Is it me and my advanced age or has the excitement of Christmas faded? I really hope it’s just me because if it isn’t, our society is changing and not for the better. The meaning and spirit of Christmas seem to be less important, now, and people no longer have the enthusiasm and interest in making Christmas the special time it is. They are just going through the motions.
I still love the Christmas season. I love Christmas light displays on private homes, beautiful displays in parks and public squares, Christmas trees, Christmas tree lots, sending Christmas cards, shopping for friends and family, candlelight church services on Christmas Eve, and EGG NOG! Yes, egg nog! At no other time of the year is this unusual, incredibly unhealthy liquid concoction available for purchase. I’m on my third quart as of this writing. Especially, though, I love the Christmas spirit people show to one another at this time of year. Christmas is capable of transforming irascible curmudgeons into warm and caring human beings!
But as I have aged, I find my enthusiasm for all things Christmas has declined. With age and physical limitations, the mind still functions in Christmas mode, but the body has taken the season off; a holiday sabbatical. It’s gotten too difficult to go to the mall and “walk” around for 2 or 3 hours to find gifts for the family. Shopping online is so much easier, quicker, and more efficient. And besides that, someone else wraps and delivers the gifts for you. No longer do I have to wait in line at the customer service desk for bags of wrapped packages and lug them to the car hoping to not damage the bow; or spend several hours wrapping them myself! Living in Arizona at Christmas, the mood is very different because it’s not freezing cold and snowing when you go shopping. Shivering all over, seeing your breath, and numb fingers are now just memories.
Another absent tradition is decorating the house inside and out. Physical limitations have kept us from being able to get the tree in from the garage, and finding all the boxes of decorations and assembling them into a display worthy of notice, is an avoidable task. Since we often spend 10 days away from home at Christmas, why go to the effort to decorate when you won’t be home to enjoy it. We just have to take it down when we get back home. So the decorations that so beautifully remind us of the joys of Christmas aren’t there to build our holiday spirit. There’s nothing to cheer us up.
Network television has become so secular that Christmas shows are nowhere to be found! There’s nothing like the Andy Williams or Perry Como Christmas programs you’ll ever see on any of the networks. There’s not even anything like “Christmas at Home with Eminem,” or “Caroling Favorites of Cardi B!” Today’s TV executives and popular entertainers are secularists and don’t share traditional beliefs and the meaning of Christmas. If you want a taste of Christmas, you have to do an exhaustive search of the channel guide to find the rare spiritually-based program being aired. PBS has a few if you check often enough.
After retirement, we no longer have the office Christmas party. So that annual event is off the schedule. That leaves a void, but the neighbors fill it by inviting us over for hours d’ouvres and fellowship with new acquaintances. The spirit of Christmas is rejuvenated a bit, and we come away with new enthusiasm, enough to write the extra Christmas cards I’ve put off sending.
When we immerse ourselves in an activity filled with the Christmas spirit, it reminds us how the season warms hearts, improves pessimism, and restores faith in the human race. The rest of the year, little happens to reinforce those feelings, especially if you watch cable news. But at Christmas, the good in people reappears. Although secularists would like Christmas to be just a commercial display of good will toward others, those millions who celebrate the birth of Christ see it as the emergence of God in human form who came to save us from our sins and promise us eternal life.
Every year, fewer Christians and more secular humanists, exert an influence on the meaning of the Christmas season. Unfortunately, religion in America doesn’t have the relevance it once had, and secularists do anything they can to alter the meaning of Christmas. They discourage saying “Merry Christmas” and even set fire to Christmas trees on public display. Sometime I would like to ask a twenty-something his/her definition of Christmas and Christmas spirit. I wonder if there would be any reference to God and Christ, or if it would just be an angry tirade.
Well, I think I’ve answered my question. The problem is me! Christmas is still Christmas in the hearts of millions. When you separate yourself from the many reminders and symbols of Christmas, it diminishes your attitude. Once we participate in the many reminders of Christmas, and interact with like-minded individuals, that lonely pessimism disappears. As long as peoples’ hearts remain focused on the true meaning of Christmas, it will continue to be “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!” Don’t let people try to convince you that Christmas is about greedy capitalism. It is not! It’s about God, His son, and the hope we gain from his birth, death, and resurrection!
Don’t ever stop saying “Merry Christmas!” You and the receiver will feel better for it.
Merry Christmas!
I think the last two years have been a physical, mental, and emotional drain on so many people. I think that may have something to do with it as well. Having to stay away from each other, relying on remote interaction for everything, has changed what people are able to do as far as traditions this time of year. I agree with you, but it isn’t just you. I had no desire to put up the tree this year, but I did get out a few decorations and put a wreath on our tree. We did go out to get some of the presents, and I made it a point to actually wrap all of them. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas season, sending lots of love and hugs across the miles. Meg
Great to hear from you, Meggles. I agree with your point and should have mentioned it. All these restrictions have made people apathetic and anxious. We would have gone to Amy’s but getting there has become very difficult physically. Thanks for being a loyal reader. Have a Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas Bill and Sandy
I agree with your thoughts.