Happy Thanksgiving and Buckle Your Seatbelts!

Happy Thanksgiving! And, if you've been enjoying the pre-Thanksgiving "calm before the storm," all I can say is: enjoy it while it lasts! ;)

Starting just a little over 24 hours from now are the biggest 30 or so shopping days of the year. And, that along with other things, means that the battle over Christmas will only heat up even more. That's what The Christmas Watch is here for.

~Kingdom Advancer

Turkey Day?

Okay, I confess, this is about Thanksgiving, not Christmas. Sue me.

I just wanted to share that today, while I was at ACC (Austin Community College, where I take Chemistry for both high school and college credit), this guy was talking on the phone, and I heard him say something like, "Okay, so what are you doing for - ". He paused, "...turkey day?" It seemed like he was going to say thanksgiving, but decided that it wouldn't be appropriate to mention thanks to God. Rather, one should call it "Turkey Day," so as not to insult anyone.

I'm going caroling soon (in ASL, what's more), and all the songs are about Jesus, except "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," but that's just one in about ten, and theres nothing about Santa or Rudolph or anything like that, plus, it has the words "good tidings," which are straight out of the Bible.

I'm the newie~watch out!

My name is Lanna, and I am now part of the Christmas Watch.

Thou I am not all for the holiday, I do see an awful amount of Christmas things the are taking our beloved Christ out of our well known Christmas.
Things like Santa and elves, and getting gifts and displaying selfishness.

Some try to avoid these self-pleasing ideas, but it's hard to escape them.

When I was a little girl, maybe fiveish, I remember getting home after sharing our holiday with my grandparents, aunts, and uncles. I had large garbage bags full of stuff, that my father was struggling to carry. But I remember saying "How come I didn't get very much? Everyone got more then me!"
My parents were up-set.

People give gifts, expecting gifts in return. Maybe bigger, maybe better, maybe many gifts.
People have it set deep in there minds at all times, what will I get for Christmas?
People think that you can let Christmas be of just giving to each other, and not giving of Christ.

Most people say that the time of the year is perfect for giving, is not the rest?

I'm not saying that I think that giving on this holiday is bad, I'm saying that if you can give all the presents you buy without getting something back, then you are celebrating the true Christmas.

Give to God's people, not to yourself. That's how I see that.

Lanna

Mercedes-Benz: "winter event"

So is that what it has come to? The car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz is calling its sale for the following season a "winter event." Talk about dulling down the holidays--Christmas in particular, of course.

This, personally, is the one I really don't like. People can choose between Christianity, non-Messianic Judeaism, and Islam when it's set before them this time of year. But, the real, most concerted effort against Christ and Christmas in these modern times seems to be coming from those who want to make everything "relative," and eventually, atheistic.

Mercedes-Benz would be the ones to jump on the bandwagon of this type of trend, though, wouldn't they? I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think they have to worry too much about offending "mainstream" Christians.

~Kingdom Advancer

Merry Christmas...AND Happy Holidays!!!

On a Christian radio station here locally where I live, a mall had a commercial that said in sing-song, and I quote: "Merry Christmas, and happy holidays." Talk about wanting to have your cake and eat it too!

Actually, though, this is probably one of the better scenarios. It would be impractical--to say the least--and perhaps even insincere, for a commercial to say "Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza, and Happy whatever-else-you-might-celebrate." And, on the other hand, I think you all already know how I feel about the total exclusion and demoting of Christmas through the use of "happy holidays" and "season's greetings" as "one size fits all" terms.

It's interesting, isn't it, to see how a business will try to position itself for success? This mall is obviously trying to make all their demographics happy. They probably will succeed with such methods, as well, except, of course, making the most "tolerant," "relativistic," and--frankly--extremist secularists happy.

~Kingdom Advancer

This Christmas...A Diamond is Forever...

Jewelry companies aren't stupid. They know that Christmas is sweet and romantic...period. Therefore, they are not afraid to specifically mention Christmas, show a Christmas tree, etc., in their commercials.

I've already seen two Christmas commercials for jewelers, and we are not even at Thanksgiving! One was Kay Jewelers ("Every kiss begins with Kay"); while I'm not sure what the other one was, but it's motto was "A diamond is forever."

I'll note once again that mentioning Christmas isn't so much a risk as mentioning Christ's part in Christmas, but it is worthy of note anyway, although once the commercials start pouring in after Thanksgiving they might be impossible to keep up with.

~Kingdom Advancer

Best Buy and Geico: Santa-mas?

Best Buy and Geico Insurance Company are two of the first entities to get holiday television commercials up-and-running. Both of their spots include Santa; neither include mention of Christmas.

This may seem like nit-picking, but it is conspicuous: Santa has little or no relation to Christ--although he has become a symbol for Christmas (not the generic "holidays"). In fact, Santa Claus seems to be one of the older and tried and true attempts to get Christ out of Christmas--move somebody else in His place!

Besides, Best Buy has made publicly known that they won't make any exclusive references like "Merry Christmas" this season.

Anyways...you still can't make too harsh a judgment on a commercial with Santa.

~Kingdom Advancer

USA Today

This is Austin, a new team member. I'm a little spy, looking out for the attempts of our society and specific organizations to remove Christ completely from Christmas and our culture in general.

Check out this article by USA Today about Christians who are fighting to put Christ back into Christmas:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-12-21-holidaysuit_x.htm

Now that's bold! In case you missed it, this lady was so fed up with the removal of Christ from Christmas that she brought a cake to her son's school that said, "Happy Birthday Jesus". That's bold, right there.

Message from Target: Merry Christmas?

With un-traditional music and decorations, the latest Target television commercial (which I saw a few days ago) is hardly overtly pro-Christmas. Yet, the company does flash the two magical words of the 2006 holiday season--"Merry Christmas"--at the end of the spot, right beneath its famous logo. The words are on there for about a total of three seconds, and they're almost hard to read. Nevertheless, it's progress.

Remember, this is the same Target store that has in the past banned Salvation Army Santas from standing outside the store. (I don't know if that ban is still in effect, or not.)

Hmm....Confusing...We'll have to keep an eye on this one.

~Kingdom Advancer

This is the Christmas Watch

Yeah, like the "Neighborhood Watch," only not. This blog is all about Christmas. Yet, the main focus is watching the Christmas scene. What stores aren't afraid of Christmas? What stores are? What TV shows? What radio stations? What brands? What politicians? What celebrities?

Who only will say "Happy Holidays"? Who refuses to show a Nativity scene? Who wants Christ out of Christmas? What's the ACLU, Michael Newdow, and others doing?

This is the blog where I encourage everyone to post what they see, hear, read, etc. I even want to know what you think (about what will happen, about what's already happened, etc.) If you want to become a team-member, that's even a possibility, so that your info will be more visible (not just a comment). Just let me know (so that I can go through some basic qualifications with you).

I don't know how much traffic this site will get, especially since the majority of my posts, including on Christmas, will be found on my main blog, Kingdom Advancing . However, I just wanted to offer a convenient alternative to forever updating my post, The Battle Resumes, found on my main blog.

~Kingdom Advancer