Are there blessings hidden amid the tinsel, the sales and the madness at the mall?
Does it bother you at Christmastime when carols are being played in shopping malls to the accompaniment of ringing cash registers? Does it upset you when the symbols of Christmas such as the Bethlehem star and the manger scene are used to sell merchandise and cards and decorations?
There’s no doubt, the commercialization of Christmas has been overdone. It would be nice if Christmas tinsel wouldn’t appear until at least after Thanksgiving. Nevertheless, I suggest we cool it on the complaining.
It’s unfair to put down people who make their living in merchandising just because they like to do a brisk business at Christmastime, and because they use the Christmas symbols and themes to help them do it. Like it or not, we are a “nation of shopkeepers”—we believe in and depend upon free business, which is a lot better than depending upon the government to feed us and tell us what to do.
