Twelfth Night is On Us and No Christmas Warriors Are Left

I noticed yesterday as I drove past the Courthouse that Metro took down the Public Square Christmas Tree. I would like to take this opportunity to note the total vacuum of criticism on the conservative side of the culture war. Remember how social conservatives pitched a fit that the "word" Christmas was under attack (cue the black helicopters)? Remember their outcry last year when "Christmas" got called "Holy Day" "Holiday"?

Well, where is all of that outcry and kowtowed media attention now that Metro is not observing the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas? This is historically a time of feasting and celebration in an observance older than the habit of putting up an evergreen. Classically, Christmas is not over until Epiphany, which recalls the visit of the Three Wise Men. Yet, where is all of the protest about taking down the tree before Twelfth Night has ended?

The Metro Christmas Tree was nothing more than a de facto "Holiday Tree" because it was taken down before Twelfth Night (and that does not threaten me in the least; the things of Caesar belong to Caesar). But the social conservatives in Nashville who once groaned that we were losing the "reason for the season" because of superficial labels are now silent, which indicates to me that their bluster had more to do with political opportunism, superfluous semantics, and whipping up emotions and less to do with a sincere faith in the Spirit of Christmas.

As for me, my trees and lights and garland will stay up until Epiphany morning breaks this weekend. It just seems the Christian thing to do. Why celebrate the "reason for the season" without seeing the season to its end?