Thoughts on the Season

   If nothing else, Christmas is one of those times of the year when some reflection is done. In your mind perhaps your year is summarized, perhaps you are even one of those people who sends out letters to your friends and relatives describing the events of the past twelve months and all of what you thought were its significant moments or achievements. It is also a time for looking ahead, perhaps you work on your New Years resolutions, make plans for improvements in your life.
   I do tend to engage in some of all this, although there is no real reason why it should not be an ongoing process throughout  the other months of the year. What I do know and what is common knowledge to most everyone else is that your stress levels get ratcheted up enormously at this time of year. I invariably find myself wondering just why this occurs but, more importantly, why I  let it. I swear it'll be different next year, so help me!

   A couple of blogs ago, I talked about reading "The Pagan Christ" this past year and mentioned the theory that its author, Tom Harpur, subscribed to; that there may not have been an historical Jesus. Well, I do find this quite credible and it does shed a different kind of light on this particular season. Jesus may not be the "reason for the season" because there may not have been a Jesus!
   So, for a variety of reasons and including the afore-mentioned brand new one, I find myself pondering the meaning of Christmas once again. Giving is never a bad thing, wanting to be with family is never a bad thing and pondering the positive changes you'd like to see in your life is never a bad thing, either. But why save all this for December, I wonder? If the need out there is a real need, then why aren't the Salvation Army kettles operating year-round? I'd be just as happy to toss in a couple of bucks in June as at Christmas time! I'm also pretty sure low-income kids need gifts throughout other months of the year, each one of them has a birthday, I'm guessing! The mind-boggling part of it is that we make ourselves maybe $500 (just a random number I picked, believe me!) poorer so that we can make our friends and neighbours $500 richer, in terms of merchandise. Of course we become $500 richer because our friends and relatives are getting $500 poorer buying for us. A vicious circle, for sure. The end result, worldwide, is that billions and billions of dollars go sideways, for Christ's sake! Yep, we don't need to spend what we spend and we don't need to get what we get. To quote a line from "Jesus Christ Superstar", "think of the things you could do with that money!"
   At some point in my life that I can't really pinpoint, whether or not Christmas was a "success" for me depended on whether or not someone was surprised or delighted with a particular gift I might have gotten them. I did not base my happiness on the pile of goodies at my feet Christmas morning. There has been the odd Christmas morning I dreaded, simply because I was not excited about anything I'd bought for anyone. They were hard to get through. More often than not, though, I have been almost as excited at the prospects of my loved ones opening their gifts as I could remember being as a child in anticipation of what was to come for myself. It is one of the small things I appreciate about myself as an adult and I imagine that many others feel the same way. Kind of a shame, though, that this happens on such a limited basis, calendar-wise.

   So, I guess I do want to wish people a "Merry Christmas", whatever it is and why. May we all  let the stress float away and may we all have Scrooge-like redemptions! May we all self-reflect and like what we see!