Retail Holiday Displays

Here's a thought about holiday decorations in retail stores. 

If a retail store sets up elaborate decorations or window displays for the Christmas season, they should include Jesus somewhere in the display. 

He could be represented by a small figurine, a little baby, perhaps, not a full-grown preaching carpenter leading around a dozen apostles. The store can surround Baby Jesus with wreathes and evergreens and gift boxes and teddy bears and toys and stockings and sugar-plum fairies if they think that the presence of a religious figure would be offensive to someone. 

(I'm not sure who that someone would be. Just about everyone understands that Christmas is the Mass of Christ. It's not a surprise, and it's not really much of a secret.)

But Jesus should be there, small and tasteful, but prominent. Centrally located. Hard to miss. 

It's Christmas. Seasonal decorations just don't seem complete when they exclude the guy who started the whole thing. It would be like designing a presidential library that doesn't have any pictures of the president that it is supposed to honor. ("Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Reagan! No pictures of you will be permitted in your library. I'm sure that you'll understand.")

Presumably, stores decorate during the holidays in an attempt to attract customers. Just about everything that a retail store does publicly is aimed at attracting customers. So, here's the other half of the idea. 

If Jesus isn't visible in the decorations, I'm not going to shop at that store. They have officially lost one customer. And not just for the holiday season. For as long as they persist in their non-Jesus holiday decorating.

Now, maybe a whole bunch of other customers who don't agree with me will show support for the store and shop there more often. That's fine. I'm not encouraging a boycott. This is a personal decision based on a personal preference. There are stores that I have been avoiding for years for this very reason. I don't spend my money there anymore. Ever. I'm sure that they don't miss my dollars. But I have convictions, and I'm going to stand by them. 

And to be fair, I do still visit those anti-Jesus stores from time to time. I walk in, use the toilet, and leave. After all, to forgive is divine, so I anoint them with my holy water from time to time.

If a store steadfastly opposes displaying Jesus in their store, I support that choice, as well. I'll even continue shopping there if they'll agree to make one small concession. It might even save them money.

Don't decorate. Don't decorate at all for the holidays. If you can't find it in your heart to include one little Babu Jesus figure in your holiday decorations, you shouldn't HAVE holiday decorations. Keep your windows and floor space completely secular, if that's how you feel. I'll honor your wishes, and I'll continue to shop in your store. Just please don't be a holiday hypocrite and put up a bunch of decorations that don't express the true meaning of the holiday.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Copyright © 2014 Daniel R. South 

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