This past weekend we were blessed to have our groceries packed up and bagged by a Police Officer and a Paramedic (volunteering for some reason). After I thanked them both warmly I was THRILLED to hear the Police man say:"MERRY CHRISTMAS!"
I loudly responded with lots of joy: "Merry Christmas!!"

Holly

 

I'm fully in favor of saying "Merry Christmas" and I like the celebration and the increased focus on our Lord this time of year (even if Santa usually gets more publicity). But I do find it amusing when Christians get all up in arms over the festivities and commercialism overshadowing the birth of Christ. Do you know where this holiday came from?

There is absolutely nothing in the Bible that indicates any of the early believers celebrating the birth of Jesus. And there is no evidence of what His birthday was but I highly doubt it was December 25. The Babylonian religious celebration of the Winter Solstice (the shortest day of the year) pre-dates the birth of Christ by hundreds of years. They feared the sun was dying each year, so they took evergreen trees (that exhibit life all year long) and decorated them with lights (to "help" the sun). December 21st or 22nd is usually the actual shortest day. By the 25th you could tell the days were getting longer... "Yay, it worked! The sun made it another year!" Time to party & exchange gifts to celebrate.

Emperor Constantine declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. But his citizens were very accustomed to their pagan festivals and didn't like the idea of losing them. Someone (maybe Constantine himself, maybe some advisors) came up with a way to keep the old festival and just insert Jesus into it. For the record, our celebration of Easter is almost the exact same story (that was the Feast of Ashtart, celebrating another Babylonian god, Nimrod).

I'm not telling anyone to stop celebrating Christmas. I'm thrilled that God sent His Son into the world and I think that's worth celebrating. That's why I like your ideas of keeping the gifts simple, making things yourself, spending time with family instead of trampling Walmart employees to death. That is a much better way to remember God's gift to us - a Savior to redeem the world!