The Real Meaning Of Christmas

Now that Black Friday has officially begun the Christmas shopping season, you have an opportunity--no, an obligation to do your part for all that is sacred and wholesome and help determine which stores are Christmas friendly, Christmas negligent or Christmas offensive. There's a site called Stand for Christmas where you can post your Christmas shopping experiences.

Millions upon millions in our nation deeply value the great truths of Christmas and the holiday's inspiring place in American life and culture. We hope you will take a moment to "Stand for Christmas" by sharing feedback about your Christmas shopping experiences.

We're asking YOU to decide which retailers are "Christmas-friendly." They want your patronage and your gift-shopping dollars, but do they openly recognize Christmas?

And why is this important? Because...

For millennia, CHRIST has been the reason for the season.

Not only is Christmas a memorable family time – it’s the time when people worldwide celebrate the centerpiece of their faith…Jesus Christ.

There's no gauge for helping you decide what qualifies your shopping experience as friendly, negligent or offensive so here are some sample comments for JCPenney that may help.

Christmas Negligent:

No mention of Christmas in their television commercials.

When I shopped at Penney's today, the clerk was telling everyone to "have a happy holiday." I said, "Have a Merry Christmas." She just mumbled a, "oh, yeah."

Christmas Friendly:

I recieved my Christmas catalog from JCPenney yesterday. On the front "Christmas Gift catalog".

JC Penny's catalog is Christmas friendly. It is late November but their emails mention Holiday Sale and Gift giving but no mention of Christmas. Please celebrate Christmas with the millions of Americans like myself who celebrate on December 25th - Christmas.

Christmas Offensive:

I was so disappointed to walk into our JCP only to come face-to-face immediately with shirts emblazoned with skulls, crossbones, flames, dragons & all sorts of evil images. Amazingly, the nearby girls section featured similar emblems. No mention of Christmas. Left me feeling saddened, heavy-hearted & ready to get out of the store. I now enter the mall through another store to avoid the "downer" of the celebration of death & evil I see when I enter thru JCP.

If that doesn't help then look to your heart. After all, nothing gives you the real meaning of Christmas like camping out all night for a 4:00 am opening so you can be one of those first five customers to get that video game at a steal of a price, handing over your email address so you get notified of all the specials, giving the cashier your zip code so she doesn't have to enter a fake one, receiving your credit card and receipt with a "Thank you", and having the entire experience capped off with a "Merry Christmas" from the greeter as you leave.