Though she and her husband claim to be “strong Catholics” when appealing to the faithful, Dr. Jill Biden seemingly did her best to minimize the “reason for the season” — Christ’s birth on Christmas–during the recent speech she gave on the White House Christmas decorations.
In fact, though the decorations were put up to celebrate Christmas and decorate the White House for Christmas, Dr. Jill only used the word “Christmas” three times during her speech on the “Unveiling of the 2022 White House Holiday Theme and Celebration of Volunteers, with two of those times being in reference to the White House Christmas tree.
She did however, end the speech by saying “Merry Christmas and happy holidays“, which was the one time she actually used the word “Christmas” to signify what holiday the decorations are celebrating.
During the speech, Dr. Jill instead used the politically correct “holiday”, preferring the use of that to “Christmas.” At one point, for example, she referred to “the holidays” and “holiday decorations” rather than “Christmas decorations” and “Christmas season”. In her words:
The soul of our nation is and always has been “We the People.” And that is — (applause) — yes. (Laughs.) And that is what has inspired this year’s White House holiday decorations.
The values that unite us can be found all around you: a belief in possibility and optimism and unity. Room by room, we represent what brings us together during the holidays and throughout the year.
Similarly, she thanked the State Teachers of the Year and their students for sending in pictures for the Christmas tree (one of the two times she referred to it as a Christmas tree rather than generally describing the ‘holiday decorations’), by talking about the “holiday season,” saying: “So, to those teachers and students, who are all likely in their classrooms right now, thank you for being part of our holiday season.”
At another point she talked about the “Holiday Guide” and “holiday illustrator”, saying “So, Daria is an elementary school art teacher and children’s book author from Las Vegas, Nevada, and she illustrated the two thou- — 2022 White House Holiday Guide. (Applause.) I was so glad to feature a teacher as our holiday illustrator of the year. (Applause.)”
The speech by Dr. Jill Biden on the “holiday season” and “holiday decorations” was a far cry from what happened under Trump, who was proud that people started saying “Merry Christmas” again under his presidency, telling Sarah Huckabee Sanders that “America had [been] going into a long period where people quit saying ‘Merry Christmas.’”
But, he added, under his presidency, people started saying Merry Christmas again. In his words:
“And it was embarrassing for stores to say ‘Merry Christmas.’ You’d see these big chains, they want your money but they don’t want to say ‘Merry Christmas.’ And they’d use reds and they’d use whites and snow but they wouldn’t say ‘Merry Christmas.’
“When I started campaigning, I said, ‘You’re going to say “Merry Christmas” again.’ And now people are saying it. That was a big part of what I was doing, I would say it all the time during that period … I tell you, we brought it back very quickly.”
So, unlike Biden the “strong Catholic”, Trump isn’t afraid to say “Christmas”, nor is he afraid to encourage others to do the same.
