We have much to be thankful for this Christmas season. November delivered one of the most resounding defeats to the forces standing against America and her people. Trump’s victory greets us this year as a Jubilee. Nearly everywhere in our vast expanse, the people are relieved and the ruling class is apoplectic. That fact, alone, is one confirmation that we should be very thankful indeed.

Two hundred years ago, Christmas was not a national holiday in quite the same way that we celebrate it today. In fact, throughout much of the 19^th century, Christmas was celebrated only in certain enclaves of America and, even then, only by the old and original Christian Church. It became a nationally recognized holiday only after the Civil War, and particularly when then President Grant designated it as such. Gradually, a market around Christmas (especially in the sale of decorations) developed until the growing popularity of Christmas festivities eclipsed Thanksgiving.

Before Christmas became our most popular holiday, the two truly American celebrations were Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July. Technically, Thanksgiving is the oldest American celebration of all, dating back to the Pilgrims. And even after Christmas became popular, it used to be that there would be little Christmas marketing until after Thanksgiving Day. This is why, at the end of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, Santa Claus appears only at the end. But in the American context, Christmas and Thanksgiving—giving thanks for God’s blessings and celebrating the gift of our Savior—were always inextricably tied.

Giving thanks in 2024 means acknowledging that we dodged a tyrannical bullet. Yet, the ruling class is still set on attempting to stymie the consent of the governed. Nowhere is this more symbolically present than in the Biden administration’s gaudy presentation of Christmas, which, Jill Biden, declares is this year dedicated to “peace and light.” Peace and light of what? Certainly not the peace and light coming forth from the Holy.

Her entire holiday theme is, in fact, devoid of any celebration of the Birth of our Lord and Savior. Additionally, it lacks any celebration of our nation. Let us note from the White House guide the theme’s stated rationale:

As we celebrate our final holiday season here in the White House, we are guided by the values we hold sacred: faith, family, service to our country, kindness towards our neighbors, and the power of community and connection.

Generic nods to community, connection, faith compose the guiding star for this White House. It matters not the substance of one’s faith, nor what kind of community one is building. It is all celebrated in the form of “political liberalism.” It is almost as if we are still being burdened by what has been.

Yet in the Bidens’ call for kindness to our fellow man, are the Bidens finally granting what MAGA has been asking for on behalf of the deplorables? Only now upon their departure are the Bidens willing to make an offering of peace to their enemies. Or are they? Are they finally willing to end their ongoing persecution of Jan. 6 political prisoners at the hands of special council, Jack Smith, for example? Ha! Not even close.

Symbolic of their attachment to power, perhaps, we not that upon entering the East Wing of the White House, one is confronted with a rotating art deco star. This thrusting, modernist style was exported from France in the early 1900s and became fashionable in the America of the 1920s and ’30s. It represents a lack of refinement and suggests raw power. Elegant lines are removed in favor of bold architectural design. In this portion of the White House Christmas display there is nothing contemplating the meaning of the star nor the reason such a star might characterize Christmas, whose central figure is Jesus Christ.

This White House star thrusts out to the world to declare something altogether different.

Now, there is a place for art deco styling in some aspects of America. This is why the automotive industry adopted elements of this style in Chrysler and Oldsmobile hood ornaments in the 1930s. Harley-Davidson also adopted the style for their logo and went on to feature art deco forms in their motorcycles of that era.

Why would the old corporations of the automotive industry do this? Precisely because art deco represented power. There was nothing more satisfying to men who drove or rode these vehicles than to announce that their ride was a powerful force to be reckoned with. In this sense, it commanded attention to the rational elements of the vehicle while visually reminding onlookers that spiritedness was allied with the rational elements of the machine—the elegant designs of the entire car or motorcycle were to be considered. Art deco designs were only the accent, not the focus. See the 1933 Plymouth in full, and the 1936 Knucklehead Harley-Davidson as examples.

But how did this become the model for the White House star? This star is a celebration of spiritedness without considering the balance between natural co-equal elements of human nature—reason and passion. It is the celebration of what man creates, not of what the divine reveals. This celebration of man as man, it can be argued, is the sort of godless hubris that led to both world wars.

Christmas is a reminder we need more than mere power, and in fact, we are not powerful creatures at all. Christmas reminds us of our place in the fleeting time we walk this earth. In other words, the White House star represents not the dim light of Christ in a dark world, but the alliance of spiritedness with passion to subdue the human soul. The Church taught us that Christmas is part of a completed revelation and that we need guidance in humility through the living Christ. It is a reflective time that is not about us, but about the state of our fallen spirit and the Way out of that state.

This year’s Biden Christmas is a proclamation that we are masters without the guidance of the divine. Their art deco star colors everything experienced inside—that is the will to power over Nature, not the realization of Nature as teacher. At least the Bidens found a place for the nativity scene in its traditional space this year, but that is the only homage to the liturgical calendar or the reason for this season.

The adaptation of the Bidens’ passé return to the architectural style of the 1930s may also indicate an attempt to reclaim the lost glory of their party by appealing to the age when it achieved its hegemony over our political culture. While looking at it, you get the sense of the hollowness of it all, and the vapid direction of our nation under the Democrats.

We have much to be thankful for knowing that this time next year, symmetry and elegance, not to mention the quiet glory of God will return to the White House where we may give thanks to the Lord of our Salvation.