THE 99%, A CHRISTMAS TALE

I am part of the 99%...but what do I mean by that? I mean I have a Christmas Tree: it is plastic, came in a box, had lights already hung on it, and doesn't smell like anything except dog slobber (after years of use). I also have some presents under my tree, Christmas lights on my house, Christmas music on my Ipod, a big red bag that I haul presents around in on Christmas (seriously), and a joyful expectancy of what the season brings.

I am part of the 99% who love Christmas.

But who are the haters, the naysayers, with no sort of holiday cheer? I can only find scattered reports of various news stories.

• Like the guy who complained that a Christmas billboard was left up too long and wrote an editorial about how it was stirring "inappropriate emotion" about making him feel guilty for not spending time with his loved ones.
• The campaign that encourages people who walk into stores that are NOT playing Christmas music to find the managers and thank them.
• A proposed extra tax on Christmas Trees.
• Even Twisted Sister (the band) who came out with a Christmas album. I mean seriously, they must really hate Christmas.

We must Occupy Christmas. If you are part of the 99% who love Christmas, stop treating it like a holiday and live your life as if every day is Christmas Eve. Stop buying into bogus statistics that tell you that suicide rates go up at Christmas, it's a lie, they actually go down. Don't be another person who makes the season too long, too false, too commercialized and just simply too much. Make it about hope and life and truth and mercy and grace that came into the world to save us from our sin.

Bring the 1% to our side…the side that says, "yeah Christmas." Remember what the Dr said (that's Suess), "And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?"

So go buy your fake trees and cover your house in lights. It's Christmas for Pete's (I mean Jesus') sake.

By Aaron