If you live in the Philadelphia area, you’ve no doubt heard about the short-lived renaming of Philadelphia’s annual Christmas Village. Just in case you aren’t familiar, Philadelphia has, for the past few years, has put on a Chriskindlmarkt in Center City outside city hall. They don’t call it a Chriskindlmarkt. They instead call it a Christmas Village. Earlier this week, the city decided to remove the word Christmas from it to avoid offending people. This ridiculous move was met with a proper level of outrage from the public and Mayor Michael Nutter had the name restored.

While I think he made the right move, it’s insane that they ever changed the name to begin with. I don’t think he’s a hero for putting out a fire that the city started to begin with. I also don’t think this is the last time we’ll hear about this. So, I feel like I should get on my virtual soapbox and shout into the wind.

I’m not a member of any religion, Christian or otherwise,  and I don’t care about what religion anyone belongs to any more than I care what race someone is. Whether you’re Christian, Jewish, Muslim or Pastafarian has nothing to do with the situation. I think the separation of church and state is extremely important and I think religion has no place in government. However, my argument is, and always has been, that there are really two Christmases. First, there’s the “baby Jesus Christmas.” I’m referring to the religious holiday that the Christians only celebrate. Then there’s the Christmas that’s for everyone, the “Santa Claus Christmas.” Yes, Christmas started as a religious holiday, but it has evolved into the secular version that most of us celebrate today. Christmas is about decorating, giving gifts & cards, being with family and friends and spreading goodwill. Those parts of Christmas are unrelated to religion. Christmas is my favorite time of the year and it sickens me when I hear of schools, businesses or anyone else referring to Christmas as “The Holiday” or “The Winter Holiday.” It just seems ridiculous. I’ve never read the Bible but I’m pretty sure that there’s no mention of Santa Claus, eggnog, candy canes or flying reindeer in there.

So, I’m very glad that the for once, the whiney minority was shut down by the sane majority. It doesn’t happen often, but it’s a sweet victory when it does.

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s article regarding the Christmas Village debacle is here.

Some photos from previous visits to the Christmas Village can be found in the Photos section of this site.

Longwood Gardens

Because we were there after dark this year, there aren’t as many great photos, but there was plenty of cold weather and Christmas lights which is all it takes to make me happy apparently! Check out the photos here.

Then i heard Philadelphia was putting on one of their own at City Hall. It was called the Philadelphia Christmas Village. While not as big it will hopefully be an annual event because it has real potential.

Check out my photos from Bethlehem and then take a look at my photos of Philadelphia.

This particular place holds a special meaning to him and me because the threatre is on the property where there once existed The Willows Motel that he and my grandmother used to take me to when I was little. The covered bridge on their property is what started my love of covered bridges.

Check out he photos right here.

On this special day every year, the men and women of NORAD that serve 2400 feet under the ground add a very special mission to their other critical tasks.

As they have for the 52 years, NORAD will follow Santa Claus on his flight around the world. This year it’s greatly enhanced by teaming up with Google Earth to make it fun and educational. (But mainly fun!)

Track Santa at noradsanta.org.

Click here to view my pictures from the festival.

Check it out at www.noradsanta.com.

To learn about all of these traditions and how they shaped our current Christmas celebrations, check out this great History of Christmas site put together by the History Channel. I stumbled upon it while looking for something specific, but wound up reading every page.

Enjoy! Merry Christmas!

View them here.

Do a search for “Christmas” or anything else that generates Christmas themed ads on the right side and you’ll see a row of Christmas trees along side your results.

Click here to see for yourself.