Christmas
Some say it is the most wonderful time of the year. I have met others (mostly of non-Christian backgrounds) in recent years that somehow despise it, though. And whether your reasons for not liking Christmas are justifiable or not, and whether you like it or not, it is inexplicable not to say that Christmas is a force to be reckoned with. No matter who you are, be it a jolly old elf, or a boring, uptight Scrooge with coal up your butt, or even a Jew, you can't argue with the fact that people act differently around the Christmas season.
People become more generous and caring, due to the mostly beneficial and sometimes inconvenient obligatory gift-giving rituals; people sometimes become more cold and shallow, only becoming more of a target for those billowing over with their infectious holiday cheer; and there are even those who find ways to completely ignore it altogether, whom we have probably missed. But no matter how you feel about Christmas and what category you fall into, there are some things about Christmas that just aren't going to change.
Firstly, the decorations are just going to get brighter, louder, and more gaudy each passing year. The technology we have embraced that allows us to engage our cell phones, big screen TV's, and automobiles during the remainder of the year has given way to people everywhere who take pride in the simpler things in life, such as light displays and miniature, quaint Christmas villages. Secondly, you can't argue with family traditions. No matter what changes occur within a family, if a tradition is strong enough, it will stand tall. It is usually something that has been done for a long time, has meant something to prior generations, and should, by now, mean something to you. It could be something as little as letting the youngest family member open the first present, or something as outlandish and embarrassing as Uncle Bob's annual turkey carcass puppet show.
One other thing that will never change is that your family will always be embarrassing to you in some way at some time. It doesn't matter what role you have in the family, everyone is ashamed of their family one or more times during the holidays. During each family holiday get-together, be it Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, or others, you know that the best food there is always going to be the stuffing. Stuffing is a default and delicious part of any gourmet family banquet. True, that some stuffing is better than others, and that maybe the right person doesn't bring it every year, but you know, that no matter what happens to that stuffing, it's going to get eaten. That is a guarantee, and it is one that even the Pilgrims knew.
The last unchanging part of Christmas that I would like to touch on is one that upsets me some, but it is something that I notice every year and it bothers me. Every year, on Christmas Day, or in the time frame immediately surrounding it, people alter their behavior, or sometimes correct others with the excuse that, "it's Christmas." Maybe a person will be doing something unexemplary, like pranking his/her senile grandmother by stealing her food, and he or she will get reprimanded by a superior saying, "Don't do that, it's Christmas!" Maybe a person will think to themselves while doing some last-minute shopping, "Yeah, it's Christmas, maybe I won't park in the handicapped spot today." But Christmas, in my mind, is not a time for a person to dramatically change his or her behavior. It's not an excuse to judge or repent.
Christmas should be an example of how people should feel and act throughout the year. It should be a time to reflect about how one has lived the past year and, in turn, how one should live the next year or years. And maybe that means switching categories to a different viewpoint of Christmas, or maybe that means making a new year's resolution that you're going to fall back on in two weeks. No matter what it is, it shouldn't be a change that has to come about just by someone telling you, "it's Christmas." It shouldn't even be because of somebody's mental preaching that he may or may not have published on the internet. It has to be a decision or a discovery that you make on your own, in order to be a little more real; a little more concrete than even Christmas itself.
People become more generous and caring, due to the mostly beneficial and sometimes inconvenient obligatory gift-giving rituals; people sometimes become more cold and shallow, only becoming more of a target for those billowing over with their infectious holiday cheer; and there are even those who find ways to completely ignore it altogether, whom we have probably missed. But no matter how you feel about Christmas and what category you fall into, there are some things about Christmas that just aren't going to change.
Firstly, the decorations are just going to get brighter, louder, and more gaudy each passing year. The technology we have embraced that allows us to engage our cell phones, big screen TV's, and automobiles during the remainder of the year has given way to people everywhere who take pride in the simpler things in life, such as light displays and miniature, quaint Christmas villages. Secondly, you can't argue with family traditions. No matter what changes occur within a family, if a tradition is strong enough, it will stand tall. It is usually something that has been done for a long time, has meant something to prior generations, and should, by now, mean something to you. It could be something as little as letting the youngest family member open the first present, or something as outlandish and embarrassing as Uncle Bob's annual turkey carcass puppet show.
One other thing that will never change is that your family will always be embarrassing to you in some way at some time. It doesn't matter what role you have in the family, everyone is ashamed of their family one or more times during the holidays. During each family holiday get-together, be it Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, or others, you know that the best food there is always going to be the stuffing. Stuffing is a default and delicious part of any gourmet family banquet. True, that some stuffing is better than others, and that maybe the right person doesn't bring it every year, but you know, that no matter what happens to that stuffing, it's going to get eaten. That is a guarantee, and it is one that even the Pilgrims knew.
The last unchanging part of Christmas that I would like to touch on is one that upsets me some, but it is something that I notice every year and it bothers me. Every year, on Christmas Day, or in the time frame immediately surrounding it, people alter their behavior, or sometimes correct others with the excuse that, "it's Christmas." Maybe a person will be doing something unexemplary, like pranking his/her senile grandmother by stealing her food, and he or she will get reprimanded by a superior saying, "Don't do that, it's Christmas!" Maybe a person will think to themselves while doing some last-minute shopping, "Yeah, it's Christmas, maybe I won't park in the handicapped spot today." But Christmas, in my mind, is not a time for a person to dramatically change his or her behavior. It's not an excuse to judge or repent.
Christmas should be an example of how people should feel and act throughout the year. It should be a time to reflect about how one has lived the past year and, in turn, how one should live the next year or years. And maybe that means switching categories to a different viewpoint of Christmas, or maybe that means making a new year's resolution that you're going to fall back on in two weeks. No matter what it is, it shouldn't be a change that has to come about just by someone telling you, "it's Christmas." It shouldn't even be because of somebody's mental preaching that he may or may not have published on the internet. It has to be a decision or a discovery that you make on your own, in order to be a little more real; a little more concrete than even Christmas itself.
posted by Leland J. Fischer at 2:32 AM
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