I would say Scrooge has a lot of company each time the calendar rolls into December. But Scrooge was redeemed – contemporary Leftists, not so much.

You’re allowed to be single, sad, or shoeless on Christmas, but God forbid you’re a hater. As someone who dreads this holiday, I know this to be true. (snip)

The anti-Christmas contingent is anything but derivative, and yet we’re treated as such because admitting to disliking this holiday—in all of its pomp and capitalistic circumstance—is silly, strange, and frankly, un-American. And rather than allow us to hate in peace, we’re reduced to a mawkish origin story.

Oh please, won’t someone think of Audra and the horrible, crushing burden she carries of other people trying to figure out her public denunciation of Christmas? You are supposed to leave her alone while she whines quite loudly to one and all.

What does she hate? The usual litany of too capitalistic to trying to drag in a token Jewish person who feels it intrudes on her raising a Jewish child.

“I mean, I hate Christmas,” Dr. Sarah Gundle confided less than two minutes into our phone interview. (snip) For her, it’s personal: Gundle is a Jewish woman doing her best to co-parent a child with a man who isn’t. Under her roof, the daughter she shares with her ex celebrates Hanukkah. Under his, well, it’s full-throttle to the North Pole.

Hmmmm… it is the holiday Gundle hates or her ex? Because, regardless of this Jewish individual, there are Jews who have no problem with neighbors and co-workers celebrating a holiday that is not one of theirs.

I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, in an area where most residents were either Italian or Jewish. So many homes had Christmas decorations that you could almost be sure that if the home wasn’t decorated, a Jewish family lived in it. And while I was — and remain — a committed Jew, I loved — and still love — those decorated homes. It makes December special.

But for Left-feminist Audra, that specialness makes things worse. That specialness creates … drum roll expectations … and heaven forbid one’s own personal expectations are not met 100% (and that’s leaving aside the question of whether such expectation is reasonable).

The truth is, I dislike it because I find the vast and varied stress it places on people—not just me—profoundly bothersome. I dislike it because I’m genuinely, infuriatingly empathetic and wish I had the time, energy, and money to help those who have it “worse.”

Of course, it’s not her, you know. It’s all those other people she’s so empathetic about. She hates Christmas because she sees how much “they” suffer.

:::snort::::

See the background picture of the featured image? That was taken in the lobby of the hotel my husband and I stayed at in Osaka, Japan in November of 2016. For three weeks we traveled via our Japan Rail pass – Tokyo>Nagoya>Takayama>Kanazawa>Yamanakaonsen>Kyoto>Osaka – and everywhere we went was decorated for Christmas. Lights on tree-lined streets, Christmas trees & deco & Christmas music in the train stations and malls. The nation is only about 1% Christian, but they’ve embraced the specialness of the Christmas spirit to make merry the closing two months of the year.

American Leftists are some the most miserable people around, and it’s never more than when any American or Christian holiday approaches. Fourth of July? RHEEEE!! Thanksgiving? RHEEE RHEEE!!!!!!

Of all the films of Dickens’ Christmas Carol, the 1951 version with Alastair Sim remains my favorite. The sheer joy as Scrooge wakes up to find he is still alive now with the opportunity to change his life is a joy to watch (cued to the ending – just hit play):

Audra and the countless other radical-left secularists out to suck all the color and joy out of life don’t, or don’t want to, get it. Scrooge isn’t redeemed in order to fulfill expectations. He is acting from another, more profound foundation.

Gratitude.

featured image composite by Darleen Click