It’s that time of year again: the time after any other major holiday when it is socially acceptable to deck the halls with boughs of holly, try to trick people to join you for a kiss underneath the mistletoe, and take part in the rat race that is Christmas shopping. For some reason, December brings out some of the best and worst in people, all at once. There is no other time of the year that people feel any particular need to be outwardly kind to each other, aside from birthdays, Mother’s Day, and Thanksgiving. It is only around this commercial leviathan that people feel the need to reflect the good morals we supposedly live by year round.
As I have advocated previously, there is a difference between the time around a holiday, including the actual day, and the thing that the media has turned that holiday into and thus following how a particular culture acts toward that holiday. The concept of Yuletide, for instance, is very different from Christmas. Strictly speaking, Christmas is just the 25th, but even that was expanded to the 24th, Christmas Eve. On top of this, it is also the case that public schools let out on the 22nd or the 23rd, treating Christmas Eve as a holiday in itself. This vacation extends all the way to New Year’s Day, although there is nothing inherently wrong with this particular day of festivities as it is novel enough to usher in the new year. The only criticism I would impart is a desperate plea to stop making those glasses out of the current year. as they are appalling to say the least.
The term Yuletide actually stems from Late Middle English, the term yule stemming back even further. It refers to a ceremony that used to be performed around the time that is now attributed to Christianity’s saving grace. It had nothing to do with legions of toy soldiers, reindeers with iridescent noes, or a secret warehouse in the barren north from which billions of gifts are packaged and delivered to all the “good” girls and boys every year. Why it evolved from such wholesome origins into something similar to social napalm, the world may never know.
All things considered, the Christmas that exists today is not entirely bad. It is generally accepted, although with a slightly Christian undertone, that Christmas is a time in which compassion is the only valid currency, and that this transcends all classes of every society. One of the pillars of the big three religions, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, is charity. Somewhere along the line, the act of charity has taken a bit of a backseat, allowing the idea of superiority to more greatly shape the future, but regardless, the act of giving largely trumps the act of receiving, or being.
Christmas is not about getting everything that you wanted. Millions of people don’t. Millions more don’t want anything in particular. But we all expect to get something, something that we’d greatly enjoy having, despite any real materialistic desire. we all want something, anything. And it is not a bad thing to want things, either. My point is not to condemn anyone that wants, but merely to posit that this is unavoidable, natural, and completely acceptable. It is the way that we want, however, that is more important.
We don’t “deserve” a good life, or a loving family, or a roof over our heads, or anything like that. We are merely fortunate enough to be able to go home and experience those virtues, to be loved by those that you love back. Some of the happiest people are those with the least, and it’s not hard to figure out why. We take so much for granted, and more often than not, holidays like Christmas and birthdays tend to eclipse our perceptions of our own privilege. These days force us to want something, to give people an idea of what to get you. But what if the only thing you want is to be re-united with a friend that lives across the globe, or a family member that has passed away? What then? Granted, there is nothing anyone could do in that situation to make these desires a reality, but it remains to be said that not all people want things that can be bought. The Beatles said it best: you can’t buy me love. And it is love, more than anything else, that will make the perfect Christmas gift.
All the regular Christmas-y stuff is great though, don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing better than coming home from fall semester to a house, for starters, but even better, to a house filled with decorations, tree and all. The dressing of the tree is a tradition that really is able to transcend the religious aspect of the day, as well. The tree stands for nothing outside of a scrapbook, a literal family tree, displaying the history of each member of the family. It serves as a reminder and is constantly being updated with new ornaments, some homemade, some man-made (aka store bought). The presentation of gifts is only vaguely related to the manger story, and even at that, the act of gift giving is in itself a joy.
On the surface, Christmas is a slog, a form of social napalm. It forces us to describe how much we love each other by making us buy gifts for each other, and those that don’t are either stingy or apathetic. Below the surface, Christmas is a beautiful festival of compassion and love. We come together to express that, and enjoy each other’s company. We are infected by this holiday cheer, and because of it we treat everybody differently. It is an emotionally and visually wonderful time to be alive, and to feel alive. And that is what Christmas is all about: being happy and wishing dearly to make others happy. That’s the true spirit of Christmas.
That and hot chocolate. That’s nice too :)
