Maybe Ebenezer Scrooge wasn't completely wrong. The key to success in life is loving what we have, an excited contentment to an extent, and that applies to the holiday season as much as it does to the rest of the year. Maybe he went way overboard, but it's still good to recognize what we have, even if it is a little materialistic. Although this is completely contrary to what people believe that Christmas time is for, it is not necessarily something to disregard as we all passively accept the notion that "it is better to give than receive." Although that is an understandable concept, there were times where humans were just trying to get by, let alone give such luxuries to one another. The luxuries used to be basic heating and a larger meal than usual. The fact that we are able to give to each other now is such a blessing and it is one that we ought not to forget.
Of course, I am not at all discounting the actual day of Christ. For some Christmas is a day to rejoice in the coming of a particularly special baby boy, just like Linus from the Peanuts explained to Charlie Brown.
"'For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.'" [Luke 2:8-14 KJV]
Going back to the other meaning of Christmas, I have to propose the idea of another "true meaning of Christmas." Think back to the old times, where a blustering snow was more than a mild annoyance and when "not having food" wasn't a way to get a quick fix on fast food. Detaching ourselves from remembering the past almost inconveniences us more because we forget how far we have come and how much we have learned from each other to get where we are.
Not too long ago people would head into winters, such a cursed season, where there would be just enough food and fuel to get by. The elderly and ill accepted that they might not make it through, with the harsh winter weather making everyone feel like they would never feel warm again. Leaves would brown, plants would shrivel, and darkness would threaten to envelop everything that anyone loved. It was a time of short sorrow--a time where Christmas day would be a beacon of hope.
With that in mind, we can see how humans have marched from an underdog status to a thriving, unstoppable force. We've come a long way and this Dan Harmon quote best explains this analogy.
No matter how black, white, male, female, Irish, German, tall, short, ugly or pretty you felt this year, you are part of a family that has been targeted by an unforgiving cosmos since its inception but has, regardless, survived ... humanity, warts and all, is an inherently heroic species that has spent about 99.99% of its short lifetime as an underdog. And If you see no billboards telling you that, it's not because it's not true. It's because there's little to no profit to be made telling you.
I could go on and on about the suffering we've endured and the adaptations we've made, but to me, our species' crowning jewel is that on the shortest day of the year, when the sun spends most of its time swallowed, when everything is frozen, when nothing can grow, when the air is so cold our voices stop right in front of our faces ... we put a string of lights on a universe that is currently doing nothing to earn it. We not only salvage an otherwise desolate time of year, we make it the best time of year.
No, Christmas isn't a reminder of how our ancestors used to freeze to death in order to celebrate the end of a year or a religious occasion. But, in a sense, Christmas isn't magical because of what it used to be, or where the traditions came from--it's magical because that's what it still is. It's about the underdog. It's that we are here, in the now, to celebrate what we have.
In a way, Christians who complain about people losing the true meaning of the holiday are right in the sense that people tend to forget that it's supposed to be about blessings, as we cling to hope in a world turned cold and cruel. But it should be noted that Christmas stood for these things even before religion was something that someone did out of moral obligation or tradition. This is a meaning held true no matter what background, no matter if it's a "holiday" or "Christmas," no matter how the Starbucks cup is decorated. It's time to put pettiness aside and count your blessings more than counting your differences.
