Writers: Baltimore Sun's John McIntyre Says No Holiday Clichés, Please

John E. McIntyre, of the Baltimore Sun, laments the use of cliché when writing about the upcoming season even as his cautionary tale relies on so much holiday hokum you might expect a candy cane (sans yummy red stripes) to pop out at the end of an article that wouldn't be without them. Many a writer has violated the fine line between meaningful tradition and meaningless overuse, but is John's advice all that and a plate of sugar cookies?

Let us begin with the footnote of his article: "The modern, saccharine, holly jolly Christmas, which can barely wait until the post-Thanksgiving-dinner Alka-Seltzer is swallowed, has essentially effaced the original. Do not try to swim against the current." This, he tells us, after telling us how to swim against the current – by forgoing every cliché from Jack Frost and jolly old elves to tweezing the 'twas from any headline. How might a writer do this and leave the reader with any sense of the topic?

As a military spouse and writer, one of the things I pack most carefully with every move is that which represents our traditions, to include all things cliché - the whole holiday kit and caboodle, as it were. I take great offense to John's insistence that I therefore have a sworn enemy lurking between my dishes and duvets.

I am not alone in my lack of good will toward men, er, man.

Stars and Stripes columnist Terri Barnes likens John to the Grinch. "His rant reveals one of those hearts two sizes too small. While decrying the very mention of their names, he resurrects those spirits of Christmases past he most wants to bury with stakes of holly through their respective hearts. Apparently, he considers himself the literary guardian of all things festive, and his remedy for the perceived ills of holiday writing is 'Blog it out!' What is any tradition but a cliché with a warm heart? Give Dickens a rest, indeed. Someone needs to remind him that whatever the month, 'There is nothing new under the sun.' Not even curmudgeons. (See also 'Scrooge'.)"

Military spouse and The Indiana Gazette columnist Lisa Molinari roasts a few of John's chestnuts. "He is like a grumpy old man who goes on and on about how he walked up hill four miles in the snow to and from school. If Christmas is coming, writers are going to write about it; and how on earth are they going to do that and avoid mentioning time-honored traditions. I would like to see him pen an essay about the Christmas holidays, following all of his don'ts and market it to a mass audience."

Article Author: Diana Hartman

Diana Hartman is a (ret.) USMC spouse, mother of three in college and a Wichita, Kansas native. She is a contributing writer to Holiday Writes and can be found on Twitter.

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