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Christmas tree at night
Maybe you’re one of the growing number of people who step back, take a long, thoughtful look at Christmas, the copious gifts, convivial parties, and festive decorations and, although cognizant of the wonder of it all, issue this sort of pronouncement:
“Get thee behind me!”
Don’t like the holidays much? Well, join the growing crowd who find that the commemoration of Christ’s birth (a la America) engenders little joy and heaps of temporary insanity. If I sound too “Bah humbug” for your liking, it’s probably because you remain in that shrinking sub-culture who still enjoy a merry and peaceful holiday season.
Maybe you complete your gift list by Labor Day. Perhaps your Christmas cards are out shortly after Thanksgiving. Possibly you’re not much for pricey items, big holiday parties, binge eating or alcohol-induced near-death experiences.
How you differ from the frenetic masses.
Gift Gluttony
Those crazed by Christmas engage in a dastardly tug-of-war between the cultural expectation that they wallow in gift gluttony, credit card maximizing, power eating and family overdosing, while simultaneously embracing the holiday’s intended spirit of peace, joy and spiritual renewal. Reminds me of the parental admonition to a teenager about to leave on a hot date: Have fun and be good.
Hey, make up your mind.
It’s hard to make Christmas about peace, love and joy when it’s mostly characterized by shopping until you drop, baking marathons, abdominal distention and near-bankruptcy. There is no peace in still paying December’s credit card purchases in June. Joy does not rise from gaining five pounds in two days. There is no love in a mega mall crawling with hyperactive consumers clutching yard-long shopping lists.
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Frenzy and Overload
What’s worse, if you find Christmas a time of frenzy and overload, expect others to chastise you for saying so, likely labeling you a Scrooge. Some holly-jolly type may slap you on the back and ask, with condescending glee, “Where’s your Christmas spirit?”
In a place that’s unmentionable.
Those of us who find this season far more maniacal than merry sometimes mistakenly look for Christmas where we won’t find it, inside finely wrapped packages, cookies, hot toddies and dysfunctional family gatherings. It’s not there.
As the Grinch of Dr. Seuss’ story discovered, Christmas isn’t about stuff, or decorations or even celebrations. It is about giving of ourselves, and not just from our pocketbooks.
It’s easy to spend money (just look at our collective consumer debt), but it takes real heart to spend oneself. We are the Grinch that stole Christmas, and there’s only one way to save this holiday from ourselves. Give of what we have that holds true value, like our time, our caring, our empathy, our will to sow a little love in a world long on hate, indifference and cruelty.
Go caroling at a nursing home. Befriend an enemy. Give fewer gifts and, instead, more of your attention to someone who gets little. Invite a lonely person for Christmas dinner. Sing carols with your family instead of staring at the boob tube or face planting on some electronic device. If it snows, take a walk in the woods.
Christmas didn’t leave us. Sometime during the evolution of modern capitalism, we left it.
Lonely but hopeful, it awaits our return.
For more, visit philipchard.com.
