SEASONS - PRESIDENT'S DAY - HOW DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS AMERICAN HOLIDAY?

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Just a few days after we have stuffed ourselves with chocolate and wined and dined and flowered our lovers; we come to President’s Day.  

What is this day all about, and how did we begin to celebrate it?

It all started back in the 1880’s when people began to celebrate the birthday of our first President, George Washington.  His birthday is actually on February 22^nd,  and that was the official date of celebration. 
   

In 1996 congress decided that federal workers should move many of their yearly holidays to Mondays no matter how the date fell on the calendar.   

They implemented this with the Uniform Monday Holiday Bill.  This would give federal workers more long weekends with several days in a row off from work.  Most companies who allowed such holidays for their workers also followed suit and used the same calendar days.  

Hence, George Washington’s Birthday Holiday was moved to the third Monday in February, no matter the date on the calendar. 

It was noted during the debate over this bill that many states were

unofficially celebrating the birth date of Abraham Lincoln on February 12^th.    Before the new bill passed there was extensive discussion about combining both dates in honor of both great men, and calling it President’s Day.  

This brought up the question asked by many; would we still be honoring just George Washington and Abraham Lincoln on this day, or would we be honoring all of our American Presidents? 

Nothing was ever resolved about this, and the official holiday stayed the same:  George Washington’s Birthday.  It was simply moved to another date and combined with the weekend. 

Some retail merchants wanting to profit from the events being held in and around Washington on this date began to call it President’s Day anyway.  They did commercials and promotions showing both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and even other presidents.  It seems now that the people of the country have unofficially changed the whole holiday to honor all presidents that have served, but the official standing still has it that we are celebrating George Washington’s birthday. 

This is yet another great proof that when the people desire something enough, they usually get their way whether it is officially declared the law of the land or not.   It seems the people desire to be profitable and have sales!

Ask any American walking down the street what day it is and they will say President’s Day.  Ask them what they are celebrating and they will tell you this holiday is in honor of all the great men who have held the office of President of The United States!  They might also give you a look that indicates you might not be from the same planet before they hurry on to the next sales promotion.

 Go figure! 

Should we even care?

 

How will you celebrate this day?

As for myself, I’m stuck in the category of those workers with an employer that does not even recognize this day as an official holiday.  It will be like any other working day for me, perhaps with a newscast or two that is accidentally overheard about the speeches that will be given in Washington, or maybe a child or grandchild coming home from school and asking that obvious question:  “Why do we celebrate President’s Day?”

Should we lie to them or tell the truth?  

Exactly what is the truth anyway?  

It obviously has not been taught in public schools much lately.  Has an untruth become the reality; thus the truth?  Perhaps this is a subject we should let our children ponder.   Just give them the cold hard facts and let them decide what to do with them.  Perhaps the schools just have too much fear of  the voice of the majority?  So is the truth now what the people are doing and thinking today, or is the truth what the law actually says? 

You tell me!  Poor teachers!

This is such a pleasant little problem compared to deciding how to properly teach sex education, religion and political views........Let's just count our blessings for little distractions and the new opportunity for a lesson on thinking for yourself.   Until the children of America decide the proper course and take it for themselves, let's just allow them to ponder this one for a while longer before we move on to the next hurdle of no clarity and unreality that our children must learn to face growing up in our society.  

Perhaps they will even actually learn to think for themselves!  

Is that still allowed?

SEASONS: THANKSGIVUKKAH 2013

This year you may experience a new and unfamiliar word during the holiday season.  Add to your vocabulary – Thanksgivukkah.  It is a made up word by those who recognize that this year Thanksgiving and Hanukkah fall on the same day.  Of course Hanukkah is an eight day holiday, but the first day of that holiday coincides directly with Thanksgiving Day.  The last time this happened was 1888 and it won’t be happening again for another 77,798 years!  No wonder you never noticed it before!  To make this even more interesting – realize that Advent also happens in the middle of Hanukkah this year on December 1^st.  Do 

you think God is telling us to all get together and learn to get along?  I have to wonder!

My first thought is that any numerologist would find these facts very interesting given the significance of the number of 8’s and 7’s being used so often and so much.   That is a deep subject and a completely different article.  

My second thought is that most people will not be affected at all, since not too many families blend the traditional Christian holidays with the traditional Jewish holidays and most people either observe the Protestant things or the Catholic things.  

Guess what?  

My family celebrates them all in light of the fact that Jesus Christ is Messiah!  

So my decision this year is to have the traditional Thanksgiving dinner mid-day and begin to light the Mennorah and recite the Hanukkah blessings that evening. 

Throw the Iron Bowl in the middle of all of this, and we are all set!  LOL.  

The next day after Thanksgivukkah,  I will have our annual family Hanukkah gathering and during that time, in honor of the fact that Jesus is The Light of the World and the true meaning behind the miracle of Hanukkah, (being the light of the world and the greatest miracle of all) we will light our Christmas tree.  

We will not decorate our tree until Advent, we will just shine the lights by themselves for a few days.  On Advent Sunday we will gather to light the advent candles and decorate our tree.  

Gifts will begin to go under the tree on Advent evening and will continue to accumulate until Christmas Eve when we will open them as we will celebrate the CONCEPTION of Christ being at Christmas time.  We have already celebrated Sukkot this year, which is the time we think Jesus was actually born. 

By now you either think I’m the most confused person on earth, or that I blend religions.  Not at all, on the contrary I only follow the practices given in my Christian bible and scriptures, and the Jewish days are there, as well as the history of the birth of Christ.  These are the things that I have studied for years and this is how I think the truth shakes out.  The only blending I’m doing is adding the Iron Bowl….and I think God is a good sport about it all and doesn’t mind a bit.

So, laugh if you want to, but don’t get into a discussion with me about it while I’m having so much fun celebrating over and over.   There is no group of people who know better how to celebrate in spite of all things around them than the Jewish people, add the fullness of Christ into that and realize that some of the Catholic traditions such as the Advent Candles are very significant to the gospel and throw in the traditions of a Protestant Christian Christmas and you have a recipe for a few months of complete joy and celebration!

So, you ask, are my children not confused?  About what, I say?  They have been taught the truth about the religious celebrations of all cultures that we believe are significant in the worship of Christ.  How could that be confusing?  Most of my friends have grandchildren asking those hard to answer questions about the other cultures that they go to school with.  “Grandma, why do the Jewish people celebrate Hanukkah?”  Most of those grandmas can’t really explain it.  My grandchildren will understand it because they will be living it out through the activities that happen at my house.  They will understand all of the Jewish Holy Days in light of Christian theology which 

includes the fact that Christ is the Messiah.  They will be taught the true message and aspects of their Messiah in each of these days.  They will also get the joy of the traditional American holidays and the traditional Christian holidays that this country has always cherished and because of the history lessons they will understand how they all came about.  They will know that Santa Clause was originally a jolly old saint named St. Nicholas, and they will hear the true story of St. Nicholas and his charity and love for the poor.  They will get the true meaning of “giving” for this season.  They will realize that Jesus wasn’t born on December 25^th, but perhaps Mary was visited by Gabriel with the Good News on that day and that was the day that she learned she would have the honor of bearing the Son of God in her body and presenting Him to the world during The Feast of Tabernacles called Sukkot.  They will be told the story of the miracle of the light on Hanukkah and how that story was the first message that told us of the hope of the Messiah.  It is all so beautiful, when you tell it accurately and truthfully, nothing contradicts anything else, and when you understand the Messianic meaning of the Jewish Holy Days, it all fits right into place. 

Who could have more joy?  

Not just at Christmas, but all through the year!