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There seems to me that we have a lot of confusion about what is happening on Dec. 25.
In our Christian community, we have a strictly religious celebration, where we celebrate the birth of our Lord.
We expect only people of faith will attend this, but anyway can come to the service.
We have a separate festival for our children. It has nothing to do with religion. We have an elf, Santa, who is people size and he at lives at the North Pole with a bunch of smaller creatures we know as elves.
They make toys and treats for the children. He delivers these with eight reindeer to the children. The children are expected to be good of behavior to receive these. They are also encouraged to share with the less fortunate.
It is a wonderful fairy tale . To hundreds of thousands that is all it is. So, if someone says Merry Christmas feel free to call it right back.
After all we do love fairy tales. don't we? If you want to make sure that the person knows you are giving him a religious greeting, mention the holy birth. Now let me celebrate my fairy tale, enjoy my childhood memories, and say again a Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Walter Jones lives in Amherst. His column appears weekly in the Amherst News.
