Cleric Comments on Christmas Customs

● A Christmas speech in 1954 by preacher Robert T. Schleiter of St. Theresa’s church in Hutchinson, Kansas, was published in the Hutchinson News-Herald (December 22, 1954). Taking a dim view of the Christmas customs, cleric Schleiter said: “Running low on money, friend? Charge it, it’s Christmas! Spend all you like, and forget it, until you receive our combined collection letter and New Year’s card on January 2. . . . So far, in an instance of exceptional restraint, no one has used Holy Night as the theme song of a commercial. But there is music in the Christmas air, Heaven knows, twenty seven times an hour, from loud-speakers in the street calling attention to Christmas Plumbing Specials, on the radio, on behalf of the Dry Cleaners with the Christmas Spirit, and in the stores, we hear White Christmas. Another 27 times we hear Jingle Bells. . . .

● “There was a day, in our innocence, when Christmas cards came from friends and carried no sales pitch. We have fixed that, too, in our zeal to devaluate. Please accept this memo pad to remind a busy man of his appointments, reminding you, too, that whenever you need false teeth, Dr. Glazel, the production-line dentist, extends friendly credit. A Merry Christmas from a hotel where you stopped three years ago only long enough to discover it was a mistake. A Merry Christmas from a couple of insurance men, a dealer in kitchen-linoleum, and a roofer who wishes you joy and hopes your roof leaks. And a Merry, Merry Christmas from a small-loan company, which is thinking of you, as a hawk of a tired pigeon.”