No, many of your Christian colleagues completely understand the difficulties
of the holiday season.  And with you, they soon discover there are no easy
solutions.  It's not hard to avoid using the word "Christmas" and we refer
to the season as one of thankfulness for what we have, and hope for those
who are without.

As a Christian, I have never seen the holiday tree as a symbol of the birth
of Jesus the Christ.  For me, it has been simply a family tradition.  Put it
up Christmas Eve, take it down Twelfth Night.  (The first known Christmas
tree in America was put up by a professor at the College of William & Mary,
of German origin, at a home in Williamsburg Va., sometime in the 1830s.  It
was a "cedar," technically the Virginia Juniper.  This assertion might start
a whole new dialogue!)

The holiday season has been secularized for several generations, at least.
If it is secular and commercial, and the tree is its symbol, so be it.  The
cross remains the symbol of Christianity, and I've not found any on
Christmas trees I've ever seen.  To a Jewish person, this might seem to be a
rationalization.  It's not.

Since the tree is secular, we invite youngsters in the schools in this rural
region to come help decorate several trees, all with ornamentation of their
own making.  A group of home-schooled children string the popcorn and
cranberries (what a mess) for the largest tree.

And when all this is finished, we open up one night for refreshments, Santa
Claus, games, (and for those who want it, carol singing) -- but the
admission charge since 1993 has been a sack of nonperishable groceries from
each family.   Our staff takes a ton or more to the local food pantry the
next day.  Only those who have run out of any other entitlement/food stamps
are eligible to "shop" the pantry once a month, and we do our best to help
make December shopping especially bountiful.

A non-Christian may see the tree as a Christian symbol and object to its
presence for this reason.  I doubt very much that thinking Christians see it
that way, nor do they think of the birth of Jesus when they are out shopping
amongst all the glitz.  That is the subject of sermons all over the
Christian world -- that an event sacred to us has been secularized,
commercialized.

The White House tree ceremony is symbolic of a season of giving and sharing,
the family, the community -- a time of remembering somehow that we as
individuals are not alone in this world.

Ross Weeks Jr.
Tazewell VA
http://www.netscope.net/~histcrab

---Original Message-----
From: Diane Gutenkauf <[log in to unmask]>


> My personal experience, however, has been that
>only my non-Christian colleagues understand the scope of the problem of
>presenting Christian holiday decorations in our non-religious institutions.
>In fact, at one institution, my high level of discomfort over using our
>(completely) tax supported budget to buy Christmas trees almost cost me my
>job.