My Hometown: I Live In The Christmas City

No joke, that's Bethlehem, Pennsylvania's tagline.

This time of year the downtown area is nuts with shoppers and parties. Who would have thought that those austere Moravians would tap into the biggest seasonal shopping spree of the year just by naming my hometown Bethlehem. That's the economic view but there is another view that gets mentioned less by the tourists (yeah, tourist. People actually come here spend money and to get a dose of the 2nd bastion of Christian holidays. In my opinion Easter is the 1st bastion holiday, because it gives Christians their connection to God. I digress).

If you went straight up into the air about a 1000 feet and oriented yourself due north you would see the faint lights of Nazareth, PA. If you spun around and looked southwest you may catch a light from Emmaus, PA (one of the towns I grew up in. Graduated from Emmaus High back in '88). If you looked due south you would never see Philadelphia, but trust me it's there. Just way off in the distance.

The first settlers in my area were serious about the Bible. so much so that they named the towns they lived in after real Biblical places. Bethlehem being the place where Jesus was born as was David (who was also anointed King by Samuel in Bethlehem). Nazareth is the old stomping grounds of Jesus. He grew up in Nazareth. Scholars say this is where Joesph made his living as a carpenter. Emmaus was one of the places Jesus made himself seen after his resurrection. While this is disputed Emmaus is still considered a holy site if you where going to take a tour.

So what was I saying ...... oh yeah the Christmas City.

The 'Holiday Season' or HS for short seems to be push farther and farther back on the calendar every year, doesn't it? You have the appearance of Santa Claus right around Halloween in the stores. 2 weeks later your ready to stab your ears with an ice pick because one of the local radio stations is playing Christmas tunes 24 hours a day. Then Thanksgiving comes. This uniquely American holiday is like the choke on the Christmas engine. Up until that point the machine is idling with an uneasy sound. Come the 'Friday of Black' that machine is humming along like a well oiled chainsaw ready to cut a hole in your wallet. Once again, I digress.

The modern Bethlehem (I would say within the last 40 years or so) has cultivated an image of the place to be come Christmas time.

This year it took hold when I found out that my in laws were donating a pine for the center city nativity scene. That's a pretty big civic honor. The tree stands between the library and City Hall. For a few weeks that tree is the epicenter of the Christmas shenanigans my city likes to pull off. This year my son Baylor got to turn on the Christmas lights for that tree and the lights that line the 3 bridges Bethlehem has (they cross the Lehigh River). Once again a great civic honor. Something to talk about when he gets old.

Here's the tree:

And here is my in-laws Sally and Bruce Johnson.

Below Patrow Plaza (where the tree is) stands Christkindlmarkt which is run by Artsquest, another brainchild of Jeff Parks.This gig runs right up to Christmas then gets dismantled for another year.

Next up, why you should never ask for help at the Moravian Bookstore come Christmas time. Night kids.