Article by Philip Pettitt

It is argued that the politically correct brigade is taking the gloss off Christmas lest other faiths should be offended. Well, I am a Christian who is not ashamed of celebrating the festive season, but I cringe at the decorations, lights, tinsel and canned Christmas music thrust upon me before the event.

This is not the Christmas season. It is Advent, the season that includes the four Sundays preceding Christmas and a time when millions of Christians worldwide have a time of quiet reflection, meditation, discipline, self-denial and prayer, struggling to prepare for the wonderful Christmas message without all these premature distractions. You will not find any sign of decoration, even flowers, in any Christian church before Christmas Eve.

Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Christ. Do we celebrate our own birth for weeks or months before the event?

Of course, we have to prepare for Christmas by buying and posting cards and presents and shopping for extra provisions. But all this should be done quietly, responsibly and thoughtfully without being bewildered and bombarded into the festive season as early as November.

How many times have we heard people boasting that they are the first in their street, village or town to have their tree up, the lights illuminated and decorations in place, only to hear the same people complaining a couple of days before Christmas that they will be "glad when it's all over" so that the stale and sorry decorations can come down? By the very time they should be enjoyed, people are fed up with seeing them. The round of Christmas parties is over before the actual day of celebration.

No wonder we hear people complain that the days between Christmas and New Year are flat and boring. We have forgotten the twelve days of Christmas. For Christians, the Christmas celebrations start on Christ's birthday, not before, and continue with parties and celebrations throughout the Christmas season until Epiphany on January 6.

If we are afraid to push Christmas onto people of other faiths, please allow us Christians to celebrate our special feast day at the correct time and do not force it upon us too early.

WRITTEN DECEMBER 2006

NOTE: This article is an edited version of a letter which appeared
in the Daily Mail on Wednesday 13th December 2006.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE: Philip Pettitt, aged 57, has been verger at the Abbey Church, Bourne, since 2003 and is a member of the Church of England Guild of Vergers. He and his wife Alison are dedicated workers for the church and for charity, devoting much of their time to the Children's Society of which Philip is local branch secretary.