OK then, bring out those Nativity scenes on Easter and we’ll talk.
I’m sure some person would see a chocolate Jesus, say blasfimous, and leave it there for the women that buy literaly a whole cart of candy after Easter. I’ve never seen one of them that were not fat either, when the cart was full to the top. It’s always for the grandkids. Be honest lady. I know people that would never give the kid an Easter Bunny basket or Santa Christmas present ever. They would give something from themselves though.
Adding on to ZipperJJ’s comment, I celebrate Advent as a time to contemplate the coming of the Christ, both as a babe in the manger and the second coming. Looking to the cross seems fitting to me as a way to prepare myself for the Christmas celebration. This isn’t an uncommon line of thinking in my circle of friends. FWIW, I’m Catholic and we have been accused of focusing too much on the death of Jesus the Christ.
Putting up a nativity during Lent and Easter doesn’t make quite as much sense because they don’t have the dual purpose that Advent has. It is interesting praying the Joyful Mysteries (The Annunciation, The Visitation, The Birth, The Presentation, and The Finding of Jesus at the Temple) of the Rosary during Lent though. It really brings things full circle for me. It isn’t too unusual to overlap the liturgical season; in fact, I’d even wager that it’s recommended by some.
I don’t find it that odd, although I don’t think it’s too common in the large outdoor Chirstmas displays. We don’t do anything much outside, oursevles. Inside, we have a cross all year round (Catholic, btw), so it’s there during Christmas. Now that I think about it, I do have a set of those Belleek celtic cross ornaments on the tree, although I’ve never really thought about them too much as “crosses” and more like “my goodness, my elderly maiden aunt seems to be keeping Belleek in business!”
I agree with MissMossie that sometimes there is a perception that Catholics (as a population, not individuals) focus too much on the death, but the view from the inside is much more about the fact that he rose again. So it’s cool, like a zombie movie, but without all that eating of brains and lurching around. I want to say that Catholics would not tend to have a specical cross as a Christmas decoration because there is always access to plenty of crosses at any other time of the year.
On YET ANOTHER HAND, in my mom’s mostly Catholic town, there was a dust up a few years ago when it was decided that there would no longer be any religious decorations on town property (as well they should have, BTW). However, some people don’t like change, I suppose, and as a sort of civil protest, many people went whole hog with the religious decorations on their lawns. I can’t recall if there were any crosses or not, but I bet they would have fit right in. I can see the OP’s speculation that the crosses are displayed as an “in your face” tactic as a strong possibility.
I don’t recall ever seeing a crucifix as part of a Christmas display before-- light-up crosses on the lawn sound vaguely like some sort of Klan practice. On the one hand, an electric crucifix should help to ensure that Santa’s visit isn’t complicated by vampire attacks, which can only be a good thing. On the other hand, putting up Easter-themed decorations for Christmas seems like one more incremental step toward a sprawling megaholiday that lasts from September to April. So perhaps the department stores are behind the conspiracy.
Seriously, if crosses are appearing more frequently as Christmas decorations in America, I expect it’s probably lingering fallout from that “war on Christmas” conniption fit that the right wing went through about a year ago.
One of my favourite traditional Spanish carols is “Tell me Child, whose child are you”:
Dime niño, ¿de quién eres
todo vestido de blanco?
Soy de la Virgen María
y del Espíritu Santo.
Dime niño, ¿de quién eres?
y si ¿te llamas Jesús?
Soy amor en el Pesebre
y sufrimiento en la Cruz.
Tell me Child, whose child are you
all dressed in white?
I am of the Virgin Mary
and the Holy Ghost.
Tell me Child, whose child are you?
and, is your name Jesus?
I am love in the Manger
and suffering in the Cross.
It is also the only mention of the Cross that I can think of as related to Christmas. And the music is as bouncy as they come…
Oh, and in my homeland the wreaths are a Pagan symbol and not funereal at all. (Yes, we have funeral wreaths but the home-decoration ones are Pagan)
Huh. I would never use a cross or crucifix in part of a Christmas display. I would think that the Wise Men’s gifts would be a more appropriate foreshadowing. At Christmas I celebrate Christ’s birth, and during Lent, Holy Week, and Good Friday, I focus on His suffering and death. And then on Easter I celebrate the Resurrection. That’s part of the point of a liturgical year- it takes you through the significant events in Jesus’ life, giving time to think and pray through each event.
We Three Kings, King #3:
Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume
Breathes a life of gathering gloom;
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,
Sealed in the stone cold tomb.
Glorious now behold Him arise;
King and God and sacrifice;
Alleluia, Alleluia,
Sounds through the earth and skies.
That’s not the Spanish interpretation of Myrrh.
Myrrh for being the Healer, we read it.
And what can I say, I’m not quite familiar with Christmas carols in English 
Huh.
I’m not (and have never been) a Christian, which I guess why I’ve never made the mental connection… Well, obviously I know where the cross as a symbol comes from, but it never struck me as a fairly literal symbol of death, specifically. Cross = Christianity to me, I never contemplated whether or not the tacky giant lit cross in the front yard down the street might actually be inappropriate instead of just annoying.
Learn something new everyday, I guess.
The Anglican Church has a three year cycle of daily readings which cover the entire Bible. The readings from the Gospel set for this time of year are inevitably those which cover the events leading up the the crucifixion. For example, last Saturday’s was Jesus telling Peter he’d betray Christ three times before the cock crowed. (You can find more on the cycle here.) That’s why I don’t see anything strange about keeping in mind what’s to come at Easter while preparing for Christmas.
That said, I don’t think I’ve seen crosses incorporated into Christmas decorations around here, but I wouldn’t think it particularly odd if I did. It’s a Christian holiday, at least for some of us. Therefore a symbol of Christianity wouldn’t seem any more out of place than a Christmas tree or candles.
“You think when Jesus comes back he really wants to see a f*cking CROSS?”
–Bill Hicks