War on Christmas-- What happened?

I haven't heard anything from the pundits who complain every year about the supposed "war on Christmas". Have you? Maybe I haven't been listening hard enough. Bill O'Reilly hasn't said anything as far as I know. I checked out his website-- not a word about it. Neither has Bob Gibson said anything, although he wrote a whole book about it, so that's probably complaining enough for a lifetime. Are we to assume then that the war on Christmas is over? Who won? Nothing is clear about this war, much like the war in the Middle East in which we are presently engaged.

Maybe that's how we fight wars in America now. We just complain and moan for a little while with no clear objective, perhaps except to just be heard and to make our presence known. That's all. Making any substantial change is far off of the radar screen. Bloviating seems to be the order of the day. Just be loud!

Back to the "war on Christmas". Christmas can never be eliminated completely because it is a Christian feast day. Got that? As long as there are Christians, there will be Christmas. What O'Reilly, et al were complaining about is the traditional cultural trappings of Christmas-- creche displays at city hall and retailers saying "Merry Christmas" are the two big ones.

Christmas was not developed by and for American society. To make the value of this holy day dependent on what a particular culture does (or doesn't do) civically or economically is to make a mockery of what Christmas is really about. It really doesn't matter at all if the traditional cultural trappings are mocked, or even outlawed. The real Christmas will survive in hearts of people and in the churches where the Christ Mass is celebrated-- where it matters most.

The celebration of Christmas has nothing to do with city hall and Wal Mart. Christmas is God becoming incarnate in the person of Jesus. It's more than the birth of a cute little baby asleep on the hay. It's God in the flesh on this planet to redeem and sanctify it, to begin a great deliverance and usher in the Kingdom of God.

Last week, one of Santa's elves wished me "Happy Holidays". I'm not bothered by that phrase one bit. American holiday tradition simply is not sacrosanct to me. We can burn all of the Christmas trees, smash all of the manger scenes, cut all of the wires on the strings of Christmas lights, fire all of the Santas and Salvation Army bell ringers, stop all Christmas music on the radio, schedule no Christmas television programming, and replace all of them with menorahs and crescents... there will still be Christmas! It can and will survive any so-called "war" as it has for centuries.