WARREN D. GRANT: Was it Christmas because of Christ?

December seems to be the one month of the year that everyone looks forward to the other 11 months of the year. But how much of the attention we give December is due to Jesus Christ? It’s the one month of the year that all kinds of people come out of the woodwork — the panhandlers, scammers, people who are always looking for an “opportunity.”

When Halloween is coming to an end and all the Halloween items are going on sale, we see Christmas items being brought out. It wasn’t too long ago when the day after Thanksgiving was held special for Christmas decorations and future presents would be displayed, but no longer. People getting together for dinners and meeting friends for parties, sending out Christmas cards and all of it in a festive mood. People flying home from distant places, driving to distant places, back and forth and telling everyone they meet, “Merry Christmas.”

Or so it used to be before our government decided that they ,of all people, needed to set some standards of decency and explain to us the meaning of “political correctness,” only because it could possibly make someone mad and they might lose a vote or two.

Now we look at people and wonder what kind of response we’re going to get if we say, “Merry Christmas.” We never seem to remember what all the festivities should be about.

A couple of thousand years ago, a baby was born into this world, only to live a short life, to save us from eternal damnation and hell. For some, it is the only time of the year that they go to church. However, it is not necessary to go to church to celebrate the birth of Christ. In fact, his coming should be celebrated, 365 days a year, for without his birth, we have nothing to hope for, to look forward to, nor anything that would give us reason to go on.

We would have no civil order because we would have no Ten Commandments, not that they’re doing us any good. Few people seem to try to keep any of them, or so it seems.

If we treated everyone the entire year like we do during the Christmas holidays, what a much better place this would be.

No, I think that for many, Christmas is more about the bottom line on their business’s financial report. More than one business relies on the profits made in December to carry them through the rest of the year when they should be worrying about the “bottom line” of their lives to carry them to a room that has been prepared for them in the “Great Mansion” in Heaven.

The way this country is going, I think there will be a lot of vacancies.

It’s not “Happy Holidays” for me. It’s “Merry Christmas,” and if it offends you, do me a favor and leave.

Warren D. Grant is an Albany resident.