Individual Liberty — Individual Responsibility 

The Seahawks win in Denver after 11 year drought

It's amazing to me that the Seahawks managed to win this game. They played more poorly than I think I've seen them play in a long time. Missed tackles nearly cost them the game. Dropped passes nearly cost them the game.

Josh Brown managed to win the game with a last minute field goal for the fourth time this season. In this game, he should be the most valuable player. Without him the Seahawks would have handed to game to the Broncos despite the turnovers by Denver.

I'm stunned that the Seahawks managed to win this. I still can't believe it the way they played. The only thing that I can say for them is that they were in the game from start to finish. I can't remember the last time I saw them play so poorly yet still manage to win.

The Seahawk are now 8-4. Who would have believed it?

Cross posted at NWBloggers.com.

War on Christmas?

Well before the regular Christmas season marketing blitz began this year I had already begun to see blog postings and news releases about the "War on Christmas". These postings were full of indignation about the activities of the ACLU and companies like Best Buy or Wal-Mart and how there was an active effort to try to stifle any mention of Christmas in stores or advertising or to remove religious elements from public Christmas displays.

At the time I didn't think much of it. The posts were from the "usual suspects" on the right in the battle over the use of the words "Merry Christmas". Last year at this time I spent a lot of time listening to Bill O'Reilly and reading about the topic. This year it sounded a lot like the same voices (I don't know about Bill O'Reilly, I switched radio stations to listen to Mark Levin who is on in the same timeslot here) were jumping the gun and beginning a pre-emptive attack before there was even an issue.

I've thought about it a little bit, and I can't seem to get as worked up about the controversy this year as I did last year. I happen to think that the Christmas season is a wonderful time of the year, and that it's a shame that there are people like the ACLU that want to convert the celebration of Christmas into a totally secular holiday devoid of any reference to Christ. I also believe that it's a shame how  crass the commercialization of the season has progressed to the point that we're inundated with advertising for Christmas sales even before Thanksgiving.

All of this bickering over which retailer wants to keep their employees from saying "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays" or even "Thank you for shopping at <insert retailer name here>, please come back again" seems to be a distraction from what we really need to say to each other at this time of year. Think about it. Just because some politically correct hack (or someone that wants to be politically correct and avoid offending) says "Season's Greetings" instead of "Merry Christmas" does that stop you from responding with "Merry Christmas"?

This is all just a distraction and a waste of energy. What we celebrate as Christmas has its roots in pagan festivals as well as Christian tradition. The tradition of giving gifts was not necessarily inspired by the wise men of the East that bore gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, but could have derived from the celebration of Saturnalia in ancient Rome, as could the tradition of decorating with bright colors, plants, flowers and candles.

The form of our Christmas celebrations has more to do with paganism than Christ. As for the various retailers that hold their Christmas sales, it's all about money, not Christ. Tying the Christmas theme to their sales drives is nothing more than slick marketing, whether it comes from Macy's and their Thanksgiving Day Parade which traditionally ends with Santa Claus arriving on the last float or the Christmas movies that air on television for the month after Thanksgiving.

As for Christmas movies, most of those have little relationship to Christ. Magical snowmen have absolutely nothing to do with Christ. Neither do reindeer with glowing red noses. Santa Claus, now derided by the ACLU as a religious figure has been reduced from a saintly old man that cared for children into a caricature, and even a bit of a clown. What the ACLU has to fear from Santa Claus as a bit of religious iconography is curious. Christmas is a secular holiday in the United States. It has been for as long as I've been alive, and it will be for far longer, regardless of what the ACLU tries to do.

I still celebrate Christmas. I decorate the house. I put up inflatable statues of Frosty the Snowman, of Santa Clause, of Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. We put up Christmas trees in our house and my wife goes all out with the interior decorations. We still put piles of gifts under the tree and hang stockings (although you'd have to have really big feet to wear them) by the fireplace.

We have wonderful food for Christmas eve dinner, and for Christmas dinner. We watch "White Christmas", "The Miracle on 34th Street", and "It's a Wonderful Life". We sometimes also watch "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas", "Elf", and "Scrooged". In general we have a fun time and enjoy Christmas.

But I still remember the Christmas story. Not the one about the kid and the BB gun, but the one about a woman who became pregnant out of wedlock, whose fiance didn't turn her out. The story about how Mary and Joseph, forced by the Romans to go to Bethlehem to be counted and taxed were unable to find a place to stay and how Mary gave birth to her child in poor circumstances. How God Himself came to be a human child, grew to manhood and was brutally murdered, and sacrificed Himself to pay atonement for our sins.

He didn't come into the world in pomp and circumstance, and He left it bloodied and beaten. He didn't have to do this for us, yet He chose to out of love for His creation. That's what Christmas is really all about.

That's why I really don't care if some poor sinner can't bring themselves to say "Merry Christmas", after completing a transaction that has nothing really to do with it. Instead of fighting over how to hold a secular celebration, we should share the true meaning of Christmas with others. After all, someone shared it with us once didn't they? Aren't we all in need of His grace?

Giving gifts to one another is a fun and wonderful thing. We should all be grateful for the greatest gift of all, and share it with one another in joy during the Christmas season instead of bickering about who won't say what to who.

Linked at War on the War on Christmas.