{"id":1755930,"date":"2022-11-30T03:02:27","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T08:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1755930"},"modified":"2022-11-30T03:02:32","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T08:02:32","slug":"how-christians-can-push-back-on-the-commercialized-christmas-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-christians-can-push-back-on-the-commercialized-christmas-season\/","title":{"rendered":"How Christians Can Push Back On The Commercialized Christmas Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhow-christians-can-push-back-on-the-commercialized-christmas-season%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1755930&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The fact that America launches its holiday season with a federal holiday dedicated to giving thanks is nothing to sneeze at. In fact, it\u2019s practically a miracle that our society continues to observe Christmas <em>at all<\/em>, let alone as its own federal holiday. In a society generally hostile toward Christianity (and indeed any <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/06\/14\/what-is-a-woman-documentary-displays-chilling-hostility-to-truth\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">claim of objective truth<\/a>), one might reasonably expect that one of the most ancient and important Christian feast days would have been canceled long ago.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, despite attempts to overlook the Christian nature of Christmas, America\u2019s mere recognition of it gives it a stamp of approval. The federal and liturgical dates remain identical, \u201cSanta Claus\u201d still means \u201cSaint Nicholas,\u201d and the attempts to replace \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d with \u201cHappy Holidays\u201d and \u201cSeasons Greetings\u201d have never had complete success.<\/p>\n<p>However much it misunderstands, our culture can neither change nor deny the origin of Christmas cheer. Within every holiday shopping aisle or Christmas light show, there is a kernel of truth and goodness.<\/p>\n<p>With this in mind, Christians and conservatives can see the rising tide of Christmas energy not as a battlefield but as an opportunity to raise the culture to a new level of understanding and joy.<\/p>\n<p> <strong>Replacing Criticism with Charity<\/strong> <\/p>\n<p>Many of us are all too familiar with the complaints that commercialization has hijacked the holidays and shoved the celebratory timeline a month too soon. We <em>could<\/em> try to tune out all pre-Dec. 25 Christmas carols or refuse to look at prematurely decorated Christmas trees. But not only is this approach almost impossible in our world today, but it also risks filling our own Christmas preparation with more grumpiness than goodwill. <\/p>\n<p>Why not view the newly lit office tree as a reminder of the soon-to-come Light of the World, or the shop window display as a reflection of God\u2019s gifts to mankind? While we\u2019re at it, why not share the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stnicholascenter.org\/who-is-st-nicholas\/saint-in-bari\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">facts about Saint Nicholas of Bari<\/a> or the <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/5736523\/history-of-christmas-trees\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Christian stories of the Christmas tree<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/aleteia.org\/2017\/12\/11\/poinsettias-and-their-surprising-spiritual-symbolism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">poinsettia<\/a> with our friends, neighbors, or colleagues?<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s true that most of the time, the potential consequences of \u201couting\u201d ourselves as Christian or conservative can give us natural (and sometimes legitimate) pause. But Christmastime is different.<\/p>\n<p>People are especially eager to have a fulfilling and joyful Christmas. Yes, Black Friday ads and holiday sales prioritize the presents, but many people \u2014 regardless of faith background \u2014 acknowledge Christmas as a season to think of others, spend time with family, and be generous toward charitable causes. (After all, how many popular Christmas movies have materialism rather than generosity as the moral of the story?) All of these are values that Christians cheer for.<\/p>\n<p>Amid the hedonistic holiday mania, there are voices that are pushing back, and we can build upon that momentum. Two years ago, the British TV series \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@thismorning\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">This Morning<\/a>,\u201d which boasts 2.26 million subscribers on its YouTube page, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=o5KOkkg6gBs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">posted a video<\/a> tutorial of a DIY Advent calendar. On the collaborative blog <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theartofsimple.net\/12-days-of-christmas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Art of Simple<\/a>, we find <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theartofsimple.net\/content\/images\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/12-Days-1-791x1024.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">12 simple tips<\/a> for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Even amid the hedonistic holiday mania, people are still eager to have a fulfilling and joyful Christmas. Christians can help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":930,"featured_media":1755933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1755930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1755930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/930"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1755930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1755930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1755933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1755930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1755930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1755930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}