Our Man In Arlington

Richard Barton

Last Monday, the Falls Church News-Press held its annual holiday bash. It was a great event, full of Christmas (oops, I said it) cheer and holiday camaraderie. It’s the kind of thing that makes me look forward to Christmas every year.

The new thing for me this year was the George Mason High School jazz ensemble that played at the party. What a great group! I can’t wait until their next concert when I will happily break out of my Arlington nest and trek to the high school on Leesburg Pike to hear them.

It is this kind of thing that makes the holiday season for me. We are fortunate that all five of our children, their spouses, and seven children live in this area. Christmas is a special season for all of us, particularly with the grandchildren who are overwhelmed in Christmas musical and dramatic events.

We have all of them over for Christmas Eve supper – our tradition is Brunswick stew. Here we exchange some small gifts – sort of in the nature of stocking gifts without the stockings. We ran out of space for the growing number of stockings several years ago.

Then on Christmas Day, after exchanging our personal gifts, Jean and I load up the car early and travel to five different homes for five different holiday celebrations: two in Arlington , one in Falls Church , one in Vienna , and the final one in Great Falls . Here we are talking about a lot of eating and drinking – and presents, the sheer volume of which boggle the imagination of two who grew up in simpler times.

This year, one of our major holiday events will be taking all of the grandchildren, and as many of their parents who want to brave it, to see Polar Express at the IMAX theater in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, along with dinosaurs and rocks that are much older than the 6,000 some odd years attributed to them by some.

The only sour note is the grousing by some Fox news personalities and Christian fundamentalists about the use of the “Holiday Greetings” or “Seasons Greetings” instead of “Merry Christmas.” Apparently they believe that we are putting ourselves on the road to perdition by ignoring Christ, as if that were even remotely possible.

The use of “holiday season” in no way denigrates or ignores the basic message of Christmas. It helps broaden it, actually, by being more inclusive and recognizing that those of other religious faiths, or even those with no religious faith, can contemplate the basic human aspirations reflected by the Christmas allegory.

But the great thing about this mini-controversy is that not many people are paying any attention to the grinches who, if they don’t actually want to steal Christmas, want to limit it to a very select few. I doubt very seriously that the Holy Family would approve.

In the meantime, we, our family and friends, are enjoying the Christmas season, whatever it is called: its sublime music, wonderful gatherings, and the universal message that mankind, even with its grinches, is redeemable. Merry Christmas!