Christmas debates - where do you stand?
Now that Thanksgiving is over, and the holiday season is fully upon us, we wanted to share with you the Christmas debates that are kicking around our newsrooms.
Unlike the political and religious debates that can cause families to stop talking to one another, we really hope that you can join in the fun with us and consider these light-hearted issues that affect how you celebrate the holiday.
We'd love to hear what you think, either through our Facebook page or through the survey below.
Elf on a Shelf
An enchanted new Christmas tradition for children? Or an annoying month-long task for parents?
Ever since the Elf on a Shelf craze began in 2005, with the publication of the book by the mother-daughter writing team of Carol Aebersold and Chanda Bell, families have been welcoming their adopted “Scout Elf” into their homes in the weeks leading up to Christmas. The children usually name their elf, whose job is to fly back to the North Pole each night, report any naughty or nice goings-on in the home, and return the next morning, always in a different location than the one from the day before.
Parents have had a complicated relationship with the Elf on the Shelf over the past 18 years. Mainly because the weeks leading up to the holiday are stressful enough without having to worry about clearing out a new spot every day for their elf to find upon his return from Santa’s workshop. There are already plenty of Christmas traditions to choose from, why did we need a new one?
Because the Elf on a Shelf is a lot of fun for the kids, who get a small taste of the Christmas morning experience every day when they get out of bed and search for their elf’s latest location in the home. The tradition is even more fun for families with an elf who likes to get creative in finding new ways to hide each morning.
How early is too early for Christmas morning?
Christmas morning – always too soon for parents, never soon enough for the kids.
For parents, of course, Christmas Day usually marks a day off from work, and the end of the stress that comes each year with shopping, traveling, and all of the other holiday preparations. Christmas should be a morning to sleep in and a day to be leisurely enjoyed. Those presents aren’t going anywhere, after all.
But the way the kids see it, this is their time. They’ve been good all year (or at least they tried to be), they’ve been looking forward to this moment for weeks, and they are the ones who should get to decide when the festivities start. Besides, they argue, their parents have already enjoyed several Christmases of their own as children, so now it’s time for them to get out of bed, put on some coffee, and start handing out presents.
Is 'Die Hard' a Christmas movie?
Evidence against: The popular Bruce Willis action movie is most decidedly not a Christmas movie. The 1988 blockbuster opened in the middle of the summer (July 22, to be precise), hardly the time of year for a studio to release a movie it hoped might become a holiday classic.
The plot, as defenders of the anti-Christmas movie argument point out, just happens to have the action unfold on Christmas Eve, but that fact could hardly be responsible for the movie’s success. The hero, John McClane, could have been visiting his wife’s LA office tower building just before terrorists take it over on any night of the year, and the movie would still play out the same way. The office employees could have been staying after hours for any kind of party, such as a retirement party or birthday party, and still been taken as hostages. The fact that the action takes place during Christmas has no relevance to the plot.
Even the star himself weighed in on the debate, dashing the hopes of anyone still clinging to the belief that one of his most popular movies was intended to be a holiday classic. “'Die Hard' is not a Christmas movie,” Willis told the Washington Post in 2018. "It’s a (expletive deleted) Bruce Willis movie.”
Evidence for: On the other hand, of course 'Die Hard' is a Christmas movie. It’s set on Christmas Eve because that’s exactly when screenwriter, Steven E. de Souza, wanted it to take place. De Souza told the Washington Post that the film’s producer predicted the movie would become a holiday classic, and in an online exchange with CNN’s Jake Tapper, he jokingly confirmed "Die Hard" was a Christmas movie, writing, “Yes, because the studio rejected the Purim draft.”
Jokes aside, even a casual viewing of the film - which for many families has become, along with "A Christmas Story" and "It’s a Wonderful Life," a mandatory holiday watch – reveals that the theme of Christmas is hardly incidental to the plot; in fact, the holiday is woven deeply into nearly every detail of the story. (One could argue that the holiday has far greater relevance to "Die Hard"'s plot than it does in "It’s a Wonderful Life," and nobody ever argues about the Jimmy Stewart classic being a Christmas tradition.) Hardly a scene goes by in "Die Hard" without some reference to the holiday. The movie, as pointed out, takes place at a Christmas party. The characters are constantly referring to Santa and reindeer and Christmas miracles. Characters say “ho ho ho,” sing “Let it Snow,” wear Santa hats, and even recite “'Twas the Night Before Christmas.” The movie’s soundtrack includes “Christmas in Hollis” and “Ode to Joy.”
And, finally, could it possibly be a coincidence that Bruce Willis’s character, John McClane, spends his entire Christmas Eve trying to rescue his wife – who just happens to be named Holly?
Secret Santa vs. Yankee swap
Which a person prefers probably says more about that person than it does about either of the classic holiday gift-giving traditions.
The Secret Santa is warm, fuzzy, and personal. After randomly choosing a name and becoming someone’s anonymous gift giver, each participant can then theoretically put a lot of thought into selecting a present for a specific person, rather than choosing a gift with broad appeal. That means your Secret Santa is supposed to be thinking about you and the type of gift that he or she thinks you might enjoy. The option to remain anonymous, as promised in the tradition’s name, is another reason for the Secret Santa’s appeal.
Most of those warm and fuzzy feelings are thrown out the window during a Yankee Swap. The most mercenary of holiday gift-giving traditions, the Yankee Swap typically introduces one highly desired gift among the many up for grabs, and then invites an envious group of friends or co-workers to battle it out. The best gifts often exchange hands several times before the person lucky enough to have the final selection invariably takes it for themselves.
Free holiday tip: it’s traditionally good form to show at least a bit of apologetic reluctance when grabbing the cool dash-cam out of someone’s hands and replacing it with a hot chocolate kit.
Opening presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?
There are probably still a few holiday traditionalists out there who believe strongly that Christmas should be celebrated on Dec. 25, case closed. After all, they might argue, Santa Claus does not even get the sleigh airborne until all of the children are tucked away safely in bed, sound asleep. He and his elves spend Christmas Eve getting prepared, along with most of the parents around the world who celebrate the holiday. Presents are still being wrapped on Christmas Eve, not waiting around to be opened. Christmas Day means Christmas Day, and Christmas presents are meant to be opened on Christmas morning.
But an unofficial and (very) unscientific poll suggests that most residents in Greater Gardner are OK with at least one present – or several, depending on the circumstances - being opened on Christmas Eve. As some of those polled mentioned, many people spend Christmas Eve with extended family members who will not be around on Christmas morning to exchange gifts. Surely, they say, there’s little harm in kicking off the spirit of giving a few hours early, right? Besides, the children have been anticipating the big day for so long, it’s fun to give them a little taste of what tomorrow morning will bring.
The poll, however, did contain at least one rather unsurprising revelation: most children responded that the gifts they were allowed to open on Christmas Eve were rarely anything cool, like a bicycle or an iPhone. Clothes, they said, were the most likely gift to be opened on Christmas Eve.
This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Christmas debates 2023: Elf on a Shelf, Die Hard, Christmas morning
