Yes to Menorah, no to Jesus
A lot of people were very upset by the whole holiday tree/menorah hubbub at the airport [mb], and then the problem just…went away. The trees came back and the menorah stayed away, and what is a person to do with all of this misplaced holiday anger?
Well, one could get all up in arms about the Capitol’s refusal to add a Nativity scene to its collection of holiday trees and menorah [P-I]. “Steve Valandra, a spokesman for the Department of General Administration, officials were concerned that in comparison with a tree or menorah, a Nativity scene might carry a stronger impression of government endorsement of religion.” I suppose they could nestle the creche in a grove of holiday trees and have it lit by menorah-light or…something. I don’t know; I can’t get excited about any of it. All of my holiday spirit is spent waiting for those creepy Nutcrackers downtown to mobilize in the middle of the night and take down the city.
I’m glad to know I’m not the only one creeped out by the Nutcrackers. The ones they had last year were just kind of…eh, boring, but there are some seriously freaky ones out there this year!
I think that the standard line is (1) electric menorahs are acceptable as long as they don’t become religious with the addition of oil and real fire; and (2)no one seems to like the giant nutcrackers. Perhaps if we could use them to crack giant nuts they’d be more endearing.
Does anyone like any of the “paint the (fill-in-the blank)” art projects that we’ve been inundated with over the past few years? (Remember the pigs? I kinda like the doors, whatever they were for, but I think that was mostly because they were all concentrated in one spot and not for very long.) I’m thinking there must be people who like them, but I never seem to run into them.