Christians Suffer Menorah Envy

So much for a Merry “Little” Christmas.

When city officials in Long Beach, New York planted a 7-foot-tall Christmas tree next to a 20-foot-tall menorah in the plaza in front of City Hall, some residents suffered from some…uhm…size issues.

They telephoned City Hall, wrote letters and testified at a public hearing that the tiny tree in the shadow of the huge Hanukkah symbol was an insult to Christians.

Here’s my favorite quote from a resident: “What’s up with the giant menorah and the Charlie Brown Christmas tree?” resident Rick Hoffman asked.

The City Manager said he had looked far and wide — all the way to Canada — for a bigger tree but couldn’t find one. “This year is going to be kind of a ‘bah, humbug,’ Christmas,” the City Manager said.

But on Wednesday the city of about 35,000 residents 25 miles southeast of midtown Manhattan found a tree to match the 20-foot menorah: a 20-foot blue spruce.

The old tree was pruned of its lights, dug up, and taken to a mall. One question: Did these people not see a Charlie Brown Christmas? Did they turn it off with ten minutes to go? I think they may have missed the point.

A lighting ceremony for the new tree is scheduled for Friday.

Now, I love this story mainly because it’s silly. I like silly. But wouldn’t it be nice if in this country today the big debate was over the size of the Christmas tree in the town square rather than whether it was allowed to be there in the first place?