It's not just a holiday: Knights promote 'I celebrate Christmas' pins

Published: 2007-12-19

MORRISVILLE, Vt. (CNS) -- "All this 'happy holidays' business riles Christians up," said Roland J. Lajoie Jr., grand knight of the Knights of Columbus Father Boivin Council in Morrisville. So he and his wife, Debbie W. Lajoie, and other volunteers created nearly 200 "I Celebrate Christmas" buttons to serve as reminders of what is being celebrated: Christ's birth. The idea for the pins came from a council in the Midwest, and Debbie Lajoie, an art teacher at St. Francis Xavier School in Winooski, designed the artwork using a photo of the Holy Family figures from a traveling Nativity scene, which makes its way to Morrisville each year as a way to remind people to keep Christ in Christmas. "My wife thought it would be great to emphasize our Christianity and declare what we're celebrating is not just a holiday, it's Christmas," Roland Lajoie said. The buttons sell for $2 each, and the $1 profit goes to the Knights' charitable endeavors. The purpose of the buttons was not to raise funds but to raise awareness that the holiday being celebrated is Christmas.

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