Who needs Santa !!

[Gene]

No offense intended to those that do not celebrate Christmas but I thought the Sunday comic "Peanuts" by the late Charles M. Schulz was good.

Peanuts Comic Strip, December 22, 2013 on GoComics.com



Merry Christmas

[Ham Radio Op]

Hi Gene and Ginny,

Thanks for this good reminder of the real reason for the celebration. I guess the kid in most of us also enjoys the 'Santa', too. The important thing is that we know the real reason. Thanks, again, and Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Paul and Nancy

[bunjin]

WHO NEEDS SANTA?!!!!.......Why the stores you silly goose!

[Jim-Bev-2363]

I need Santa. It is a outward showing of peace among men. It shows there is hope for us yet. Merry Christmas Santa...... and everyone!

[awellis3]

I love Charles Schultz. He was a true "stealth theologian," infusing many of his cartoons with veiled lessons.
It's interesting to me that for the first thousand years or so of Christianity, Christmas wasn't "celebrated" as we think of celebration. It was illegal to make merry at Christmas in many states (notably Massachusetts). December 25 was a working day and people could be fined or jailed for taking the day off.
Christmas, as we now recognize it, evolved slowly in different ways in several areas of our country. The church was concerned with all the Pagan trappings, boisterous partying and consumption of spirits associated with "celebrating."
Ah, but the Germans to the rescue. Here in Virginia, one German actually, 19-yr.-old Charles Minnegerode, an immigrant living in Williamsburg in 1842. He taught foreign language at William and Mary College, was befriended by law professor Judge Nathaniel Tucker. He invited Charles to his home for Christmas dinner, as Charles was feeling homesick for his native land. Charles convinced the Judge to let him take the judge's four children out to cut a tree, which they brought in a decorated with strung popcorn, paper ornaments and candles. Later, as they sat around the Commonwealth's first Christmas tree, Charles told them of St. Nicholas and his visits to good boys and girls. Word spread through Williamsburg and into the farms beyond of the delight this simple tree brought to children. So the beginnings of today's Christmas celebrations here in Virginia were born.
Clement Moore's famous poem was published in the North about this same time (1837), so gradually the puritanical hold on Jesus' birth was loosened.
Linus is right in the strictest sense of Christmas and for centuries there was no Santa. But, oh my, can you imagine childhood without Santa Claus? The joy, the magic he brings to a world of bright-eyed children?
There will be time enough for them to grow and begin to fathom the gift of Jesus to a "world in sin and error pining." But for now, "Who needs Santa?"
I do, we all do.

God bless all of you today and in the years to come,
Teach

[Gene]

Thanks Teach, very well said. You are still a good teacher.

[awellis3]

Originally Posted by Gene

Thanks Teach, very well said. You are still a good teacher.

Thanks, sorry I got carried away. Mostly because the strip you posted reminded me of Robert L. Short's book The Gospel According to Peanuts.
Schultz taught Sunday school (Methodist) for a time and was a spiritual man (according to his wife) though not a religious one. Short is a minister and used Peanuts as a teaching tool. I remember this one vividly.
Think about Linus in the pumpkin patch awaiting the Great Pumpkin. A figure rises in the darkness (its silhouette looks a lot like Snoopy). Linus faints. When he comes to, he asks Charlie Brown if he saw him, did he leave any presents. "Just this dog," replies Charlie.
If we substitute:
Linus = Jews
Great Pumpkin = Messiah
Snoopy = Jesus
Well, made me want to read that comic strip a lot more closely, especially around Christmas and Easter.
Here is the book: http://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Accordi.../dp/0664222226
Later, Dudes and Dudettes,
Teach

[Gene]

That looks like an interesting book, thanks.

[jim44646]

Without Christ there wouldn't be Christmas.
To me Santa represents commercialism. Kids are saying I want, I want with getting presents being the only meaning to Christmas.