The cost of the fake trees and Christmas lights will brighten up the coming anger. ...
From her home in Jamaica,
mal believes she knows US prices for Christmas decorations?
Going to that great American retailer, Walmart, I see that I can buy:
* Artificial 6-7 foot artificial trees, with lights, some flocked, for $50-$100 (we cut live trees, and have in recent years paid somewhere around $70 or $80, depending on tree type and height);
* Long (20'-33') strings of LED or incandescent indoor or indoor/outdoor lights for $7-$15 (this is lower than was common for LED lights).
Reality, unsurprisingly, differs vastly from the specters in
mal's crystal rum bottle.
Remember now MAGA Christmas has nothing to do with anything but their prosperity gospel , white nationalism, eating, drinking and shopping.
* In the real world, few Trump voters among Evangelical Christians embrace any form of the "prosperity gospel"; much more common is teaching about gifts of "presence", i.e. gifts that involve personal effort/action and time spent with the receiver;
* In the real world, many Evangelical Christian churches' membership and leadership are of very mixed ethnic background. E.G., the "small" mega-church I attend has a Korean lead pastor, and, currently, Korean, Hispanic, Taiwanese, Indian, Assyrian, and Iranian staff pastors and leaders. The "white nationalism" is also in
mal's crystal rum bottle;
* Maybe things are different in Jamaica, but Americans, generally, celebrate various holidays with festive meals, including Christians. Many Americans, especially Christians, also give food assistance - in kind and $$ - to less prosperous people around the US and around the world, e.g. various food banks in local communities that are operated by churches (Evangelical as well as some lib/prog) and World Vision;
* As mentioned above, teaching about "gifts of presence" instead of or along with gifts of things is common among Evangelical churches, which complicates
mal's rum-bottle stereotype.
