Dear Mr. and Mrs. Ebenezer Scrooge,

I do not think that you know me, but I know you very well. You see, I am a child of Christmas, a true believer in the magic and wonder of "the most wonderful time of the year." You do not know me, but you sure do know how to judge me.

For the past few years you have gradually attacked the onset of Christmas more and more and more with your negativity and disapproval. I am here to say that I have had enough of you trying to bring my holiday down!

Each and every year you begin to complain of the shops being decked in Holiday cheer. You complain that I dare have the audacity to put up Christmas decorations in my own yard. You complain when you see me singing Christmas songs You complain when you see me merrily singing Christmas songs. Here recently you have even taken up the cause of a beloved wild bird in order to defend your crusade against all things merry and bright. Yes, you have taken up the cause of Thanksgiving, and in doing so have attempted to make a war of the holidays.

Allow me to address this last point for a moment. In the past few weeks I have heard repeated comments along the lines of "Everyone always skips Thanksgiving and goes right to Christmas. Doesn't anyone love and respect the turkey anymore?"

This is stupid. Sorry, I have been cordial until this moment in time, but I can no longer keep my complacency. Allow me to let you in on my shocked disbelief for a moment. So, what you Scrooges are saying is that I do not respect a turkey, but you do so through the wringing of its neck? You respect the turkey by plucking him of all his feathers? You respect the turkey by deep frying him? You respect the turkey by placing him on a silver platter and carving him before a large circle of people? In that case I am more than pleased I don't have your "respect."

Now, you are probably asking yourself why I hate Thanksgiving, but that is not the case. I love Thanksgiving, but dedicating the entire holiday to some wild bird? No, I believe you have the wrong idea about the holidays. You see, believe it or not, many many years ago Thanksgiving was about thankfulness. I know, shocking, right?!

So allow me to take a moment to say what I am thankful for. I am thankful for my salvation. I am thankful for my family. I am thankful for my wonderful friends. I am thankful for my coworkers who are like family. I am thankful for my health. I am thankful for the support and love that I receive each and every day from all of the people in my life. The list could go on and on, but you get the idea.

Now, what does this have to do with the war against Christmas and Thanksgiving? I and many others that put up our Christmas decorations believe in co-celebration of the holidays. Allow me to explain further. All that I listed above that I am thankful for can also be seen in Christmas. Christmas is the day set aside to celebrate my Savior. When I decorate my Christmas tree that you so despise and ridicule? Yeah, I do so with my family as an activity that brings us together and that by the way, makes us happy. When we place the gift wrapped presents of multiple colors under our tree and go shopping, it is not to just spend money on our friends, but to find a wonderful gift that makes us think of our friends and shows them that we care. When I play secret Santa or some similar game with my coworkers, it is again bringing us all together with times of laughter and happiness. And the giant lights and blowups that twinkle in the yards of the merry? That is our cordial welcome to our neighbors to enjoy the festivities with us, the festivities that we are home enough to celebrate with.

So, excuse me, Mr. and Mrs. Scrooge for daring to celebrate my faith, my family, my friends, my job, and my health through things that are red and green and not through something as materialistic as a bird. I truly am sorry that you are so miserable with your own life that you must attack people who put up Christmas decorations just because you feel alone and insecure in your precious "Turkey Holiday." I am sorry that you do not take the moments you have to be thankful for those around you and the things you are blessed with instead of lashing out at how others celebrate their thankfulness. You do not have to put up a Christmas tree or sing carols. You do not have to enjoy Christmas films with friends or drink hot chocolate by the fireplace. Those things are all your choice to refuse, but for all things red and green and merry, leave my Christmas alone!

Unlike you I am happy. I am content with my life and celebrating both Thanksgiving and Christmas. The only reason I write this for you today is so that you might give up on your crusade against Christmas and instead allow people to be happy how they are. I will not complain if you want to line your hallways with turkeys instead of mistletoe. I will not complain if you put a giant blowup turkey in your front yard. Good for you if you do so! I am glad that you are happy, but if you start to complain about my reindeer, or my elf, or my Santa, or my trees, or my angel, etc. Well, you, sir or madam, are the one with the problem, and quite frankly I feel sorry for you for living such an insecure, petty life. I want you to be happy, and you as humans should extend that courtesy to me. So, you have your turkey, and I will stick with my Christmas tree with the people that I love.

Sincerely,

All the Children of Christmas

P.S. Santa is putting you on the naughty list, Ebenezer. Hopefully this has been your visit from Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Future. You can still change.