I really like this one: Holidays are poorly served by hyperbolic rhetoric
It calls to mind an article I read in the New Republic, about fifteen years back, about all the OTHER anti-social behavior that rears its ugly head during the “Christmas season” (actually: ADVENT).
The Japanese, most of whom are not avowed Christians (I believe most are practicers of Shinto or followers of Buddha), know how to do the commercial Christmas the right way.
Stores and other businesses stick a modest, decorated Christmas tree in a respectable place, sometime around December 1.
Other than “Christmas cake”, there are not a lot of other products being hawked through overt appeals to religion.
Either the online magazine Salon or the New York Times did a nice piece about the phenomenon of contemporary Christmas, and how many of America’s early Christians would have disapproved of some of the more extreme behavior found at this time of the year.
I thought that was very interesting.
Hoofin 