The Patriot coined “Christmahanakwamadan” a few years back, in response, albeit ludicrous, to the fashionable PC crowd’s demands for “inclusive” greetings. They insist the word “Christmas” is too ethnocentric for corporate use, and that it would violate the phony “Wall of Separation” should a government employee accidentally utter it.

Needless to say, here in our humble shop, as in our homes, it’s still “Merry Christmas,” and it’ll stay that way so long as we’re able to draw breath.

For me, the real meaning of the word “Christmas” begins with life in our home.

My wife and I are raising three children, ages nine to fourteen. They attend three different schools and have different interests and pursuits. Suffice it to say that with their schedules and ours – educational, professional, ministerial and social – life at home is anything but boring. However, the blessings of marriage and fatherhood are greater than I ever imagined.

Amid all the daily rush, we rarely miss supper together, and our meals all start with prayers for our nation, for those defending our country and their families back home, and for the special needs of our family, friends and others. We always end by praying for “grateful hearts and joyful spirits,” that we would be grateful in heart to God, who provides all, and joyful in spirit as a reflection of that gratitude.

Therein, I believe, resides the essence of Christmas, the celebration of God’s provision of his Son, that we would have a perfect example of our Creator’s love for us, and, accordingly, both gratitude and joy.

As parents, we attempt to model for our children the Christian principle of third personhood – God first, others second, ourselves third – and we occasionally achieve that objective. We ask ourselves in all endeavors, “Whom do I serve?”

We hope, by the grace of God, that on the other end of their young lives in our home, our children will be adults who have an abiding relationship with their Heavenly Father, who have a strong sense of their heritage and the price of the liberty they enjoy, who fulfill their obligations as citizens, who have learned the merits of hard work, and whose lives are characterized by their sense of duty, honor, discernment, courage, personal responsibility, generosity and compassion.

These, after all, were the core individual attributes embodied by our nation’s Founders, and our country has thrived on this foundation for more than 230 years.

George Washington wrote, “[E]very American … [should] bear in mind that his conduct will not only affect himself, his country, and his immediate posterity; but that its influence may be co-extensive with the world, and stamp political happiness or misery on ages yet unborn.”

It is from these attributes that The Patriot Post’s Statement of Principles is derived, as is our mission of advocacy for individual liberty, the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and the promotion of free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values.

Having been sustained by the blood of generations of Patriots, our nation holds in trust the essential doctrines of liberty and democracy, but past performance is no guarantee of future returns. We must equip current and future generations with the same attributes that have proven favorable to the cause of liberty in our past.

That’s where you, our Patriot readers, play such an important role.

You are American Patriots, and you hail from all walks of life. You “hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

You are moms, dads and other family members nurturing the next generation of young Patriots. You are grassroots leaders and local, state and national officeholders. You are students and professors at colleges and universities, often standing alone for what is good and right. You are employees and employers and professionals. You are in ministry at home and missionaries abroad. You are Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen standing in harm’s way around the world.

We are humbled to count you among our ranks.

At the end of each edition of The Patriot Post, my signature card notes, “Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus, et Fidelis” – “Always Vigilant, Brave, Prepared and Faithful.”

To that I must add, “et Gratus” – and Grateful.

We are eternally grateful to God for all his provisions, and that includes YOU, our Patriot countrymen, for the privilege of serving you since The Patriot’s inception.

Of course, we endeavor to do much more than “preach to the choir,” and we are grateful to you for having introduced countless peers to the sound constitutional doctrine advocated by The Patriot.

However, these are difficult times for Patriots, as in times past. We face daunting challenges from both enemies abroad and domestic. Yet we are buoyed by the words of Samuel Adams: “Let us consider, brethren, we are struggling for our best birthrights and inheritance… Let us disappoint the Men who are raising themselves on the ruin of this Country.” For those unwilling to join our historic Patriot ranks, Adams said, “If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom – go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands, which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!”