Merry Christmas

That's right: Merry Christmas.
For many of us, despite the shopping and parties and distractions, this is the season in which we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
Just like Christians took over a Roman holiday to "Christianize" it and celebrate Christ's birth in December (not likely to have been the actual season of His birth), these days the "Romans" of society are slowly trying to re-take the holiday and de-Christianize it.
I heard someone the other day expounding on how we need to be sensitive to those of other faiths during this time - Muslims, those of the Jewish faith, Buddhists, etc. And I agree, we should always be sensitive to those of other faiths.
But they don't celebrate Christmas, for the simple reason they don't believe that Christ is the Son of God who came to take away the sins of the world. Therefore His birth doesn't carry the significance it does for Christians.
However, they do celebrate Christmas in the sense that this is not an exclusive holiday. So people of other faith or even no faith at all decorate, put up trees, talk about Santa Claus and buy and exchange gifts and some still wish each other "Merry Christmas."
Because the national holiday, as recognized by all the states of the Union, is "Christmas."
Does that establish a state religion? Or does it simply acknowledge a day that has been and continues to be special to millions of Americans for hundreds of years. Recognizing that so many people want to be with their families on that day, governments went ahead and rather than have people show up for work grudgingly went ahead and made it a national holiday.
It wasn't always that way. The Puritans tried to outlaw the celebration of Christmas (as did England during the days of Cromwell and what was essentially a Protestant Revolution), because they felt the emphasis was inappropriate.
It wasn't a recognized national holiday until the early 1900s. Congress was expected to meet and work on Christmas Day well into the late 1800s at least.
So what government did was simply go ahead and make official what was, for many Americans, an 'unofficial' holiday. If we're cynical, we recognize that government loves to be able to appear to do things for the voting public that costs little but reaps great public reward, and creating a holiday is one of those.
Not that I'm complaining.
Yes, if we're incredibly sensitive, we see the establishment of the Christmas holiday as some kind of step into establishing a state religion - although it would appear that state religion is commerce, as what has happened is the creation of the biggest economic boom of the year which is good for businesses and therefore taxes.
But enough of that rambling.
It's Christmas. Peace on Earth, good will to all people.
And yes, to many of us it's a significant spiritual holiday.
To many more, it's a chance to party.
But hopefully you get the chance to gather with family and/or friends during this time, and realize that the greatest gift we have is the gift of relationships with other people - hopefully people we love and who love us, who we care for and who care for us, who we accept and who accept us.
Because that is the message of Christmas: God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, so that whoever should believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
That's family, that's love, that acceptance, that's a gift.
Merry Christmas.