Considering that Christmas traditions we celebrate today are blatantly ripped off from the old pagan religions, I don't really see the issue with people celebrating it or calling it whatever they want in the modern day. You don't own that glorious day off we ALL get in December. To some of us that use the word Christmas, it's only shorthand for "a good booze up and feast at which gifts are exchanged with beloved family members." The use of the word hardly means that someone gives a flying fig about your god. So, no, this isn't a PC issue, as those idiots think that a word changes everything. If anything, you're taking on a PC attitude, and the issue here is that you want to dictate to everyone how you think things should be. If you are so upset at MSNBC for not making Christmas all about you, then don't visit the site.

Quite frankly, we do get it. We get it how we want to, and it means what we want it to mean. It's not my business if you make it a religious holiday, and it's not your business if other people don't.

That said, the Matrix wrapping paper is awesome.

evilbeagle i couldnt have said it better myself!

charlie--you really need to read a bit more widely. Christmas, as it was originally celebrated by Christians, was a solemn holiday involving going to church and being, you know, solemn. In fact, there are still many Scots Presbyterians who refuse to "celebrate" Christmas, though they do celebrate New Years.

Yes, Christmas involves glittery lights (taken from the Romans who were celebrating their sun god on December 25), boozy eggnog (taken from the Saturnalia celebrations), and children's awe under the Christmas tree (taken from Teutonic worship of Odin but also from the Roman Saturnalia). It also involves mistletoe (taken from Druids).

If you read your Bible once in a while, you will see that there were shepherds tending their flocks by night--which means that it was not December. It was more likely spring, though it also could have been late summer. That all the people were told to return to their hometowns also indicates that it was not the middle of winter, as people would not travel at that time of year (food reserves were already strained). That Christians have so completely adopted pagan holidays that they can't even figure out that the Biblical story doesn't line up with the celebrations shows you that they are more wed to their commercialized celebration than to their Bibles.

Hate to break the news to you, buddy, but I am an old-fashioned, red-letter Christian, and I don't really appreciate you (or Rick Perry) foisting your faux piety on everyone as if you were the Christians and the rest of us are not. I think the wrapping paper is amusing--mostly because it calls attention to the fact that Christians have, in fact, forgotten the reason for the season. It is my opinion that you deserve the kick in the pants over it.

Thanks, viramo83, and bravo beanathome!