McDonald's 'His Name Is Jesus' Nativity Scene Christmas Tradition Wows Customers
While the true meaning of Christmas is increasingly being purged from the public square, a McDonald's in Tennessee has painted a nativity scene on the windows of the restaurant that feature the words "His name is Jesus" and "Rejoice."
A photo of the McDonald's in Spring Hill went viral last week after resident Amy Basel posted a picture on her Facebook page showing the windows' bright hand-painted nativity murals in honor of the birth of Christ.
To the left of the nativity scene features the words His name is Jesus in big white letters. To the right of the nativity scene is the word rejoice painted in huge yellow lettering.
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After the coffee chain Starbucks came under intense criticism in November for removing Christmas and holiday designs from its winter-time special red cups, Basel's post showing a McDonald's franchise strongly embracing the religious meaning of Christmas quickly went viral.
As of Tuesday, Basel's post has amassed over 134,000 "likes" and 82,000 comments.
"A Nativity scene painted upon a very well-known fast food chain caught my attention. Not just because it's Christmas, but because of the era we are currently living in," Basel, who recently moved to Tennessee from Michigan, wrote on her blog. "We are currently living in a world where talking about Jesus is considered offensive and painting a nativity scene upon a McDonald's is redeemed as dangerous and radical. I beg to differ on those beliefs and instead I want to applaud co-owner Gina Wolfe for being the example of a Christian living out publicly what she believes inwardly."
Gina and Tony Wolfe, the owners of the Spring Hill McDonald's who also own restaurants in Columbia and Mount Pleasant, explained in a statement shared with The Christian Post that the painting of the windows during Christmas time is a tradition that was started over 40 years ago by Gina's father.
"Although we respect all values and beliefs, our window displays during the Christmas season have become something of a local tradition," the statement explains. "As independent business owners, for many years, we have had the windows at our restaurants painted with similar messages."
"This is a tradition that my father started 40 years ago," the statement continued. "We are surprised and happy that our windows have garnered attention across the country and are proud to be a part of this community."
Gina Wolfe told a Nashville Fox station that her dad used to hire a local art student to paint the window every Christmas season.
"My husband and I have been owners for 28 years and we've done this or something similar during Christmas each year," Wolfe explained. "We have so many people that tell us it really kicks off the season for them when they see it on our stores. We are so pleased people enjoy it."
Although the Christmas window paintings might be a local tradition in Spring Hill, Columbia and Mount Pleasant, Basel wrote that she had never seen similar religious displays from businesses or corporations when she lived in in the Midwest, which was most of her life.
"[I]n the specific metro Detroit area that I grew up in, you would never see anything like this on a McDonald's storefront window," she asserted. "Don't get me wrong here, I love my home state of Michigan and I am proud to be a 'Metro-Detroiter,' but things are different when you compare the Northern states to the Southern states. Christian beliefs are not celebrated as much in Michigan as they are in the Bible-Belt. So seeing the name of Jesus painted upon the McDonald's storefront window made my day and I wanted others to witness it as well."
