The War Against Christmas, sponsored by the War Against Christmas

Evolving Thoughts The new war on Christmas:

A new war on Christmas is being waged... by a pastor. Forget those secular humanists; the real danger to traditional Christmas is the religious. Santa is "a blasphemous stand-in for God who makes liars of parents and causes confusion among children."

Why do they hate Christmas? And, presumably, Democracy... damned terrorists.

Well, that's actually an OLD war. Back in the early 80s my evangelical neighbors were repeating anti-Santa rhetoric from some of the lesser-known TV evangelists at the time (granted, Baker was riding at the top of his game before his fall, and Roberts was one year away from testifying before a nation that God was a blackmail artist, so these lesser-seen ones had reasons to not be noticed by the general public at the time).

Mind you, that didn't stop them from having a tree and putting presents under it, but they didn't use "Santa" as a reason for it.

The war against "Santa", which goes with the wholesale replacement of "Christmas Carols" with "Holiday Songs" (see Uncertain Principles from yesterday), is an old war.  Oddly enough, self-proclaimed secular humanist, Charles Schultz, actually fired the first salvo for the "Jesus" side in the first Peanuts TV special.

The season for thoughtless gifts? Always has been, apparently...

Did the Three Kings Bear Gift Receipts? - washingtonpost.com:

When Caspar, Balthazar and Melchior arrived at the manger on the first Christmas, they set a precedent that would withstand the test of time for every Christmas to come. Most of the gifts they brought were, at first glance, terrible.

Caspar, what were you thinking? Myrrh? The resin from a tiny shrub was used for embalming. It would be like presenting your bundle of joy with Dr. Science's Junior Mortuary Kit.

Balthazar hardly did better. His gift of frankincense was the first of many billions of thoughtless perfume presents. If you want to show someone you love them and have less than a minute to shop, buy them perfume.

But fortunately for Caspar and Balthazar, Melchior came through. The third king presented the Holy Family with the gift that classical economics has long suggested is best: gold. In other words, he gave them the money.

The author continues, discussing cash and gift cards:

Some social scientists make the case that too few of us take Melchior's logical step. One survey found that only about 9 percent of Christmas gifts are cash. Gift cards, which are like cash, have been surging in popularity but will probably account for only 5 percent of holiday sales this season. This drives economists crazy for a simple reason. Perhaps the most important tenet of their science is that people know their own preferences best. If you give someone money, she can go out and buy exactly what she wants. If you give her a gift, you may luck out and pick just what she would have purchased herself. Odds are, though, that you'll give her something she values less.

Actually there's also the aspect, for families with "big spenders" in the house (not naming names! ;) ) that there's also the possibility of giving them something that they already have, simply because you haven't been to the house recently to take an assessment.

I'd go into details, but, well, I'm not naming names here...