Christmas musings

I hate what I sometimes do to myself during the Holidays. If I’m not careful, ‘Tis The Season To Be Jolly becomes ‘Tis the season to be stressed, overwhelmed, snappish and broke.

I find myself snarling at Christmas Carols, saying inappropriate things to the Santas and planning middle of the night forays on Wal-Mart. (In case you ever wondered, Santa seldom has a coherent answer to “Hey, Santa! What are you wearing under the suit?”)

This is not a good thing. No matter who or what you believe is the reason for the season, growling at songs and then harassing the Santa is not congruent with the Holiday Spirit.

Just about every religion has a place for a celebration around this time of year. Whether we’re celebrating Winter Solstice or Jesus’ birthday or Hanukah or Kwanza or any of the thousands of other reasons for a smile and a party, let’s remember why we’re doing it. I celebrate because I like to be reminded that I’m part of something way bigger and way more important than my own little corner of the world.

Whatever your preferred deity or symbol, I’m sure that we can all agree on a philosophy of “Peace on Earth, Good will towards all.” I hope that we can all agree that the pain of one human diminishes everyone. We can agree that nothing is more important than family, no matter if it’s the family that you were born into or the family that you’ve gathered around yourself through the years, or the family of humanity.

Maybe this year I can better triage my time and energy. Maybe instead of spending half an hour getting the ribbon on a present just exactly right I could take a coat and a sandwich to one of the people who sleep under the bridge.
Maybe instead of getting up in arms over something that really doesn’t make any difference I’ll remember to get excited about real stuff, about life and death problems. Maybe instead of showing up to yell about somebody’s decorating scheme I need to be showing up to help serve dinner at the Mission.
Maybe instead of trying to get every Barbie Doll known to man for my granddaughter I need to remember the little kid who doesn’t have any toys at all.

I’m just saying - maybe we need to check our priorities.

My friends, Happy Holidays. Remember to count your blessings, and remember to be a blessing. (You are, you know. You are a blessing to this world. Don’t forget it!) In the midst of all of the Holiday hustle, remember to stop and smell the fruitcake.