Top Ten Reasons Ash Wednesday Is Better Than Christmas

10.  No braving crowded malls looking for Lenten gifts.

9.  No pressure to send “Merry Ash Wednesday” cards.

8.  No need to lose weight after the holiday.

7.  No need to fight culture wars over putting “Jesus resisting temptation in the wilderness” displays on public property.

6.  No celebrity holiday albums; e.g., The Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing “Forty Days & Forty Nights” or Andrea Bocelli singing, “Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days.”

5.  No Ash Wednesday sitcom specials; e.g., "The Charlie Brown Ash Wednesday Pageant."

4.  No made up characters, e.g., Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny (oops, sorry kids!) to obscure the real meaning of the holiday.

3.  No loud and tacky Lenten sweaters.

2.   “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return” extremely difficult to use in consumer marketing strategies.

1.  Nobody ever says, “Ash Wednesday is really all about the children.”