Summary
When I was a kid, we sang Christmas carols in school each December. We had Christmas concerts, Christmas parties and Christmas dances. None of that generic "holiday" stuff, no programs full of numbers like Frosty the Snowman and other winter ditties carefully chosen for their lack of religious content. Oh, we sang some of those, but we also had the standards, all the sweet songs about the manger and the baby.
In Australia, one of the most secular countries in the world, where only about 10 percent of the population regularly attend church, my kids' public schools still held Christmas pageants. One stands out in my memory. My oldest child, then 10, was chosen for the coveted role of Mary. She entered the school gym astride a friend dressed as a donkey and, when the proper moment arrived, she whipped from under her skirt her brother's anatomically correct boy baby doll, Anthony, and plonked him in the makeshift manger. The kids then launched into a down-under version of Deck the Halls renamed Deck the Shed, which was mainly about cracking open a tinnie and having a good old time. (Remember that Australian Christmas is a summer holiday; many families spend it at the beach.)See the full content of this document
Extract
Yes, Jesus Still Can Be Found in Christmas
BUT BACK HOME in much-more-pious America, there's not much Christmas left at school. When I returned, I missed it. I felt sorry for my kids, deprived of all tha...
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