Oh, g…g…gee. Ugh.

Christmas is a nice time of the year. I like this time of the year because as the holiday nears, life seems to slow down a little. It’s not that the world stops for a week, but it just feels like everything is a little less important and then we all take a break for a day or so.

Sadly, Christmas always comes with its controversies and disturbances and this year is no different. Groups of people are once again panicking amidst a flurry of recycled, never-say-die emails, alerting them to the ‘fact’ that President Obama has renamed the Christmas tree to the “Holiday Tree” and that he and the First Lady have removed religious ornaments from the White House. The emails are false, the rumors are untrue. They’re all a pack of lies. The president hasn’t done away with tradition, and the Christmas tree, and its religious ornaments, are alive and well.

Something I find disturbing is that soon we’ll be hearing about municipalities across the country that forbid religious-themed holiday displays because they’re believed to be offensive and we’ll be told to be holiday non-specific when it comes to greeting others.

Bah, humbug. Who makes these decisions?

I’m not a Christian and I don’t celebrate Christmas, but I do believe, like the song says, that this is the most wonderful time of the year and I think we should stop ruining it for everyone. Christmas is a religious holiday that Christians celebrate and everyone should stop telling them they can’t celebrate their holiday or that they need to modify their religion. Trees go with Christmas which is why they’re called Christmas trees, and unless they fall onto someone, I’ve never heard of a decorated and tastefully lit Christmas tree – in private or public – hurting anyone.

As a non-observer, it doesn’t bother me to walk past a Christmas tree to enter a public building during the Christmas season. I’m not going to go all Bill of Rights and Founding Fathers here other than to say that we do have – thankfully – freedom of religion in this country. We have the freedom to observe a religion and we have the freedom to not observe a religion. I don’t believe we have the freedom to force the beliefs of a small group of people who feel they’re acting on what they perceive might be the thoughts of large groups of people onto others. To the people in those positions, I say knock it off and leave Christmas alone and don’t tell me what I should be finding offensive or that I can’t say “Merry” this or “Happy” that. Take that break for a day or two along with the rest of us and go watch It’s A Wonderful Life and think about something that’s really important and that matters. In honesty, I do believe it would be nice if holiday displays were more inclusive, and by that I mean simply put all the religious stuff aside and simply observe a holiday that celebrates our humanity and similarities, but if they’re not, they’re not, and that’s it. The holidays are specific to the religious observance and there’s nothing wrong with that. The big holiday is Christmas and the displays are about Christmas and the people who celebrate Christmas like them and that’s really the only bottom line I need. Put up a Christmas tree or a crèche, put up a Menorah, put up a Festivus Pole, put up a Zen circle. Smile when you do it and it’s all good.

That’s a too-long introduction to what I really wanted to talk about which is the most disturbing part of the holiday season: Chia Pets. Like a plague, the Chia Pets come back every Christmas season and that wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t run about a million TV commercials over ten weeks. They’re like ants, those commercials, they’re everywhere, and no matter what time you turn on the TV, there’s a Chia Pet commercial. This morning, 4:00 a.m., “Ch, ch, ch Chia…” Help me! Chia Pets were bad enough back when they only had the original model and the annoying jingle, but now everyone and everything has been immortalized in Chia seeds, including the president. For the love of all that is holy, please stop the Chias. Boycott the Chias and maybe they’ll go away!

Even though I don’t celebrate Christmas, you’re more than welcome to wish me a Merry Christmas. I gladly accept any greeting that includes Merry or Happy or Joyous or any other positive and well-intentioned adjective.

Not holiday related, but this is pretty cool. It’s a short slideshow on independent bookstores across the country and I thought the second slide was pretty good. Actually, I think that second slide was very good. Check it out and judge for yourself and let me know what you think in the comments below.