Psychological Neccessity

In other words, a non-focused, random rant:

1. Jesus has never been the only reason for the season. He's the reason for my season, sure, but the varied traditions of Christmas have always been a mix of good and bad; as much about marketing and retail, family, and the ancient need to supercede pagan festivals as about celebrating the birth of the Lord. It's a cultural holiday for us in America and Europe, and as far as Christmas goes, it's nowhere near as big a deal in other, less retail-obsessed parts of the world.
2. We've even screwed up the original meaning of Hanukah, which is even less about retail excess than the Feast of the Nativity. That particular festival is about making do with less, and discovering just how far it will go.
3. "Happy Holidays" is a reasonable, hospitable greeting in a multicultural, non-Christian nation like the United States. It is perfectly allowable for other religions to share the calendar (a calendar that is already based on when Christ was born, after all). In fact, considering Christ's demand of us that we be hospitable to all children of God, it's actually MORE Christian to greet people with the proper greeting for their tradition, or if you don't know it, to say "Happy Holidays", "Seasons' Greetings", or somesuch. I am actually offended when people in letters to the editor and other venues demand salespeople and other service workers greet them only with "Merry Christmas".
4. Jessica Simpson can go to any football game she wants. D'jever think that she's not just showing up to watch Tony Romo play, though it is sweet that she did? Don't forget, the woman is from Texas, she grew up in the DFW area during the time when there was just one NFL team in Texas, and they were half an hour away. She might not show up if Romo was playing for, say, Cincinnati. T.O. was just joking, but it didn't apparently transfer well in print. Any Dallas fans threaten her life yet? Eejits.
5. Nothing promotes solitude in the presence of the Lord like a trip to Arena Hub Plaza/Wyoming Valley Mall (Wilkes Barre's major retail area) between the 15th and the 24th of December. It would make anyone a hermit.