Our Ever Evolving Christmas Holiday

THE CHRISTMAS SEASON lasts so long anymore that when Christmas Day itself finally arrives, it seems like somewhat of a shock, as if, is all this really coming to an end? No, it isn't, not quite, because we are learning how to improve that nether nether week between Christmas Day and New Year's Day and enhancing it as part of the Christmas season, and New Year's Day is maybe the last hurrah, although early January seems a little Holiday like as well, rather than return to work like. But, we're working on it. Christmas, always evolving. We know, for instance, that the traditional Christmas tree motif, as well as the winter solstice date of Christmas Day were created to bring the northern Europeans into the church in the early centuries. In 1843 the Charles Dickens short story "A Christmas Carol" triggered a wave of changes that made our modern Christmas. In particular all the festive trimmings, including the songs, parties, celebratory observances, gift giving and commercialism got a kick start, all with a single, popular short story. Before Dickens, in colonial times, Americans barely acknowledged Christmas. Christmas is tradition, but always changing by evolving. And may it always be so, for it must be so. Let's not resist the gradual change which only upholds and enriches tradition. Let's embrace it, because its inevitable, as change of some sort always is. Maybe we could even evolve some new and improved institutions. We need a new holy book, for instance. The Bible is out of date. God's word must be updated, which means that somebody needs to speak to God, to get the new word. The Bible doesn't even talk about Christmas, other than the nativity story, which much later became part of our modern Christmas holiday. The Bible needs to tell us when Christmas Day should be, at the very least, which it does not now do, at least not yet. Nor does our current Bible say anything about evolution, climate change, or nuclear physics, all of which are important enough to be mentioned in any holy book. Perhaps the task of receiving the new and improved Word of God could fall to the world's best computers. Or, perhaps an international college of clerics, philosophers, and scientists. Or maybe a big international contest, in which people everywhere are encouraged to send in entries, their versions of a better Bible, to be judged and chosen by a panel of computers and.......THANKS FOR SHARING THIS WEBSITE WITH OTHERS!