The counterfeit Christmas

I've noticed, over the past few years, that Christmas has become counterfeit.  Before you blow up on me, hear me out. 

It seems to me that we (collectively) spend, spend, spend, decorate, decorate, decorate, to "show the Christmas spirit" when what we really do is establish our pride.  Suddenly we have to have more lights in our yard and on our house than the neighbors.  We have to have more yard displays than our neighbors because they'll try to have more than we had last year.  We have to line our roofs, windows, sidewalks, fences and property lines with lights, luminarias, wreaths, trees, etc, because it shows how much we celebrate Christmas.  We have to have a tree that will barely fit in the house and then cover it with balls, chains, icicles, lights, and trinkets so that when people come to our house they'll be properly impressed.  We pile mounds of presents under the tree, for which we have spent unearthly amounts of money, so our children can go to school and impress their friends by proudly pronouncing what wonderfully expensive wares they received.

The children's schools are pleased to present X-mas as a winter holiday celebrating Santa Clause and the gifts he brings.  The schools NEVER mention Christmas as the miracle of Jesus' birth. They mention, only in passing in a song, the wise men who came to honor the King.  Our homes rarely even note the existence of Jesus Christ, much less the miracle of His birth.

Why do we not spend more time worshipping He who created this world and who paid for our collective sins?  Why do we not celebrate His birth quietly as He would rather?  We should be visiting our friends and neighbors with a message of faith, hope and charity.  We should offer the poor, needy and helpless that which we can give.  We should be attentive to our churches as He would want us to do.  We should tell the stories of Jesus to our children.

I don't mean to infer that we should not give gifts during the Christmas season, but could we give what is needed to those who need instead of giving needless articles to those who will not appreciate them?  Personally I have enough neck ties to last me past my death.  I am giving gifts for my friends, family, and neighbors for which I have determined a need.  I hope I don't offend anyone as a result.

I reserve the right to give my sweetheart a gift that it pleases me to give.  I don't need to wait for Christmas to give it to her, but I am because it is traditional.