WHY IS IT?

A couple of Sundays ago, as I was getting dressed, I pulled out one of my ties to put on. Wanda made comment that is was a Christmas tie. It had candy canes and snowmen on it. I asked her, “Why is it a Christmas tie? What do snowmen and candy canes have to do with Christmas?” She had no answer. So I decided to do a little research. According to thehistoryofchristmas.com:
During the 17th century, craftsmen created white sticks of candy in the shape of shephreds' [sic] crooks at the suggestion of the choirmaster at the Cologne Cathedral in Germany. The candy treats were given to children to keep them quiet during ceremonies at the living creche, or Nativity scene, and the custom of passing out the candy crooks at such ceremonies soon spread throughout Europe. Some have suggested that the cane is in the shape of the letter “J” representing Jesus, with the white representing purity and the red, His blood. I am not sure how accurate all of this is, but at least it gave me some answers.

That took care of the candy cane, now on to the snowman. How did the snowman come to be associated with the Christmas holiday? A google search and I still don’t know. Some connect it with Charles Dickens’ book, “A Christmas Carol” in which there is a lot of snow. Others say it is simply because snowmen are made out of snow which is a wintertime event, and Christmas is celebrated in winter. However, this does bring to my mind another question.

Why is it that some people want to center everything about Christmas on Jesus and others want to take Him completely out of it? Such is the nature of man, a creature of extremes. It seems strange to me that people who give Christ little or any thought the rest of the year want to make Him the total focus of their lives for a few weeks. Putting out a nativity scene and going to church once or twice during the holiday season is no substitute for a life focused on Christ 365 days a year. Don’t get me wrong; I am glad people are at least thinking about Christ this time of the year. I just wish it was a part of their thinking and lifestyle year round. That may be a part of the problem; it requires too much commitment.

Those on the other extreme want to take everything having to do with Christ out of Christmas. The idea, in and of itself, does not bother me that much. Christmas, after all, is man made and whether you want to celebrate or not is totally up to you. However, the overall mindset bothers me a great deal. It is not just Christmas these people are after; it is anything to do with Christ and Christianity. Any public mention of Christianity conveys a state sponsored religion and everyone knows that violates separation of church and state. Many people are surprised to find that the phrase “separation of church and state” does not appear anywhere in the Constitution. It is also interesting to read what many of our founding fathers has to say about the importance of Christianity (Christianity specifically, not just religion in general). Dave Miller of Apologetics Press has some excellent material on this.
--Lamar