By Derek Tombrello, Shelby

While out Christmas shopping today, we were listening to an old favorite of mine – Bing Crosby singing “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.” As I sat there listening to the lyrics, I realized… No. It isn’t. I’ve noticed for the past couple of years, actually, that it just doesn’t FEEL like Christmas anymore. So listening to that song, I started thinking… Why? What is it that’s missing? Down here in the South, it very rarely snows and is quite often warm for Christmas, so that isn’t it. It’s not the weather.

Then it dawned on me… What’s missing is, not only Christ, but Christmas itself! As we drove through the city, not a single store had the smallest semblance of a Christmas decoration displayed. Wal-Mart… not so much as a frosted window. Subway… even the Christmas tree that used to grace their lobby is gone. McDonald’s; Shell; Exxon; Taco Bell; Target; Best Buy; Staples…. everywhere you look it’s business as usual. Now, once we drove into the small town where we live, all of the Mom and Pop storefront’s were decked out in holly and lights. Even the biker tattoo parlor was filled with Christmas Cheer! But Commercial Main Street USA? It was as if the Grinch has snuck in and took everything… right down to the last icicle.

On top of the lack of decoration… people are no different this time of year than they are at any other time of year. I am a happy-go lucky, carefree soul and I try my best, at all times of the year, to make everyone at least smile if not down right laugh. One would think that, at this time of year most, people would be in a jovial mood and, as Mr Dickens so eloquently put it, ” as light as a feather, as happy as an angel, as merry as a schoolchild.” But no. Sadly, for the most part, not a single person will even make eye contact with their fellow travelers through life. And on the face of nearly everyone is the complete absence of a smile. In this, what is supposed to be the most Holy and the most happy time of the year…

I know that there are people who carry the Christmas Spirit with them all through the year, as I try to do, but it seems that the majority of mankind has lost the last remaining spark of goodwill that it once had. It would seem as if the ever expanding push for “tolerance” and political-correctness has finally succeeded and has managed to remove every vestige of Christmas from the hearts of man.

To that… I say Bah-humbug! Regardless of what others say or who I “offend” in my quest to ensure that we never fail to acknowledge the true Reason for the Season, nay… not just for the Season, but for Life itself, I will continue to express a heartily MERRY CHRISTMAS to one and all and I will continue to endeavor to bring a smile to everyone with whom I come into contact. And I implore each and every one of you to do the same.