Score one for Christmas-friendly stores
Lori Borgman | Monday, Dec 14, 2009
For those monitoring the War on Christmas, there is now a scorecard. The
Stand Up For Christmas website lets shoppers rate retailers as to whether they
are Christmas friendly, Christmas negligent or Christmas offensive.
GAP shares
first place for the most offensive retailer. Shoppers have been put off by GAP
commercials that shout, “Go Christmas! Go Hanukkah! Go Kwanzaa! Go Solstice! . .
. do whatever you want-a-kah!
Offensive?
Maybe. Then again, I’ve always looked to GAP as an authority on jeans, not
doctrine and theology.
GAP shares first place with Banana Republic. One reviewer wrote, “I have
never had this store show any enthusiasm regarding Christmas.”
I have
never had the store show any enthusiasm period. It’s a store for cool people and
cool people don’t emote. Banana Republic will never station clerks wearing blue
vests at the door to greet you and offer a shopping cart. Cool people don’t use
shopping carts.
Several
comments later though, someone had written, “The clerks at Banana Republic were
very friendly and wished me Merry Christmas.”
To wish or
not to wish, that is the question.
The only two retailers with zero offensive ratings are Bass Pro Shops and
Cabela’s. Cabela’s received kudos for their Christmas catalog.
The Cabela’s website offers Hot Holiday Buys -- on ammunition. So here we
are, locked and loaded for the War on Christmas.
Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A weren’t on the list rated by reviewers, but they
are good business models that respect both their shoppers and their employees.
They close on Sundays so employees can attend worship services. They take out
full page newspaper ads at Christmas and Easter, reminding readers what the
seasons are truly about.
I’m not offended if someone doesn’t say Merry Christmas. I also don’t expect
to see a living nativity in the middle of the sweater display. If someone does
say Merry Christmas and has the spine to call it a Christmas tree instead of a
holiday tree, it’s just icing on the fruitcake.
If I kept a scorecard on Christmas, the benchmarks would be slightly
different:
To what degree am I am sucked into the materialism of the season?
Am I as likely to spend money on the poor as I am on people who have
everything?
Have I
taken the time to intentionally celebrate the true meaning of Christmas in my
own home?
Am I in
tune with the Winter/Holiday/Solstice parties and programs happening at my
child’s school? Do I voice my views in a firm and polite manner?
Is my approach to Christmas largely secular with a dash of Christ, or is it
genuinely faith-based with celebration and good cheer as natural byproducts.
Do I celebrate Christmas in a manner that is Christian friendly, Christian
negligent or Christian offensive?
Merry Christmas.
