You've heard of Christmas trees. You may even have heard of Chrismon trees. But have you encountered...
...the CHRIST-mas tree? Behold its kitschy glory:
Just when you were worried that, in all this Advent rush, we were insufficiently aware of the horrible passion and execution of Christ, Boss Creations, Inc. has offered this marvelous solution: a cross with a Christmas tree growing out of it (or, alternately, a Christmas tree that has been crucified--presumably by Romans with allergies to evergreens).
There's more.
You can, if you wish, adorn your CHRIST-mas tree (the capital letters mean you have to shout when you say it, I'm guessing) with this:
A crown of thorns to put atop the tree (with the star? on top of it?). Perfect for the kids!
Sigh. Oh, Christianity.
The "movement" to which the advertisement refers is the so-called "War on Christmas," the name given by conservative Christians who annually stir up concerns about Christmas's being absorbed into a muddle of generic winter "holidays." Boss Creations explains this view here. A quick search around conservative evangelical (blurring into "religious right") webpages will reveal a host of bumper stickers, ornaments, and buttons to make sure you, too, can strike a blow for Christianity and against... um...
Well, against the recognition that other holidays from other faiths occur around the same time as Christmas, perhaps? Again--judge this gesture of ostensible evangelism as a kind of activist performance: Who's the audience here? What kind of message does this send to non-Christians? What kind of stereotypes does it confirm? I see the cross, but where's the Christ whose presence--whose Advent--we are celebrating and whose God-With-Us love meets people where they are?
I think--I hope--that the creators of this tree (patent pending!) have only the best intentions, even as they seem to be capitalizing on the growing war-on-Christmas niche market. But I just don't see any kind of love or, frankly, reverence in shmushing together a cross with a family Christmas tree, complete with presents underneath and stockings hung with care in the background. The juxtaposition is grisly and gaudy at once, cheapening what should be a sobering symbol.
Worse, it doesn't seem to strike anyone outside of the war-on-Christmas partisans as clever, only sad and a little nutty. This tree says, "Hands off, culture! Keep away!" And you know what? Message received. The CHRIST-mas tree is already a pop culture joke, having been admirably skewered by the Onion AV Club's "The Hater" (Amelie Gillette). The only thing more depressing than the cross's being made into a joke is the fact that the people who buy and sell and promote this tree will in all likelihood interpret secular culture's derision as a sign of success: "See? We got to them! We really, really got to them and made them think!"
It's time to revisit the old kindergarten lesson that not all attention is good attention.
On a brighter note, my father sent me this Time article, which talks about The Advent Conspiracy, a group that proposes a wholly different kind of war on Christmas. Rather than making shrill statements about the exclusivity of Christmas, Advent Conspiracy promotes the mantra, "Spend Less, Give More." They encourage an anti-consumerist Christmas season where money that would be spent on so many gifts becomes donations to charities (specifically those working to help build clean water wells in developing countries). As the Time article points out, Advent Conspiracy appropriates much of the "keep the Christ in Christmas" rhetoric of the war-on-Christmas warriors, but it mobilizes it to a more, well, Christlike end.
Watch this video. It's a refreshing curative to the crucified evergreen:
More tomorrow,
JF
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