Merry Christmas Gabbers!

That's right -- I said Merry Christmas. See, I'm not what you would consider "politically correct". In fact, I'm quite the opposite. See, I don't see what the point is in trying to train our society to do everything humanly possible to ensure that no one is offended by anything we say or do. If you are offended by me saying "Merry Christmas" then the problem's with you, not me.

And while we're on the subject of political correctness, can we please get this straightened out to where it's not blatantly offensive to people who wish to celebrate the Christian holiday of Christmas? Apparently, celebrating Christmas is such a disturbance that a local fire station here in Charleston isn't even allowed to have a nativity scene as a decoration, for fear that it may offend someone.

Now, I don't really care if the fire station wants to have the nativity scene or not. It doesn't make any difference to me. My problem with this is simple: had this been a menorah, or a Kinara, or an aluminum pole -- we wouldn't be having this controversy. Those items would have been allowed to stand with no trouble. But, don't let anybody put out a nativity scene -- you know, the symbol of what the holiday was originally about -- we just can't have that because we don't want to offend anyone. I guess it's okay to offend people who actually celebrate the Christian holiday of Christmas (you know, the majority of people in this country), just as long as the 5% of people who may actually be offended are happy and don't get their feelings hurt.

It doesn't matter to me if you are Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Rastafarian, Agnostic, Atheist, or if you follow a religion that you made up yourself -- I really don't care. As an American you are free to worship whatever you want, and it is sad that the country that was built upon the foundation of religious and personal freedom has come to the point where it's okay to be anything you want to be, as long as you're not a Christian, because being a Christian is offensive to a select few people (yet, being politically correct is offensive to a heck of a lot more people, but it's still okay to be PC -- I just don't get it).

Anyway, back to my point. If any of you guys don't celebrate Christmas, then Merry Christmas anyway. And, I'm not saying this to be offensive, and I'm not saying this to be argumenative -- it's just that I grew up saying Merry Christmas, and it's engrained into my brain to say it that way. Happy Holidays just hasn't registered with me yet, and it probably never will -- it just doesn't put me in the same spirit as Merry Christmas does. I guess I'm old fashioned, but I don't care. I'm just being me.

Of course, Christmas isn't the only holiday that I celebrate this time of year, and as most of us here at the Gab did I celebrated Festivus and was fortunate to be present at the Gab Awards ceremony. That is until I was brutally attacked by some of Sully's family members with a ping-pong paddle. Now, I'm not supposed to talk about it because my attorney, the one and only Jackie Chiles Esq. (suggested by Harry) instructed me to keep quiet about the details of the incident along with any details about the potential lawsuit that will be filed. Even though I'm not supposed to talk about it, I will say this: justice will be served. The innocent will not be denied his day in court, and me and my legal team will pull out all the stops to ensure that this situation is resolved.

On a serious note: congratulations to Beeze and IHM. You guys are two of the best bloggers we have here, and you deserved the recognition that was awarded to you. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading everything that you two guys have produced here, and I look forward to reading many more rants from the two of you in the future.

I truly hope that everyone here has the best Christmas holiday possible, and I hope you all take this time to spend it with those who are the most important. Take time to tell those around you how much you care about them, because you never know when the time will come when you will no longer have that opportunity.

A special Merry Christmas and thank you to the men and women overseas serving our country: you guys deserve a holiday break more than any of us, and it is my hope that you may have the best holiday possible given the circumstances you are in.

Take it easy everyone, and I'll see you back here on New Year's Eve. I'm gonna go grab a few cold ones now, it will make putting those toys together a hell of a lot more interesting...

Until next Thursday...