This is my Christmas rant. First a friend went to buy Christmas stamps--the ones with the Botticelli Madonna and Child on them. The Post 
Office said they were out of those but could give her Hanukkah instead. Sorry, but that is not our tradition! She could also buy the Muslim stamp but she wanted the Christmas stamp with the Madonna and Child on it for her Christmas cards. The second postal station was out and so was the third one! They each had plenty of Hanukkah stamps and a Christmas toy stamp, but she wanted the Madonna and Child. She visited the main post office but did not find them there. She returned to our local postal station and they had gotten in 11 sheets of stamps only. She bought them all. Seems like others are also looking for the same stamp! I don't even know how to start my own search for the same stamps.
Next, I came across a site where I could get a Christmas decor for my blog and I found that they had 717 pages of pictures--each page had 12 pictures that I could choose to insert on my blog. The first few pages were cutesy bears with Santa hats, snowy scenes, Christmas trees, holly, and so on. I looked through 109 pages seeking one with a religious theme. I found three: one had a nativity with Santa kneeling in front and the other two were the same with different wording--a silhouette of the Holy Family traveling against a sunset background. I was not impressed! The thing that distressed me the most was the increasingly sexual aspect of the pictures with almost-nude males and females dressed in Santa hats and scarves that left little to the imagination or signs that said, "I want......for Christmas."
Next, I went to find Christmas paper for our Christmas newsletter. Once again I could not find ANYTHING with a religious theme at our local office supply chain stores. My next stop in that search will be one of the religious goods stores--if I can find one that has not gone out of business this year.
My thought after those experiences was: What has happened to the REAL meaning of Christmas? I began praying the prayers of Advent this past Sunday and will continue saying those prayers and meditating on the scriptural meaning of this season each day until Christmas. Why is it so hard to find support for the religious meaning of Christmas out there in the world? What has our culture done to the real meaning of Christmas?
Office said they were out of those but could give her Hanukkah instead. Sorry, but that is not our tradition! She could also buy the Muslim stamp but she wanted the Christmas stamp with the Madonna and Child on it for her Christmas cards. The second postal station was out and so was the third one! They each had plenty of Hanukkah stamps and a Christmas toy stamp, but she wanted the Madonna and Child. She visited the main post office but did not find them there. She returned to our local postal station and they had gotten in 11 sheets of stamps only. She bought them all. Seems like others are also looking for the same stamp! I don't even know how to start my own search for the same stamps.Next, I came across a site where I could get a Christmas decor for my blog and I found that they had 717 pages of pictures--each page had 12 pictures that I could choose to insert on my blog. The first few pages were cutesy bears with Santa hats, snowy scenes, Christmas trees, holly, and so on. I looked through 109 pages seeking one with a religious theme. I found three: one had a nativity with Santa kneeling in front and the other two were the same with different wording--a silhouette of the Holy Family traveling against a sunset background. I was not impressed! The thing that distressed me the most was the increasingly sexual aspect of the pictures with almost-nude males and females dressed in Santa hats and scarves that left little to the imagination or signs that said, "I want......for Christmas."
Next, I went to find Christmas paper for our Christmas newsletter. Once again I could not find ANYTHING with a religious theme at our local office supply chain stores. My next stop in that search will be one of the religious goods stores--if I can find one that has not gone out of business this year.
My thought after those experiences was: What has happened to the REAL meaning of Christmas? I began praying the prayers of Advent this past Sunday and will continue saying those prayers and meditating on the scriptural meaning of this season each day until Christmas. Why is it so hard to find support for the religious meaning of Christmas out there in the world? What has our culture done to the real meaning of Christmas?
