2008 Christmas Pot Pourri

Now I'm really reaching into the vault. Here, from 2008. . . has any of this changed in the last five years?

Here's a little Christmas pot pourri to get you in the holiday mood this month.

• Tired of the overly political correctness of not being able to say "Merry Christmas" for fear of offending someone?  Even if it's not a holiday you celebrate, the greeting is still nice and often welcome.  "Happy Hannukah" is a welcome phrase among some of the Jewish people I know. And they take it well coming from someone who does not practice the Jewish faith.  If you are fed up with merchants being afraid to say Christmas in their advertising, check out CitizenLink: Merry Tossmas 2008.  Here, you can view a video clip of people tossing "holiday" catalogs and you can decide whether or not to sign the "Focus on the Family Action's 'I Stand for Christmas'"  petition.

• Wonder why on earth people have to endanger the lives of others in order to shop at . . . WalMart.  Others were trampled at other stores onBlack Friday in 2008, and this is certainly not a new phenomenon. My sister and I, as we waited with extremely polite and friendly people in the early hours of Black Friday at a Kohl's department store, wondered if this post-Thanksgiving shopping rush started with Cabbage Patchkids.   Those who were around in the early 1980s might remember when the dolls first hit the shelves.  The frenzy to possess as many of the dolls as possible was on the nightly news as people played tug of war with the items.  The Beanie Baby of the early 1990s craze nearly matched the Cabbage Patch kid frenzy.   Does anybody out there know when it became popular to shop the day after Thanksgiving? Who decided that was the best day to kick off the Christmas shopping season? And why on earth would people be so crass as to continue shopping at the scene of a crime (the death of the man who died at WalMart, after being trampled)? 

• Is it possible to say, "Merry Christmas," anymore, or are we going to have to rename everything associated with that phrase in order to please the politically correct police?  "Holiday Tree" just doesn't seem to have the same ring to it.  I'm not so sure "Holiday gifts" quite cuts the mustard, either.

• Why do I never see people crowding the bookstore unless it's just before Christmas?  Don't people read at any other time of year?

• Some of us sure try to torture ourselves over having a "perfect Christmas."  Decorate the house inside and out, in every room (don't forget the "holiday" themed toilet paper).  Some of us try to make every kind of cookie under the sun.  My poor kids are cookie deficient, unless it's the store-bought kind.  When I was a kid, my mom baked cookies and other treats on a regular basis.  I like to bake, but if that sweet stuff is in the house, I'm the one who eats it.  The kids like it, if there's any left by the time they get home from school.  But--for someone who has been known to ruin Jell-o, baking for any holiday can be rife with pitfalls.  Don't stress about it all.  It's ok to find a nice, gourmet, store-bought treat.  And if gourmet isn't your thing, that's ok! Red and green filled Oreo cookies will do just as well.  Even if you don't dip and decorate your Oreos yourself, the plain ones straight from the package are sure to please.

• Christmas cards.  E-mail, or U.S. mail?  I like to send mine via the United States Postal Service.  It's such a rarity to get an actual piece of mail that isn't a bill, bulk mail, catalog, or junk anymore. What a pleasure to get a Christmas card. Or birthday card. Or any kind of holiday card. 

• Santa Baby.  Can we get the Eartha Kitt version back into radio play, PLEASE?  It's so much classier than the nasally, fake Brooklyn-accent Madonna version that's been out for far too long.

• Whether your Christmas is snowy and bright or sunny, hot, and bright--hope you have a merry one.