My Christmas Past
Photo: L' Opera located at The Fort,
Bonifacio Global City - Taguig
Christmas officially ended here last January 6 with the Feast of the 3 Kings. People say that my country has one, if not the longest Christmas season of all the other nations. I have not personally done any research to verify this fact, but I can safely suppose it has some merit. We love to party. There are far too numerous holidays that disrupt work flow. This can be quite disadvantageous if you happen to be a business owner. You woud have to pay double to get your people to work.
Ah' but the past Christmas has been an eye opener of sorts. No longer mystified by any sense of wonderment, I clearly saw how commercialized it all really was. I have not turned cynical..just practical. Hankering for gifts and new clothes and a mad dash to be somewhere to party is what it truly was. This is my personal perspective as of the moment. It may change.
I know someone though who does not take part in the festivities. No trees..no carols..no parties..no gifts. Odd and so how uncool I used to think of them. Fundamentalist extreme beliefs I would say..what's wrong with joining a party? But this person would not budge. She would smile and politely decline invitations. Now I understand.
Raw reality has seeped back into society and how peaceful it seems to just have it all in the past. That one day held above the rest..a date..a number...what for? The real Christmas is the kindness we display everyday..the little tears of feeling sorry...that spark of smile we shyly give a passing stranger...and that coin placed in an old beggars shaking hand.
If I think of it this way...I bet there would always be a dust of Christmas for me to celebrate each day.
Merry Christmas!
6 comments:
For many of us, Christmas is something to survive. So we always welcome the peace of January.
Traditionally, Christmas is a twelve day feast, ending with the anniversary of the Magi's arrival, or the Epiphany. In the church I belonged to (Presbyterian), we did recognized Christmas as a twelve-day holiday, but we only celebrated on the 25th.
when i say i went into hibernation and boycott this christmas i really meant it. if i had not had children i doubt i would have even put up a tree. i did not go to any of the local festivities, except for my youngest's christmas performance. i told my husband i wanted nothing .. something which he actually pretty much adhered to. except that i got cds before christmas .. and cds after christmas. in germany, christmas season starts with the advent season. traditionally the tree was put up on the 24th and christmas was celebrated that xmas eve ... the tree stayed up until the 6th. here in the US we as family celebrate with my mother on the 24th .. then santa comes overnight and we open presents the next morning. i took my tree down on the afternoon of the 6th.
Merry Christmas!
Sometimes we do tend to forget that festivals are meant to be festive, vacations relaxing, travel an experience... however Merry Christmas
Luxie, I was in that same funk about the holidays back after Thanksgiving (end of Nov in the US). I think he fact that our Christmas season starts so early dilutes a lot of the impact.
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I got more in the spirit as we got closer to the big day and our schedules slowed down, which allowed the focus to not be on parties and shopping, but on spending quiet, special time with each other.
I really believe in a Middle Way approach toward the holidays. To make it all about gifts and parties completely misses the boat and sucks the true joy out of the season. On the other hand, to completely reject the holiday entirely also deprives yourself and your loved ones of a time to pause and savor the deeper meaning.
Every person has the find the balance that works best for them.
nice post, luxie.
how true.
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