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Published Friday, November 20, 2009 in Opinion

Endangered memories

My memory stinks. The only thing I remember for sure is that I can't remember much.

All things considered, that's not a huge loss. It's nice to draw a blank when it comes to the high school romantic rejections, and I'd like to forget a few more of my other failures.

But of the few things I remember, past Christmases stand out. What a blessing.

I still remember the night I kept sneaking out of bed to see if Santa had come through with the electric train set. I finally ran out of steam and nodded off. The next morning I was speechless when I raced to the living room and saw that shiny new train waiting for me.

I wore that thing out, running through the miniature village and delivering milk cans to all my imaginary customers. The erector set was a favorite, too. I just wish the death ray had worked on my sister.

I remember the brand new bike waiting for me on Christmas morning and playing hide-and-seek with pals through the endless aisles of Christmas trees at Farley's nursery in New Orleans.

And no one could forget the massive Christmas displays in New Orleans' Garden District, where the streets blazed with gaudy light shows and lawns were packed with animated displays that wouldn't be equaled until Walt Disney's theme parks opened for business.

I even have fond memories of my school and church Christmas pageants. My only regret is that I never received top billing. But being a shepherd boy wasn't all bad.

Once the kids came along the Christmas memories grew even sweeter, despite those long nights wrestling with the contents of boxes labeled "some assembly required." Things were so swell one Christmas morning I even enjoyed playing with the Hungry, Hungry Hippos game.

My kids have some fond Christmas memories and I hope their kids will, too. But they better hurry. With every passing year, making Christmas memories gets more difficult. Mostly because of the concerted effort to banish even the mention of Christmas in public.

Christmas haters say Christmas celebrations offend those who don't celebrate Christian holidays. As Scrooge would say, "Bah, humbug." When I was a kid I had lots of Jewish friends. They went to Christmas parties and I celebrated Hanukkah with them. It was all good.

Thankfully, many Americans are fighting the move to ban public Christmas displays and celebrations in this country. Sadly, that's not the case everywhere. A good example is Dundee, Scotland, where the Grinch would feel right at home.

After years of hosting a citywide Christmas celebration, Dundee officials decided to celebrate the season with no mention of Christmas at all.

The former Christmas party is now a "Winter Night Light" celebration. Activities include secular light shows, street art exhibits and a children's torch parade. Hopefully, the kids will march to city hall and burn it to the ground.

Surprisingly, one church official even went along with the madness.

The Rev. Allan Webster, Dundee City Council chaplain, sounded half-sensible when he said, "The presbytery is concerned at the dropping of the term 'Christmas lights' in favor of 'winter lights' at the festival."

But the reverend quickly recovered and earned his sensitivity merit badge by adding, "It is important for all faiths to be able to celebrate their festivals and I must stress I would also be concerned if people of any other religion had theirs diluted."

So Reverend Webster feels you can't celebrate one religion without "diluting" the validity of another? How sad. And how stupid.

If he's really serious about Christianity "diluting the validity" of other beliefs, Reverend Webster should quit accepting a paycheck from the church. That's one ban on Christian activities I'd gladly support.

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(send your e-mail comments to: alex@newnan.com )

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