Giving Christmas its place

KELLEY KORBIN

There has been a lot of talk lately about taking the "Christmas" out of the holidays.

A Nova Scotia logger recently sparked a cross-border debate about political correctness when he expressed outrage that the 14-metre spruce he donated to the city of Boston was going to be called a "holiday" tree.

Not to be left out of the debate, a spokesperson from Rideau Hall announced that the governor general's tree would also be a "holiday" tree. The governor general's office did an about-face less than 24 hours later, when it clarified that the tree around which Michaëlle Jean drinks her eggnog will indeed be of the Christmas variety.

The debate over holiday terminology has created fodder for the talk radio circuit and has even prompted some Christian groups in the United States to boycott stores that are unwilling to use specific Christmas terminology in their advertising.

The question is, how far do we take political correctness when it comes to Christmas?

Personally, my vote is for keeping the Christmas in Christmas. Calling it a holiday tree will not make it any more likely that I am going to put one up in my house, just as I wouldn't expect a Christian to put a mezuzah on their door post, even if I called it a "welcome object."

Furthermore, while Christmas trees, Santa, Rudolph and the like were not originally part of the Christian celebration of Christmas, there is no doubt that, at least in North America, they have become symbols of this important Christian holiday. By renaming a Christmas tree a "holiday" tree, we are further secularizing this religious holiday. To me, as a Jew, this secularization is more threatening than the potential offence I may feel by being inadvertently wished "Merry Christmas" by a store clerk.

Just yesterday, my son's kindergarten teacher told me that the theme for the class in December would be Noël. When I reminded her that my son was Jewish, she reassured me that I wasn't to worry because there would be no regligion in the class, only art projects involving Santa and his reindeer.

I may be in the minority here, but I wish that if they were going to teach Christmas in class, that it would at least be presented in its true context as a Christian religious holiday. Perhaps that would help my children understand why Santa doesn't come down our chimney.

As it stands now, my kids are bombarded by the sounds and images of Christmas, and not just in the stores and on television – but in their public school, too. It starts slowly in November, when classes begin to prepare their songs for the annual "winter" concert, and builds to a rapid crescendo, complete with letters to Santa and depictions of decorated trees and reindeers on the bulletin boards outside virtually all the classrooms by the beginning of December.

Teachers of younger children start elaborate craft projects. I have received a Christmas candleholder, a wreath, Christmas cards and numerous holiday tree ornaments over the years – all from my children who celebrate Shabbat every Friday night and who dutifully attend Hebrew school twice a week.

In their attempt to keep the religion out of the season, schools usually add a token Chanukah or Kwanza song to the plethora of Christmas carols at the annual concert. But the jingle bells, holly and mistletoe all give kids the unmistakable message that Santa is coming soon.

How is a Jewish family to cope? Many choose to leave town. If you have the means, this can work well, but unless you are willing to have your kids out of school for an entire month, you will still face the onslaught of Christmas from early December.

Not being one to rock the holiday boat at school, rather than vocally objecting to all the Christmas hype, I usually make a pre-emptive strike by booking a time to go into my children's classrooms and talk about Chanukah. This tactic has its drawbacks. For one, you just can't compete with the glitz of Christmas. More challenging for me personally is that by making a big deal about it, we elevate Chanukah to a level beyond its actual spiritual importance.

As we know, Chanukah is really just a second-tier holiday – it doesn't even warrant a day off work. However, the timing is good, there is usually chocolate involved and, when you think about it, celebrating Yom Kippur with a group of six-year-olds in a school classroom wouldn't be much fun. So I always go with Chanukah.

Before going into the class, it is important to give the teacher a brief heads-up on what Chanukah is all about. I learned this lesson the hard way when my oldest son's teacher introduced me by saying, "Now Jake's mom is here and she's going to talk about the Jewish Christmas."

But hey, why wouldn't she think that? Christmas is a secular holiday, right? So Jews must have their own way of celebrating it. It's that kind of thinking that is precisely why we need to give Christians back their Christmas trees.

Kelley Korbin is assistant publisher of the Independent.

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