1809 Merry Christmas WalMart, Kohl's, Target, etc.

It seems some consumers and conservative reporters are getting quite huffy that major department stores aren't using the word Christmas during their biggest profit period of the year. I'm not sure what to make of this. Wasn't it just a few years ago that we Christians were so concerned that we'd lost the true meaning of Christmas in all the advertising, glitter and shopping? Wasn't it just a century or two ago that many Christians absolutely refused to observe Christmas at all, especially in the United States because drunkenness, riotous behavior, and licentiousness had taken over the holiday?

I did a quick survey of my "Christmas" catalogs--just to see if we're being too hard on the larger retailers. What are the niche marketers doing?

Pottery Barn has lots of holiday items and words--sparkle, twinkle, greenery, glitter, mantels, motif, magic, stockings hung with care, garlands, wreaths, Santa, reindeer, lanterns and (whew!) Christmas monogrammable ornaments! Not once does it mention the actual occasion we're celebrating.

L.L. Bean is even more subtle--if it weren't for sprigs of evergreen and some red ribbons, I might miss it all together--but it does include mention of a non-specific holiday, and it does have "heirloom stockings" and "traditional wreaths" but there is not even a picture of a Christmas tree, let alone the word, Christmas.

Jerry's Artarama has a snowman on the cover and some pictures of poinsettias and holly on the inside, but other than that, it could be the summer catalog. Cheap Joe's has a man (Joe?) on the cover and p. 5 dragging a cut evergreen, the words "Holiday Greetings," and a Santa on p. 8 and that's it.

Norm Thompson has "holiday surprises" and "glitter balls" on the first two pages, and on the back an embroidered tree on a sweater, but otherwise, you'd have no clue this is a Christmas catalog only that it is for winter. Victoria's Secret sends 395,000,000 catalogues a year using up a lot of trees, but none of them come to my address, so I'm not sure what it has for holiday words.

So I looked in the paper. Blooms Direct is selling holiday plants; The Columbus Gay Men's Chorus is having a Holiday Concert; the Franklin Park Conservatory is having a Holiday Show; the Columbus Jazz Orchestra will perform "Home for the Holidays; the Easton Town Center will have a "Holiday Lighting"; and Christ United Methodist Church is having a "Holiday Bazaar!"

Thank goodness, Bill Gaither is coming to town with his "Homecoming Christmas Tour."

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