Here is the video version of my essay on why I am not offended by Christmas — and how the war on Christmas and Hanukkah began. Do you feel a slow darkening of the holidays over the last few decades? You are not imagining it — it is real and it is intentional. The essay below explains how we went from hearing angels on high, to witnessing Santas vomiting in the streets, in just five short decades.
Resist! Bring out your creches and menorahs! Merry merry Christmas.
I love this essay and strongly endorse your major points about the changes in Christmas over the years. I'd like to slightly modify one of your ideas, however. You said, "Didn’t they understand that the magic was not just something that came and went…it was not caused by the decorations or the gifts; didn’t they understand that *they had created the magic*? Did they not realize that they had accomplished this feat by thinking those sweet thoughts —- by singing those uplifting songs — by elevating their attention — together?"
In a way, you're right... turning our attention to God en masse did open our communities to the "magic" of His grace. However, if there were no God in reality, a God who truly exists, then just thinking good thoughts as a group wouldn't produce such results. God is the ultimate cause of the "magic" of Christmas, and I think He pours out extra gifts onto us during this time regardless of our thoughts, just because He is love and He loves us so much. :)
Devout Christians, particularly the Catholic saints, have discovered, as you mentioned, that the utter joy and peace of Christmas truly can last all year long, and even despite the worst difficulties and sorrows. Advanced saints have lived in the blissful presence of God continually for years and decades, even sometimes to the point of ecstasy and levitation, despite difficult external circumstances, and even persecution and torture which should have killed them.
I'd recommend the outstanding Catholic book on the three stages of the spiritual life (purgative, illuminative, and unitive [i.e., becoming spiritually united with Christ]) by Ralph Martin, "The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook for the Journey to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints." It's a book which is in actuality a map to a treasure beyond imagining. God bless you and yours!
The picture you paint parallels mine -- you're 2 years older than I am.
You're right, there SHOULD have been ominous music. :-)
I've always had a bit different reading of the first amendment's "establishment" clause, and it hinges on that word, "establishment".
But also on "congress".
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" and I think too much is read into it.
It was written most specifically -- to keep unelected church officials from gaining positions in government - to prevent law by dictate of unelected officials in this manner. It is a bit more broad than this, to be sure, but that's the basic idea. It was not written to keep values inspired or cultivated by religion from entering our laws, it just restricts the pathway to a democratic process (of course restricted by various Constitutional prohibitions ... SUCH AS ... and you're right, prohibiting the free exercise thereof".)
I look at "establishment of religion" in the same way I view an "eating establishment" or a "drinking establishment". An establishment is an organization. "Christianity" is not "an establishment" of religion, but the Methodist, Catholic, Lutheran, etc Churches are.
We're allowed to choose to go to or not to go to, support, take advice, or follow any of the rules they have that aren't laws duly passed by congress -- from ANY of these organizations, but the government cannot compel us to do it nor prohibit us from doing it. A manger scene in a town square does not compel us to support, go to, take advice from, or follow any of the rules of any establishment of religion.
A big sticky weakness that the cultural Marxist and general contrarians like to exploit is to make up an establishment -- typically one they don't really believe in - but one they know will be a thumb in the eye of truly religious people (primary example, Satanic displays) -- and demand that IT be included in the public square. I can't think of a good way off the top of my head to prevent that other than to change our culture such that fewer such sociopaths are produced.