Here’s a controversy we don’t get to have every year, just every 6th year or so. December 25th falls on Sunday this year. The argument is that cancelling services gives church staff a break and allows them to spend time with their families. Maybe it’s a generational thing and I’m from a previous one but… my family has always known where to find me on Sunday morning. Maybe it’s because my dad was an independant, fundamentalist, premillennial Baptist and we were at church every time the doors were opened; Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, revival, cottage prayer meeting, etc. I would no sooner cancel church services on Christmas than I would on Easter Sunday. To me that makes it extra special. There are some folks that only come to church on Easter and Christmas so that cancellation eliminates 50% of their attendance for the year. Maybe I’m an old grouch but in this case I feel like being an old grouch for Jesus.

The tree is green. The lights are white. And our candy canes are peppermint. I actually had trouble finding those this year. I didn’t want LifeSaver, Trolli or even cherry candy canes. I wanted to buy red and white, peppermint flavor candy canes to hang on the tree. Now if you enjoy a variety of candy canes and believe all of those should be available then fine, I have no problem with that. I like to eat the cherry flavored ones as well. But I don’t want the old fashioned ones to disappear completely. My working theory is that everybody else wanted the same thing and that’s why so many of the others were still there. Seems legit.

Do you know Santa’s reindeer by name? Dasher, Dancer, Comet, Cupid, there’s no argument there. But if you listen to as much Christmas radio as I do – I spend a lot of time in the car and I ain’t kiddin’ ya – you’re bound to hear one or more readings of The Night Before Christmas. Originally published as A Visit from Saint Nicolas in 1823, that was the first time the reindeer were named. Dunder later became Donder and eventually Donner. Blixem became Blixen, presumably to rhyme with Vixen, and later Blitzer. There have been no more changes since Gene Autry released the now immortal Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in 1949 and listed them in the intro.

Are you tired of All I Want for Christmas is You? Are you done with Mariah Carey in general or just her annual takeover of Christmas? If the answer to any of these questions is yes then let’s join forces and do something about it. The only way to end a pop-culture phenomenon that big is to create a bigger one. Let’s get together and make Kelly Clarkson the next thing everyone hates. It starts by playing the YouTube video below. The next step(s) will be posting the video on your own Facebook. Search this out on Spotify, Pandora (does that still exist) and purchase the song on iTunes. Call your local radio station and request this song endlessly. Recruit your friends. Many of us will have to do these things dozens of times each day and it may take a few years. It would be best to get started right away.