Funny Thing About Christmas
Funny thing about Christmas… how it just is… how it just persists.
Ralph Kinney Bennett March 3, 1941 – December 18, 2024
Articles, essays and columns by Ralph Bennett. Search by any word in an article, or narrow the list by publication, year or topic.
7 articles
Funny thing about Christmas… how it just is… how it just persists.
It is the most American of holidays. The day when we neither commemorate nor celebrate nor observe anything or anyone. The day we simply go home—if we can and however we can, even if only in our thoughts—and give thanks.
It’s like a pair of really big shoes. Every year, I have to walk up and put my feet in them and look silly because I can never fill them.
When I was a kid we called it Decoration Day and, in a practice observed since 1868, it always came on May 30.
They are the Guardians. On land, at sea, and in the air they have been the guardians — of our peace and peace of mind.
That was the day in Philadelphia in 1776 that 12 of the 13 colonies voted to declare their independence from Great Britain, even as General Sir William Howe was landing 10,000 British troops on Staten Island in New York. (New…
Oh, yes, and “happy holidays!” And, by all means, “season’s greetings.” Or perhaps you would simply like to hunker down and whistle past the whole thing, or ruminate playfully (or seriously) about a “Winter Festival” or “Solstice Celebration” or even…