Season’s Greetings and Holiday Cards (Musings by Tracy Shapiro)

Ferndale in 2017 [Photo by Kym Kemp]

I haven’t sent holiday cards in years but this year I decided that since we’re all separate and isolated right now the very best gift I can give my friends and loved ones is the simple reminder that they’re not alone. So holiday cards it is. But what card to send? So off to town I went to pick out my holiday cards, and that’s when I remember why I stopped sending holiday cards—-it’s a minefield! One might think that picking a card is as simple as finding something pretty and seasonal but therein lays the rub—-which season. 

Unfortunately, it’s sad but true that in recent years the simple act of sending a card or greeting someone on the street to wish them well has become a battlefield. As far as cards are concerned over the years I’ve tried very hard not to offend anyone but I don’t have a very good track record. I’ve tried “Happy Holidays”, “Season’s Greetings” and, “Joy of the Season” and I’ve gotten flack from some quarters about all of them. I tried sending everyone a “Happy New Year” card but was also criticized. One year I decided to just go for broke and sent a drawing of a Holstein cow wearing a leather jacket while riding a Harley Davidson that read “Wreck the Mall with cows on Harley’s”—–some people weren’t amused, to say the least.

I’ve tried sending the appropriate card to each individual but In my circle of friends and family of choice, I have people who celebrate Hanukkah and those that celebrate Christmas, those that celebrate the Soltice, and those that celebrate no holiday in particular just the general spirit of goodwill, it’s just too confusing. At some point, sending cards started to feel less like a warm holiday tradition and more like an onerous holiday chore, so I stopped sending them. And I think that’s sad. 

The same battle is being waged every time I try to wish someone the goodwill of the season. In fact, it’s almost a relief that the “stay-at-home” order has given me a reason to stay away from people this year because last year was horrible. More than a few times I’d casually wish someone a “Happy Holiday” only to be greeted with an indignant “It’s Merry Christmas!” as if I’d personally insulted them. Once a woman even went so far as to loudly and with flashing eyes inform me she was a “person of faith” as if I’d slapped her in the face. Frankly, I thought this response was more than a little over the top since at that moment we were standing in the crowded community room of the local alternative school where people were selling their homemade jam and organic soaps while the third-grade class played “Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer” on their recorders and I was just trying to make conversation and be nice but whatever.

Maybe now is as good a time as even to get on my seasonal soapbox so here goes. If you don’t want to hear my opinion now is a good time to stop reading. Dear Friends, I am also a person of faith. Probably not your faith but a faith held every bit as firmly and sincerely as yours.  A faith that informs my actions in the world a faith that I live every minute of every day. But just because my faith might be different from your faith doesn’t in any way mean that I’m “Anti” your and any other faith tradition. Quite the contrary, it’s a basic tenant of my faith that all people are on their own paths and we honor all paths and all faiths. We judge people by their actions, not their words or the way they pray. In fact, I think that some of the most moral people I’ve ever known are atheists because they act morally not because they fear punishment or hope for reward but because it’s just the right thing to do and I honor that as well.

I don’t say “Merry Christmas” because I’m not a Christian so Christmas isn’t the holiday I celebrate at this time of year. That doesn’t mean I’m “Anti-Christmas”. In fact, I think all new life is magical and every birth is miraculous and I’m all for celebrating that. I think the “Peace on the Earth goodwill toward (hu)man” stuff is great, lets do that. And if you’re talking about the Charles Dickens/Ebenezer Scrooge “scare-the-crap-out-of-rich-misers-until-they-pay-their-employees-a-living-wage-and-healthcare-for-crippled-children” thing, I’m right there with you. But I’m not going to pretend that I’m celebrating the birth of Christ just because it’s the socially expected thing to do, it would be a lie. That doesn’t mean I’m “Anti-Christian” it just means I’m being genuine in my own faith. If you’re a Christian I think that’s great for you and I can honestly say from the very bottom of my heart that I wish you a very Merry Christmas. 

For the record, I wish people “Happy Holidays” because since the beginning of time almost every culture has celebrated this time of year in one way or another. As the days grow shorter and the very land seems to be retreating into hibernation to prepare for the coming hardships of winter it just makes sense that people should mark the darkest day of the year and find hope for the future as the days grow longer again. There’s a very good reason so many of our winter holidays celebrate light in all it’s forms. This is a season of miracles when the light, in all its meanings, returns to the world. The light of joy, the light of fellowship, the light of peace, the light of hope,  all of these and so many more are all worth celebrating.

So here’s my Holiday Card to one and all: I wish you and yours all the joy and blessings of this magical season and pray that the year to come will be better than the year we leave behind.

Love to all and stay safe.