Byam Elementary School apparently has a gift shop they arrange every year during the holiday season. But in the interest of political correctness, religion must of course be promptly removed — we wouldn’t want to anger the atheists, after all — and Christmas is the holiday that’s most in the crosshairs.

After meeting with members of the Byam Elementary School PTO, two mothers asking to put the holidays back into the school’s annual holiday gift shop say Byam isn’t budging.

Kathryn McMillan and Kathleen Cullen, who both have children at Byam, asked school officials to allow all holiday items at the gift shop following a ban on Santa, candy canes, stockings, and all Christmas, Hanukkah and other “religious items.”

But a meeting with some PTO parents on Thursday night grew heated as emotions got in the way.

Red and green tissue paper to wrap presents was also crossed off the list because it looked too “Christmasy,” McMillan said.

“One of the parents said, ‘If we allow Santa, what do we say if a child brings in a swastika? Do we allow that too?’ ” McMillan said. “All I could think of was, are you kidding? You’re comparing a Christmas ornament to a swastika? It seems as if reason is lost somewhere and I just hope we can find it again.”

Superintendent Donald Yeoman told The Sun on Tuesday that the rules for the gift shop are under the authority of Byam Principal Jane Gilmore. Ultimately, said Yeoman, the policy for the gift shop was set so no child would feel left out.

“It’s operated under those same rules for a number of years with success and without complaint,” Yeoman said.

Until now.

Gilmore did not return a reporter’s phone call yesterday.

McMillan and Cullen have asked that if the children can’t celebrate their traditions – whatever they may be – at the holiday gift shop, then maybe the school should move the gift shop to another time of year.

Not all Chelmsford schools have adopted the same policy as Byam. The South Row Elementary School, and the former Westlands Elementary that closed last year, had no restrictions on gift-giving.

“It makes sense that the school probably makes the most money by holding the gift shop over the holidays,” McMillan added. “So all we’re asking is that if you’re letting kids buy gifts for the holidays, let them donate stuff that celebrates those traditions and use it as a teachable moment so these kids can learn.”

McMillan and Cullen will appear before the School Committee on Tuesday, Nov. 24.

It seems like these parents are the only ones who possess any reason whatsoever. But, as always, there is the one parent who gets OFFENDED!! for their children’s sake, and must ban Christmas, Santa, Christianity, and anything that might even resemble it. But going so far as to link Santa Claus to Nazi swastikas is taking it further than I think I’ve seen before. I mean, really, let’s see… we have Santa Claus, a saint who has grown into a myth, a man who believes in kindness and giving. And then there’s Nazis, who were responsible for the torture, starvation, slavery, and murders of over six million people. How does one’s mind link Santa Claus and Nazis? When someone mentions Christmas or Santa, how screwed up do you have to be to automatically think that letting a kid celebrate that in school means that you’re opening the door to celebrating Nazis? I mean, that’s one hell of a leap there. On top of that, the rules seem more than a little outrageous. You can’t even have red or green wrapping paper because it just might remind someone of Christmas? Good Lord, this takes worshipping at the altar of political correctness to a whole new level.

And for what it’s worth, I think the suggestion of McMillan and Cullen seem perfectly sound to me. If they won’t let children celebrate their respective holidays at the gift shop — Christmas, Hanukkah — then why not just move the gift shop to a different time of year and avoid the whole issue? Instead, the school has seemingly gone out of their way to deliberately snub religion. It’s simple, though. The school wants to capitalize on the holiday season without having to actually deal with those pesky holidays, and they know that having the gift shop in the middle of, say, September just wouldn’t be as profitable. I don’t begrudge them wanting to make money, but it seems hypocritical to want to make money off of the holiday season — and also by taking advantage of the festive, giving holiday spirit of parents — while being completely unwilling to include the holidays they’re capitalizing on.

And while surely if enough parents complain enough, the school will change the rules, it’s disturbing enough that this would even happen. This was a country built on faith-based principles, after all — and now, we have more and more schools trying to keep faith out of the public eye in any way, shape, or form.

Jane Gilmore, the religion hating principal of Byam Elementary School.

Cross-posted from Cassy’s blog. Stop by for more original commentary, or follow her on Twitter!

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With increasing threats, lawsuits and exposure over what constitutes a ‘legal Christmas season’ in this country, it is astounding albeit wonderful, that the current White House administration, President and Congress have not decided to remove the word Christmas or Christ from the upcoming tree lighting ceremony in Washington D.C.

Current reports on the NPS.gov webpage have the traditional ceremony of the National Christmas Tree Lighting happening on December 3rd this year at the Elipse, south of the White House grounds in Washington D.C. Each year the National Park Service and National Park Foundation sponsor the tree lighting ceremony that helps kick off a four week Christmas celebration in the U.S. Capital.

Kudos to Barry for keeping it as such, but, you know there would be apoplexy were he to rename it the National Holiday Tree.

In early October, school children in Arizona were asked to make decorations for the National Christmas Tree. Those who made ornaments referring to Christ or Christmas were told they had to redo their artwork in order to leave out Christ. After the Alliance Defense Fund became involved, sending a letter to the NPS stating that banning such ornaments was unconstitutional, the NPS agreed and changed their mind on the religious ornament ban. Children have constructed thousands of ornaments this year, thankfully now without fear of rejection due to their religious depictions on them. The ornaments will be placed on the nearly 65 foot tree that will grace the grounds near the White House starting December 3rd.

As many conservative and tradition-loving Christians look forward to various tree lighting ceremonies during the upcoming Christmas season, some still hold their breath waiting to see which extremist anti-Christian organization will throw a fit over someone else celebrating their own religion and sharing those celebrations with the rest of the majority in the United States.

It has almost become a game, waiting to see who will do what. The writer, Karen McCracken (cool name!), then offers up even more examples, then offers some advice

While it is absolutely important to stand up for our rights to worship and celebrate as we see fit – no matter our religion – the meaning of Christmas is not removed when the word Christmas is removed from the name of an event. (Such as what has been done to the Hollywood Christmas Parade this year; recently renamed The Hollywood Santa Parade.) The God who is my Heavenly Father is not taken away when a Christmas Parade is taken away from the community nor will Christ disappear merely because His name is removed from a worldly event.

She is correct that the season is not about those things, and shouldn’t be about those things. Jesus is in our heart. The season is about His message. Unfortunately, there are those that attempt to turn the entire thing into something secular that should only be practiced in the privacy of our own homes, rather than acknowledging the reason for the season.

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Hey, that’s great news, isn’t it? After all, everyone knows Americans consume too much. What was it that then Senator Obama said on the subject? “We can’t just keep driving our SUVs, eating whatever we want, keeping our homes at 72 degrees at all times regardless of whether we live in the tundra or the desert and keep consuming 25 percent of the world’s resources with just 4 percent of the world’s population, and expect the rest of the world to say you just go ahead, we’ll be fine.”

And boy, we took the great man’s words to heart. SUV sales have nosedived, and 72 is no longer your home’s thermostat setting but its current value expressed as a percentage of what you paid for it. If I understand then Senator Obama’s logic, in a just world Americans would be 4 percent of the population and consume a fair and reasonable 4 percent of the world’s resources. And in these last few months we’ve made an excellent start toward that blessed utopia: Americans are driving smaller cars, buying smaller homes, giving smaller Christmas presents.

And yet, strangely, President-Elect Obama doesn’t seem terribly happy about the Obamafication of the American economy. He’s proposing some 5.7 bazillion dollar “stimulus” package or whatever it is now to “stimulate” it back into its bad old ways.

And how does the rest of the world, of whose tender sensibilities then Senator Obama was so mindful, feel about the collapse of American consumer excess? They’re aghast, they’re terrified, they’re on a one-way express elevator down to Sub-Basement Level 37 of the abyss with no hope of putting on the brakes unless the global economy can restore aggregate demand. What does all that mumbo-jumbo about “aggregate demand” mean? Well, that’s a fancy term for you – yes, you, Joe Lardbutt, the bloated disgusting embodiment of American excess, driving around in your Chevy Behemoth, getting two blocks to the gallon as you shear the roof off the drive-thru lane to pick up your $7.93 decaf gingersnap-mocha-pepperoni-zebra mussel frappuccino, which makes for a wonderful cool refreshing thirst-quencher after you’ve been working up a sweat watching the plasma TV in your rec room all morning with the thermostat set to 87. The message from the European political class couldn’t be more straightforward: If you crass, vulgar Americans don’t ramp up the demand, we’re kaput. Unless you get back to previous levels of planet-devastating consumption, the planet is screwed.

“Much of the load will fall on the US,” wrote Martin Wolf in the Financial Times, “largely because the Europeans, Japanese and even the Chinese are too inert, too complacent, or too weak.” The European Union has 500 million people, compared with America’s 300 million. Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain are advanced economies whose combined population adds up to that of the United States. Many EU members have enjoyed for decades the enlightened progressive policies Americans won’t be getting until January 20th. Why then are they so “inert” that their economic fortunes depend on the despised moronic Yanks?

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Posted by John Ray. For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. For a daily survey of Australian politics, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS Also, don’t forget your daily roundup of pro-environment but anti-Greenie news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH . Email me (John Ray) here

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Iraq’s Christians, a scant minority in this overwhelmingly Muslim country, quietly celebrated Christmas on Thursday with a present from the government, which declared it an official holiday for the first time.

… In his homily on Thursday, Chaldean Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly praised the establishment of Christmas as an official holiday as a step toward easing tensions.

“I thank the government for giving chances to all to serve each other for the general benefit, and I thank it too for making this day an official holiday where we pray to God to make us trust each other as brothers,” he said at the Christmas Mass before several dozen worshippers in the small chapel of a Baghdad monastery.

A senior Shiite cleric, Ammar al-Hakim, attended the Mass flanked by bodyguards in a gesture of cooperation with Christians.

“I thank the visitors here and ask them to share happiness and love with their brothers on Christmas; by this they will build a glorious Iraq,” the cardinal said.

“We came here to bring a message of love, respect and gratitude to our Christian brothers and to share happiness with them as we have shared sadness with them during the cruel targeting they came under,” al-Hakim said in an interview with al-Furat TV. “We will do our best for equality between people and a good life for all, whatever their religious, sectarian and ethnic background.”

He is the son and heir-apparent of Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, Iraq’s biggest mainstream Shiite party.

Iraq’s Christians, estimated to number only a few hundred thousand of the country’s 26 million people, have often been the target of attacks by Islamic extremists in Iraq. Tens of thousands have fled; many of those who stayed were isolated in neighborhoods protected by barricades and checkpoints.

If that story doesn’t make you smile, you’ve got a heart of stone.

This is just another example of how very far we have come in Iraq. There are still obstacle to overcome and challenges to defeat, but we’re getting there. Ten years ago, would anyone have ever thought for a second that Christians could celebrate Christmas freely in Iraq? Iraq has gone from a dictatorship where Christians were routinely persecuted to a country that is making a public statement about the kind of country they want to be: a free country, where people of all faiths can live and be free.

And just think, liberals opposed it all.

There are tons of great photos of Iraqi children at FOB Liberty celebrating Christmas with Santa Claus here.

Hat Tip: DrewM at Ace of Spades

Cross-posted from Cassy’s blog.

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Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

Editorial Page, New York Sun, 1897

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O’Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a sceptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus? Thank God he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!

And a Merry Christmas from deep down in my heart to all my friends and visitors out there.

If you would like to know the background on the letter, you can go to the 2004 posting of this.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

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Iran’s president is offering season’s greetings to Christians in a British TV address and suggests that if Jesus were alive, he would oppose “bullying, ill-tempered and expansionist powers” – an apparent reference to the U.S. and its allies.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Christmas Day broadcast will be delivered on Britain’s Channel 4 television, occupying a slot that provides an often controversial counterpoint to Queen Elizabeth II’s traditional annual message, the station said Wednesday. A leading British Jewish body said it was appalled.

According to a transcript released in advance, Ahmadinejad says most of the world’s problems stem from leaders who have turned against religion. The Muslim president doesn’t refer to rival nations or leaders by name or mention Israel, despite his past calls to wipe it out. (snip)

“That (Channel 4) should give an unchallenged platform to the president of a regime which denies the Holocaust, advocates the destruction of the sovereign state of Israel, funds and encourages terrorism, executes children and hangs gay people is a disgrace,” Ron Prosor said. “Outrage doesn’t begin to explain it.”

British human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell echoed the comments, saying the broadcaster was “aiding and abetting a tyrant.”

“This is the equivalent of giving (Zimbabwean ruler) Robert Mugabe a prime-time television slot to promote his propaganda,” he said.

Good thing Mahmoud was given a platform for this crap by the dhimmi’s in Britain. I wonder of Barry will give him the honor next year.

Moving on from stupidity to idiocy

SCIENTISTS have warned that Christmas lights are bad for the planet due to huge electricity waste and urged people to get energy efficient festive bulbs.

CSIRO researchers said householders should know that each bulb turned on in the name of Christmas will increase emissions of greenhouse gases.

What’s scary is these climahysterics are serious. Being that it is Christmas Eve, I leave the rest of the snark to be visualized, OK?

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640th AC&W Squadron from the air

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I have a new blessing, though, in my baby sister. Francesca is getting to the most adorable age. She’s fallen in love with Elmo, her favorite thing to say is either “UP UP!” or “OUTSIDE!”, and she can unwrap presents by herself. Even shopping at Wal-Mart a few days before Christmas became tolerable when Matt and I found the “Up-Up Elmo” toy, something seemingly made especially for Francesca. I giggled for hours with that toy, pressing his tummy and imagining her reaction.

Christmas is so much more than presents under a tree or lights on a house. It’s the time with the people you love, a time for memories, laughter, and even a few tears. I never really thought Christmas was all about food or presents — it’s about giving, about being thankful, and cherishing the memories you have and the time with your family. More than anything, though, it’s about remembering the real reason for the season, and that’s giving thanks to God and thanking him for the gift of his son, our Lord, Jesus Christ.

That’s what we all need to remember this year. Everything else doesn’t matter.

Cross-posted from Cassy’s blog.

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