Friday evening Julia's school choir was invited to participate at Christmas on the Bayou. It is a celebration that marks the beginning of the Christmas season. There were several choirs there to sing and activities for the children. Julia, as you can see was excited.
The evenings activities started by welcoming Papa Noel. He came down the river in his pirogue lined in lights. All the children stood next to the rivers edge and so did the news crew(?). I couldn't help but wonder if Papa Noel was at little afraid of embarrassing himself by falling out of the little boat.
He made it fine and all the children followed him over to the stage where he met the mayor and Boudreaux the Cajun and his pet. I have to tell you that I was not impressed. This was the first time we had attended this event. Sorry if I sound like the Grinch. But it was so silly.
Afterwards we all went over to the stage and listened to the school sing. Thus far there had been no mention of the real meaning of Christmas. As the school started singing I waited to hear some of the traditional Christmas songs. The longer I waited the more upset I got. All the songs were about what the children wanted and about Santa. I got just a tad upset. There was even a song for Kwanzaa -but nothing about
the baby Jesus, Bethlehem or even angels. I asked Julia afterward why they didn't sing any of those songs and she said they could not because last year the school got in trouble for singing them.Grrrrrrrrr! I was not aware of this. It is amazing how little bit by little bit- the few are being allowed to quieten us.
I would never call Christmas X-Mas. But this event was void of any mention of Christ.
It made me mad and then terribly sad.
I guess I could see how a child who does not go to church, and who's parents do not care about the true meaning of Christmas might be able to grow up
and not even know about Baby Jesus at all.
Let's make sure we tell our Children about the world trying to take Christ out of Christmas.
And let's make sure in the rush of the season that we remember why we have this season in the first place.
Thank you for listening to my vent. ;)
HE IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON
17 comments:
Wow, that is really sad. I would have been upset too sis, love you.
You're so right. We should never take the ``Christ'' out of Christmas.
Sharon,
How sad that not one song had to do with the real reason for Christmas.
My grandsons' parents do not take them to church, nor do they talk about God in their home. My daughter was brought up to know God, as I was.
I have always talked to the boys about God. I've related it to nature and told them Bible stories. Thursday night when we went to the farm, they were asking questions about the Christmas story. I answered them all and told them the entire story, which I do each year. They know about God and that Jesus is the reason for the season. I hope that one day they will remember all Grandma has taught them.
Their school has a Christmas concert each year and there is never any mention of Jesus. Yes, they are trying to silence us, but when people tell me Happy Holidays, I reply Merry Christmas. I respect other's Christmas traditions and expect them to respect mine.
Merry Christmas, my friend.
Love and blessings,
Mary
I found it interesting they could sing about Kwanzaa wouldn't that offend people too. Just singing about Santa would offend me. They left out the reason I celerbrate Christmas. It made me mad just reading it.
OH that breaks my heart to hear that about the songs.....how sad our society is becoming. GGRRRRRRRR too!!
We never had a real live Christmas tree but Mamaw and Papaw always did. I LOVED getting to go with them to pick out just the right one. However, Papaw was a preacher and he refused!!!! to buy a tree that had a tag on it marked Xmas. As a kid you would think what's the difference but that made a huge impact on me. I'm like you it really burns me up. I bought a big magnet sticker for my car this weekend that says "keep CHRIST in Christmas". Now I just have to watch how I drive =) heehee
Oh how I agree with all the comments! Make sure you let the school know by letter or find others to voice their opinions on this also. We Christians need to start taking a stand (in love) but STAND!! JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON:)
Yup...that is one thing I do not look forw'd to when I homeschool....Amy won't be able to sing all those songs at school like she does now...hmm now that sounded funny...she will be eventually going to the school which I will get all my hs stuff from....she will go 2 days a week....boy I typed alot and most did not make any sense..sorry...tired tonight....love ya sis
Amen sista! But did you know that X is the Greek symbol for Jesus? (or soemthing like that). It means the same, though I guess not everyone would relate Xmas to Christ. It takes all the wonder out of Christmas when they take Christ out.
That would be very upsetting. I understand that schools have to be careful so they don't "offend" any certain religion. But, it seems that is always okay to leave out the Christians and not worrying about offending us.
Julia is a doll! :o)
I, too, am saddened by the glaring absence of Christ in the Christmas season. :o(
I do believe that I am partly to blame because I don't speak up or write enough letters. I would like to change that. So, if anyone knows who are where to write, could they let me know too please? Thanks!
It is sad to think that there are those that don't know what Christmas is about.
That's why it's our job to tell them.
what has happened to louisiana???
i remember watching Santa come up the Mississippi River in his pirogue but we were singing songs like Silent Night in front of the cathedral and Away in a Manger...
we took your challenge of a service project for December to bless someone...my son picked an orphanage where my daughter volunteers so come on over to my blog and see what you inspired us to do...
i don't know how to be a part of what you are doing---but I had my son go ahead and post his idea and we'll see if anyone wants to be a part of this...let me know if I am supposed to link on to anything else...
i am so computer challenged---and we don't even have our big computer right now cause it CRASHED!
thanks Sharon for your the Spirit of God in you is so full of love and kindness...Bev
This aggrivates me as well. I think one day ... all Christians will rise up - and not take it anymore! Don't you? Take care. Kellan
All very beautiful, but as you said - no God in there, no Christ...just grieves the heart eh? When I was growing up my parents weren't Christians, so my Christmas's were Santa filled (but never in a big over the top way - very modest). My Mum taught me about God and I was mindful of him. I do hear so many folk and it's all the 'have you been good this year?' how much will I get? As a family we do the Santa thing, but in a low key way - he definately gets a small ranking in the scheme of it all.
Your daughter is so cute!!
How very sad that you can't stop to consider the feelings of the children who grow up outside the Christian religion. I have no problem with our children learning the reason of the season, as you say, so long as it's done in a historical context.
Stop for a minute and think how you would feel if you were a child and someone stopped you in a store and, trying to be cute, asked how you'd be celebrating a holiday that isn't a Christian holiday. Imagine how bad you'd feel when their face fell when you said, "But I don't celebrate that." Imagine how confused you'd be, as a child, when the adult became flustered and speechless.
And imagine how left out you'd feel when you were forced to sing about some member of royalty whose followers accused you of unspeakable crimes and, sometimes inadvertently, incited hatred.
Just stop and think from the other viewpoints, will you?
Post a Comment