Christmas is.....

Christmas is….the most wonderful time of the year – not! Christmas is the craziest season as far as I can see. My purse never seems to get a rest  and my budget takes a real battering. I can’t budget for Christmas since I don’t agree with it….at least the commercial aspects of it. Beyond commercialism, I can’t see the point of Christmas.

I know what Christmas should be but the peace and joy of the season has bypassed me. In my family I’m supposed to be the Christmas organizer extraordinaire. If I relax at all to sample the “peace and joy” then Christmas doesn’t happen. I am the giver of Christmas but not the enjoyer of it.

Christmas is for those who love shopping. Christmas is for the partakers, the ones who enjoy your Christmas whilst making you the poor relation at it. Don’t you love having family over? After a sumptuous feast, they’ll notice the stain on your curtains and the tear in your upholstery.

Christmas is not about love and I’m not exactly sure what it is about any more. I’d prefer to think of Christmas about being simplicity….the birth of a baby...but no gifts from three wise men please!

Christmas has developed into a complex, commercial decadence that has a lot of negative emotions attached to it. Thinking back on our Christmases past, what do we dwell on? The love or the abuse?

I'm dreaming of a light Christmas

Oh yes, Christmas is so emotionally charged that people get abusive. They mistreat those who are closest to them. You can bet that  on this Christmas and many in bygone times, there are children who’ll be spending it sitting alone in their rooms. They are banned from the festivities as their parents (or one parent in particular) can’t stand the sight of them. There’s no love lost in these families at Christmas or any other time of the year. For an abused and neglected child, Christmas brings home to them exactly what they’re missing.....and most of them are things that money can’t buy.

Christmas is also a playground for the fantasist. They want to believe in the spirit of Christmas but that spirit comes with a hefty price tag. Putting on a lavish Christmas with chestnuts roasting on an open fire takes a heck of a lot of money. You might enjoy the season but you’ll be broke for six months after. Spiritual fantasy also comes home to roost at Christmas. We want to believe that our family is like those perfect families on every Christmas TV ad. Dad looking into Mom’s glistening eyes and then looking at each of his children with brimming eyes. All curled up on the sofa playing games and watching TV, laughter and merriment abound.

Mythical Christmas

In my heart, I know what Christmas is about as I’ve spent many of them discovering what it’s not. The harsh reality of Christmas is not lost on me and I’ve tried to cushion my children from some of those. I was brought up on the Christmas of hard knocks and I don’t ask for pity. There’s just not enough love to go around at Christmas I guess and there are many who have no idea what love is.

Christmas, like life, is what you make of it. When you’ve understood the true meaning of it and it flies far above the commercialism then maybe you’ll enjoy it. As I mature I remember Christmases past with people who are no more but I also remind myself to look forward. Christmas is about living in the moment and giving from your heart.

Christmas is whatever you are…. so find the glorious and triumphant inside of you.