You know, Christmas is coming up pretty darn fast. I mean, we could barely push out Thanksgiving before Santa and his reindeer were staring at you from every corner. And now it’s only a few days away. Sometimes it’s hard to believe. I heard a little Christmas story, I hope you don’t mind if I share.
Once upon a time, there was a small, quaint little town in a magical place called Georgia. The locals of the town call it “Winder” and to everyone else it’s known as — well… “Winder.”
This was no ordinary town though; for this town had it’s on unique personality. Around every corner there was a fried chicken joint to satisfy every fried chicken flavor craving. And on every other corner, there were liquor stores to quench every thirst. The locals were especially happy that liquor could now be sold on Sundays, and the whole town rejoiced.
Well, almost everyone.
No matter where you go you will always find the Scrooges who hate this holiday season. The ones who enjoy shouting “Ba humbug!” and always demanding the P.C. “Happy Holidays” greeting as opposed to the “Merry Christmas” the whole town loved. It’s these kind of people that the town especially didn’t like. They wanted to celebrate Christmas their way, but the Scrooges wouldn’t let them. Instead the Scrooges would count up all the taxpayers’ money and demand for more. Yeah, the townspeople got a short end of a big stick.
“What can we do?” they cried. “They are ruining Christmas for all of us!” “We don’t want to live in a corrupt community that won’t let us say ‘Merry Christmas’ to our neighbors!” Even all the drug users and law breaking hooligans in the town were appalled, if they even knew what was going on. The town was falling apart.
Their downtown, although the holiday lights festively decorated the streets, was still dying from heartbreak. The Scrooges had left them to rot and the townspeople cried. It was a very sad day in this poor little town.
But then one day something happened, something magical that left the towns people in awe. The big man himself came to the town during a holiday parade. Santa Claus had arrived, and he was ready to inspire the townspeople to take action. “Ho ho ho!” he bellowed. “If you don’t like living this way then why don’t you speak up? It’s your community. If you want to do things your way, it is your obligation to take control.” His echo rang in the ears of everyone who heard.
He was right. It was their community. And they should do what they want. They realized that the spirit of Christmas was in their hearts all along. No matter what the Scrooges did to the townspeople. No matter how many taxes they pressed, no matter how many lost their jobs, and no matter how much debt and despair they caused the townspeople stood up to the Scrooges.
“This is our community! We want to say ‘Merry Christmas’ and be with those we love. We know how we want to live. And you have no power because we have the Christmas spirit in our hearts.” The townspeople agreed unanimously.
The Scrooges were appalled. “How could this be?” they inquired. “We have always been running the show. What happened? How did all this change?”
The townspeople demanded that the Scrooges relinquish their authority, and while the Scrooges weren’t happy of the changes there was nothing that they could do but comply. The townspeople had taken a vote and their decision was final. No Scrooges could wiggle their way out of this predicament. The rules are rules and so since the Scrooges didn’t want to go to jail where some of their fellow Scrooges were, they stepped down without much of a fight.
It is said that this was when the townspeople woke up from their ignorant slumber and took back their Christmas spirit.
And the town celebrated Merry Christmases for years to come. And what happened to the Scrooges? Oh, they are still here in the community but they can’t hurt the townspeople anymore. Maybe one day they will learn to have the Christmas spirit, but that is wishful thinking.
And so, that is the story of a very Winder Christmas. The end.
Jessica Brown is the staff photographer for the Barrow Journal. You can reach her at jessica@barrowjournal.com.
So I'm putting this calm, reasoned comment right here to (hopefully) stop people who took it that way from reacting negatively.
We should take Merry Christmases, Happy Hanukkahs, Festive Maidyarems, Happy Holidays, and similar phrases as polite contextually relevant greetings and not as affronts to our beliefs. Let's just enjoy the good food, shiny lights, and the (usually) cheery atmosphere.
The offensive part for most is when the government or some other "all knowing" entity steps in and says we cant say merry christmas we must say happy holidays.Christmas in America is Christmas and to call it something else because of the governmant trying to be politcally correct is just wrong headed and very offensive.
The Solstice is the (original)
"Reason for the Season"
From Wkiipedia:
The festival was placed on December 25 when the Christian calendar (Julian calendar) was adopted. Scholars have connected the celebration to the Wild Hunt.
A "Gald Yule" to everyone!
watch out for the Krampus!