[Looking at history and our area’s unique political and religious attitudes.]

Welcome home. This is the tag line for a relatively new network, Great American Channel media (GAC) started by Bill Abbott. But back-up to what it is and how we found it.

One would not think that politics would make much difference in how you celebrate the greatest of all Holy-Days. We are both Christmas junkies. She begins watching rom-com movies in October, as soon as they are aired and begins XM Traditional Holiday Music in the car or truck whenever the channel goes live in late November.

As a background work environment, the TV is switched to a ‘safe channel’ so she can ignore the programming. For years, that was a Hallmark Channel, which is mostly romantic comedy with a touch of drama. Unfortunately during the peak of woke-ness and DEI, Hallmark bought in with the anti-values. We turned off the channel and canceled the package from the streaming service. We had long since deleted satellites and cut the cable.

For about twenty years, Bill Abbott was the business and creative force driving the three Hallmark Channels to unfathomable economic popularity by multiple thousand who used the channel similarly. Then corporate forces under Mike Perry of the parent company began running commercials with lesbians. Complaints came from the One Million Moms group and others. Abbott resigned in protest and was replaced by Wonya Lucas who expanded diversity. Since then, the network has struggled with viewership.

The next year in 2021, Abbott joined with equity partners to purchase existing cable channels and transition it to family-oriented programming. The group acquired some of the prior Hallmark movies but more notably many of the talent, including actors, writers, and producers. These include the ‘queen of Christmas’ Candace Cameron Bure, Jen Lilley, Danica McKellar, and a bevy of other familiar Hallmark alums. Included in the line-up are the Lopez and the PenaVega married couples, which is an interesting situation in entertainment. They also illustrate the culture is not bound up in ethnicity.

Is it working? There are now three related channels. This year will have 16 original made-for-TV Christmas movies.

What does Nielsen ratings show? Nine consecutive months as fastest growing network year-over-year In Total Day Household ratings. Ranked number 1 in Total Day Household ratings up +143%. Fastest growing network in Total Day Households up +165% and Primetime Households up +141%.

What does the channel say about itself? “Great American Family is America’s premiere destination for quality family-friendly programming, including original holiday movies, rom-coms and fan-favorite series that celebrate faith, family and country.”

It does not take a degree in economics to see where the market is for media and politics. Woke and DEI are no longer shielded by banking and government pressure. Life has enough challenges. People want to feel good. Any entities that have missed the reality of attitudes, politics, and religion are collapsing, as we have seen in the recent media articles.

Now that we have XM and streaming are covered for Christmas, what are some traditions? I am not allowed to begin the tree adventure until after Thanksgiving. We want to focus on that significant historic event first. Over the years, we had large yard displays and trees in each room. Those have migrated.

On Friday, we had our sons and grandsons help set-up the really big tree in the library. One of the grandsons suggested we repeat what we did last year. Rather than trees in every room, we set up a forest with all the trees in one location. We avoided adding much other decoration and will not have ‘Bedford Falls’ display around everywhere. It is basically seven trees of variety of shapes, types, and colors. Many are pre-lit which saves a hassle. It is a massive Christmas forest, but simple to put up and take down. That is a winner.

Then the parties and get-togethers commence. We have committed to five. It is the most wonderful time to visit with friends and family. Christmas is very similar to Thanksgiving with 19 family plus friends getting together, with one change. Both daughters have new homes this year. So we will go across the fence to the home of our neighbor daughter.

Think about it. Christmas. The word itself simply says worship the Messiah. Have fun. There is hope again. You are the dominant culture, even though others may be louder at times.