Winter can be so lovely.
Bill O'Reilly may
have "single-handedly saved" the holiday he purports to love via his
victory (over Festivus?) in the War on Christmas. But at my kids' elementary school—located not too far from the Fox News Channel studios where Bill O slays his imaginary dragons—we had a wintertime/holiday/December celebration that might well have caused Mr. O'Reilly to splutter egg nog all over himself (and clean it up with a
loofah—come on, you knew the loofah reference was coming).
But seriously (I know it's hard to get serious after that opening paragraph), I really do want to sing the praises of our school's Winter Solstice Concert. Each of the past seven Decembers our family has trooped over to the school, up the (many) stairs to our auditorium, and enjoyed the immense pleasure of listening to our children sing (or, on occasion, mouth the words to) various songs linked by a theme relating to the winter season or to New York or to whatever the music teacher came up with that year.
Then, after the singing ends, we head down to the classroom and celebrate with the rest of the kids and their families, collectively consuming too many donuts and other assorted baked goods. This year we brought chocolate chip mandel bread, homemade by following Grandma Doris's recipe, and of which I ate more than I care to share, even with you good people.
It's a wonderful day for the family, for the kids, and for the school. And not once did I feel less than wonderful because I'd had to explain to my children why they were singing a song that enshrines someone else's religious beliefs (Note: learning about different religions is very different from singing their songs). Not once did I feel like I or my family belonged at the concert less than anyone else. We all felt equally included and celebrated.
And that, my friends, is the magic of the Winter Solstice Concert. No appearances made by God, Jesus, Allah, the Maccabees, Vishnu, Buddha, or anyone of their ilk. Neither were there any songs sung about how God isn't real, by the way. That whole subject just never came up.
For those who want to celebrate Christmas, or Hanukkah, or any other religious holiday, here's what I have to say: Great! I enjoy doing it too. But doing it at school, and forcing kids either to participate or remove themselves from their school's celebration—leaving them feeling confused and alienated—is not the way to go. And no, a school not mentioning Christmas during the course of an hour on a mid-December Thursday morning does not equate to being anti-Christian.
If people like Bill O'Reilly want to air their grievances with my thinking, then I'll ask them to imagine sending their kids to a school that celebrates, say, Eid al-Fitr with a concert because that's what the Muslim majority demanded. After all, what's good for the falafel...