Merry Christmas - whether you like it or not

Christmas season is upon us once again. And you know what that means.

Yup, time for people who do not observe Christmas to make a ruckus about how Christmas is being shoved down their throat.

It's become customary for public transit vehicles to bear the "Merry Christmas" greetings this time of year, but apparently that's offensive to people; for example, one Ashu Solo of Saskatoon complained to city hall that "Christmas messages on Saskatoon Transit buses make religious minorities, atheists and agnostics who do not celebrate Christmas feel excluded and like second-class citizen."

Well, Mr. Solo, that appears to be your problem, not mine.

How exactly does greeting one who doesn't observe Christmas with "Merry Christmas" make one feel excluded? If anything, it is the inclusive nature of the holiday that prompts the greeting. The very act of wishing you "Merry Christmas" is an invitation extended to you, to be a part of this holiday, rather than to exclude you from it.

If anything, not greeting you with "Merry Christmas" is more exclusive. It means I have decided to excluded you from our celebrations. For example, I would not normally wish Caucasians a "Happy Chinese New Year"; not merely because I recognize they do not traditionally observe such a holiday, but also that I have decided I need not include them in my celebration of it.

I propose then, that any feelings of exclusion or relegation to second-class come from the individual himself, and are misplaced. He has rejected an invitation extended to him, and chose to exclude himself from the holidays, not the other way around.

Tobias 3.0

A couple weeks ago, I was showering with Tobias 2.11, and he turned his back to me and stood with his feet lined up with mine, such that our feet alternated with each others. He then crouched down and started counting toes.

Tobais: (His left foot) "1, 2, 3, 4, 5," (My left foot) "6, 7, 8, 9, 10," (His right foot) "11, 12, 13, 14..."

At this point he lost count because the toes on his right foot had bunched up together (since he squeezed his foot between my feet), so he had to back up.

Tobias: (Restarting at his right big toe) "11, 12, 13, 14, 15..."

If you didn't catch it, here's why I was amazed: Before the age of three, he was able to recognize where he made a potential mistake, back up to a point before the mistake was made, and pick up from an arbitrary restart location.

That's right, he had created a mental checkpoint.

I had expected him to restart from the beginning, but somehow, he was able to determine where he had gone wrong, and back up just enough to correct his mistake without losing previous progress.

Then, two days ago, we were in the shower again. He (now 3.0) asked to play the same game, so this time I decided to throw in a little wrinkle to give him a bit of a challenge.

He lined up his little feet with mine the same way as before, but as he crouched down I bent over to put my hands on the outside, so our extremities lined up like so:

[My left hand] - [His left foot] - [My left foot] - [His right foot] - [My right foot] - [My right hand]

Off he went.

Tobias: (My right hand) "1, 2, 3, 4, 5," (My right foot) "6, 7, 8, 9, 10," (His right foot) "11, 12, 13, 14..." (Had the same problem as before, and restarted at his right little toe) "11, 12, 13, 14, 15..."

Me: (Sneaking my right hand in between my left hand and his left foot) "Yup, keep going..."

Tobias: (Notices me moving my right hand) "I already counted that one," (Pushes it away with his left hand and continues counting toes on my left foot with his right hand) "16, 17, 18, 19, 20!"

Me (Laughing hysterically): "Really? You've counted this one?" (Trying to sneak my right hand in again)

Tobias: (Gets a bit annoyed) "I already counted that one!" (Pushes it away again and continues with his left foot) "21, 22, 23, 24, 25," (And finally my left hand, while I was trying not to fall over laughing) "26, 27, 28, 29, 40! We have 40!"

Oh the fun we're gonna have together, my boy.