‘Tis the Season to be Tacky: Jesus Junk and Christian Kitsch 8 – Merry Kitschmas!

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‘Tis the Season to be Tacky… that’s right, the Kitschmas season is upon us and its time for another installment of Jesus Junk and Christian Kitsch highlighting the degradation, commercialization, and trivialization of Christmas.

This post is part of an on-going series on Jesus Junk and Christian Kitsch. Perhaps the best place to start is with my fourth post that discusses some of the different academic perspectives of exactly what is “kitsch.� Other posts include:

All posts in this series may be viewed here.

Merry Kitschmas!

This special Christmas season I had the privilege of being interviewed by Bill Radford of the Colorado Spring Gazette about my views on Christmas kitsch. The article, simply entitled, “Merry Kitschmas,” was published today — it is well worth a gander (how’s that for a shameless plug!).

Now back to the kitsch. As expected, this year all the standard pieces of Christmas kitsch are out in full force. While many of the items I highlighted last year are tough to beat, I think there are definitely some items worthy of mention.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

I must confess. One of our family Christmas traditions is to have a birthday cake for Baby Jesus for the kids on Christmas day. We put candles on the cake and the kids sing “Happy Birthday to Jesus” and then help Jesus blow out the candles. Now that I have that off my chest, I never realized how my “Happy Birthday Jesus” paraphernalia there is out there.

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“Happy Birthday Jesus” tableware is avaiable from shop.com (but you’ll have to wait until next year as they are all sold out!). But if you don’t want the full meal deal, you can just get some bright neon “Happy Birthday Jesus” cups from the Christian Dollar Store:

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The Christian Dollar Store actually has a whole bunch of other “Happy Birthday Jesus” merchandise, so go take a gander.

Speaking of “Baby Jesus,” this “Dear Lord Baby Jesus” prayer scence from the movie Talladega Nights is a must see!

Jesus Loves You Snow Much!

If you don’t want to be outdone by the “Happy Birthday Jesus” crowd, then you also have to get your share of “Jesus Loves You Snow Much” stuff.

You can get wooden Jesus Loves You Snow Much” shelf sitters, bendable thingys, flashing balls, and even a tote bag:

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Jingle for Jesus

Not to be outdone in sheer cheesiness, you can also get a bunch of “Jingle for Jesus” wear, including a baseball cap, among other things:

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The Cavalcade of Animal Nativities

The blog for “Generation – Young Canadian Anglicans” is hosting a humorous cavalcade of bad nativities this year (a number of which I already highlighted last year, like the mega-sized inflatable nativity, the troll nativity, and — one of my favourites — the belt buckle nativity).

They did manage to find a number of mind-numbing animal nativities, including dogs, owls, and chickens.

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Canadians will be happy to know that there is a moose nativity, while Austrailians will think the koala nativity is just crickey!

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They missed, however, the cat and the bear nativity sets:

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Since we have a couple pet bunnies, I was disappointed not to find any bunny rabbit nativity sets.

These are all avalailble, by the way, from Our American Heritage. (HT to Bob Derrenbacker for the Young Canadian Anglican site)

Papal Tree Ornaments

My Catholic readers will be happy to know that you can purchase Papal tree ornaments featuring Pope John Paul II (HT Ship of Fools):

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Here’s another “sitting Pope” ornament:

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The Jesus Tree Topper

But why bother with the Pope on your tree when you can have Jesus?! This Jesus Tree Topper is the ideal (shall I say “divine”?) decoration for your Christmas tree:

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I don’t know about you, but this Jesus looks a little scruffy!

Well, that about does it for this edition of Jesus Junk and Christian Kitsch.

Hhave a merry Kitschmas!