christmas is under siege again. Every year, the story of how Christmas is being ruined plays out in the newspapers. Much ink is usually spilled over the question of whether Christmas is too commercial, although some people hold that it's not commercial enough; this latter group presumably believes that elbowing aside fellow shoppers to grab the last Lego set on the shelf at Target represents the height of holiday fun, beating out making snow angels and caroling. This year, however, an organized attempt seems to be underway to convince America that the religious aspects of Christmas are about to be stripped away by forces of secular oppression. The stories are somewhat thin gruel, of course, but Christmas present has been compared unfavorably to that of Christmas past for centuries.
