Frank Costanza (Jerry Stiller, left) stands next to Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards) and holds the aluminum pole his family has used in past Festivuses, while talking to Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) and watching his son George Costanza (Jason Alexander) race out of Monk's Café, at the mention of the Festivus tradition "Feats of Strength."
Now, I’m a long-time enthusiast of Seinfeld and a big fan of nearly every Seinfeld skit….even, the Seinfeld episodes that are dedicated to Festivus. Oh, you know Festivus…it’s the annual holiday created by writer Dan O'Keefe and introduced into popular culture by his son Daniel, a scriptwriter for the TV show Seinfeld. The holiday includes novel practices such as the "Airing of Grievances", in which each person tells everyone else all the ways they have disappointed him or her over the past year. Also, after the Festivus meal, the "Feats of Strength" are performed, involving wrestling the head of the household to the floor, with the holiday ending only if the head of the household is actually pinned. These conventions originated with the TV episode. (Wikipedia) You might remember some of these episodes…if not, watch them here:
Weren't those funny? Yeah, I just love Seinfeld too.
Well, some people today, I guess either influenced or inspired by Seinfeld, now celebrate the Festivus holiday in varying degrees of seriousness. Yes, seriousness. (And, if you think I’m kidding, well you should just check out the businesses on the internet actually manufacturing and selling the infamous Festivus metal poles that coincide with celebrating Seinfeld’s Festivus). What was intended to be comic relief in Seinfeld is now becoming a serious practice for many thanks to the spread of Festivus in the “real world” chronicled in the book Festivus: The Holiday for the Rest of Us.So, I figured I’d weigh in on this issue since it appears that the rest of the “real world” is already. Don’t get me wrong, these Festivus episodes in Seinfeld were very funny. They made me laugh. They made me smile. That’s what comedy should do. But, in this Christmas season where it seems that nearly everywhere I turn, happy, shiny faces at the stores are wishing me “Happy Holiday”, “Happy Winter Tree Holiday”, or some other concocted variation to Christmas such as “Happy Festivus”, I find myself thinking how ridiculous our society is becoming. Really.
Call me antiquated, archaic and old-fashioned, but I still say “Merry Christmas”. To me, it’s not about some silly little saying that is uttered once a year while we’re all out shopping. To me, wishing someone a “Merry Christmas” is inexplicably tied to my faith as it is for many thousands and millions of others and the “good news of great joy for all people…there has been born for you a Savior…” (Luke 2:10-11).
So, this year, you won’t be hearing me say anything but “Merry Christmas”. It’s okay to say “Merry Christmas” no matter what those big box retailers are doing and saying. Paige and Taylor are also saying and wishing the people they meet “Merry Christmas”. And, that’s okay too.
Besides, somehow the explanations I can offer to the young minds of 3-year old twins come far more easily when sharing with them the story of Christmas. Explaining Festivus to 3-year olds? I don’t think I could even begin to try…there's this pole thing, there's this list of grievances you say, and so on. Nope, I don't see that coming very easily to 3-year olds.
