{"id":14472,"date":"2009-11-30T02:35:33","date_gmt":"2009-11-30T06:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firstthings.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/?p=14472"},"modified":"2017-03-11T00:05:54","modified_gmt":"2017-03-11T00:05:54","slug":"the-kitsch-of-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2009\/11\/30\/the-kitsch-of-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"The Kitsch of Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>A while back I got a lot of emails from people wondering if I had lost my mind, or had become confused, because I <a href=\"http:\/\/www.firstthings.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2009\/11\/18\/we-pray-video-mass\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">posted this video<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>To this day, I have no idea whether the thing is real or not.  My suspicion was that it was a parody meant to sting the consciences of those who go overboard with the Christian Kitsch -you know, the pictures of Jesus playing soccer with the kids, or the Virgin Mary who looks like Barbie.<\/p>\n<p>As Christmas draws near, our friend Caroline Cannonball -who entertained\/frightened us by procuring pictures of ugly churches- is on the hunt for <a href=\"http:\/\/thecrescat.blogspot.com\/2009\/11\/time-for-another-crescat-contest.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">the Kitschiest of Christmas; specifically Nativity Kitsch<\/a>, but I suspect anything really horrid will fascinate her.  To get us started, she offers:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i4.photobucket.com\/albums\/y125\/TheAnchoress\/Rubber_Duck_Nativity.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>At this writing, Ms. Cannonball already has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thebricktestament.com\/the_life_of_jesus\/jesus_is_born_02\/lk02_07.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">one submission<\/a>, in her comments section.  I am sure she will be drowning in them, soon enough.<\/p>\n<p>I may as well confess, I have a thing for Nativity sets.  I own half a dozen of them and 2-3 are always out all year, because the Incarnation is a source of endless fascination and meditation for me.  If I had been a nun, I\u2019d have had to have taken the name \u201cSr Mary Whatever of the Incarnation.\u201d  And, yes, one of my Nativity sets is\u2026a little kitschy.  But it\u2019s also really adorable, and since the Teddy Bears are supposed to be putting on a Nativity pageant, I you know\u2026really love it and will make excuses to keep it.  \u2018Cause it\u2019s cute.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i4.photobucket.com\/albums\/y125\/TheAnchoress\/NatPageant-1.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>Then there is this:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i4.photobucket.com\/albums\/y125\/TheAnchoress\/bobdylanChristmas-1.jpg\"><br>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B002MW50KO\/?tag=theanchoress-20\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Bob Dylan\u2019s Christmas Album<\/a><\/p>\n<p>I have to be honest, again\u2026this one\u2019s sort of growing on me.  I can\u2019t believe I even said that.  But it is!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A while back I got a lot of emails from people wondering if I had lost my mind, or had become confused, because I posted this video. To this day, I have no idea whether the thing is real or not. My suspicion was that it was a parody meant to sting the consciences of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advent-2009"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Kitsch of Christmas<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A while back I got a lot of emails from people wondering if I had lost my mind, or had become confused, because I posted this video. To this day, I have\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2009\/11\/30\/the-kitsch-of-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Kitsch of Christmas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A while back I got a lot of emails from people wondering if I had lost my mind, or had become confused, because I posted this video. To this day, I have\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2009\/11\/30\/the-kitsch-of-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Anchoress\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-11-30T06:35:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-03-11T00:05:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/i4.photobucket.com\/albums\/y125\/TheAnchoress\/Rubber_Duck_Nativity.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Scalia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Scalia\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2009\/11\/30\/the-kitsch-of-christmas\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2009\/11\/30\/the-kitsch-of-christmas\/\",\"name\":\"The Kitsch of Christmas\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-11-30T06:35:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-11T00:05:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/89fc1174c0d765bb372cf892e199b06b\"},\"description\":\"A while back I got a lot of emails from people wondering if I had lost my mind, or had become confused, because I posted this video. To this day, I have\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2009\/11\/30\/the-kitsch-of-christmas\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2009\/11\/30\/the-kitsch-of-christmas\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2009\/11\/30\/the-kitsch-of-christmas\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Kitsch of Christmas\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/\",\"name\":\"The Anchoress\",\"description\":\"Elizabeth Scalia\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/89fc1174c0d765bb372cf892e199b06b\",\"name\":\"Elizabeth Scalia\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18a7adac49c37442f07444789de0e73?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18a7adac49c37442f07444789de0e73?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elizabeth Scalia\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/author\/elizabethscalia\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Kitsch of Christmas","description":"A while back I got a lot of emails from people wondering if I had lost my mind, or had become confused, because I posted this video. To this day, I have","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2009\/11\/30\/the-kitsch-of-christmas\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Kitsch of Christmas","og_description":"A while back I got a lot of emails from people wondering if I had lost my mind, or had become confused, because I posted this video. To this day, I have","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2009\/11\/30\/the-kitsch-of-christmas\/","og_site_name":"The Anchoress","article_published_time":"2009-11-30T06:35:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-03-11T00:05:54+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/i4.photobucket.com\/albums\/y125\/TheAnchoress\/Rubber_Duck_Nativity.jpg"}],"author":"Elizabeth Scalia","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elizabeth Scalia","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2009\/11\/30\/the-kitsch-of-christmas\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2009\/11\/30\/the-kitsch-of-christmas\/","name":"The Kitsch of Christmas","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-11-30T06:35:33+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-11T00:05:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/89fc1174c0d765bb372cf892e199b06b"},"description":"A while back I got a lot of emails from people wondering if I had lost my mind, or had become confused, because I posted this video. To this day, I have","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2009\/11\/30\/the-kitsch-of-christmas\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2009\/11\/30\/the-kitsch-of-christmas\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2009\/11\/30\/the-kitsch-of-christmas\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Kitsch of Christmas"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/","name":"The Anchoress","description":"Elizabeth Scalia","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/89fc1174c0d765bb372cf892e199b06b","name":"Elizabeth Scalia","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18a7adac49c37442f07444789de0e73?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18a7adac49c37442f07444789de0e73?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Elizabeth Scalia"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/author\/elizabethscalia\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14472\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}