Merry Tossmas

My father’s favorite refrain at Christmastime was an echo of Ebenezer Scrooge’s “Bah Humbug.”

This set the bar rather low for my expectations of holiday greetings from retailers. It also explains why I don’t buy into the nonsense from Focus on the Family and their latest war on retailers. A “Merry Tossmas” video on the organization’s citizenlink Website encourages Christians to toss catalogs in the trash that don’t wish them a Merry Christmas.

I don’t often shop from catalogs, but at department stores the other day one woman wished me happy holidays, another a nice day. Both were so cheerful and sincere in their greeting that I went away with a warm glow in my heart, little caring their words hadn’t validated my religious beliefs.

Our Savior once said that an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign. A faith that depends on external cues, like a retailer wishing us a “Merry Christmas,” is superficial at best. If James Dobson and his followers would take a moment this holiday season to take their focus off the family, turn away from their trash cans, look up from their Land’s End catalogs, and turn their eyes upon Jesus, maybe they’ll rediscover their flagging faith.