... And a Happy New Year

We've got two teenagers. And at this time of year I am more aware than ever that they won't be around the house much longer. I remember the day when a Big Problem was a knot in a shoelace, and there was no limit to what Dad could do. Nowadays they have to untie their own knots, which are infinitely more complicated than those in shoelaces, but now and then they still need a hug, or a ride home from some place, or a couple of bucks for some Chop-Chop from Don Pollo.

This year, again, there are some presents under the tree, and, as big as they are, I'll just bet you they stay up late tonight "for some reason." There are colored lights on the front of the house, and Christmas music on the stereo, and it smells like food in here, and we're happy to be together as a family, adolescent anguish and all.

The Family Blah-Blah guys have tried to take over Christmas, every year they get worse. But look, the week of the solstice is sacred to people everywhere. That tree, those reindeer, those lights, those don't belong to some moralistic hypocrites. These things, and the candles and gifts and the many magical signs that people make for this season, belong to everybody who lives on the earth's surface under the sun that we share and that we know will now become strong again.

This year the big thing is to boycott and complain about people who don't say "Merry Christmas." Well, I say Merry Christmas, if I think I'm talking to somebody who celebrates the occasion under that name. I like the sound of it. But like a Jewish guy said on a TV interview last week, for him when somebody says to have a Merry Christmas it's like saying Happy Birthday when it's your own birthday. And what's the sense of that? It doesn't seem very Christmasy to wish myself Happy Birthday.

Hey, here's a little piece of good news from the San Francisco Chronicle:

Conservative religious leaders are so pleased with their campaign against the "war on Christmas" that they're going to rev it up next year.

Look for more lawyers ready to pounce on Christmas disses, they say, more teachers ready to tattle on silencings of "Silent Night" and more boycotts of stores for yanking the "Christmas" out of the season.

But one influential group of evangelicals has something else in mind that is causing a division in the religious ranks:

It wants to ban presents. Christian group pushing gift boycott for next year

Yeah, finally the American Family Association is doing something right. Maybe if they're successful there'll be some parking places at the mall next year for the rest of us.

Whatever you call it, this is the season that we share the knowledge that hope springs eternal, and is often rewarded. May we all be blessed in the new year.