Stand for Christmas: A Song Parody & a Poem

The Naughty List: Christians Organize Blacklist of Businesses Failing To Wish Customers “Merry Christmas” (From Jonathan Turley’s blog, 12/8/2008)

Excerpt:

Christians are now organizing a boycott against businesses that fail to wish everyone “Merry Christmas” or use that offensive greeting “Happy Holidays.” Stores are being monitored and blacklisted for just wishing everyone “Happy Holidays” instead of referencing Christmas specifically.

The site www.standforchristmas.com is listing businesses on whether they are naughty or nice on using Christmas in greetings.

The group listed companies by whether they are “friendly,” “negligent,” or “offensive” in the use of such terms as Happy Holidays or Season’s Greetings instead of Merry Christmas.

Click here to read the rest of Turley’s post.

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Inspired by the story, I wrote a song parody of Santa Claus Is Coming to Town:

Stand for Christmas is Coming to Town

You better watch out,
You better not cry
“Happy Holidays”
In your store. Here’s why:
Stand for Christmas
Is coming to town.

They’re making a blacklist,
Checking it twice,
Gonna find out who’s naughty or nice.
Stand for Christmas
Is coming to town.

They’ll see you when they’re shopping.
They’ll check you out online.
If you're saying Merry Christmas,
They'll rate your store just fine.

You better watch out,
You better not cry
Happy Holidays
In your store. Here’s why:
Stand for Christmas
Is coming to town.

Here’s another poem I wrote. It isn’t meant to be disrespectful. It’s meant to speak to the commercialization of Christmas…and to the folks who waste countless hours monitoring and rating stores in regard to their “Christmas” spirit.

Now Mary buys at Wal-Mart…
Joseph at J. C. Penney.
The Child is just a little babe—
He doesn’t shop at any.

The Magi frequent Target.
The shepherds like Lands’ End.
Thank heavens Stand for Christmas
Has some stores to recommend.

Christian Group Launches New Attack on Christmas Commercialism (Time)
By Amy Sullivan/Washington – Tue Dec 15, 3:10 am ET

If it's December, then there must be frost in the air, gingerbread in the oven, and ... right on time, Bill O'Reilly and the other defenders of Christmas bemoaning the prevalence of "Happy Holidays" - rather than "Merry Christmas" - greetings.

There's a war on Christmas, O'Reilly recently reminded viewers, driven by those who "loathe the baby Jesus." This season, a holiday-dÉcor company is marketing the CHRIST-mas Tree, a bushy artificial tree with a giant cross where the trunk should be. And the Colorado-based Focus on the Family is continuing its Stand for Christmas campaign to highlight the offenses of Christmas-denying retailers. The campaign was launched, according to its website, because "citizens across the nation were growing dissatisfied with the tendency of corporations to omit references to Christmas from holiday promotions." (See TIME's photoessay "Have a Very Ridiculous Christmas.")

But to a growing group of Christians, this focus on the commercial aspect of Christmas is itself the greatest threat to one of Christianity's holiest days. "It's the shopping, the going into debt, the worrying that if I don't spend enough money, someone will think I don't love them," says Portland pastor Rick McKinley. "Christians get all bent out of shape over the fact that someone didn't say 'Merry Christmas' when I walked into the store. But why are we expecting the store to tell our story? That's just ridiculous."

Merry Christmas!

Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!