So far I have been blogging about food, ideas and other inspirational thoughts, but I haven’t done a friendly rant. This is my first rant about life. I find some stories a little hard to believe as far as where our society has gone and this is one of them.

My friend Denise and I have been getting together for decades for our annual Christmas dinner. We met last night and she told me this true story. I thought it was funny, yet sad and shocking, so I had to share it..

She works for the public school district tutoring children from kindergarten to fourth grade.

Always thinking of special things she could do for her kids, she found some really cute and festive holiday stickers to reward them during the month of December.

It is school policy that anything brought in from outside the school’s curriculum is reviewed by the principal. So, Denise brought her enthusiasm and her stickers into the principal for review.

The first sheet of stickers had images of Santa. Denise was told that she couldn’t use them.

The second sheet had images of Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. The third sheet had images of candy canes. On both she was also told she couldn’t use.

The fourth sheet (I told you she was enthusiastic. Did I mention persistent?) was full of Christmas trees. She was told that she couldn’t use those either. After this last rejection, Denise finally asked why she couldn’t use any of the stickers. The principal replied because they resembled a Christian holiday.

With her attitude changing from enthusiasm to getting annoyed at this point, brazen, she held up a sheet of stickers with images of Menorahs to symbolize Hanukkah. The principal was not pleased. She nixed those as well. Denise would have purchased Kwanza stickers too, but the store didn’t have any. Just as well.

The principal explained that there could be nothing presented that was at all religious in nature. What the school did celebrate as its holiday was winter. Merry winter!

Not to be totally thwarted, Denise presented stickers of snow flakes and snowmen. Ah, the principal nodded and gave her approval.

Denise then blurted out, “Wouldn’t the snowmen insult the global warming enthusiasts?!!?”

The principal looked at her with a combination of part irritation and part sneer and told her that she would not at all be surprised if some parents complained about the snowmen.

I don’t know about you, but this story has encouraged me to curl up in front of my Christmas tree with a large glass of eggnog, watch the movie – It’s a Wonderful Life then go to bed reading the Christmas story from the book of Matthew with an extra layer of blankets to keep me warm and finish the day praying for peace on earth and goodwill to all.