1. Here’s the thing: I love Christmas. I love everything about the season. I’m pretty much in heaven right now with parties and plays and tree lightings. However, I think this list is stupid. The entire thing just bothers me. And if that makes me a Grinch, well, then, so be it.
2. Imagine this: you took a couple law classes, but found out it wasn’t really your thing. Then you realized that you could go around and just represent clients anyway. So, for nine years, you’re putting people in jail and helping with divorces. Then, one day, you show up to court a wee bit intoxicated. Suddenly, you’ve lost your clients, you’ve lost your apartment, and you’re now in jail. Eh, well, at least you can defend yourself.
3. There was a short time where I hopped on the bandwagon and cheered on the Rangers in the World Series. I watched more baseball in that short time than my entire life. And I actually, kind of, almost enjoyed it. I also learned a few things: for one, there are baseball fans here in Dallas (and they were very welcoming to us bandwagoners). So for you fans, I give you this: a link to Evan Grant’s analysis of trades. Or you could just read his last line, which is: “The Yankees will end up with Lee. The Rangers will use the money saved to add a better hitting option such as Carl Crawford or Paul Konerko.”
That doesn’t mean anything to me, but I’m sure you fans want to know.
18 comments
@No. 1: “© 2010 First Baptist Dallas” That’s all you need to know….
I know a lot of good bars that are decorated for Christmas. I wonder if they’d list those?
1) Regarding businesses keeping the Christmas spirit, I tried to submit The Lodge under the ‘nice’ category but I think the review is still ‘awaiting moderation’ at this point.
I ran back and checked the Gospel of Luke. I was right! The Grinch isn’t anywhere in there. Why does First Baptist Church hate Christmas?
3. Also read about how the Rangers are shopping Michael Young. Oh, Nolan Ryan would dispute that statement, but that’s what they’re doing. I take a backseat to no one in my adoration of Nolan Ryan, but it’s exactly what they’re doing.
I know a lot of bars that are decorated for Christmas year-round. And what with their $2.50 domestic drafts and $3 wells, God only knows how they afford to stave off the ACLU — I don’t ask questions.
WWJD?
If Jesus had the internet, I can think of more than a few things that he would not be doing on it. One of them would be Cyber-Bullying.
Krista, I love that list. For years, it has bugged me how Christmas had devolved into “the holidays.” It started, of course, with stores. It was taken up by well-meaning people who don’t want to give offense to anyone. But respecting one’s own religion does not give offense, as long as one respects other people’s religions. Annette Strauss, the former mayor, sent me Christmas cards every year I lived in New York. She was Jewish. I send Hanukkah cards to my Jewish niece and her family. In neither case, would a “holiday” card convey the same meaning. In a diverse society, we should respect diversity, not try to paper over it.
Wick,
Your last sentence is indisputable, but allow me to point out that, officing downtown as you do, it’s only a brief and invigorating walk to the central library, where the microfiche archives provide a treasure trove of delight. Specifically: Newspaper and Periodical Advertisements From Days Gone By.
Brassiere ads from the mid-1970s are, of course, highly recommended, but do direct your attention to the December issues of any publication going back as far as you please. It would appear the “devolution” of which you speak was a fait accompli by at least the 1940s. “Christmas” and “Holidays,” by my admittedly unscientific sample, make apperances in roughly the same ratio as they do presently.
The further back one goes from the late 1940s, the less evidence is available; ostensibly the PC police of the day forced Christians, under pain of imprisonment, to treat Christmas as an occasion of religious reverence rather than one of commercial gluttony.
Your sentiments are spot on, Wick. However, no one likes to take a chance on alienating anyone these days. I guess I shouldn’t say NO ONE. There are plenty of folks on the right who delight in hearing that “10% of Muslims are terrorists.” Most of us aren’t ready to make so bold a statement, nor to accept the repercussions that making such a statement would entail.
Honestly, I am a Christian but I really don’t want to send out a Thanksgiving card, a Christmas Card, and a New Years Card. It seems much easier to just send out one that says, “Happy Holidays.” Jeesh, I hope I don’t get on the list.
I think the list is stupid, but I love that Mi Cocina is on the naughty list while Highland Park Village is on the nice list. They’re owned by the same people! Hello, irony!
Oh, hey, Anonymous.
I would like to see this list updated year round. Perhaps an army of believers can fan out world wide and greet shopkeepers with a hearty “Jesus loves you” and those that don’t respond in with a real CHRISTIAN greeting can be added to the black list, um, I mean “Grinch” list. I mean why take the heat off of these people who are destroying our country after December?
Sure, my neighbor has his Christmas lights up, but where’s his manger scene? I’ll just add a flaming cross to his yard. And has anyone painted a Star of David on the Nieman’s windows yet?
@Anonymous – only kinda sorta halfway… Stephen & Elisa Summers don’t own Mi Cocina. They do co-own HP Village with Ray and his wife Heather, Elisa’s sister. Ray is the one with a financial stake in MCrowd, which runs 21 restaurants. None of which he personally runs.
http://www.hpvillage.com/2009/05/highland-park-village-sale-closes/
Not to rain on your irony parade or anything.
You know, I get all swimmy-headed when y’all talk high finance and all.
Wick, do you really think that this site is all about being a grinch? Or is it really about taking Christ out of Christmas? There’s a hidden agenda to this site, which is the belief that if some shopkeeper says Christmas instead of Holidays, somewhere down the line I’ll become a follower of Christ.
Though there may be some who will not accept the fact that there is more than one holiday during the month of December, I cannot understand why my wish to them that whichever one they choose to observe is a happy one is beyond me. Happy Holiday’s ya’ll!