Xmas Remembered

Growing up in New Britain and attending NB schools, as the date approached Dec. 25th., ALL students - regardless of religious faith, if in fact their family practiced one - anxiously awaited and looked forward to, “Christmas Vacation.” Nobody called it anything else. If your home had the room and your family could afford one and the decorations, you had a “Christmas Tree” under which there was a “Nativity Scene.” For me and for most of the kids I knew everybody celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ. In school we all sang Christmas Carols and made Christmas decorations and there was even a Christmas Tree in main hallway of the school. Nobody objected. All the stores downtown proudly displayed Merry Christmas greetings. Most of the stores were owned by non-Christians.

Fast forward to “modern times”; now, everything is different because some folks object to the outward public celebrations of one Christian Holiday, Christmas, especially in public places. To me, it seems that the objectors are playing “dog in the manger”, i.e., “I can’t get any enjoyment out of Christmas so I don’t want you to either.” The politically correct language nowadays calls for a “holiday tree, holiday music, a school winter vacation, holiday shopping, etc.” Imagine, these folks would have you forget Charles Dickens‘ “Christmas Carol”, Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” all of the Christmas Carols, etc. Who would deny children hearing, “Dominic The Donkey” or, I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas? ONLY A SCROOGE WOULD DO SUCH A THING! There actually appears to be a “war” on Christianity.

I’ll end with a little story that I feel sums up my feelings and those of many. I retired from my public school teaching career many years ago. My last assignment was at Hall High School in West Hartford. Hall is located in the northern part of town, an area known locally as “the reservation.” Many of the streets have Indian names. Also of note is that a large number of Jewish families live there - there is a large population of Jewish students at Hall. Also of note, Hall is famous for its Music program. It was my last year of teaching and we were approaching the Christmas vacation. It was the last period of the day on a Friday and as was the tradition at Hall, members of the Choir roamed the hallways singing many well known Christmas Carols. Without missing a beat, one of my students remarked, “where else but at Hall High School in West Hartford could you see and hear 14 Jewish kids roaming the hallways singing Christmas Carols?” The whole class applauded, teacher included - of course they applauded the music. I rest my case, Merry Christmas everybody!!

Lou Salvio