No greeting, but plenty of Christmas in the paper

It’s a bit late for a Christmas-related entry, but the readers' rep office was closed for a few days so we could spend the holiday with family.

That's how reader Anthony Filosa of Los Angeles thinks of Christmas, too, he wrote in an e-mail to The Times -- a time for family and friends. It's not only a religious holiday, he said. And that's why he was disappointed that The Times didn't wish readers "Merry Christmas" on the front page.

"Went outside to pick up my papers on this Christmas morning," he wrote in his Dec. 25 e-mail. "The other paper had a very prominent front page Christmas greeting. But your paper was void of any reference to what is along with Thanksgiving probably this nation's most popular holiday."

He signed his e-mail, "Bah humbug."

Reader Mike Miser also was upset by what he called The Times' "extreme non-observance of this holy holiday."

"As a Christian I ask that God forgive you for your avoidance of any recognition of Christ's birthday," he wrote in his e-mail.

Though these two readers celebrate the holiday, certainly not all readers in this multicultural region do.

Senior editor Roxane Arnold, who oversaw the paper for Christmas Day, said The Times generally does not issue greetings on the front page. However, she said, "though there isn’t a specific Christmas wish, we use news coverage to acknowledge the holiday."

The majority of the Christmas Day LATExtra cover was devoted to Christmas-related articles. Two were specifically about the holiday: A "Beliefs" column about the faith-based Salvation Army taking its red kettle online for donations. And a story and photo (above) about a Rancho Cucamonga couple who adorn their home with tens of thousands of Christmas lights in memory of their son, an Army corporal killed in Iraq.

Two more stories give a nod to the holiday as well: An article about storm damage begins with a Highland resident who is brought to tears when she finds a cherished Christmas decoration that survived the mudslide that inundated her home. And a story about a laundromat that serves skid row highlights those who are helping the less fortunate.

There are many ways to note Christmas, and in the Dec. 25 edition, the holiday spirit was there.

-- Deirdre Edgar

Photo: Kim and Rick Creed's Christmas display honors their fallen son. Credit: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times

 

Comments

[Jeff p]

I've been reading The Times since 1966.........I don't recall the paper ever saying "Merry Christmas" on the front page.

[Nancy Fasoldt]

Deirdre, you've bought into contemporary thinking without checking your facts, something journalists must do at every turn. Yes, this multicultural nation of ours freely worships (or not) in many ways. However, when you defer to those who do not believe in God over those who go, you are giving a very loud voice to less than 12 percent of the people. More than 78 percent of the people in this country embrace Christianity. And should have been wished a Merry Christmas. (http://b27.cc.trincoll.edu/weblogs/AmericanReligionSurvey-ARIS/reports/ARIS_Report_2008.pdf)

[Michael S]

As one commenter reminds us, the majority of Americans espouse some belief in God. But when a slight is perceived, that majority likes to play the victim as they bemoan loudly a trend in contemporary thinking that is robbing them of their right to be the only game in town. If The Times doesn't normally wish readers a Merry Christmas, which it seems was never a tradition, is this backlash an annual event? Or have the complainers just gotten louder?

[berlinica]

I finally found out what annoys me about that "War on Christmas". It reminds me on the "War on Soccer". Last summer, South Africa was hosting the World Cup, and everybody in the whole world was celebrating and partying. Everybody? No, there was one single country where party poopers spent weeks to plaster newspapers and commentary sites with letting everybody know all the time that they don't like soccer, that soccer is inferior to football or baseball, and that soccer is sooooo boring.

So, I'm not a big sportsfan, I can understand that having to put up with soccer fans in droves on the streets is stressful, but in your own living room? Why go out of your way to spoil someone elses fun, if all you need to do is to switch to another TV channel? Is it, deep down, a inferiority complex? Honestly, I have no idea. But I know that these are the same people that don't get too many invitations to parties.

http://blog.berlinica.com/

[EDG]

Further proof that some people can be offended by ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING.

[Adam]

I guess I never knew that wishing a Merry Christmas was socially compulsory. I always thought it was the sort of something one did when so moved. Perhaps now that the lovely folks over at the Times know they were, through failing to to follow the marching orders of the concrete social order to which some, but certainly not all, of the 78% of Americans who profess a belief in God subscribe, giving a "very loud voice" to the minority, they'll be more careful to include a Merry Christmas message on their cover next year?

[Edguardo]

The Times are now "The Wimps Who Stole Christmas"...

[John Freeman]

The LA Times didn't want to wish anyone a "Merry Christms" because that would have offended muslim terrorists and other anti-American groups which they cater to.

[PsiCop]

An open question to militant Christians: When, exactly, was the law enacted that every person and business in the country is required to wish every other person in the country a "Merry Christmas"? Please provide text of this law ... because to date, I've not seen it.

The truth is that this is -- last I knew -- a free country. People and businesses are free to say "Merry Christmas," or not. For you to force everyone else -- regardless of their own religious beliefs (and I refer here even to some Christians, since not all denominations celebrate Christmas or even permit the celebration of any holidays at all) -- is fascism, in every sense of the word.

It is, furthermore, absurdly irrational and even childish to believe that, somehow, your own enjoyment of a holiday is reduced, if you are not ordered to enjoy it by everyone you meet and by every business you deal with. Mature adults get enjoyment out of holidays merely because of what they are and what they mean to them ... without regard to what anyone else in the world says or does.

It's time for the militant religionists in this country to just plain grow up, for the first time in their lives, and stop pounding their religion into everyone else in the universe.

[Plethy]

When did it become "news" that Christmas is on Dec. 25? For those who aren't sure when it is, they can check most calendars. For the rest of us, the constant drumbeat of commercials and gaudy decor is enough to signal the day. Let's be real folks. If you need a Christmas story, go to church.