The Charlie Brown Christmas almost didn't air in 1965 writes Stephen Lind. CBS executives thought it was too slow and too serious, and worried that Linus' speech on the meaning of Christmas in which he recites the Gospel of Luke was too religious for a mass audience. They were wrong.
"Some fans find comfort in the show’s gentle message of faith, while others embrace it in a purely secular way," writes Lind.
Western European countries are "canceling Christmas" traditions to avoid offending Muslim minorities, writes Ixtu Diaz on Tablet.
School concerts in the heart of Europe feature "winter" not Santa Claus, much less the Nativity, he writes. A majority of French cities have eliminated "Christian referencing in Christmas celebrations. . . . Nantes is now celebrating its 'Winter Journey' (whatever that means), Angers is observing 'Winter Suns,' Bordeaux is touting 'Bordeaux in festivities,' and Saint Denis is holding a Christmas vacation called “Destination Beautiful Winter” while its mayor celebrates the holiday by shouting 'Happy Winter!'”
European stores feature bright lights, synthetic snow and messages about "hope," "love" and "happiness," writes Diaz. But traditional Christmas symbols and messages are absent.
In the U.S., Jewish songwriters, "immigrants or sons of immigrants" help Americans celebrate Christmas from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to the dream of a white Christmas, he writes. They kept their own religious identity while embracing the traditions of their new country. "Harmonious coexistence, and mutual respect between people of different religions of their respective holidays, should be the norm."
The most popular Christmas songs written by Jews include Silver Bells, which was the opener every year for my elementary school's Christmas (or Winter) Sing. We primarily sang non-religious songs -- thanks to housing segregation, the student body was very heavily Jewish -- but we did Still, Still, Still ("holy star its vigil keeping") and Silent Night in German and Spanish, but not English. I love Christmas carols. We did two Hanukkah songs, including Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel, which we all thought was stupid.
The Grinch is still my favorite Christmas show :-)