All We Want For Christmas Is A Return To Civility

Authored by William Brooks via The Epoch Times,

For many folks raised in the northern United States and Canada, the Christmas season evokes vivid childhood memories: fresh snowfalls, frosted windowpanes, the scent of a pine tree in a warm living room, and neighbourhoods aglow with coloured lights against the early evening darkness.

We recall midnight carol services followed by exciting Christmas mornings, the thrill of unwrapping a new pair of skates, and the delicious aroma of a roasting turkey.

For almost everyone, Christmas was a season of goodwill—a time when families reunited, neighbours dropped by for eggnog, and communities felt briefly stitched together by shared customs rather than pulled apart by grievance. Those memories help explain why Andy Williams’s early 1960s hit could so confidently proclaim, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”

Such fond recollections now sit in sharp contrast to the Decembers we inhabit today.

What was once a broadly shared cultural moment increasingly feels caught in a vortex of political resentment, culture-war skirmishes, and competing claims over the public space. The season that once wrapped communities in a common warmth now exposes society’s fault lines. Christmas has not disappeared—its lights still shines—but the bonds that once united us are harder to distinguish amid the confusion of post-modern diversity.

During the Christmas season, expressions of hostility toward people of faith have become a familiar part of our present-day ideological battles. Scholars have long documented the opposition of adversarial intellectual movements toward the influence of Christian values in public life. In the United States, organizations such as the Satanic Temple and the Freedom From Religion Foundation openly work to challenge the presence of Christian symbols and traditions in civic settings. Legal arguments invoking the Constitution’s Establishment Clause are routinely used to confine Christmas displays and pageants to private spaces.

In Canada, grievances have taken a more troubling turn. Over the past several years, specious allegations related to the history of indigenous residential schools contributed to an atmosphere in which more than 100 Christian churches have been vandalized or burned, from Kamloops, British Columbia, to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

One cannot ignore that the Judeo-Christian traditions, which once healed social divisions, have become a target for discord. Even the most familiar religious symbols provoke dispute. What used to be shared feelings of peace and joy are now pulled into broader conflicts over identity and power. Sentiments that were once widely shared appear sharply divided, and scores of young people are being conscripted into the pathological legions of a troubled age.

Restoring the Spirit of Christmas

Whatever one’s views on history or accountability, the globalization of violence against people of faith and places of worship reveals how deeply polarized our cultural landscape has become.

In an era when division dominates headlines, restoring the spirit of Christmas will require something countercultural: a deliberate return to civility. As we approach 2026—a year likely to bring continued economic, political, and global uncertainty—individuals and communities still have an opportunity to reclaim the season by prioritizing goodwill over conflict.

One practical step is to revive social gatherings that bridge divides. Local get-togethers, informal open houses, or even virtual reunions can create spaces where politics are set aside in favour of conversation, laughter, and shared experiences. As CBS World War II correspondent Eric Sevareid once observed: “Christmas is a necessity. There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we’re here for something else besides ourselves.” Such simple messages can soften resentment, much like the Christmas parties of years gone by.

Another way to restore the season’s spirit is through acts of service. With economic pressures and social isolation still prevalent, volunteering at shelters, donating to food banks, or organizing gift drives can reconnect Christmas to its traditional message of charity and hope. U.S. President Calvin Coolidge captured this well when he wrote: “Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. … To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.” Charitable acts can shift the human focus from self-indulgence to generosity.

Personal reflection is also useful. Attending a carol service, rereading traditional works like Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” or Dylan Thomas’s “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” can restore the virtues of empathy and humility that contribute to the true spirit of Christmas. In a world that is so quick to weaponize differences, reflection reminds us of what we share. Writer and clergyman Norman Vincent Peale once asserted that “Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.”

Finally, we can choose to engage more prudently with modern technology: using it to connect with distant loved ones or share words of encouragement, while stepping back from the outrage-driven algorithms that profit from division.

As the iconic American humorist Mark Twain once noted: “It is my heart-warmed and world-embracing Christmas hope and aspiration that all of us, the high, the low, the rich, the poor, the admired, the despised, the loved, the hated, the civilized, the savage (every man and brother of us all throughout the whole earth), may eventually be gathered together in a heaven of everlasting rest and peace and bliss, except” he joked, “the inventor of the telephone.”

If Christmas feels diminished today, it is not because its message has failed, but because we have allowed civility to erode.

Choosing goodwill over resentment will not end every conflict—but it can restore the warmth that once made this season truly wonderful.

In that choice lies a quiet but powerful act of hope.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.