The Commercialism VS. Keeping Christ in Christmas Debate

'Tis the season to be jolly' - I used to be an executive at a major retailer some time ago and I started that job the week of Thanksgiving. At one of the executive meetings, the boss was welcoming me to the store and introducing me to the other store executives. He said, "Beau, I know you just got married, but tell your wife right now, that working in retail ruins Christmas for you forever." Everyone in the room laughed but nodded in recognizable agreement.

I got to experience "Black Friday" first hand and was a little disturbed and delighted at the same time. We opened the doors at 6am and over 600 people rushed in the door almost trampling a baby in a stroller. I headed over to the Electronics department and the sheer mayhem of people fighting over who was first in line to get our limited numbers of a camera was like something out of a movie. From a business perspective it was great! We normally did about $80k on any given day. This day we had totalled just under half a million dollars, doing $80k by ten o'clock that morning. But when I got home I was disgusted at the display I had just witnessed. How commercial-- people were treating if they did not get their child the new "Wii" (that's the new game system for all of you who are not in the loop) that it was "apocalypse now!"

On the flip side, there is the controversy of taking the "Christ" out of Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I am a Christian man, I live my life by faith and the word of God. I believe in Jesus Christ, pray and read my Bible daily... But I take issue with the debate over us making a big deal over other people not wanting to acknowledge this day as Jesus' birthday. To Christians this is a day that we celebrate as the birth of our Lord and Savior, but to non-believers -- it's just a day when a bunch of people get together and eat and exchange gifts. The day means nothing to them. It would be no different than me getting upset because my sister's birthday is on September 11, and the rest of the world is calling it "Remember 9/11 Day" and I want them to acknowledge it as my sister's birthday. I can't force them to do that. Could that be why certain stores say, "Happy Holidays," instead of "Merry Christmas?"